Big Thunder Mountain Railroad re-opens

[Polar33]

While it might be old news for some of you who were working at Disneyland this weekend, it's new news to me since I was away for "time off for good behavior" (also known as vacation) this past weekend.

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad re-opened again on Friday the 27th of August, after a seven week down time following an accident on July 8th that caused minor injuries to five passengers. The DOSH report that was released prior to the attraction's re-opening states that the fault was operator error by the tower CM in addition to a unique sequence of events that caused a technical malfunction as well.

Greg Hale, chief safety officer of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, released the following message to the press.

Over the last two months, I had the opportunity to work closely with a team of experts from Walt Disney Parks and Resorts as they evaluated and investigated the July 8 incident on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at the Disneyland Resort. This team consisted of leaders in their fields -- WDI, Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resort ride control, operations and scientific systems experts, the Disneyland Resort Safety team and the Disneyland Resort Training and Documentation team. We also worked very closely with the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad Cast Members and Leadership.

Since the incident on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, the attraction has remained closed while the cause was investigated by both DOSH, and the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts team. We did a thorough review of the operation of the attraction by looking at our operating procedures, the ride system and training.

Our investigation and the DOSH investigation are now complete. The DOSH report stated that the incident was caused by the failure to follow a procedure, which due to a unique sequence of events, the ride control system did not override.

We agree with the DOSH report and have taken all the required corrective actions, including a comprehensive review of and enhancements to the ride control system.

I want you all to know that I am confident in the investigation, the enhancements, the attraction, and most of all, in the Cast who operate this attraction everyday.

From reviewing the operation of the attraction to conducting significant testing, everyone had a valuable role to play. The Cast Members who work on this attraction were a vital part of the comprehensive testing process. Their creativity and ingenuity helped the engineers verify that all ride systems are functioning as intended.

I want to recognize the entire team for their amazing efforts. I am proud of how everyone worked together toward a common goal and I continue to be impressed with the talented and dedicated individuals that make up this organization.

As a Company, we remain committed to driving continuous improvement and upholding the high standards that keep us at the forefront of ride safety. We have completed our extensive testing and DOSH has approved the attraction to reopen. Therefore, in our continued commitment to deliver an outstanding Guest experience, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad has now reopened.

More information on this story:
• MousePlanet: Rolling Thunder (http://www.mouseplanet.com/parkupdates/dlr/dlr040830.htm)- Includes PDF of DOSH report
• LATimes: Disney is Again Faulted in Coaster Accident (http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-thunder28aug28,1,4451914.story) (free registration required)
• OCReg: Disney allowed to reopen ride that injured five (http://www.ocregister.com/ocr/2004/08/28/sections/business/business/article_219115.php)(free registration required)
• OCReg: Disney retrains Big Thunder crew for 3rd time (http://www.ocregister.com/ocr/2004/08/28/sections/business/business/article_219118.php)(free registration required)

[Freak]

Huzzah, its open again!





Let's just hope it stays that way. :?

[DLRFantasmic!Dan]

I knew that from another "Disney" forum, that shall remain nameless!! I am excited since the Matterhorn will be down for 3 to 6 months for rehab. They should at least have one major coaster open while the others are in rehab.

[GMC]

I was very excited to not see BTM on the Refurb list last saturday, i woulda called over and congratulated them from Indy's Tower, but someone had stolen the phone list, it was funny though because it was either that day or the one after that we had a potential accident, but the computer picked it up and did an auto e-stop, i was grouping when all the vehicles shut down, and the speil went off, i'm not sure that the tower CM quite knew what was happening because it took him a good minute or two to bring the attraction out of show conditions, we spent a good three or four hours down while we did everything we could to get things up and running agian, ahh!, all these downtimes are melting into one, i can't seem to remeber what happened when.

no, it was that day indeed, beacuse i had just left tower to go down to group, and i had told the cm that bumped me to get us a good downtime. HAH! the irony, the next day was most excellent, not a single down time in the whole adventure frontier unit, but i know matterhorn went 101 at least twice, i know becuase i was on the trains and monorail annouced them. well i'm talking too much agian

[wheelieman]

I was just wondering, how does management treat the CM who may have caused the BTM accident? Are they respectful and supportive, or do they can them right away? Just wondering.

Dave

[Main Streeter]

I was just wondering, how does management treat the CM who may have caused the BTM accident? Are they respectful and supportive, or do they can them right away? Just wondering.

Don't believe the CM was termed, or maybe I heard wrong. This CM is able to receive counseling/pysch care. Of course everyone has lawyers by now. CM working Christmas Eve dock accident (99 ??) was given psych help for more than 3 yrs. Disney had to pay those costs & CM wasn't termed, but was off for over a yr. Each case is handled differently...according to convo in PT.

"Is management respectful & supportive?" Rather think COSHA might quietly set guidelines for DOSH. Great question Wheelieman.

Edited by Polar33 to fix error in BBCode.

[GMC]

i don't know the guy, but it depends on how he handled it, reactions when he realized it was probly his fault, he was new, so that's taken into account, did he follow other procedure, was his lead supportive, was he in tower getting help, since he was in fact new, there are several things that would need to be taken into account. they may have taken it off his knowlege as well, i was talking to one of the condutros who had only gotten a week or two in before the accident after being signed off, and they didn't update him because they felt that he hadn't had enough time there to really (this part i'm assuming, because i forgot why he said) be an asset to the ride. like i said there are afininty things that would have to be taken inot account.

[Polar33]

My guess is that the company isn't going to fire him right off the bat. If they did that and it got to the press, there would be definitely be questions raised about weather Disney is hiring people fit for working in high-stress situations. It's undoubtably written on his record though.

They are probably being civil with him up front, but I doubt that he'll continue to work coasters. If he doesn't willingly drop knowledge the company will most likely find other places for him to work that aren't so high profile.

[coldfire409]

I just found this article (Link) (http://www.themeparkinsider.com/columns/robert/78.cfm) It has a link on it to the report by I think DOSH,

Edited by CujoSR: Link shortened