Monorail Evacuation Today

Well, as many of you know, there was a monorail evacuation exercise today.

I'll tell you as much as I feel I can, but again I'm going to withhold some detail for security reasons.

To start off, I woke up at 2:00 to get ready for the event. I arrived at about 3:00 and the exercise began(ish) at 3:30. They asked for four volunteers to start off. I raised my hand with a few others and was selected for the assignment. We didn't know what the assignment was, but we quickly learned that we should not have raised our hands.

We loaded in a van and headed to the Epcot. We were going to open up the Monorail station. Perhaps they should have said what we were going to do. I work in buses. Another volunteer currently works in watercrafts. The other two were night shifts and frankly haven't opened up a station since before me!

Anyway, we were driving from the Ticket Transportation Center and got off for Epcot. And we missed the gate. All of us were quietly asking the driver (a monorail coordinator) "Um, where are we going?" "Aren't we opening the Epcot Monorail station?" "Isn't the gate back there?" and the sort.

As it turns out, we entered through a back entrance. We drove backstage for a bit and actually entered the park in our massive van though the gate at Test Track. The point of us being in the park was to visually check the monorail beam throughout the park for obstructions. We drove all over ALL OVER Future World. Universive of Energy, through Innoventions East and around the tear drop (around the dancing fountain towards World Showcase).

Now it was time to head west towards The Seas with Nemo and Friends and such. They were doing some cleaning in that breezeway at Character Spot. They had moved some benches and the van was almost scraping the mirrors on one side against the Character Spot windows while the tires were only inches away from the temporarily located benches. That was a little intensive. We moved into the west around Imagination, past the Land, and around the Seas pavillion before heading back.

Driving under Spaceship Earth, we exited the park through the turnstiles. There was a security guard stationed there who looked almost in shock to see a group of young adults pilling out of a white van inside the park. Oh, I should probably mention that we were not in costume except for the monorail pilot. Anyway, we walked up to the station where a pressure-washing crew was just finishing their work.

Well, we started up the power, checked all the safety features of the station and did a safety check on the train in the station, Monorail Green. As we started the checklists, something occurred to me. All of the important big-wigs will be at this exercise. Monorail Green is slated to be the "rescue monorail". It was very nerve-racking. Here I am preparing for an emergency with the watchful eyes of a lot of important persons and I haven't done it in about three months!

Well, we got the station up and running and dispatched the train. About ten minutes later Monorail Orange arrived with 20 plus monorail pilots also participating in the drill. Slowly, all of the other major players arrived in the station. We were given our scenerio from the Manager of Emergency Management for Walt Disney World. Here's what was going on:

"Monorail Orange suffers a fire in Car Six and all fire extinguishers in the car do not operate properly. Due to abnormal circumstances on and around the beam, it is impossible for the monorail to return to Epcot or continue on to the TTC station."

Many of the emergency responders had never executed this type of exercise before and the goal for the morning was not necessarily speed but getting things right.

Normally, a monorail experiencing problems will go to the next monorail station for assistance. It is also possible to bring out a work tractor to tow the train (which is a lenghty process if done accurately) or to evacuate onto the roof of the train and be transported to the ground via ladder firetrucks. However, the roof evacuation is extremely risky and dangerous. Many monorail beams run very close to another beam and it is possible to bring another train alongside the disabled train and transfer guests from one train to the other.

That would be our fate. Go from one train to another out on the beam.

So, we leave the Epcot Monorail Station and experience "technical difficulties" near the toll plaza. So there we were. We used the emergency phones to contact the pilot with a head count of persons in the car and a status on those people (should anyone require medical or special assistance). A whole series of events was put into motion, but let's stick to what happened out on the beam.

Monorail Orange was just sitting there with all of us inside. Monorail Green pulled up a short time later with firemen in the cars. They had with them portable bridges. After they stopped the monorail and removed power from the beam, the manually opened the doors on Monorail Green using a special key (no, it is not possible to open the doors yourself).

Meanwhile, firemen used a ladder truck to board Monorail Orange on its roof. There was some banging on the roof as the firefighters entered the cars using the roof hatch.

I'm going to pause for a second to explain that this was not done nearly as quickly as I typed it. All of this was a very lengthy process. It took some of the cars a little while to figure out how exactly to open the doors and keep them open. It also took a while to set up the ladder truck and raise personnel onto the roof. Again, they were making sure to do things right, not necessarily quickly. We're talking well over an hour (close to 90 minutes) for everything to be done, including some things I haven't mentioned yet.

Also, because this was not an actual emergency but a simulated one, more emphasis was put on preserving the magic. For example, not everyone responded with lights and sirens because that puts another risk factor on the road. Anyone driving fast creates a dangerous condition. Frankly, emergency vehicles with lights creates something of a danger themselves when in motion because people are either distracted by them or may miss them entirely. That's sometimes why you see a police car going pretty fast down the street but without sirens. They are responding to a call, but it's not life-threathening so no need to endanger anyone else.

Plus, like I said, this wasn't a real emergency so they didn't want to cause any unnecessary cosmetic or structural damage to anything (landscaping, monorails, whatever). In a real emergency it wouldn't be a big deal if the ramps scrap up the floors or firefighters put little dings in the paint due their bulky equiptment. So things were taken a little bit slower and extra precautions were taken to ensure the trains were ready for guests later that day.

Okay, back to the train. After the rescue persons entered the train they got a head count and checked the medical condition of everyone. Once the situation was assessed, they opened up the doors facing Monorail Green, the rescue train. A bridge was then deployed between the two trains, complete with hand rails! The firefighters were strapped to the train and the bridge was also secured.

Here comes the big moment. The reason I woke up at 2:00 in the morning. The reason I was so excited that I got almost not sleep whatsoever the night before. The entire reason we were all there.

I took two steps and went from Monorail Orange into Monorail Green.

That was it. The firefighters were extremely careful to have a strong grip on me the entire way across. We were pretty high off the ground. I estimate, based on the clearance marker some distance away, that we were 35, maybe 40 feet in the air. The distance between the two trains was maybe six feet, probably less.

Safely aboard Monorail Green, we sat and watched all of the emergency equiptment shift into Monorail Orange (a much quicker process). Soon, we were given the dispatch to return to Epcot. I must say, it is a little ironic to hear the recorded speil about the glories of Spaceship Earth and Epcot after such a "tramatic event".

After returning to Epcot, we got off the train and waited. Again. This time for all of the coordinators to come back and do a quick summary right there. There are a ton of managers involved from a host of departments and agencies. The most important part of the exercise was safety. That was certainly a success as no one was injured. From what I can tell, it was a success overall as well. Granted I don't know the goal of each department for the exercise, but I did my part.

So that's what happened in the early morning hours at Walt Disney World.

I know there's not a lot of pictures to help illustrate the story, but I hope the words suffice. But I can't have no pictures at all, so here you go! Some of my favorite Monorail photos...



TTFN

Disney's Contemporary Resort

At the request of mom, here are some pictures of the Contemporary Resort. I gave her the option of the Contemporary or Mickey's Toontown Fair in the Magic Kingdom.

By the way, I do plan on each land and each resort having their own photo essay, but if there's something specific you want more immediately, let me know! Also, if you want to see something in a particular resort (outside of a view of the interior of a room), I'll do my best to accomplish that.

I'm going to break my own rule first. Stephanie was in town recently (love her!) and we stayed at the Carribean Beach Resort. I'll have to take pictures of the entire resort later, but I'll show you the room.



No photos of us though. Sorry! My hair was horrible. In fact I got it cut at on Main Street U.S.A. yesterday. I forgot to tell them exactly how I wanted it, so it is VERY VERY short. You will NOT see pictures of this. You might if I get a character photo later, but don't plan on it. Stephanie saw it via text photo. Maybe she'll tell you, but I won't. Oh well. I guess that happens, but hair grows back so no need to fret for too long.

You'll see the whole Nemo theme to the room. Impressive.

We saw the Finding Nemo Musical show at the Animal Kingdom in addition to seeing the sights on Safari and Everest. Well, I saw all of Everest. Stephanie saw a little bit between the cracks in her fingers! We even saw "It's Tough to be a Bug!" This, surprisingly, is a Stephanie suggestion considering she hates bugs. But she can sit through that show. Interesting. It's makes me think she might just want to be lazy and fakes being scared in order to have me do all the work involved with getting all the bugs out of her apartment instead of her being legitimately scared of the creepy crawlers. It's a theory I'm still developing in my mind.

After Animal Kingdom (with visits to every animal in the park!), we went to the Magic Kingdom and a Stephanie-loved dessert. Some sort of orange, citrus soft serve ice cream, this time served in pineapple juice. Very good. Here are some shots of all the cute am-i-nals we got before leaving Animal Kingdom.



And the demon rabbit from Planet Watch.



Oh, and the rose on Master Gracey's grave in the Magic Kingdom. Plus, if you go to Africa in Animal Kingdom to eat a meal (as we did), you can see some exposed brick. I suddenly exclaimed because I recognized the exposed brick as a siloette of Scar from the Lion King talking to a hyenia.



I do miss Stephanie terribly. As always. It never gets any easier whenever she leaves me.

I must mention this before I forget: My mom wanted pictures of the haircutting in the Kingdom and I didn't get any! I had a mental lapse guys. Sorry!

Now, let's get on to the Contemporary photos.

You'll notice a multitude of swimming opportunities as well as a few popular resturants. The monorail also goes right through the resort which is very, well, contemporary looking.

Enjoy!



By the way, it's hot here. Today was the coldest it's been in two weeks. It was 87 degrees compared to the 95-97 degree days we've been having for almost 10 days. I did begin my Criminal Justice class here at Disney. I will not discuss it due to security concerns, but it should be fun.

TTFN!

Thrashers Win Season Opener against Tampa Bay

The Atlanta Thrashers opened the new season last night against the Tampa Bay Lightning with a scary 6-3 win.

I didn't see a moment of the game live, but listened to Thrashers Radio live on the internet. Due to work, I couldn't hear anything from the first period.

I joined the game with a score of 2-0. Zach Booger-Snot added a goal while Evander Kane later assisted for his first NHL point in his first NHL game. Well done. Kovalchuk scored the first, appropriate for the Captain.

Then, it got a little scary. A goal by the Lightning. Then another to end the second. 4-2. An early third period goal let me think that the old "can't stop 'em defense" was back. And maybe so. But an insurance power play goal coupled with a back up insurance goal later in the game sealed the deal for the boys in blue.

Now, I've looked at some of the numbers and this is what I see.

Way to many shots allowed on goal. 39 allowed by the Lightning. 30 is my magic number. Less than that is beautiful. Pavelec is a talented goal tender, especially looking at some of the highlights from that game; however a tender is only so good no matter who minds the net. You've got to have some blockage and breakups in front of him. The Thrashers only had 28 shots on goal. The most important thing is not the shots, but the goals HOWEVER I am a big believer that you need to take more shots to insure the puck ends up in the net. Not wild shots, but don't always look for the golden opportunity because it may never materialize.

From what I heard, it does sound like the Thrashers aren't needlessly putting around with the biscuit out there and acutally (GASP!) taking the shots. Four of the shots were wristers, one tip in, and one slap shot by Kovy. This indicates to me that players are actually taking the initiative themselves instead of relying on the Captain K for everything. The tip-in was a beauty of a backhand which came as a result of a juicy rebound by Tampa's tender, Smith. How long have I been yelling at the Atlanta bench to follow the shot and plant someone by the goalie?

See? It works!

As far as penalties, they took too many for me. Then again, I think almost ANY penalty is unnecessary.

Except for fighting. That really can inspire a team as Thorburn and Bolton proved last night (especially Eric B.)





The Thrashers took only a few stupid penalties, but commited less than the Lightning. Good deal. However, on that note the Powerplay is a little lacking. I would say the same about the penalty kill, but the second Tampa Bay goal (a PP goal) was scored by amazingly fast Martin St. Louis in a 4 on 3 situation. With that much open ice for St. Louis, he was going to score against a tired and depleated Thrasher defense.

Still, I hate Martin St. Louis. All four feet of him.

I really wish I could have watched this game. It's hard to comment on a game simply listening to play-by-play and looking at the stats and box scores. I will say that the Thrashers Radio is very entertaining. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed every minute of the broadcast but I wanted to see it!

A surprise was Peverley coming up with a duo of goals to match Kovy's pair. Salmela and the previously mentioned Booger-Snot (Bogosian) notched the other ones. Assists came from a rogues gallery of players (9 total) which is a great thing. Teamwork with a few weapons, especially Little and Lil' Toby both having a pair of assists.

--

But you don't come the HOCKEY COP website looking for hockey information do you? Of course not! You come looking for Disney pictures and information!

Well, let me sum up all of my light duty jobs I've done since my new assignment.

I worked as a Food / Wine Greeter, a Turnstile Host, a Character Attendant, and a Bus Information Person. The first and last were horrible. One was telling cast members not to walk into the park as a guest from backstage and the Bus Info was telling people who were already lost accurate information they didn't want to hear. Like their bus was going to be really late.

The Turnstile host was surprisingly nice. I waved to everyone that left the Epcot park while opening gates for strollers or wheelchairs while looking out for rented strollers, wheelchairs and alcohol. None of those things leave the park. I got to wear the big Mickey hand! And I was recognized by management for doing a good job by way of a Fantastic Service Recognition.

The best was the Character Attendent. I worked with a pletheria (is that spelled right?), oh well, a pletheria of characters. This included the Character Spot (home of Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Donald, and Goofy), Donald in his Three Cabeneros outfit in Mexico, Snow White in Germany, Stitch, Daisy Duck (S-D-Bs!), and most recently in France with Belle, the Beast and sorta worked with Princess Aurora also known as Sleeping Beauty.

I can't really say a whole lot about my experiences with these folks except it was awesome! I loved seeing the looks on people's faces when they got to see their favorite character. My favorite is by far Belle. She knows the 501st and is a fan! She has even hung out with Princess Leia during the Star Wars Weekends for a few years.

Like I said, I can't say a whole lot about all of my interactions with the characters for obvious reasons. But know it's quite surreal watching Sleeping Beauty sitting next to Briar Rose herself.

On a sad note, all of my associates are gone now. No more Stephanie. No more family. No more ghost friends. They did leave me with some additional pictures taken by Gina of the evening. They are below. Some are similar to my pictures, but feel free to ignore them.

Big thanks to Gina, Madog, DeTag, Steve, Liz, and Jesse for letting me hand out with you guys. It was great. And, this just in, Stephanie will be here October 12-14. Yay!

OH! I almost forgot! My new job is Bus Greeter. I work with probably the most juvenile folks around, but I won't see them that long. Serious. I'm not sure if their maturity was collected and liquified it would fill a test tube. But that's okay. Considering the nature of the job, that may be a benefit.

See, my new job is to go to a different resort everyday and stay at the bus stop. I interact with the guests waiting and mark each and every bus that comes into the station. If a bus takes more than 20 minutes, maybe 25, I call and get another one. It helps keep the buses accountable by relieving the stress of the drivers and the guests.

Also, we can work at Fantastmic, the spectacular show at Disney's Hollywood Studios. That will be fun.

That will be fun. Plus, the hours are desirable. 6:45 until 2:00 am.

If you've ever visited a Disney Resort, you should appreciate the fact that there will be someone looking out for your Disney Transportation needs.

Enough of that. On to the photos!

Many of them are similar, but some are new and non-ghost-ish. Some are a bigger view of the preparation process. Also, note that I had some trouble uploading the photos for some reason, so they appear out of chronological order. That c-word is suppose to be, you know, that word that means the order in which things appear in real time. I can't spell. Plus, there are some more picture of me since they are from a different photographer.

Enjoy!



Thanks Gina for the photos!

One last parting story. I met Steve and Liz recently at Animal Kingdom. We rode Dinosaur a few times during the day. They were fun romps through time!



The funny story comes from the beginning of the day.

I was there early, early enough for rope drop (gate opening). I was the first person in line for the Dinosaur ride. Now, other people were in line behind me, but the family directly behind me got really slow and held everyone up. Perhaps they were remembering the warning outside.

So, they asked me how many in my party.

One. And the ride had to keep moving apparently.

I rode the ride by myself, as in no one else in the vehicle. I'm used to going to parks solo without friends or anything, but NEVER have I rode in ANY ride by my lonesome.

And here are the results...



Let me say the ride is scary, but it's terrifying if there's NOBODY else in the car with you. It looks like I'm riding in a car full of Stephanie's since she's terrified of dinosaurs and would hide on the floor if forced to ride this attraction.

Liz and Steve were much better riding partners. And perfect for taking photos. All I have is the one freak out pose. The Vitale's have an assortment of photogenic emotions in their grab bag.

TTFN