Monorail may be inspected by DOT if new bill gets passed

[bcla]

No issue with inspections.

Big issue if government power is misused.

Also that this has been laser focused to adding conditions that could only apply to Walt Disney World and not any other amusement operator in Florida. This is actually a bill about transportation inspection for public entities like trains and bus operators that operate "fixed guideway" transportation.

The suspicion is that Disney will be hit with random inspections at the most inopportune times in order to damage their business, or that the inspection agency will be underfunded and that they'll opt to not inspect Disney's transportation systems and force them to shut down until they're "good and ready".

 

[BrianL]

Also that this has been laser focused to adding conditions that could only apply to Walt Disney World and not any other amusement operator in Florida. This is actually a bill about transportation inspection for public entities like trains and bus operators that operate "fixed guideway" transportation.

The suspicion is that Disney will be hit with random inspections at the most inopportune times in order to damage their business, or that the inspection agency will be underfunded and that they'll opt to not inspect Disney's transportation systems and force them to shut down until they're "good and ready".

And I still just can't understand why the state of Florida would want to damage Disney's business - they benefit greatly from it too! They may as well just hang up a CLOSED sign at the Florida border. The insanity is mind-boggling.

 

[starlite_]

Reliability goes hand in hand with safety depending on the reason it goes down. No one knows why a ride went down for 30 mins. It could be a simple sensor because a guest put their hand out of the vehicle or it could be a critical sensor on a track. Being down for a short time does not mean it wasn't safety related. And safety related is such an umbrella term some may be catastrophic some more minor in the safety area.

As far as a ride down taking a monorail out of service then shouldn't be a problem either if an inspection found something valid.

So you agree with me, cool.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

So you agree with me, cool.

Sure if you want to go with that sarcastic response

 

[bcla]

And I still just can't understand why the state of Florida would want to damage Disney's business - they benefit greatly from it too! They may as well just hang up a CLOSED sign at the Floriday border. The insanity is mind-boggling.

Yeah - regardless of one's political leanings, it all seems irrational what's going on. Agree or disagree with what the former CEO said about how it feels about a law and that's certainly debatable. But targeting a company over its positions on social issues by affecting its business just seems like a bad precedent.

 

[ChipnDale79]

But I think it should also be clear that the first punch in this whole current mess was thrown by Chapek, not DeSantis. Regardless what you think of DeSantis, a business shouldn’t open itself up to a fight like that to politicians that could use the situation for their agendas. A CEO of a company like this should be diplomatic and sensitive enough to get your point across and to not rock the boat too much. Even Bob Iger admits that Chapek botched this.

we have a right to "punch" at our government, they dont have the right to punch back in a form of punishment for our first amendment rights.

 

[ChipnDale79]

It’s not just the monorails either. Disney obviously does have maintenance issues with many attractions. Countless people even here on the forum as well as the bloggers have commented on the higher incidence of ride closures in the past year, especially. I imagine if they do inspections of the rides, they likely will find some legit stuff that is wrong or needs work. You can claim the hassle is about retaliation, but if something is wrong, then it needs to be fixed regardless.

No matter what, Disney simply have invest more money on maintenance and engineering. I know they got behind with COVID. But it’s time to catch up.

call it what you want, i'm pretty upset with Disney about a lot of things, but their rides are safe.

I mean dude, we got stuck on Winnie the Pooh one time, they would not us walk about the little half foot track, they literally brought out a step stool for us to use to cross over it.

 

[dreamer17555]

All of this about Florida inspecting rides is kind of interesting considering, FL had inspected that drop tower ride that had been altered and let that poor teen fall.

It wasn’t simply that the attendant onsite put someone on too big. The ride has been modified at its core to allow for people of size beyond the manufacturer’s recommendation to ride and Florida did not catch it.

 

[bcla]

All of this about Florida inspecting rides is kind of interesting considering, FL had inspected that drop tower ride that had been altered and let that poor teen fall.

It wasn’t simply that the attendant onsite put someone on too big. The ride has been modified at its core to allow for people of size beyond the manufacturer’s recommendation to ride and Florida did not catch it.

The bill is only about transportation and not amusement rides per se. The overall bill is about setting standards for regular inspections for public transportation, but one legislator tossed in a modification that would only apply to a single private operator of "fixed guideway" transportation, unless there's some other operator of private transportation that is completely within a special district across multiple counties.

 

[dreamer17555]

The bill is only about transportation and not amusement rides per se. The overall bill is about setting standards for regular inspections for public transportation, but one legislator tossed in a modification that would only apply to a single private operator of "fixed guideway" transportation, unless there's some other operator of private transportation that is completely within a special district across multiple counties.

I apologize I might’ve gotten off topic, but the governor has also proposed an idea though not an actual bill yet (that I know of) that Disney World rides need to be inspected by the state- despite the fact that universal would still be able to hold their exemption, and I believe Seaworld has their exemption as well, but I need more clarification on them.

 

[BrianL]

I apologize I might’ve gotten off topic, but the governor has also proposed an idea though not an actual bill yet (that I know of) that Disney World rides need to be inspected by the state- despite the fact that universal would still be able to hold their exemption, and I believe Seaworld has their exemption as well, but I need more clarification on them.

But it's all about treating all of the theme park operators equally, right?

 

[bcla]

I apologize I might’ve gotten off topic, but the governor has also proposed an idea though not an actual bill yet (that I know of) that Disney World rides need to be inspected by the state- despite the fact that universal would still be able to hold their exemption, and I believe Seaworld has their exemption as well, but I need more clarification on them.

That's always possible. I know in California we have the Amusement Ride and Tramway Unit of Cal-OSHA. They have a division for portable rides and for permanent installations. I've been to several fairs/carnivals and one particular theme park, and often a lot of the rides are the same designs, only with maybe a permanent base rather than setting up on a temporary structure. I'm pretty sure that Disneyland does daily inspections. I've looked out the window of my hotel and seen rides operating empty before opening time - likely as safety checks. But at the very least the inspections are uniform for every ride operator.

https://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/aroffices.htm

Their offices are in Sacramento (the state capital) and Santa Ana (obviously to be near Disneyland). Their tramway division is located near Lake Tahoe to be near the ski lifts/gondolas/cable cars at the area ski resorts, but I've seen some of these at zoos and amusement parks.

 

[SuzErwin]

All of this about Florida inspecting rides is kind of interesting considering, FL had inspected that drop tower ride that had been altered and let that poor teen fall.

It wasn’t simply that the attendant onsite put someone on too big. The ride has been modified at its core to allow for people of size beyond the manufacturer’s recommendation to ride and Florida did not catch it.

Good point, although theme park ride inspection falls under the Dept of Agriculture in FL. But yes, inspections in and of themselves aren't guarantees of safety. What truly matters is how the owner responds to the inspections.

The monorail would fall under FDOT.

And considering that Brightline has the worst fatality record of any of railroad in the United States, I'm not sure being under FDOT is going to bring this utopian version of "safety" some seem to think it will bring, especially since the monorail is ALREADY inspected daily by in-house inspectors, who are highly incentized to ensure safety because any disruption or an accident would lead to money lost by Disney, and the monorail is ALREADY subject to state and federal regulations and inspection by the NTSB and OSHA (for employee safety concerns).

Here's the thing: either there are solid reasons to believe that all monorails must be subject to FDOT oversight - in which case Florida has been egregiously derelict in its duty to public welfare - OR this is yet more retaliation so the state can threaten Disney to do as it says - including threatening Disney if it doesn't produce content specifically to the state of Florida's liking - by abusing the government's powers. "Hey, Bob, if you don't edit that same sex kiss out of Lightyear, we're going to close down the monorail for 'inspection' during the week between Christmas and New Year. Or if you don't pull Strange Worlds from Disney+, we're going to use our power to declare eminent domain and take the land between Magic Kingdom and Epcot to build a sewage plant."

 

[Groot]

Does this mean that depending on the results that the fleet MIGHT be upgraded?

 

[SuzErwin]

Does this mean that depending on the results that the fleet MIGHT be upgraded?

No.

Upgrading the fleet is a CapEx decision by Disney. All an inspection could do is shut down the current monorail until whatever "problems" found are fixed.

And make no mistake, even if Disney put in a brand new state of the art monorail tomorrow, the threat of inspections and shutdowns would be still be levied against them.

 

[HokieRaven5]

Does this mean that depending on the results that the fleet MIGHT be upgraded?

Don’t get your hopes up. Bob Gurr hinted that possibility… 5 years ago…

 

[Groot]

Don’t get your hopes up. Bob Gurr hinted that possibility… 5 years ago…

Man would’ve been nice not having to wonder if the AC was working in em on 90° days.

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

https://insidethemagic.net/2023/05/breaking-florida-senate-takes-over-disneys-monorails-ao1/

 

[OKW Lover]

Man would’ve been nice not having to wonder if the AC was working in em on 90° days.

An inspection won't have any impact on that.

 

[mdmost]

The monorail in Disneyland doesn't even have AC and just shuts down if it's too hot.