2012 Walt Disney World Marathon Recap: Part III

Okay, it's taken 4 months, two posts and now a captive seat at 33,000 feet for me to finish this marathon report (a marathon, itself).

Sunday morning, race day! I was up way earlier than needed, but c'mon who really sleeps the night before their first marathon? Devin's coughing fits subsided enough for about 3 restful hours and she was out cold (thanks, codeine!) I took a quick shower and tried to eat something, but I'm not much of a breakfast person and my body was really fighting my attempts to get some food in it. So I downed a Powerade, ate some performance jelly beans and grabbed a bag of mini Chips-A-Hoy from our snack bag and headed out the door. It was early, like 3:05, early and like yesterday, the Wilderness Lodge lobby was devoid of any and all human life, save a few runners who had the same idea I did which was to get to the race early. We hopped on a somewhat full, but very quiet bus. Sensing the tension, the bus driver shut the door and said, "Off to the airport!" We all sat up in our seats and he said, "Just kidding!"

The trip to the race was very quiet, so much the voice in my head was screaming for me to hop out the emergency window and steal off into the night so as not to have to run. In a bit of a panic, I sent off (as I was expecting due to the hour of the morning) a feeble post on ROTE asking for "some love." To my surprise, a good many of ROTErs were online and shot right back with motivation (love you guys).

Got to the race, but there were just so many people, I couldn't find any ROTE folk, which bummed me out, but in the line for the bathroom found some nice folk from Chicago so spent some time with them. When it was time, I made the death march with everyone else to the starting line and noticed just the sheer amount of people running as I made my way to Corral A. The anticipation and excitement was simply too much and I just wanted to start the race immediately. No fanfare, no DJ chatter, just start the race!

Finally, the time had come and after seeing the fireworks shoot up into the air I was off, hoping the lack of training wouldn't lead the paramedics on a 500 foot trail of poop to a frozen corpse on the side of the road. My goal was to run a steady, easy pace for the 1st half of the race and then bump it up for the second half, but I was about 1 mile in and at that point, anything was possible. As we hit about Mile 2, I ran into Fundulidae and DeltaPilot (from ROTE) who were humming along at a good pace. We hung out a bit and then parted ways (Thanks for the kind words, guys).

The course led us into Epcot through the auto toll, where I encountered a wheelchair athlete in a standard wheelchair struggling. I wasn't sure what to do so I told one of the race people as I headed into Epcot. The course took us through Future World and backstage through Mexico, heading back around to where we started the race. After making the loop, we turned onto World Drive towards the Magic Kingdom through the TTC. I absolutely loved this part of the race, since it was really the first chance to get close to the folks who were cheering us on. Seeing them was more than inspirational, and quite frankly, I don't think there is a word in the English dictionary to describe the feeling a runner gets when first encountering a group of people cheering them on. So, I'll establish a word: Motivationarunneralabalous! Yes, seeing the people was Motivationarunneralabalous! It was so cool, I sped up to a 8:30 mile. "Holy shit!" I exclaimed, scaring the runner next to me , "I gotta slow down." As I motored through the TTC, I felt great and headed towards the Contemporary. Heading down the incline underneath the boat crossover, I started running backwards and sticking out my thumb to the passing cars, getting a bunch of laughs from all the other runners.

We were reaching Mile 11 and the point everyone single runner was anticipating, the magical run down Main Street towards the castle, and let me tell you, I was not disappointed. Making the turn onto Main Street and seeing all the people cheering, with the castle, I would be lying if I said I didn't well up with a tremendous feeling. And then it got better, running through Main Street, I caught eyes with the most gorgeous looking woman in the crowd and low and behold, it was my wife! She was there with my mom, and her parents. Let me tell you, that moment was über-Motivationarunneralabalous!!!!!!!!!!  At that, moment I felt like was I was going to shoot right into the lead and win this sucker (a fleeting thought for sure).

We headed to the right, through Tomorrowland, Fanatsyland and then that magical trip through the castle (which was amazing). We rounded out our Magic Kingdom visit through Frontierland, backstage through Gate 6, and left towards the Grand Floridan. I knew this would be the last place for awhile where there would be onlookers so I drank it in as much as I could. I knew right ahead of me was dreaded Mile 13 and the dark forest of nothingness.

Mile 13 was near the Hess station and banana distribution. I absolutely hate bananas, but knew I had to eat something, so I muscled it down and prepared to shift into the second piece of my strategy. My Garmin beeped Mile 13 and my mind shifted towards a new focus, "Speed. I am pure speed." I got a hungry look in my eye and looked to up my game. One problem, my legs never seemed to have gotten the memo. I was still running, but my run was something akin to your first car where it could never seem to cleanly find second gear. Grinding, straining, and with the occasional backfire, I was stuck in neutral and slowly losing time. Worse yet, we were at the sewage treatment plan, no man's land. So, I immediately came to grips with not hitting my goal time and figured I'd just do my best and leave it at that. Making out way though the back areas, Disney had some signs up to keep us occupied, the funniest of which being a sign that read, "If you believe in telekinesis,  raise MY hand." Clever.

The second half of the race was rough, and I was wrought with emotion. Sadness, anger, denial, depression, all the emotions every runner feels as they attack a marathon, but I kept moving forward.  It also helped that a few runners patted me on the back when I had to walk,  cementing my belief that runners are the most compassionate athletes. 

Passing through Animal Kingdom which the course layout was "meh" at best, we turned onto Osceola Parkway which was built for the sole reason of making runners die.  After being on OP for what seemed an eternity, we headed through the Studios, past the Boardwalk, Yacht & Beach and back into  Epcot. Running through World Showcase, it was just a mere 4.5 hours before I was jamming along feeling great. I motored through the Finish in a sad, but I guess respectable 5 hours, 1 hour past my goal time. Who cares, though? I did it! Adding to my 13.1 membership, I had just been inducted into the 26.2 club, and man, is that Motivationarunneralabalous!

Never been so tired and happy!

Highlights:
Running through the castle. Amazing!
Seeing my family along the route
Running into ROTErs
Course entertainment

Downsides:
Osceola Parkway

2012 Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend Part 2

The alarm came fast and early Saturday morning as the day belonged to my wife, Devin who was running her first Donald half marathon and 2^nd half overall. She was still fighting a nasty chest cold and had been up most of the night (as was I ) with coughing fits. I planned to meet up with her folks and my mom (who were not staying on property) later in the morning, so I wished my wife luck as she sped out the door and slept in about an hour. At around 4:30 I got up, texted Devin to see if she made it to the race okay and got about my day. The lobby of the Wilderness Lodge is impressive even at its busiest points, but at 5am it’s incredible and quite cavernous. There weren’t many stirring about so I stopped and just enjoyed the tranquility of the lobby for a moment. As I walked outside, I realized a very serious problem staying where we did, there wasn’t any spectator transportation. I had planned to meet everyone at the TTC, so I started walking in the pitch blackness. If you’ve ever been to the Wilderness Lodge, it prides itself on being tranquil and not exactly on the “Diney grid.” Therefore, there was no walkway, only road. I tried to stay on the grass, but it was wet and cold, so I hugged the road. About 3 minutes into my walk a pickup truck pulled up behind me, it was a Disney security guard. “You aren’t allowed to walk on the road,” he said, “it’s dark and you might get hit. Where are you going?” I told him my situation and I was only going to the TTC. His response, “Well, you can’t walk.” Mind you, I was almost there. “Well,” I said, “you wanna give me a ride?” He then just drove off.  From what I’ve learned from my beyond extensive experience with WDW is if you ever meet with any castmember resistance, just explain common sense to them and they tend leave you alone.

I made it to the TTC no problem and met up with my mom. It was about the 6 mile mark and it was empty. It was also about 38 degrees out, yowza! My in-laws parked at Epcot and took the monorail over to meet up. We proceeded to wait until we started seeing the wheelchair racers come through and then the “elites.” I saw a few friends of mine, a couple of ROTE hats & shirts, and after a little bit saw Devin.  She looked good was happy to see us. After the fanfare, we hopped a monorail to the Magic Kingdom to see her again. I have to applaud Disney for opening up the MK early for folks to cheer on the runners, and seeing that castle in the morning had me pretty excited for my race on the following day.

 Unfortunately, for us, Devin was a little faster than I had expected and she had already passed by the time we got there. But, on the monorail trip to Epcot, I was able to pick her out on World Drive (having that pale, Chicago winter tan certainly helped). We caught up with her a few more times at Epcot and then it was all over. Devin had a blast and knocked 20 minutes off her previous half time!!!! The only hassle was trying to get out of the parking lot, it took over an hour. We all went back to Wilderness Lodge and had lunch and then all headed back to our respective hotels to take much deserved naps. 

Great job, Hon!

I had done my job as a husband, cheered on my wife and had a blast seeing her run. Now it was time to focus on my task at hand. I had to change gears and start mentally preparing for the monster that was less than 24 hours away. My focus was on a Finish Line, but 26.2 miles were in my way and they had something to say about it.

Samantha Brown's Favorites Shoot

Last year, I was able to negotiate with my client at the time the opportunity for Samantha Brown to film an episode at WDW (as well as the Seasons of Disney episodes). You're welcome. Here's a pic of the prod crew (with yours truly). Look how many folks it takes to produce this show in the field. Cool thing was, Samantha remembered me at the Discovery upfront a few months later. She's super cool and way down to earth. These were taken backstage at Animal Kingdom, January 2008. Can you tell I'm from the Midwest?

You Die and You Go to Hell!

"In the afterlife you'll be headed for the serious strife. Now, you make the scene all day. But, tomorrow there'll be Hell to pay."
-Squirrel Nut Zippers

And they weren't kidding. I mean tell me about it. You steal a car, race it through the town square reeking havoc, motor through a restaurant, run over some gypsies, knock over some TNT, get sentenced to prison, break out, and commit suicide by losing a game of chicken with a train.

Darn right you're going to Hell.



Yet, I miss you so much.



Devil Picture Source: The Internet
Mr. Toad's Picture Source: Personal Archives

Monorail Accident: Update

Here's what's circulating around the net regarding the accident. This is from Kevin Yee over at Miceage.com. I have also posted below the pictures of the monorail spur tracks below. Please check over at Miceage.com for further updates as I will probably not post anymore monorail news.

"It may be best to simply relay the events as they explain it via a series of chronological snapshots, rather attempt a cohesive narrative. I must stress that the following account has not been vetted by Disney or law enforcement, and must be considered speculation (though speculation backed by years of their experience, at least). Any errors that creep into this account are probably my fault, since I was myself never a Monorail CM, and some of the terminology is new to me.

Monorail Pink is running on the EPCOT Line. It is near 2 a.m. on Sunday morning, meaning it’s the very end of a long, long Fourth of July holiday. This is typically the busiest day of the year for the Magic Kingdom, and thus for the monorails, too.

Monorail Purple is also running on the EPCOT Line. While Epcot itself closed several hours ago at 10pm, the monorails are still running because the Magic Kingdom was open until 1 a.m., and it takes more than an hour to clear. Since some visitors park at Epcot and venture over the Magic Kingdom, the monorails have to keep running until the latter of the two parks is finally closed and cleared. So it’s the Magic Kingdom’s operating schedule which dictates how long the EPCOT line has to be staffed.

Monorail Pink is scheduled to come off the line after this final stop at the Ticket and Transportation Center (TTC). To come off the line and retire for the night, Monorail Pink will have to depart the TTC on the same EPCOT Line for a few hundred yards, long enough to navigate a semi-circle "U-turn" in the track and point in the direction of Epcot. Then, it will stop while a Y-intersection switch that it just passed by will be moved to the alternate position. Once moved, that switch will enable Monorail Pink to go backwards onto a different track, a spur line, which will then deposit Monorail Pink onto the Magic Kingdom Express Line (still going backwards, at first). Then, Monorail Pink can head toward the Magic Kingdom, put in a quick stop at the MK Station to switch piloting duties to the "other" end of the monorail (they have dual and identical pilot cabins on both ends, to enable this kind of forward and backward flexibility), and then take one last spur line around Space Mountain and home to the Monorail Shop deep backstage, a kind of roundhouse used to store and maintain the monorails.

Monorail Pink leaves the TTC Station (this side of the station is called the "Concourse") without mishap, and makes it to the stopping point to await the switch.

The Monorail Pink pilot radios in the need for the switch. Monorail Shop is the place that controls the track switches. Shop allegedly tells Monorail Central Command (the person "in charge" out on the platform) that the switch is done and now in place. It turns out later that this is incorrect; they switch did not get moved. But Monorail Central Command apparently thinks it is, and so authorizes Monorail Pink to head in reverse. (It is not clear to me if the details in this bullet point constitute "inside information" or merely a surmise by the monorail pilots who pieced together this narrative, so we must employ the usual grain of salt. But clearly this is one of the possible critical errors in the entire series of events, if not the fulcrum itself on which everything else turns, and the official investigation is sure to focus on it particularly.)

Monorail Purple approaches the Concourse, pulling in a few minutes behind Monorail Pink. Because the switch is about to occur, Monorail Purple cannot simply operate with the usual electronic safety equipment turned on. The MAPO system (so named for the manufacturing arm of Walt Disney Imagineering that also built the monorails, and hardcore fans will remember that MAPO was named after the movie MAry POppins) will normally cause the trains to automatically brake and disallow them to come too close to each other.

I’ve personally been in the pilot’s cabin (Operating Cabin 1) when they brought a new monorail online on the Express Line and had to go through the MAPO tests, and I watched the pilot try to accelerate until the system didn’t let him. But MAPO’s effectiveness works against it in this case. Because the MAPO sensors would disallow trains to get close, the only way to perform a track switch, like Monorail Pink is attempting to do, is for both Monorail Pink and Monorail Purple to operate in "MAPO Override" mode. Normally, this is quite safe. The folks in Monorail Shop act like air traffic controllers and know where each car is. The individual pilots can see each other, and just have to watch the track. It’s been done many times each and every day for 38 years with exceedingly few fender benders as a result.

Monorail Purple may either be arriving, or be parked and taking on a single party of several adults and children, and a stroller.

Piloting Monorail Purple is Austin Wuennenberg. Mr. Wuennenber’s Facebook page indicates he has worked long hours lately: a 12-hour shift on May 30 and a 14-hour shift on June 9 are cited as examples, but the implication is that he worked many others. It’s never good to assume anything, but it’s not an unreasonable guess that the busiest day of the year might also have yielded a long shift, especially since other recent days did so without the same crush of crowds.

Monorail Pink heads in reverse in MAPO Override, which is capped at 15 miles per hour. The pilot must think he or she is on the spur line. One assumes his or her cell phone and text message logs will be looked at by authorities. Or perhaps the pilot is simply distracted/detached. Maybe the lateness of the hour contributed to fatigue, and maybe this pilot worked a very long shift. At any rate, he or she did continue on the track, and with enough speed that Monorail Purple will soon be impacted forcefully.

The pilot of Monorail Pink is normally supposed to look behind him or her as the vehicle moves in reverse by using the rear-view mirrors. The lateness of the hour and the darkness of the region may explain why the rear-view mirrors wouldn’t be especially helpful at first, since it would probably be quite dark. But those mirrors should definitely show a looming Monorail Purple.

We have no eyewitness accounts regarding the speed at which Monorail Pink hit Monorail Purple. It is unknown at present if the pilot of Monorail Pink realized the mistake and attempted to slow down, though online chatter by other pilots indicates that the brakes are quite responsive, especially if the emergency brake is engaged as well.

We have no indications whether the Cast Members on the platforms used their remote control "clickers" to kill-switch the monorails in the area. Did they not see the coming vehicle? Or did they not realize the import? Or did they simply freeze? The answers to these kinds of questions will have to wait until the investigations are complete.

We do not know where Monorail Central Command was located physically. There is a command post on the Concourse platform, a somewhat imposing structure near one end and facing away from the Magic Kingdom (meaning that the brick wall at the back of the post would obscure the view of a backing-in Monorail Pink, anyway). It is apparently common that the Monorail Central Command person would roam, and control the movement of vehicles by mobile radio.

The biggest unanswered question is probably why Austin Wuennenberg took no "evasive" action in Monorail Purple. Did he not see the approach of Monorail Pink? Was he otherwise occupied? (One assumes his cell phone and text message logs will also be examined.) Or, was he simply not experienced enough to slam Purple into reverse and accelerate away? He was a seasoned ride operator, though, having worked on Rock ‘n Roller coaster before the monorails, and he has been working the monorails as a Full Time employee since October 2008.

Maybe the gates (and monorail doors) were still open, and he was worried about moving away at high speed lest a Guest be thrown free? But the video taken right after the accident shows the doors and gates closed, with the one cabin door pried open to let out the shaken visitors. Maybe Mr. Wuennenberg tried to escape but only got so far as to close the doors in preparation for rapid departure?

It could also be that the MAPO brakes *did* prevent his train from moving, and he saw the incoming train and tried to escape. For this to be true, he would not have been entering the station in MAPO override mode to begin with, just regular mode, and then MAPO clamped down on him as pink came closer. Had he thought of it, going into MAPO override mode on his own recognizance could have let him go backwards and keep pace "ahead" of pink.

Or maybe a completely different set of circumstances was in place here: did Monorail Purple suffer a power outage that required a restart? Not only can that sort of thing happen, it happened to me two times within the past sixty days… both times on Monorail Purple. I recognize that’s a shaky correlation at best, and one shouldn’t draw too many conclusions from that. Bottom line: this, too, will have to wait for the official investigation to bear some answers.

Immediately after the crash, the video was taken until monorail CMs forbade any further videotaping. First-responders were on site in 10-15 minutes, and several minutes were needed to pry out Mr. Wuennenberg, who was pronounced dead.

Monorail Pink then backed further into the station, so that the pilot of Monorail Pink could reach the platform and disembark (some reports indicate this pilot was taken to the hospital). While the pilot gets out, the now-joined monorails jut out behind the station, and it is at this moment that the other photograph is taken. Later, Monorail Pink again tows the attached Monorail Purple, this time back to the station, and there they remained, while investigations are ongoing."

Source: Miceage.com

Also, here are some images of the spur tracks at TTC & MK

Ticket & Transportation Center (scene of the accident)

Full Epcot Track Spur

Magic Kingdom Spur (to Monorail Garage)

Photo source: Microsoft Live Maps

Haunted Mansion Backstage

Here some pics from a tour of the Haunted Mansion a few years back.

This is a pic from the ballroom floor looking up at the ghosts who hang from the chandelier. The glass next to them is the hallway where the doombuggies travel.


Another ballroom scene. Here we are against the back wall. It's tough to tell, but that's as far as the stairs go. The rest is painted on.


The famous organ. This is a replica of the Disneyland one. Coincidentally, the Disneyland organ is the organ from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea movie.


The seance room (pre-refurb). You can't tell from here, but the table is completely surrounded by a 15 foot pit. Allegedly, some guest hopped out of their vehicle, fell down the pit, but wasn't rescued until the end of the day. Apparently, the screams for help were just thought of show audio.



The famous "Donald Chair."