A little bit more than a week ago, a branch fell off a tree at DAK. Not just any tree; the Tree of Life. The problem isn’t that this tree is the icon of the park. The problem is that this tree is artificial, and it’s not supposed to be falling apart. Certainly not for decades still. It was built to withstand hurricanes, and while it was windy a week ago, it was nothing out of the ordinary at all. And yet a five-pound branch came down and landed smack in the queue for It’s Tough to be a Bug. Fortunately, no one was hurt (I’m not even sure if the park was open at the time).
The park management team closed down the ride for several days while they scoured the tree and tried to figure out what happened. They made no public announcements about the incident or about the closure.
The attraction reopened last week with nets in place over the queue. In fact, visitors now navigate essentially a tunnel of nets as they get close to the tree. Since Disney has made no public announcement, it’s hard to know exactly what this means. Are the nets temporary or permanent? They certainly don’t look assembled TOO quickly, so perhaps they are meant to be permanent.
The nets obviously send a message of caution, but perhaps it’s more than that. Their presence implies they don’t yet know what went wrong with the tree and can’t guarantee it won’t happen again—possibly with a fifty pound branch next time. That kind of weight can kill a person.