A few notable Stupid Guest Tricks

[GRUMPY PIRATE]

If it's an urban legend, how come I read it in the newspaper?

reporters are always hoping to get the "big" story that they get taken in every once in a while.

I have it on good authority that there has never been a documented case of that ever happining.

Like I said, the closest it has ever come was the guy with the stuff in his legs.

it shows up every once in a while.

[Rob562]

Door alerts are also fun. :twisted:

Had one of those on my trip this past weekend. I was taking the monorail from Epcot after closing, en route to EMH at the Magic Kingdom. Just as we complete the turn west over the Epcot parking lot, we come to a stop. (I happened to notice at that moment that the red indicator lights above the doors in my car had just all turned off)

Pilot comes on and says "Please do not lean on the doors." I look around, and there's a father in the other half of our car squatting down and leaning against the door (and he was on the side of the car where he would have been forced harder against the door during the curve). He doesn't move.

Again, we get the pilot "Please do NOT lean on the DOORS." The guy still doesn't move.

"This train will NOT move again until you stop leaning on the doors." With this the guy finally stands up (a split second before I was about to yell at him) and says to the people around him (presumably his family) "It wasn't me..." [eye roll]

So, quick questions to the pilots... Does the Door Alert specify which car/door it is? Can the pilot specifically address a single car? And the lights above our doors going out meant it was our car with the alert, right? Or do they go out across the whole train on an alert?

Of course, then there were the two couples immediately next to me, where one of the men was convinced that the announcement was just the pilot covering for having to stop for traffic on the beam, that they don't stop because of the doors... [double eyeroll]

-Rob

[hobie16]

It's too bad the pilot couldn't activate a rapid snap open/close on the door so the guy would fall out but no one would know where he went. :twisted:

[SpeedFreak]

So, quick questions to the pilots... Does the Door Alert specify which car/door it is?

Yes. We have an indicator on the upper display that tells us the side the alert is on. When the alert first happens, we have a screen that pops up and tells us where the door fault is. We can also bring up a diagram that shows us the status of all the doors and hatches on the train. So we know where the door is, and unless we just pulled out of the station door alerts are usually caused by somebody leaning up against the doors.

Can the pilot specifically address a single car?

Yes and no... the PA addresses all of the cars. Apparently you can turn off the automated spiels and PA to particular cars so if you cut off 5 cars, then yes. If you can choose a car in another way I have no idea, I tried to use the PA as little as possible.

And the lights above our doors going out meant it was our car with the alert, right? Or do they go out across the whole train on an alert?

That means the doors are open, or rather that the computer thinks the doors are open. Doesn't specifically mean that it is an alert though, since the monorails have as many forms of door alerts as they have wheels. Not all of them stop the train.

[Monorail_Red]

As far as I know - even if you're leaning against a door, you're still safely locked inside the car. The doors have a locking mechanism. But they may still crack open about an inch or so...just enough for the sensor on that door to register as "open".

I'm glad that I'm not the only one to notice the little things...like the red lights in the ceiling that only come on if the doors are closed!

Speaking of the PA's and spiels...I just want to mention something...why are they so quiet? When I was down there last weekend, EVERY train that I was on except Monorail Blue...it seems like they cut back the volume on the spiels? I can tell because like on Monorail Red...You have the "Please stand clear..." at normal (loud, as it should be) and same with the "ding-dong" and the PA as well. If there's more than like 5 people in the car carrying out a normal conversation...plus with the noise that the monorail creates when moving...you can't hear the spiels! The uninformed guests soon become SG's because they didn't hear that you get off at TTC to transfer to the Epcot Monorail.

[SpeedFreak]

As far as I know - even if you're leaning against a door, you're still safely locked inside the car. The doors have a locking mechanism. But they may still crack open about an inch or so...just enough for the sensor on that door to register as "open".

Correct. If they didn't have a "locking mechanism" that would be a major design flaw, and some poor guest would probably die. Followed by many, many SGs.

[BRWombat]

Correct. If they didn't have a "locking mechanism" that would be a major design flaw, and some poor guest would probably die. Followed by many, many SGs.

The image of a stream of lemming-like SGs falling out an open door as the monorail travels along came to mind...

[Monorail_Red]

The image of a stream of lemming-like SGs falling out an open door as the monorail travels along came to mind...

:monotoss:

:D:

[CptnSkippy]

Speaking of the PA's and spiels...I just want to mention something...why are they so quiet? When I was down there last weekend, EVERY train that I was on except Monorail Blue...it seems like they cut back the volume on the spiels?

I noticed this on Silver last week too. For the first part of the trip, we thought they had cut out the PSCOTD all together. (Got Silver twice. Missed Black by seconds both times :( )

[Rob562]

As far as I know - even if you're leaning against a door, you're still safely locked inside the car. The doors have a locking mechanism. But they may still crack open about an inch or so...just enough for the sensor on that door to register as "open".

Yeah, as far as I can tell, that's why the door raises up about 3/4" after it closes. That must physically engage a latch into place somehow, and the system then probably locks the door into that raised position.

I'm glad that I'm not the only one to notice the little things...like the red lights in the ceiling that only come on if the doors are closed!

Yeah, I'm a geek. I tend to notice the little things like that. :)

Speaking of the PA's and spiels...I just want to mention something...why are they so quiet? When I was down there last weekend, EVERY train that I was on except Monorail Blue...it seems like they cut back the volume on the spiels? I can tell because like on Monorail Red...You have the "Please stand clear..." at normal (loud, as it should be) and same with the "ding-dong" and the PA as well. If there's more than like 5 people in the car carrying out a normal conversation...plus with the noise that the monorail creates when moving...you can't hear the spiels! The uninformed guests soon become SG's because they didn't hear that you get off at TTC to transfer to the Epcot Monorail.

I noticed that, too. I had 7 or 8 trips on the monorail during my trip over the course of three days, and the spiels on one or two of the trains were very low. (And they were totally off on my late-evening ride from TTC to Epcot around 10:45PM)

-Rob