skyway to fantasyland

[sjw4870]

Does anyone know why this ride was closed? I used to enjoy it and always remember it being busy.

 

[TomAndLori]

Has it closed? I did not know that. The only time I ever went on it was our second honeymoon. It was nice, but the lines were always too long and seeing the backlot stuff kinda ruined the fantasy.

Does anyone know wy it closed?

 

[LemonFruitChew13]

I dont belive it is there anymore.

 

[Commando]

The Skyway at WDW has been closed now for almost 4 years. I think it closed in early 2000 (right before our 2000 trip). Very disappointing. I think it may have closed "for safety reasons."

 

[strawberryblonde]

We visited WDW for a week in March 1999. I kept my fingers crossed that they would not close the skyway before we got there. The skyway at DL had already closed. I was very excited when we got there and it was still open . I had our group of 7 ride it each chance we got and we videotaped the entire trip at dusk, really great footage. My DS had just turned 2 so he doesn't remember it but loves to watch the video. He is 6 now and he, along with DD3 wish they could ride this ride. I have great memories of this ride from my 1994 honeymoon as well, we took pictures in the dark ect......

 

[swilphil]

Originally posted by Commando
Very disappointing. I think it may have closed "for safety reasons."

I think Commando is right. I believe there was some sort of accident on that ride or a ride similar to it at another theme park.

 

[iNTeNSeBLue98]

Originally posted by strawberryblonde
We visited WDW for a week in March 1999. I kept my fingers crossed that they would not close the skyway before we got there. The skyway at DL had already closed. I was very excited when we got there and it was still open . I had our group of 7 ride it each chance we got and we videotaped the entire trip at dusk, really great footage. My DS had just turned 2 so he doesn't remember it but loves to watch the video. He is 6 now and he, along with DD3 wish they could ride this ride. I have great memories of this ride from my 1994 honeymoon as well, we took pictures in the dark ect......

We were there in November 1999 and it had already closed. It was closed after an accident.

 

[SueM in MN]

The accident involved a worker who was painting on a roof near the skyway when the skyway was closed. When it began operating, a car hit into him and he fell.
The skyway at DL was already closed before the accident occurred at WDW, so although the accident might have been a factor in closing, it wasn't the factor.
Some of the other factors were:
- the ride could only operate in good weather. If it was rainy, too windy or there was any lightening nearby, it closed. So, between 1987, when we started to go to WDW and the year it closed, it was often not running when we were there.
- the ride was old and had a lot of pieces that had to be custom made if they broke. You can't just go to Home Depot to buy skyway parts.
- it was a slow loading, low capacity ride that had long waiting lines.
- it took a lot of CMs to run. There were about 5 at each of the boarding areas (Fantasyland and Tomorrowland) and another 2 at the area in Tomorrowland where the cable had sort of a jog and switched to an uphill part. There probably were also some controller CMs that you never saw.
- the CMs at each station had to actually "catch" the gondolla for people to get on and off. After loading, the CMs had to give it a push to get it going again. My guess is that ride led to a lot of CM back and shoulder injuries.

So even though it was a neat ride, it had a lot going against it.

 

[tjkraz]

You can read some details on the WDW accident here:

http://www.snopes.com/disney/parks/skyway.htm

It's toward the bottom of the page. I've seen better write-ups of the incident, but this one will get the point across.

The sad part was that if the CM had just fallen to the ground from the platform, he probably would have survived as the distance was much shorter. In a panic, he grabbed onto the car itself and held on until he was much higher. When he finally lost his grip, the fall was too great to survive.

With regard to the ride closure, I'll add one more item to the list from SueM in MN, and it's something that TomAndLori touched on.

I had read that one of the contributing factors was the fact that you could see a lot of the "backstage" areas from the air. This isn't intended to sound derogatory, but Disney wants to project as idyllic an image as possible. But from the air you could see a lot of the...background stuff...that they would prefer be hidden from the public eye.

 

[SueM in MN]

The sad part was that if the CM had just fallen to the ground from the platform, he probably would have survived as the distance was much shorter. In a panic, he grabbed onto the car itself and held on until he was much higher. When he finally lost his grip, the fall was too great to survive.

You did a good job explaining. i couldn't figure out how to say that.
For anyone who wonders what they did with the area the ride was in, the station at Fantasyland is used as a character greeting area. I'm not sure about the Tomorrowland station, but I haven't seen anything there at all. (When we rode, we had to get on in Fantasyland and take a round trip because of DD's wheelchair. so I'm not sure exactly where the Tomorrowland station was). The cables that the cars traveled on were removed a few years ago.

 

[Stepharoonie!]

It surprises me that they haven't done anything with the building in Fantasyland yet. You can still clearly see the waiting area, etc...and I think the old Skyway sign is still there.

The last time I rode it, I got into big trouble. My friend and I thought it would be funny to throw M&M's at people as we went to Tomorrowland. We didn't know they had cameras in the Skyway. Oops! They almost kicked us out, but told us we could go. Now that I'm older, I realized that we COULD have seriously injured someone with a M&M.....that high up in the air, and a little hard candy like that could've taken an eye out.

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

My friend and I thought it would be funny to throw M&M's at people as we went to Tomorrowland. We didn't know they had cameras in the Skyway. Oops!

Which obviously leads to the conclusion that this type of incident had to be one more reason for the closure. Can you imagine how many times stuff like that happened probably with far more dangerous things than M&M's?

HBC

 

[sters]

I miss this ride, but I guess I can understand why they ditched it.

 

[dan-tot]

I think when it came down to it, it was to expensive to maintain. I heard kids were spitting out the cars onto people as well.

Dan-tot

 

[detroitdad]

Unfortunately my family was there in MK the day this accident occurred. Luckily we had just gone into a restaurant a few minutes prior so we didn't actually see him fall. We heard all the commotion afterwards though. It was just awful.

I have to hand it to security. That area of Fantasyland was roped off for hours and they were extremely professional.

Dean

 

[WDWAurora]

detroitdad, my grandparents were there as well and didn't see the fall, but were at the spot before it got roped off...they had come out of Haunted Mansion. They too commented on how professionally it was handled but how generally horrible it was...