Sinkhole Collapses Resort outside of WDW area

[Sharonofwindham]

So relieved everyone was OK, but how scary for those staying there. Glad Disney checks things out before they build. I read that it had been a very long time since this property had been tested, and they built anyway...crazy

[Amy]

I did see this news blurb this morning. Hopefully everyone is ok. Florida is a lot of swampland so the sinkholes are disturbing, but not necessarily unexpected. I sincerely hope that the WDW planners were careful in their layouts ~

Try not to think about the sinkhole in Epcot then.

The lake in front of the Odyssey restaurant apparently is a sinkhole, which is why that area is laid out weird.

Makes me want to rethink our always stopping at these restrooms!!

That's crazy! Hope everyone was o.k. Not long ago, a little boy was swallowed by a sink hole at the dunes, on Mt. Baldy! He did survive, thankfully.

Did you hear, they're going to bring seismologists and ground-penetrating radar (sonar? sound waves) to see what caused the cavity that sucked the kid in. It would be awesome if they figure that out, and can warn others if the danger exists elsewhere.

Hadn't heard that a sinkhole was the cause of this accident. It was pretty impressive that the little boy survived with no lasting injuries though.

[BenB]

I saw that this morning! What a mess, I hope no one was hurt! No one really ever knows how big a sink hole is going to get, do they? I wonder what causes them. Besides unstable soil, I mean. What causes the soil to destabilize?

The bedrock in Florida is limestone, which is porous and easily eroded by water. The subterranean water flows, the bedrock disappears, and down goes the earth on top. They're especially prevalent in Florida due to the weather patterns and several other factors.

The ridiculous thing is how unpredictable they are. In fact I read that a full geological analysis was done on the now-collapsed resort before it was built, just 15 years ago. There were no sinkholes then. Obviously that's changed...

[cousininmiami]

Sinkholes are just something that we deal with here in Florida. We are basically floating here in this state... when we had a well drilled a few years ago for our sprinkler system, about 4 feet down they hit water! Our well goes down 15 feet however to get nice clear water from the Aquafer. Also part of my homeowners insurance deals with sinkholes!

But I wouldn't worry about anything happening like that at WDW, they are pretty smart cookies! Funny story about The Odyssey, it makes sense!

[cy1229]

I saw that this morning! What a mess, I hope no one was hurt! No one really ever knows how big a sink hole is going to get, do they? I wonder what causes them. Besides unstable soil, I mean. What causes the soil to destabilize?

The bedrock in Florida is limestone, which is porous and easily eroded by water. The subterranean water flows, the bedrock disappears, and down goes the earth on top. They're especially prevalent in Florida due to the weather patterns and several other factors.

The ridiculous thing is how unpredictable they are. In fact I read that a full geological analysis was done on the now-collapsed resort before it was built, just 15 years ago. There were no sinkholes then. Obviously that's changed...

That's interesting because the bedrock in Indiana is mostly limestone, too. So perhaps it has more to do with a high water table and not the stone? Our water table averages 25 ft. here, whereas it's much higher in Florida.

[Len90]

Sadly I think this resort collapse is not an uncommon thing for Florida. The damage is high, but at least nobody was injured.

[mills10]

The sinkhole that just happened at was about 2 miles from where I live! A guard was able to evacuate the building when it started so nobody was hurt!

[Amy]

The sinkhole that just happened at was about 2 miles from where I live! A guard was able to evacuate the building when it started so nobody was hurt!

That is great that everyone was out and not injured! Glad you are ok as well

[dstrawn9889]

Sinkholes are just something that we deal with here in Florida. We are basically floating here in this state... when we had a well drilled a few years ago for our sprinkler system, about 4 feet down they hit water! Our well goes down 15 feet however to get nice clear water from the Aquafer. Also part of my homeowners insurance deals with sinkholes!

But I wouldn't worry about anything happening like that at WDW, they are pretty smart cookies! Funny story about The Odyssey, it makes sense!

ummmm.... HORIZONS?

[cousininmiami]

Was Horizon's on a sinkhole?

[dstrawn9889]

Was Horizon's on a sinkhole?

from what i remember, the reason the building had to come down was that one corner of the building was subsiding into a sinkhole... im gonna have to check it out though

wikipedia -- (which means take it with a grain of salt) On January 9, 1999, Horizons closed permanently.
No reason was publicly given, but the lack of corporate sponsorship probably played a large part in the decision. It is also claimed that a reason for the attraction closing was major structural problems (a large marshland sink-hole underneath the structure which emerged in 1998), along with problems with the roof. The building was claimed to have been close to collapsing under its own weight.[4]

[Amy]

Was Horizon's on a sinkhole?

from what i remember, the reason the building had to come down was that one corner of the building was subsiding into a sinkhole... im gonna have to check it out though

wikipedia -- (which means take it with a grain of salt) On January 9, 1999, Horizons closed permanently.
No reason was publicly given, but the lack of corporate sponsorship probably played a large part in the decision. It is also claimed that a reason for the attraction closing was major structural problems (a large marshland sink-hole underneath the structure which emerged in 1998), along with problems with the roof. The building was claimed to have been close to collapsing under its own weight.[4]

Hmmm, what would they have had to do to the underlying property in order to build Mission Space there then? Can you completely fill in a sinkhole?

[Wizzard419]

They did add a bunch of concrete for the foundation (to support the ride mechanisms) which can also fill in the possible sinkhole.

[Amy]

They did add a bunch of concrete for the foundation (to support the ride mechanisms) which can also fill in the possible sinkhole.

I would be worried about a collapse around the former sinkhole site. Hmm, hope they filled it in enough!

[Wizzard419]

My guess is the sinkhole doesn't actually exist, they might be confusing the sinkhole with the real one mentioned earlier. I am not 100% sure you could get permits to build a new structure on a known sinkhole, regardless of efforts to remedy the issue.

Disney may get the false reputation for being cheap with building (which they are not, they spend based on frequency of guest visits) but in this case they would probably just move the footprint for the ride outside of the danger zone, like they did before. It would be kind of clunky, but that beats having to shut down a ride and possibly damaging the mechanisms.