Disney Declassified: Tales of Real Life Disney Scandals, Sex, Accidents and Deaths by Aaron Goldberg
Authors: Aaron Goldberg
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was poorly lit, and there was no curb indicating a transition from the sidewalk into the street of the intersection.
The police deemed this fatality an accident and didn’t charge the seventeen-year-old Disney employee with speeding or negligence. Today, there is a traffic light in the area where the buses pull in to drop guests off from and to the Magic Kingdom, and there are lights leading the way from the Magic Kingdom to the Contemporary.
A few years before the accident in front of the Contemporary, the Caribbean Beach Resort was the scene of a fatal accident. In July of 1990 four teenagers were visiting a friend working at the Swan hotel. Upon leaving the hotel, they got into Joseph’s 1989 Mustang and set out on to Buena Vista Drive. At a high rate of speed, the Mustang crashed into the rear of a bus as it sat in the median waiting to turn into the Caribbean Beach Resort.
The car quickly burst into flames, ending the four young lives. Police investigators believe Joseph pressed down hard on the accelerator, and then couldn't handle the speed. When he realized that the rear of the bus was hanging out in his lane, it was too late. Instead of swerving, he locked up the brakes and skidded 250 feet before the impact. Joseph was driving on a suspended license and had several speeding tickets in the past. Investigators didn’t fault the bus driver, who was the only occupant on board.
Ever wonder how the nearly 300 buses in and around Walt Disney World (the fleet is the third largest in Florida behind Miami and Jacksonville and one of the largest private fleets in the country) know exactly where they are as the bus pulls into a resort or park and plays the appropriate message or music to correspond with the location? Is it Disney Magic? Well, sort of, it’s that good old global positioning system (GPS) and a computer program that Disney installed on all of their buses, it’s called Magic in Motion.
Magic in Motion (MIM) was implemented in 2006. The MIM allows Disney to track in real time the position of all of their buses. The system also allows for real time rerouting around the property to ease crowding at locations that may need additional buses. All sounds great, right? Especially if you’ve stood at a bus stop in ninety-degree heat and wondered if a bus was ever going to pick you up!
Well, in 2010 the system came under scrutiny during a few weeks in April when the Disney buses were involved in three accidents in two weeks; one was fatal involving a nine-year-old boy. Many of the bus drivers complained that the MIM was distracting and unsafe. Drivers said they should be focusing on the road and not dealing with a computer program. At that time, here’s how the MIM worked: just before the driver completed one round-trip route, the driver radioed into their dispatcher for a new five-digit code. The five-digit code is their next destination and is then entered into the onboard computer. The code gives the driver the new route, updates the marquee on the bus, and changes the music and greeting. The problem for some drivers is that the process is distracting, with having to radio into dispatch and then type into a computer. In contrast, Disney officials think MIM has improved safety for drivers by relieving them of some responsibilities, such as making passenger announcements and has cut down on waiting times for guests.
With the MIM on board, the more than 1,200 Disney bus drivers cart around millions of people each year. Before they can get behind the wheel, the drivers undergo a four-and-a-half-week training program. They sit for the state licensing exam, drug testing, a physical exam, and Disney’s own on-site training. Despite all of this training at the Magic in Motion, just like any other bustling town with buses and heavy traffic at times, accidents are bound to happen.
The three accidents in the spring of 2010 that spurned the publicity about MIM aside, Disney had bus accidents before and will
The police deemed this fatality an accident and didn’t charge the seventeen-year-old Disney employee with speeding or negligence. Today, there is a traffic light in the area where the buses pull in to drop guests off from and to the Magic Kingdom, and there are lights leading the way from the Magic Kingdom to the Contemporary.
A few years before the accident in front of the Contemporary, the Caribbean Beach Resort was the scene of a fatal accident. In July of 1990 four teenagers were visiting a friend working at the Swan hotel. Upon leaving the hotel, they got into Joseph’s 1989 Mustang and set out on to Buena Vista Drive. At a high rate of speed, the Mustang crashed into the rear of a bus as it sat in the median waiting to turn into the Caribbean Beach Resort.
The car quickly burst into flames, ending the four young lives. Police investigators believe Joseph pressed down hard on the accelerator, and then couldn't handle the speed. When he realized that the rear of the bus was hanging out in his lane, it was too late. Instead of swerving, he locked up the brakes and skidded 250 feet before the impact. Joseph was driving on a suspended license and had several speeding tickets in the past. Investigators didn’t fault the bus driver, who was the only occupant on board.
Ever wonder how the nearly 300 buses in and around Walt Disney World (the fleet is the third largest in Florida behind Miami and Jacksonville and one of the largest private fleets in the country) know exactly where they are as the bus pulls into a resort or park and plays the appropriate message or music to correspond with the location? Is it Disney Magic? Well, sort of, it’s that good old global positioning system (GPS) and a computer program that Disney installed on all of their buses, it’s called Magic in Motion.
Magic in Motion (MIM) was implemented in 2006. The MIM allows Disney to track in real time the position of all of their buses. The system also allows for real time rerouting around the property to ease crowding at locations that may need additional buses. All sounds great, right? Especially if you’ve stood at a bus stop in ninety-degree heat and wondered if a bus was ever going to pick you up!
Well, in 2010 the system came under scrutiny during a few weeks in April when the Disney buses were involved in three accidents in two weeks; one was fatal involving a nine-year-old boy. Many of the bus drivers complained that the MIM was distracting and unsafe. Drivers said they should be focusing on the road and not dealing with a computer program. At that time, here’s how the MIM worked: just before the driver completed one round-trip route, the driver radioed into their dispatcher for a new five-digit code. The five-digit code is their next destination and is then entered into the onboard computer. The code gives the driver the new route, updates the marquee on the bus, and changes the music and greeting. The problem for some drivers is that the process is distracting, with having to radio into dispatch and then type into a computer. In contrast, Disney officials think MIM has improved safety for drivers by relieving them of some responsibilities, such as making passenger announcements and has cut down on waiting times for guests.
With the MIM on board, the more than 1,200 Disney bus drivers cart around millions of people each year. Before they can get behind the wheel, the drivers undergo a four-and-a-half-week training program. They sit for the state licensing exam, drug testing, a physical exam, and Disney’s own on-site training. Despite all of this training at the Magic in Motion, just like any other bustling town with buses and heavy traffic at times, accidents are bound to happen.
The three accidents in the spring of 2010 that spurned the publicity about MIM aside, Disney had bus accidents before and will
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