Disney has released new information about yesterday’s incident where a door fell off of Monorail Green while it was stationed at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa.
According to a Disney spokesperson, a motorized scooter struck the door while it was loading guests at the Grand Floridian. The impact caused the door to unhinge and fall off of the monorail. No injuries were reported, and guests disembarked to take buses and/or ferries to their destination. Repairs were made at the station, and the train was up and running again later that afternoon.
What is still unclear, however, is whether it is within normal monorail operating specifications that a closed and latched door would come unhinged and fall off the monorail when impacted. One could assume proper safety guidelines would specify that regardless of the impact, monorail doors should not simply come unhinged and detached from the monorail. It is not outside the realm of possibility that a rogue ECV driver could accidentally shift into gear and impact the doors while moving, which would present a somewhat more significant safety hazard were the door to fall off while the monorail was in motion rather than stationary at a station.
This isn’t the first issue that’s occurred with the monorail doors this year. Back in January, a monorail train on the Epcot line traveled with an open door, causing a stir. In June, Monorail Lime lost power, so the windows were removed while waiting to be towed to the Magic Kingdom station. Disney Legend Bob Gurr has claimed that new monorails have been ordered for Walt Disney World, though Disney has yet to confirm anything.
We will provide you with more information as the story develops.
I think people will listen a little better now when they hear “ding ding ding…please stand clear of the doors”…and then a bunch of Spanish words I only partially understand :-)
Knowing the way things are done at Disney plays an important part in diagnosing what happened with limited facts.
Motorized vehicles such as commonly used by handicapped Guests, are NOT loaded in the FIRST car, and the picture clearly shows it was the FIRST DOOR behind the Pilot which was broken off.
Common Sense dictates that the Motorized Vehicle which broke the door was NOT actually on the Monorail… but instead it makes sense that the Door was in the OPEN position, and the Electric Vehicle HIT the door from the side from the platform while the door was in the OPEN position.
That would create the biggest damage to the door swings, UNLIKE what would happen if a door was hit when the door was in the CLOSED and FRAME LOCKED position.
The is no comparison between the two types of impact, and this would be NO INDICATION that a Handicap Vehicle could slam a door off it’s slides while the train was in motion with the doors in their closed position.
Guests should not have any concerns about any of this.
The door is clearly not on the side that loads at that station, it’s facing out.
What makes us think it happened while closed and latched? The spokesman said it was during loading.
It wasn’t on the side where people load at that station, as you can see above.
Tom, the picture does not clearly identify if this is local bean or express… however, i must assume it is local beam because there is window reflection indicating the photo was taken from inside through a window and at a height high enough to be on the same level….
deductive reasoning dictated this is the load platform and the door is on the load side.
Express doesn’t load at the Grand Floridian
That is the point… So it was local beam and therefore it was the side where they load people. It is not between rails.
Again, it was on the side where guests DO NOT LOAD
I mean, you hit ANY door with enough force you’ll break it. The author seems to believe that the laws of physics don’t apply on a monorail. Anyone walking through these parks has seen passengers of significant mass blasting down Main Street at a significant speed. All that energy’s gotta do something when it hits a stationary door — monorail or not.
The door opens to the side, I can’t imagine it should fly off rather than just pop open.
Assume the door was opened and the cart hit it from the side of the door which was sticking out in open position.
But it wasn’t
How do you know the door was closed when hit? It makes no sense because as i pointed out they do not load handicap scooters in front cars. They require a ramp to load and that is middle train.. So how did the cart get into the monorail without a ramp for front car so it could hit the door from inside… It does not jive. Had to be on platform and the door had to have been open.
Why would the door be open to the side with no platform? Do they want people to die?
Tom, are you saying that the door came off BEFORE it came into the station?? i see the monorail in the picture at the station… so the platform is there…
No, are you reading any of these?
Yes indeed i read all and i see the one picture… And as i explain what i see and what i know about the way things are done with loading i express the only logical possibility… Then some want to try to give a point of view which does not fit the scene so i must wonder if there is something that was not disclosed. Make sense?
Correct, if the door was closed it would have at best popped open, not broken off. The glides would have taken the force and reacted with a swing out, but if it was in open position, then the glides would have been in the end position and had no place to go except break off with enough impact.
Incorrect. The door opens OUT, and then moves to the side. Having actually driven the monorails, I’ve had doors fall off hinges in stations before when ECV’s blasted through the train to hit a closed door.
Also, go find a sliding barn-style door and hit it hard enough, it’ll come off those tracks and fly out regardless.
That’s why they don’t put barn doors on elevated transportation.
I have seen scooters hit corners of walls and taken chunks of the wall out.
Motorized scooters…of course. The bane of the able-bodied Disney World visitor.
It appears from the picture that the monorail car affected is the very first or last car of the monorail due window shape at the far right of the picture. This is the part I don’t understand. My mom has used an ECV on many trips to WDW and ECVs need a ramp to load and unload. These ramps are only located in the middle cars of the monorail, not the front or the back. Having used a stroller on many occasions, there is a large 3″-5″ ‘step’ up to the monorails which is why a ramp is needed for ECVs. Strollers need to be assisted up/down. They cannot just be rolled in due to the height difference between the monorail and the loading/unloading platform.
For these reasons I’m not quite understanding how an ECV could have hit this door either from inside or outside of the monorail as ECVs are never near this part of the train.
All that aside, this is another reason I will keep my daughter far from the doors when we ride the monorail! It’s frightening the number of times I see people leaning against the door or allow their children near/against the doors while the monorail is in motion.