Power outage
Disney Pix
Walt Disney World's monorail system suffered a power failure overnight,
stranding some passengers for hours before riders were rescued by emergency
crews.
The monorail was brought to a standstill by a failed hard drive in the
computer system that runs the 15-mile long transportation system. The
monorail lost power to its beam.
No one was injured, said Bo Jones, of the Reedy Creek Fire Department, which
serves the Walt Disney World resort.
The monorail was running again by the time parks opened Sunday.
About 300 people were affected by the incident, which happened at about 1
a.m. Many of Walt Disney World's parks were already closed at the time, but
the Magic Kingdom was open until 1 a.m.
Seven monorail trains were operating at the time. Three trains had
passengers on them and were not at a station at the time of the power
failure. Those passengers were either assisted by emergency responders from
Reedy Creek Improvement District, or disembarked after their train was towed
to a nearby station. Three other trains were already in the station at the
time of the power failure, and one was empty.
Fire fighters did use fire ladders to rescue some park visitors, but Jones
said the measure was for customer service, rather than for emergency
purposes.
"Our commitment to safety guides all we do, and this is the type of
situation we train for with Reedy Creek," said Andrea Finger, spokeswoman
for Walt Disney World. "We extend our apologies to guests who were affected
and are working directly with them."
Jones said the Reedy Creek fire department trains for such an incident about
six to eight times a year.
"We're ready for it when it happens and try to make it as speedy a process
as we can," he said.
This morning's incident comes several months after monorail operator Austin
Wuennenberg was killed in a collision between two trains. Wuennenberg was
the first fatality in the history of the Walt Disney World monorail system.
In September, the park's monorail system experienced an electrical short at
a control booth that shut down some parts of the transportation system.
About 25 guests were affected briefly in that incident, until a tractor
towed the train to the station.
Copyright � 2009, Orlando Sentinel
JerryD(upstateNY)
rescued by a fireman. <g>
--
JerryD(upstateNY)
"Disney Pix" < wrote in message
Disney Pix
Rob
"JerryD(upstateNY)" <m...@rochester.rr.com> wrote in message
news:hg3l0s$mli$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
Lisa Cubbon
> My grand kids would have loved to get stranded on the monorail and then get
> rescued by a fireman. <g>
>
Paul Lalli
> Personally I think I would have found it neat also... :)
http://www.cfnews13.com/News/Local/2009/12/14/passengers_fuming_about_monorail_failure.html
Some passengers are claiming they were stranded on the monorail for 3
full hours, from 1am to 4am. That stopped being "neat" about 2 hours
and 40 minutes ago.
Paul Lalli
Gary Edstrom
wrote:
>http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/os-bk-disney-monorail-power-outage-121309,0,5383375.story
[snip]
>The monorail was brought to a standstill by a failed hard drive in the
>computer system that runs the 15-mile long transportation system. The
>monorail lost power to its beam.
[snip]
Aren't we depending on computers a little too much when a hard drive
failure at a central location could bring down a whole transporation
system?
Gary
Paul
news:4lvci51m6ql4mbb9c...@4ax.com:
That was my thought. Also, though I would have been unlikely to
have been on the monorail at that hour, since it was way past my
bedtime, I'm thinking that such an occurance would be an adventure
for a little while, then the comfort and other needs of an older
person would take over ...
--
Paul in NH (PSS)
(My Face is in the Book)
p s s a w y e r at c o m c a s t dot n e t
m-i-c-k-e-y
> On Dec 13, 7:48 pm, "Disney Pix" <robfa...@liamg.com> wrote:
>
> > Personally I think I would have found it neat also... :)
>
>
> Some passengers are claiming they were stranded on the monorail for 3
> full hours, from 1am to 4am. That stopped being "neat" about 2 hours
> and 40 minutes ago.
>
> Paul Lalli
The only thing that would have been neat about the situation is if
they had used emergency evac procedures and exited through the top
hatch and repelled down the front/back of the monorail and walked down
the beam....
jt august
Gary Edstrom <GEds...@PacBell.Net> wrote:
My question is, are they trying to update the MAPO, which allowed this
bug?
jt
Patty Winter
In article <50f0cd14-7b96-4752...@b15g2000yqd.googlegroups.com>,
m-i-c-k-e-y <wil...@go.com> wrote:
>
>The only thing that would have been neat about the situation is if
>they had used emergency evac procedures and exited through the top
>hatch and repelled down the front/back of the monorail
By wearing vests that are polarized opposite to the polarization
of the monorail? :-)
Patty
Brian
<GEds...@PacBell.Net> wrote:
>Aren't we depending on computers a little too much when a hard drive
>failure at a central location could bring down a whole transporation
>system?
>
>Gary
Many other more important systems also have the same vulnerability
like the electric grid and the water supply.
Brian
<pssa...@comcast.net.INVALID> wrote:
>That was my thought. Also, though I would have been unlikely to
>have been on the monorail at that hour, since it was way past my
>bedtime, I'm thinking that such an occurance would be an adventure
>for a little while, then the comfort and other needs of an older
>person would take over ...
We might have been. We went last year and were on transportation at
that time. I thought about those who had not visited the rest rooms
before leaving the park thinking it wouldn't be that long.
Disney Pix
fails they can switch to another computer. I have backup's on my personal
computers (whole house media server) so I don't know why they wouldn't.
Rob
"Gary Edstrom" <GEds...@PacBell.Net> wrote in message
news:4lvci51m6ql4mbb9c...@4ax.com...
Gary Edstrom
wrote:
>No, not really.... they should have a backup system in case the hard drive
>fails they can switch to another computer. I have backup's on my personal
>computers (whole house media server) so I don't know why they wouldn't.
>
>Rob
At each company I have worked for, I have found that the personal
computer equipment I have at home is usually better than the company's,
with better backup. :-)
Gary
Rob Steere
news:starsabre-31AA5...@aries.ka.weretis.net...
From what I've been reading, this incident sounds like there was a problem
in the power *supply* to the entire system. A failure in the
control/monitoring of the power to the beams caused the system to power down
completely, most likely in a fail-safe way to protect the system itself from
possible additional harm. (Similar to the well-known large-scale blackouts,
like the one in New York and large parts of the northeast a few years ago,
it could be as simple as one key component failing, and then the system
cascading into a fail-safe shutdown as each subsequent section of the power
grid senses the problem and then shuts itself down to protect itself from
possible damage by an over-current surge)
From the reports I haven't been able to figure out exactly where this train
was that had to be evac'd, but my guess is that the spot where it just
happened to be when the system went down (which yes, it applies emergency
brakes on all trains as soon as power is lost) other trains may have been
blocking the route that the tractors needed to take to tow this one into a
station.
Under a normal single-train breakdown, other trains are still able to
shuffle around to clear the way for the tug. But if ALL the trains aren't
working, that may not be possible.
As for the MAPO comment, MAPO has nothing to do with supplying power to the
system, it can't control the power to any section of the track. The
transmitters gets their power from the system, that's it. AFAIK, it's a
hard-wired *hardware* system on the beams, there's no "updating" it or
"controlling" it from a central point. The transmitters are stand-alone on
the beam, the rest of the "system" is hard-wired into each train's controls.
-Rob
Disney Pix
Rob
"Gary Edstrom" <GEds...@PacBell.Net> wrote in message
news:gb3ei5tpob687snsc...@4ax.com...
Paul
news:4b26cd62$0$1667$742e...@news.sonic.net:
>
> In article
> <50f0cd14-7b96-4752-a72d-
9db73f...@b15g2000yqd.googlegroups.com>
Or just the repulsive guests?
(: repelling/rappelling :)
Patricia Barber
they kept us informed as to what was going on but with no power at all
that probably wasn't possible. As long as there was room, I
probably would have stretched out on a seat and gone to sleep at some
point!
Rudeney
I am 100% certain I would have needed a bathroom within that time. So,
I'll pass on that adventure!
--
- RODNEY
Next WDW Vacation?
Who knows!
Need to know more about RADP (rec.arts.disney.parks)?
Brian
wrote:
>No, not really.... they should have a backup system in case the hard drive
>fails they can switch to another computer. I have backup's on my personal
>computers (whole house media server) so I don't know why they wouldn't.
>
>Rob
I think there have been power failures caused by computer problems.
Recently there was a major problem with airlines because the flight
plans couldn't be filed because of a computer problem.
Keane
<GEds...@PacBell.Net> wrote:
Actually, it just depends on how much you want to spend.
I've got a disk farm that could theoretically lose 24 disks, and still
function. In reality, I could lose 2 disks in any group of 14 and
still function at full speed. My system will even operate if one of
the controllers should fail.
We typically lose maybe two or three disks per year, and I suspect
one or two of those disks are just taken out of service due to an
error, and not an actual failure.
So if something actually comes down due to a disk failure, then
someone didn't figure the actual cost of operations.
Keane
--
When stars are born, They possess a gift or two,
One of them is this, They have the power to make a wish come true...
-- Wishes
Visit my site: http://keanespics.com
Patricia Barber
> I am 100% certain I would have needed a bathroom within that time. So,
> I'll pass on that adventure!
Well yeah, me too. But that would have been part of the adventure!
Walrus and Ferret
our 2 bits
--
Walrus and Ferret
The time has come the walrus said to talk of many things, Of sealing wax and
sailing ships Of cabbages and kings......