PDA

View Full Version : Fire last night at Downtown Disney



binki
12-10-2017, 09:10 AM
We were leaving the park and were next to get on the tram when all of them stopped along with empties on the other side. Nobody looked like they were going anywhere and the lines were backing up quite a way when we were finally told there was an emergency along the tramway. We could wait or walk through Downtown Disney. We decided to walk with 10,000 of our closest friends.

Well that didn't last long as we were stopped part way in and told to go back. Now that didn't sit well with a lot of people and finally we were told to go through the hotel. At that point you could see the flames and smoke from behind a wall. The only wall over there is at Splitsville.

So we go through the hotel and the walkway goes from pretty wide to pretty narrow. Once outside we were kept on the sidewalk to the traffic light at Disney Way. That is where it got ugly as the drive started filling with people and the lone security guard tried to keep them off the pavement and on the sidewalk. He was instantly challenged and not listened to and he gave up and went back to his little box.

Once across the street and past the back of ESPN Zone the entire walkway and street will filled with 1000's of people. There were still cars coming into Downtown Disney and traffic was all backed up.

At the last light to cross a red light meant nothing. As 4 people stepped out into traffic, everyone followed. One car honked its horn once.

Once at the parking garage the entrance by the stairwell was backed up about 50 feet and a few people climbed over the barriers. By then the trams were running so they were climbing into the tram drive.

We were on the second floor so the stairs were fine and we had the left exit on the flyover and we were gone.

Overall it was a very hot day and night. It was still mid 70's when we left around 10pm.

With all those people exiting on foot at once across Disney Way maybe they could have done a hard stop on traffic for a while to get everyone out. Other than that they did a pretty good job with directing traffic.

danyoung
12-11-2017, 10:55 AM
On another site there is video of the trash bin fire.

binki
12-12-2017, 12:56 PM
We learned that afterwards. The crowd control was more interesting