Just thought wed share our take on the bomb scare at the start of the 5/6/06 Western Caribbean cruise on the Magic
First of all, we commend Disney on their handling of the whole thing. At first, we were a little surprised that a broadcast announcement was not made over a PA system to evacuate the building. But as we look back and think about it, were sure it would have created mass pandemonium and people would have overreacted and trampled kids and slower adults trying to be the first out the doors.
We actually had a boarding pass #4 and noticed after they were getting ready to board those with boarding pass #1, that people were not going through the Mickey ears but instead were going out a side door. We thought that was a little odd and noticed that more and more people seemed to be clearing the terminal. We decided to ask a CM if we should leave the building and she said yes everyone needed to go outside and across the street to the parking lot.
Everyone left in an orderly fashion and was sort of in a quandary of why we were leaving the building, but dutifully did what we were told.
There was a shaded awning right after you cross the street from the terminal, and everyone seemed to want to gather there so they could be the first ones back on the ship. However, the port authorities encouraged us to move towards the back of the parking lot. Most people (once the shaded awning area was totally full) did move back further in the parking lot (to the middle), but very few actually followed the instructions and moved to the back of the parking lot.
The parking lot in its entirety does have several nice palm tree shaded areas, but most people werent taking advantage of them. We think that was because they thought we would be getting on the ship shortly and wanted to be near the front center to be the first to board.
Shortly turned into about an hour and a half. Some Disney CMs scattered throughout the parking lot and made conversation and answered questions from many of us. The one in our area explained that 2 different bomb sniffing dogs had detected a suspicious backpack left unattended. She explained that port procedure is to call the bomb squad and the fire department. She explained that once the bomb squad arrives, it usually takes about 45 minutes to reenter the terminal after you get their clearance. She said most of the time, it turns out to be nothing but of course they have to take all the necessary precautions. She said when it has happened previously, one time it turned out to be that someone was using a duffel bag they had stored in their garage near lawn fertilizer. Another time, it turned out to be a lady was using her dads hunting bag and he forgot he left two shotgun shells in the bag.
Needless to say, I think people got bits and pieces of these stories as they got passed from one person to another and in the process, what really happened got distorted.
The bottom line was that the unattended backpack checked out fine. We re-boarded the ship about two hours later than initially planned. The boarding pass number approach was not used in order to get everyone on the ship quickly.
All in all, it made for a memorable start to our cruise and by Saturday evening, the event put no damper on our vacation. We sailed away from the port at 4:15 (only 15 minutes later than scheduled).
First of all, we commend Disney on their handling of the whole thing. At first, we were a little surprised that a broadcast announcement was not made over a PA system to evacuate the building. But as we look back and think about it, were sure it would have created mass pandemonium and people would have overreacted and trampled kids and slower adults trying to be the first out the doors.
We actually had a boarding pass #4 and noticed after they were getting ready to board those with boarding pass #1, that people were not going through the Mickey ears but instead were going out a side door. We thought that was a little odd and noticed that more and more people seemed to be clearing the terminal. We decided to ask a CM if we should leave the building and she said yes everyone needed to go outside and across the street to the parking lot.
Everyone left in an orderly fashion and was sort of in a quandary of why we were leaving the building, but dutifully did what we were told.
There was a shaded awning right after you cross the street from the terminal, and everyone seemed to want to gather there so they could be the first ones back on the ship. However, the port authorities encouraged us to move towards the back of the parking lot. Most people (once the shaded awning area was totally full) did move back further in the parking lot (to the middle), but very few actually followed the instructions and moved to the back of the parking lot.
The parking lot in its entirety does have several nice palm tree shaded areas, but most people werent taking advantage of them. We think that was because they thought we would be getting on the ship shortly and wanted to be near the front center to be the first to board.
Shortly turned into about an hour and a half. Some Disney CMs scattered throughout the parking lot and made conversation and answered questions from many of us. The one in our area explained that 2 different bomb sniffing dogs had detected a suspicious backpack left unattended. She explained that port procedure is to call the bomb squad and the fire department. She explained that once the bomb squad arrives, it usually takes about 45 minutes to reenter the terminal after you get their clearance. She said most of the time, it turns out to be nothing but of course they have to take all the necessary precautions. She said when it has happened previously, one time it turned out to be that someone was using a duffel bag they had stored in their garage near lawn fertilizer. Another time, it turned out to be a lady was using her dads hunting bag and he forgot he left two shotgun shells in the bag.
Needless to say, I think people got bits and pieces of these stories as they got passed from one person to another and in the process, what really happened got distorted.
The bottom line was that the unattended backpack checked out fine. We re-boarded the ship about two hours later than initially planned. The boarding pass number approach was not used in order to get everyone on the ship quickly.
All in all, it made for a memorable start to our cruise and by Saturday evening, the event put no damper on our vacation. We sailed away from the port at 4:15 (only 15 minutes later than scheduled).
