Twelve hurt when 2 Disney buses crash

ericpabear · Post by **ericpabear** » Jul Thu 16, 2009 7:30 pm

Two Walt Disney World buses crashed this afternoon in front of the Contemporary Resort on Disney property, injuring 12 people, the Florida Highway Patrol said.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/loc ... 7261.story

Clusty · Post by **Clusty** » Jul Thu 16, 2009 11:49 pm

Sad. Hopefully all these accidents end soon.

timekeeper · Post by **timekeeper** » Jul Fri 17, 2009 7:06 am

As many people as disney moves each day its amazing there are not more accidents!
In 2005 our POFQ bus rolled back away from MK loading area and side swiped the bus next/behind it. The driver stepped off to assist with a chair and there the bus went... Luckily no one was hurt, with the wheels turned hard for him to pull up around the other buses to the curb it rolled back out the same way. It was right after wishes and a LONG wait for another bus. But no one was hurt...

GhostHost · Post by **GhostHost** » Jul Fri 17, 2009 7:36 am

timekeeper wrote:As many people as disney moves each day its amazing there are not more accidents!

That's so true! It really is like a small city every day of the week and as careful as Disney is there are going to be accidents when humans are involved. It's so important to be aware of your surroundings and not let your guard down totally, even at Disney. That's not to say you can't have a good time and I'm not saying be a worry wart on your vacation. Just watch out for yourself and your family and even other people. We have to help each other out even if it means saying "hey buddy, watch where you are going!" It might save a life, you never know. Driving is a good example. When I was first learning my dad told me something that has proved to be very true over the years. "90% of driving is watching out for the other guy."

cousininmiami · Post by **cousininmiami** » Jul Fri 17, 2009 8:04 am

I am sad as well to hear about this. I hope noboby was seriously hurt. It kind of seems like when you are on vacation, especially to Disney World, that you are invincible, nothing will ever happen.

99Soulz · Post by **99Soulz** » Jul Fri 17, 2009 9:42 am

That is what's so interesting about how we are all reacting to the recent accidents. It's a story because it rarely happens in WDW. As someone stated with thousands of people on any given day and millions in a given year, it's amazing there aren't more. Hats off to them for having the process/controls in place for being as safe as they are. Lessons can always be learned though and unfortunately someone lost their life recently, very sad.

agingerbugg · Post by **agingerbugg** » Jul Fri 17, 2009 10:17 am

Is it newsworthy because so few accidents happen or because so few accidents occur in deaths? Like TimeKeeper mentioned the bus rolling into another bus, I wonder how many incidents occur that do not result in injuries...I am guessing the number is far higher than we suspect. And even the incidents that do result in injuries, but not major injuries. The only reason this incident is getting major news coverage is because of the proximity to the monorail accident.

I am reminded of a rumored incident my sister told me about (I say rumored, because I do not have proof other than my sister's tale). And if MadEye has heard this please correct errors or omissions, I am sure I will not convey it appropriately, but you will get the gist of the story. A woman queued to ride Star Tours decided she didn't want to ride and exited the ride vehicle before the seatbelts were locked, but after the exit doors had closed. She proceeded through the exit doors and across the ramp. At the far end, she was unable to open the doors to the hall, for some reason the sensors did not detect her presence and the ride began and the CM manning the control room has absent or didn't notice her or something, but he didn't see her to e-stop. The ramps fold up to give the ride vehicle clearance, when the ramps folded up, she was pinned between the wall and the ramp. The ride is nearly five minutes long and she was pinned in a space roughly six inches wide. She was unharmed, but this tale did not make it to the media, it was gossip spreading through the CMs at DHS. Again I don't know how accurate this is, but IF it is true, it just goes to show that there are probably a lot more incidents that go unreported than we think.

And no, I am not just talking about guests who slip and fall or misstep off a curb. I mean real incidents that can be blamed on human (Disney CM) errors.

cousininmiami · Post by **cousininmiami** » Jul Fri 17, 2009 10:56 am

I seem to remember one a long time ago at Disneyland where someone got squished inbetween the moving portion of Carousel of Progress, or at that time it may have been America Sings. I don't remember the details but I lived in LA at the time and it was newsworthy there. I believe it was closed for a while. Geeeze, I hadn't thought about that in years!

PureDisney · Post by **PureDisney** » Jul Fri 17, 2009 11:02 am

Have we heard anything on an update such as whether or not the people were able to leave the hospital?

Jacca5660 · Post by **Jacca5660** » Jul Fri 17, 2009 11:48 am

This is only in the news because it is Disney. If this were two buses anyplace else no one would ever hear about it.

Bullwinkle · Post by **Bullwinkle** » Jul Fri 17, 2009 12:15 pm

cousininmiami wrote:I seem to remember one a long time ago at Disneyland where someone got squished inbetween the moving portion of Carousel of Progress, or at that time it may have been America Sings. I don't remember the details but I lived in LA at the time and it was newsworthy there. I believe it was closed for a while. Geeeze, I hadn't thought about that in years!

Her name was Debbie Stone. It was about a week after "America Sings" premiered. To my knowledge she is the only other CM to have died in the parks, Austin being the second.

spodie · Post by **spodie** » Jul Fri 17, 2009 12:55 pm

Jacca5660 wrote:This is only in the news because it is Disney. If this were two buses anyplace else no one would ever hear about it.

Maybe, but I think it's being brought to the forefront because of the Monorail incident. I don't think the bus accident would have been such an interest to the media if the Monorail crash hadn't happened a couple of weeks ago.

agingerbugg · Post by **agingerbugg** » Jul Fri 17, 2009 12:55 pm

From what I have read there have been five employee deaths at Disney parks, or the result of injuries sustained at a park.

Austin Wunnenburg July 5, 2009 monorail accident

Javier Cruz February 11, 2004 run over by parade float backstage

Raymond Barlow February 14, 1999 fell from skyway loading platform

Debbie Stone July 8, 1974 America Sings incident

Karen Price November 27, 2007 fell off the Primeval Wirl maintenance platform on November 23.

Back to the Debbie Stone incident, as a result of this, Disney installed breakaway walls between the theaters on CoP. If you look, you can see the walls look different at the edges.

spodie wrote:
Jacca5660 wrote:This is only in the news because it is Disney. If this were two buses anyplace else no one would ever hear about it.
Maybe, but I think it's being brought to the forefront because of the Monorail incident. I don't think the bus accident would have been such an interest to the media if the Monorail crash hadn't happened a couple of weeks ago.

It would get mentioned because it is Disney, but no one was seriously injured and no one died. That would have been the end of it. Because of the proximity to the monorail accident it is now front page news.

cousininmiami · Post by **cousininmiami** » Jul Fri 17, 2009 1:26 pm

Yes I remember it now, it was a cast member. Thanks for the info. Any accident is sad, however everyone at Disney seems like family.

Mr.ToadWildRider · Post by **Mr.ToadWildRider** » Jul Fri 17, 2009 2:34 pm

agingerbugg wrote:From what I have read there have been five employee deaths at Disney parks, or the result of injuries sustained at a park.

Austin Wunnenburg July 5, 2009 monorail accident

Javier Cruz February 11, 2004 run over by parade float backstage

Raymond Barlow February 14, 1999 fell from skyway loading platform

Debbie Stone July 8, 1974 America Sings incident

Karen Price November 27, 2007 fell off the Primeval Wirl maintenance platform on November 23.

Any idea on guest fatalities? I know there was the little boy on Mission:Space, the British girl on ToT (though I think these were both heart attacks?), and some guy who got decapitated trying to climb between peoplemover cars.