As part of a bill signed into law last year, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) has begun inspections of the Walt Disney World monorail system. The bill is one of a few that Florida Republicans engineered to specifically target Walt Disney World as part of what Disney calls retaliation from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and his allies after Disney spoke out against the “Don’t Say Gay” bill in 2022.

Republicans specifically targeted Disney by constructing the bill with such narrow language that they all but wrote “Walt Disney World” in the bill text. The part of the bill that targets Disney reads “privately owned fixed-guideway transportation systems operating in this state which are located within an independent special district created by local act which have boundaries within two contiguous counties”. Disney World has previously pointed to the bill in a lawsuit as an example of specific and targeted government retaliation.

According to a report from News 6, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) has confirmed that they are working with Disney to inspect not only the structural aspects of the monorail system but also non-structural elements as well. The bill calls for “site-specific” standards, developed jointly by the department and representatives of the affected systems. The bill also allows FDOT to conduct structural safety inspections, including authorizing them to “[suspend] system service to ensure the safety and welfare of inspectors and the traveling public during such inspections”.

The 2009 death of monorail pilot Austin Wuennenberg prompted the National Transportation Safety Board to write in a report that “external safety oversight of public transportation systems is critical to identifying and correcting systemic safety risks that may not be readily apparent or may not be effectively addressed at the local level by a company”. The NTSB determined that human error was to blame. Disney implemented more than a dozen new safety procedures following the accident but was not subjected to oversight.

As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!