Originally Posted By trekkeruss I don't feel bad about anything that has been said. Post an angry and accusational message, and you're bound to be looked upon with askance.
Originally Posted By ssWEDguy >> And another inconsistent statement was that the RO simply "roped off" that particular seat. << The "roping off" statement referred to an incident at another theme park, not here.
Originally Posted By beamerdog Okay, just for the record I am not a guinea pig, I am a dog. I've been trying to figure out who this might be. Not: Kimrue Labuda tm0m Fe Witches So what female has been posting here for a while that we're missing? Could it be someone from the West Coast?
Originally Posted By vbdad55 well for starters -- FeMaiden not a female -- hahaha....it took me a bit to get that one also and I am a metal fan.
Originally Posted By trekkeruss It's none of the regulars here, as I am confident everyone here has enough courage to use their screenname. The OP may have been reading these boards for five years, but in no way are they a part of the community.
Originally Posted By trailsend It's not me. I haven't been in Orlando since Thanksgiving. So I have not been on EE. Wish I had been on EE, but, *sigh*, not yet.
Originally Posted By LuvDatDisney "I'm a reporter at the Orlando Sentinel. I looked into this matter and confirmed that a lap bar indeed popped up on an adult male rider on Jan. 26 and that the rider had to go through most of Everest without the lap bar. I've also spoken to the man involved, and his story is consistent with what I heard from Disney. He has finally heard from Disney himself, and is working with them to answer his concerns. Disney told me that after he reported the incident on Jan. 26, they took the car out of service, adjusted it, and put it back in service the next day. Though I'm sure that almost anyone would reasonably go into a state of panic in such a situation, I'm advised there was no real safety risk because the ride is engineered to channel the energy and the riders' mass into the car, not out. With nothing to dispute that, I've concluded at this time that one lap bar failure is not newsworthy enough for me to put in our newspaper. However, due to the volume of skepticism expressed here, I thought I'd do the courtesy of reporting to this group that the incident did happen. Should more such incidents happen, I may change my mind about putting it in our paper. Regardless, if anybody here wishes to contact me about this or any other theme park matter, they may do so, at spowers@orlandosentinel.com. Scott Powers" A reporter who admits to reading an online forum for Disney fans ... I like that. I admit I was one of the skeptics to this story. I trust that you did look into it, but the way the OP wrote about the incident made it sound very suspect. Obviously, something happened. But it couldn't have been a major incident or it would be in your paper and you wouldn't be responding here. I'm glad you're here though. I think you'll find loads of newsworthy items here, and you'll get them a whole lot quicker than from Craig's staff in Orlando or Zenia's in Burbank. I doubt they'd be thrilled about a story on why Disney's bathrooms aren't clean or why every shop at WDW sells the same merchandise or why attractions suffer from disrepair, but I'm sure you're not in this to make the Disney execs happy. I've read your stuff in the Sentinel. So far, so good. I know that beat tends to suffer a lot of overturn. Best wishes.
Originally Posted By guineapig I cannot say I was not warned. Even my familiarity with the intellectual desert that is an internet forum, I ventured into an arena of Mufasas anyway. It is evident from the majority of these posts that a Made-in-the-Philippines pink plastic princess wand has cast a spell of mass hypnosis that apparently Disney imagineers are bless-ed or that Disney is THE Great Provider of Fantasies and Dreams. Some post-ers act like they were just told there is no Santa Claus. Well, elephants don't really fly and your kitchen utensils don't really sing and dance. Moreover, riding a ride does not make the rider part of the imagineering staff or make one a roller coaster techno-expert. Some members in response to a concerned post have resorted to middle-school name-calling and stone throwing. Others respond with a whimper to simply "go away -- don't awaken me from my mouse-induced cartoon-coma." Overwhelmingly, though, a thunderous chant is heard for "PROOF, PROOF, PROOF ..." After a cursory review of these many inane posts, it is clear that most just couldn't handle the proof. What the Disney consumer should be DEMANDING is that Disney prove it didn't happen. Show the video, question the horrified cast member who was shocked as the car rounded the bend to see my husband's bar completely raised during the ride on January 26 at approx. noon that day. For many, all the cast and guest witnesses, cell phone records or even photographs couldn't remove the pixie dust caked in their eyes. The pixie dust was certainly blown out of my husband's eyes at 40 mph while he was hanging on while trying to find out if it was just his lap bar that failed or my daughter's lap bar that failed, too, or if all the lap bars failed. Perhaps Disney needed to exert more energy and more personnel to ride safety than it did to screening non-Vacation Club member and non-passholders from entry to Everest that preview weekend -- they had more cast members and managers trying to keep people out that January 2006 weekend than the TSA has screeners at LAX.
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA I'll have you know that my pink plastic wand is made in China. Seriously, if an apology is warranted, please accept mine. I must say your first post did read a bit strange. However, I contacted the Orlando Sentinel reporter, and he did mention of an incident at Expedition Everest. So, sorry you were doubted.
Originally Posted By trekkeruss <<Some members in response to a concerned post have resorted to middle-school name-calling and stone throwing.>> Boy, talk about the pot calling the kettle black. I am sorry if you and your family had a bad experience, but frankly, you did not and are not handling it in a mature manner, which further fuels the fire.
Originally Posted By guineapig I couldn't help laughing out loud at the post regarding Disney having no obligation to run the ride prior to opening day. WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? Disney advertised this as a preview day for Vacation Club members and passholders -- not "Let us test our lack of ride safety measures on Lose Your Life, Limb or Little Girl Day." Disney has every obligation to protect their stockholders as well as their guests and they do that by ensuring that every guest leaves the park with a lighter wallet and without being accompanied by an ambulance or the coroner at the end of their "magical day." Luckily, my husband is very strong but he sustained neck and back injury trying to keep himself and my daughter IN the ride. Thankfully, my daughter was not in the seat with the failed lap bar. Both my husband and daughter witnessed the look of horror by the cast member when they rounded the bend and saw that his lap bar was completely raised. The only safety action taken at that point was to run the ride car ONCE without passengers. We don't know anything about the console; we could not get anything but horrified looks and tight lips from cast members on duty at that time. My younger daughter, who was until that day a roller coaster addict, riding everything from Superman to The Hulk to Rockin Roller Coaster says, she is "grounded" for the time being – it was just that frightening. I don't ride many thrill rides, and my older daughter elected not to ride because she said the restraining bar looked "prehistoric" for a 21st century ride. We took photographs to capture the "thrill" of seeing their expressions on a new attraction.
Originally Posted By trekkeruss <<What the Disney consumer should be DEMANDING is that Disney prove it didn't happen.>> Disney does what it can to make sure their attractions are safe. It only makes sense, because the consequences of not doing so can be catastrophic. However, thinks can happen. Life is not perfect. I don't know what you expected by posting here. You come in with a new screenname, post a story that could easily be taken as fake, claim to have photos that you are apparently unwilling to show... why be surprised at the responses? <<Even my familiarity with the intellectual desert that is an internet forum, I ventured into an arena of Mufasas anyway.>> Again, your approach was all wrong. You brought it upon yourself.
Originally Posted By guineapig This isn't the first instance experienced with lack of safety on Disney's rides. After this event, we provided this topic to make people aware of the newest Disney ride being operated that still has safety problems, hopefully get some information, and get Disney to act for the safety of all. My daughter observes, "why did we bother, this forum has been brutal; people just don't care." My husband is committed to getting any ranking member of the Disney legal, management or engineering staff who wishes to respond to contact him. He welcomes the opportunity and has left messages and phone numbers, to no avail. The event did happen, and thank you to the one and the few who had intelligence enough to search or make a call to verify with news sources including the Orlando Sentinel. It is for Disney to provide the information that the event is being corrected so that a future rider will not face a similar or, heaven forbid, a more dire incident. My husband has left numerous messages for managers and engineers at Disney to respond to him in this matter. He contacted three Orlando news sources to look into this matter since his efforts with Disney have been "unfruitful" (code word "nonexistent)." We are annual passholders and stockholders for years. Optimum ride safety should be Disney park's prime concern, and it has not been and is not. A more unfortunate story is inevitable if Disney continues to ignore or cover up such incidents for fear of confrontation or delay and does not correct failures in their Everest ride safety system. Tragedies, unfortunately, are what make believers of the ignorant.
Originally Posted By brotherdave If this might help you further, the actual designer and builder of the ride system is a ride manufacturing company called Vekoma, based in the Netherlands. Here's a link to their website... <a href="http://www.vekoma.com/" target="_blank">http://www.vekoma.com/</a> I'm not sure if this will help you at all, but, it might be worth contacting them as well. I'm truly sorry to hear about your husband's injuries and I hope he recovers fully. I truly hope this doesn't discourage you from enjoying other rides, even re-riding EE. To paraphrase Robin Williams' title character in the World According to Garp, you're now "pre-disastered". The chances of something like this happening again are minimal. As stated earlier by someone else, lap bar failures do occasionally occur. I know, I experienced it myself as I mentioned earlier. Fortunately for me, no injuries. Is it commonplace? I don't think so. I've ridden many coasters at various parks across the continent and have only experienced it once myself. I'm sure Disney was confident that the ride was safe to operate, otherwise it would not have opened. Hopefully, this incident will have possibly shown the maintenance staff a possible weakness in the system, and that it has been addressed and corrected so that it doesn't happen again. Also, another few posters seemed amazed that at some parks when this does happen, that all they do is rope off that particular seat. Well, this IS a common practice found at many theme and amusement parks. Just because one lap bar may have a problem (not necessarily one that pops open, some have been known not to unlock!), doesn't mean that the rest of the coaster train is defective. These restraint systems are used hundreds to thousands a time a day at any given park. And, unfortunately, things sometimes do break. Does this mean that the ride is unsafe? Of course not. Most rides of this type are engineered to keep riders in their seat in case of a restraint failure as mentioned by the Orlando Sentinal reporter. I would not be surprised if seatbelts were to be added to EE after this incident just as an added safety measure. Then again, it may have only been one 'fluke' incident and it's problem may have been corrected. I'm sure Disney has consulted with the engineers at Vekoma about this problem as well. It certainly is NOT in Disney's, nor any other park's, best interest to have incidents of this nature to occur. I hope Disney management will help to rectify your problem with them.
Originally Posted By trekkeruss I see you continue to not respond to anyone in particular, but prefer to continue on your rant. <<This isn't the first instance experienced with lack of safety on Disney's rides.>> Many, if not most of us are aware that there have been problems in the past. <<After this event, we provided this topic to make people aware of the newest Disney ride being operated that still has safety problems>> Fair enough. <<hopefully get some information>> You have said yourself that "we" are not experts, so again, I don't know what you were expecting in that regard. <<My husband is committed to getting any ranking member of the Disney legal, management or engineering staff who wishes to respond to contact him.>> According to the writer at the Orlando Sentinal, "I've also spoken to the man involved, and his story is consistent with what I heard from Disney. He has finally heard from Disney himself, and is working with them to answer his concerns." <<Optimum ride safety should be Disney park's prime concern, and it has not been and is not.>> What evidence do you have that they are not providing optimum safety? How do you know they aren't taking appropriate actions in light of what happened to your husband?
Originally Posted By sherrytodd I don't believe that Disney takes these things lightly. The California Screaming fender bender shut that ride down for months and resulted in a full investigation. This was at a serious cost to Disney as it removed a major headliner ride from a park with few headliner attractions to begin with and resulted in turning a side of the park into a ghost town. I am confident that if something did happen, that Disney has investigated it and has deemed that the ride is safe. As I stated earlier, EE is in a soft opening stage. Disney has no obligation to run the ride right now and has made it clear that shut-downs may occur. There is no logical reason for Disney to continue operation of a ride that is unsafe as a serious accident could lead to a media disaster.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip I have no problem admitting when I am wrong, and it appears that in this case I was. The original poster did much to encourage disbelief though. Generally when a recently registered poster makes a potentially controversial first post they are nothing but a troll looking to spark arguments. I guess I am still astounded that a long-time LP member would choose to make that post under a new screen name, but I guess we will never know the reason behind that. I've got to tell you though; if something like that happened to TDLFAN you can be sure the report would be under the name TDLFAN. I may not always agree with him, but his integrity is beyond question.
