Swiss chalet skyway station

[mitros]

I just read another post regarding the fantasyland stop for the skyway ride. I seem to recall talk of converting that station to a restaurant after the skyway closed. Of course, the economy tanked and 9 11 happened and a lot of things were put on hold. Anyone recall hearing about that particular rumor?

 

[AllisonG]

Would love to hear some info on this. That Swiss Chalet looks so cute and could make something very nice. I wish they would do something with it!

 

[Dznefreek]

It has not been converted into a restaurant. The front of it has carts with soda, ice cream, and merchandise related to I.A.S.W. (writing paper, pens, paper, etc.)

It is also used as a meet and greet for Snow White.

 

[meeko_33785]

What what I've heard, it's too small to put much else in there. Apparently it is right up against the show building for Haunted Mansion so there's not much room.

 

[mitros]

No, I know it hasn't been changed to a restaurant. My question actually was does anyone remember them {Disney} talking about changing it. That particular bit of information was going around just before they closed the ride down.

 

[mitros]

As I understand it, there is a storage area where they kept the spare ride vehicles as well as a small maintenence area behind the facade. I know they also stored some of the ride vehicles at the tomorrowland end of the ride {above the restrooms}

 

[Dznefreek]

My question actually was does anyone remember them {Disney} talking about changing it.

No. Heard alot of rumors but never this particular one.

 

[Demosthenes]

When I was there last week, I noticed that the Chalet is in need of some serious repair. The gutters are falling off the building, the paint is old and chipping, the roof has shingles missing. It is a mess.

 

[Planogirl]

I noticed that the Fantasyland station looks pretty ragged. What about the other station in Tomorrowland? I've been wondering about it.

 

[ohanafamily]

Last time we were there we were waiting in line for Peter Pan and saw the meet and greet. We were amazed that WDW would let the chalet get into that shape of disrepair. I have been hoping secretly that the ride would come back, but I guess not. Does anybody remember why it was closed? I seem to recall that there was a ride like the sky ride that the wire broke on at a marginal park. Does anybody recall?

 

[mitros]

Perhaps they are not fixing it because they have other plans, like to change it to something else? Maybe my initial question has some bearing?

 

[Lesley]

I recall that a CM was killed doing some maintenance on it (or something like that) the day it closed permanently...I have no idea if the closure was planned or not....but it seemed as if it wasn't.

Otherwise I don't really know the story.....it closed the day before we arrived for our vacation in 1999.

 

[KNWVIKING]

A CM told me that they were having a lot of problems with people throwing/spilling/spitting on purpose and/or dropping by accident items onto the guests below. Another poster also mentioned a handicapped teenager who panic'd either getting on or off that was killed somehow and that was sorta the last straw that sealed its fate. Fact or fiction....I don't know.

 

[ohanafamily]

Thanks KNWVIKING, maybe Scoop, Voice or Baron remembers the details.....

 

[meowthew2]

The only death on the Skyway was in February 1999 when a 65 year-old maintenance worker was sweeping one of the station platforms and CMs began operating the ride, which caused the man to grab onto one of the buckets. He couldn't hold on and fell 40 feet to his death. OSHA fined Disney for a serious violation of safety standards, and Disney made some safety modifications to the ride. It later closed on November 9, 1999, exactly five years after Disneyland's Skyway closed.

 

[drdelsol]

If I remeber correctly an older maintenance worker was doing something up there at the fantasyland end , a car came around , he ended up grabbing onto the car from the outside. The car continued with him on the outside until he fell off and died from the injuries. I don't think he actually got very far along the route.

Sorry if I remember incorrectly and also for the runon sentence.

 

[Lesley]

I had no idea that the CM accident was so long before the closing. But I also don't recall there being any warning that the ride was to be closed.....usually we know what will be closed before we go to WDW.

 

[lucky_bunni]

Thats strange, because the only time I remember it being open was in 1995 when I was there. I don't recall it being open in 1997 or 1999. I always try to get a good photo of the Fantasyland station because it is so beautiful. It's a shame if they are letting that site go, with the waterfall flowing and landscaping, even if they hadn't ever made it into anything, the scene itself is worth it for me.

 

[All Aboard]

From the Miami Herald...

Story #1, published Feb 16, 1999:

With the Disney Skyway cable car coming at him, Raymond Barlow had two choices: Jump 10 feet to the ground, or grab the outside railing of the oncoming cable car and hang on.

Barlow, 65, a part-time Disney custodian since September, was cleaning a section of the Fantasyland boarding platform closest to the path of the cable car when the ride started up unexpectedly Sunday morning. Barlow grabbed the metal rail and tried to hang on to the empty four-person car, investigators said Monday.

``He decided to try to pull himself into the bucket,'' said Orange County Sheriff's Deputy Robert Larson. The Skyway car started to climb. By the time Barlow let go, it was 40 feet in the air. He plunged through the trees, breaking off several limbs, and landed in a flower bed. He died later at Orlando Regional Medical Center.

Larson said Barlow called to co-workers that he was to be working on the outer platform. How and why the car began to move has yet to be determined, he said.

Why Barlow jumped for the car instead of jumping down is ``a mystery to all of us,'' Larson said.

Barlow's death was ruled accidental, Larson said.

Disney spokeswoman Rena Callahan refused to say whether the ride has a safety warning horn that sounds before a ride is initially started each day for its journey from Fantasyland to Tomorrowland and back. Nor would she say whether Barlow had ever worked on or cleaned that area of the platform before. Disney employs 53,000 people at its Orlando complex.

The accident happened 50 minutes after the park opened but before the Skyway was in operation, Callahan said. There were no guests anywhere on the cable-car system when the accident happened, she said.

An Occupational Health and Safety Administration investigator was at the scene Sunday and will be back Wednesday, Callahan said.

It was the first fatality for the Orlando park since October 1989, when a woman riding in a tiny speedboat collided with a ferry and was killed.

Sunday's accident was the second accidental death at a Disney theme park in less than two months. At California's Disneyland on Christmas Eve, a metal cleat ripped loose from an 84-foot-long ship and fatally struck a tourist in the head.


Story # 2, published Nov 11, 1999:

Walt Disney World is closing one of its oldest rides, the Magic Kingdom Skyway, which has given visitors a bird's-eye view of the park since it opened in 1971.

The Skyway will be replaced by another attraction, but Disney officials wouldn't say what it is. The ride connected guests from Fantasyland to Tomorrowland.

Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., closed its Skyway ride in 1994.

``It's part of our ongoing efforts to phase out some of the older attractions and introduce new things to keep our parks exciting for our new and repeat visitors,'' Disney spokeswoman Diane Ledder said Tuesday. ``It's just something whose time has come.''

In February, a part-time employee who had been working in the loading area of the ride fell to his death. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration later fined Walt Disney World $4,500 for what it called a ``serious'' violation of safety standards.

Two days later, Disney installed safety signs and enhanced safety procedures around the Skyway.

Ledder said the ride's closing is not a result of any concerns about its safety.

 

[WDWHound]

"The Skyway will be replaced by another attraction, but Disney officials wouldn't say what it is."

To no one's surprise, they never did get around to "saying what it is".