That didn't take long...Skyliner Accident

[Kaimo]

My husband, son and I were stuck on this for 3 hours last night. Our gondola was right before the water leading into Epcot station. It did get warm in our car due to lack of any breeze. We got to listen to a recording and a live person alternating every few minutes saying exactly the same thing over and over that we were temporarily delayed and would be moving soon. One exception was when they told us we could open emergency box. We had firemen gearing up in rappel gear right below us. We finally moved and when we got to station filled out paper, got a water and told line for 2 bathroom stalls is over there. Then we asked how we get back to our resort. They said we had to go to Boardwalk and there would be special buses. We get to Boardwalk and no buses. People standing outside confused and upset. Finally we are directed down the road and broken into groups by resort. Get on bus which then had to fight thru road closures to get out. We got back to our resort at 12:15 am. We will not be riding gondolas again.

Glad you are all OK! Certainly not a fun experience. :-(

 

[Ghostridethedolewhip]

My husband, son and I were stuck on this for 3 hours last night. Our gondola was right before the water leading into Epcot station. It did get warm in our car due to lack of any breeze. We got to listen to a recording and a live person alternating every few minutes saying exactly the same thing over and over that we were temporarily delayed and would be moving soon. One exception was when they told us we could open emergency box. We had firemen gearing up in rappel gear right below us. We finally moved and when we got to station filled out paper, got a water and told line for 2 bathroom stalls is over there. Then we asked how we get back to our resort. They said we had to go to Boardwalk and there would be special buses. We get to Boardwalk and no buses. People standing outside confused and upset. Finally we are directed down the road and broken into groups by resort. Get on bus which then had to fight thru road closures to get out. We got back to our resort at 12:15 am. We will not be riding gondolas again.

Did you at least get some free fast passes? That is the rub some dirt on it of WDW.

 

[Disneylover99]

My husband, son and I were stuck on this for 3 hours last night. Our gondola was right before the water leading into Epcot station. It did get warm in our car due to lack of any breeze. We got to listen to a recording and a live person alternating every few minutes saying exactly the same thing over and over that we were temporarily delayed and would be moving soon. One exception was when they told us we could open emergency box. We had firemen gearing up in rappel gear right below us. We finally moved and when we got to station filled out paper, got a water and told line for 2 bathroom stalls is over there. Then we asked how we get back to our resort. They said we had to go to Boardwalk and there would be special buses. We get to Boardwalk and no buses. People standing outside confused and upset. Finally we are directed down the road and broken into groups by resort. Get on bus which then had to fight thru road closures to get out. We got back to our resort at 12:15 am. We will not be riding gondolas again.

Wow. You’d think they would be able to put together some kind of solid plan for people once they got off the gondolas.

Glad you’re okay.

 

[fbarker]

My husband, son and I were stuck on this for 3 hours last night. Our gondola was right before the water leading into Epcot station. It did get warm in our car due to lack of any breeze. We got to listen to a recording and a live person alternating every few minutes saying exactly the same thing over and over that we were temporarily delayed and would be moving soon. One exception was when they told us we could open emergency box. We had firemen gearing up in rappel gear right below us. We finally moved and when we got to station filled out paper, got a water and told line for 2 bathroom stalls is over there. Then we asked how we get back to our resort. They said we had to go to Boardwalk and there would be special buses. We get to Boardwalk and no buses. People standing outside confused and upset. Finally we are directed down the road and broken into groups by resort. Get on bus which then had to fight thru road closures to get out. We got back to our resort at 12:15 am. We will not be riding gondolas again.

Thank you for your input. It's so nice to get an actual experience instead of reading about all the speculation. From what you said this was not handled in a very good manner and almost seems like they had no plan on how to handle the affected guests. There should be some compensation offerred to you i.e. dinner, fast passes, a free day (to be used when you want) but something for this tremendous inconvenience. Thanks for your input

 

[seashoreCM]

I feel sorry for those people who had to use the restroom while waiting. Think about those poor kids that couldn’t hold it and had to go in the gondola.

In this specific circumstance being described, only bad parents would result in the desire to use the adjective "poor" to modify the noun "kids."

 

[kwdw]

Wow. You’d think they would be able to put together some kind of solid plan for people once they got off the gondolas.

Glad you’re okay.

Yep - this definitely seems like that should have been the easy part. They should have been able to better organize the ground transportation - they have been doing that for years.

 

[peacefrogdog]

In this specific circumstance bein described, only bad parents would result in the desire to use the adjective "poor" to modify the noun "kids."

Huh? What am I missing here?

 

[TeresaNJ]

Wow, I can't believe this happened less than a week out! We are leaving tomorrow and picked POP for the fact that it is one of the stops. Even if it is open this coming week while I'm there, I'm now a bit hesitant to ride it. Not sure what to make of this. Glad no one was hurt!

Same, except we leave in 23 days, and now I'm not at all hesitant about riding it. I won't be. I doubt the gondolas will be operating at that point anyway. I can't imagine their investigation will be complete in a few days.

 

[Disney Frenhines]

Monorail crashes have resulted in deaths so don’t ride those either. Also don’t lookup how many people die per day in cars.

Four people died in a mass shooting in a bar in Kansas last night. Let's get this incident with the Skyliner into perspective. I always carried bottles of water and snacks when I rode it, perhaps everyone should too, just in case.

 

[hsmamato2]

soooo...... this is awful..... and pretty much expected (at least by me) I've never wanted to use these at all since Florida thunderstorms and lightning are too much for me too contemplate with these things..... but if those people upthread had been stuck for three hours on a typical hot day.....they would have overheated and gotten sick at the very least..... I am hoping all guests were compensated richly after this. (I think they should comp them a lot!) And just because other awful things are happening in the world doesn't make this any less heinous and bad as a whole situation. I for one don't trust this entire idea.

 

[seashoreCM]

They should have been able to better organize the ground transportation ...

Can't speak for Disney Transport but I don't think that any transit agency can mobilize equipment and personnel quickly for a sudden emergency.

For example on the Boston MBTA when the Riverside trolley went off the track (near Fenway Park) they had to pull buses off of other routes leaving gaps in service there (read: wheelchair guests possibly left behind while others who could cram into the remaining buses being allowed and expected to do so) plus the time to drive buses over to fill in on the affected route.

Couple that with union rules that require that additional drivers be summoned in order of seniority even though it may take longer for them to get to the bus lot to begin working.

I am hoping all guests were compensated richly after this.

I think most guests would be happy with additional Fastpasses good anywhere and anytime; a few would ask for a free park hop using a non-hopping ticket to, say, do Flight of Passage and Slinky Dog Dash on the same day following schedule re-arrangement over the lost sleep that evening.

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

My desire to ride the Skyliner just went way down. I will stick with the Friendship boats when we are at Boardwalk in March.

 

[Chuck S]

Remember that good, reliable gondola systems have been around for over 50 years worldwide. Even DIsneyland and the Magic Kingdom had them operating between their respective Tomorrowlands and Fantasylands. And they were quite popular. As to why this happened, rather than happening during testing, who knows? I'm sure they will find an answer, and modify/repair it as necessary. I do remember seeing the gondolas at DIsneyland stopped for over an hour once, when I was young, in the 1960s.

I agree that they should have had a better, more efficient evac plan in place. But for some reason, they didn't. I'm sure the riders were extremely uncomfortable and anxious waiting for the evacuation, to say the least.

For those saying Disney should not use outside contractors to design systems and design everything in house...they have been using outside contractors since day 1.

Accidents happen on any transportation system, remember there have been monorail breakdowns, a crash and a fire over the years, too. The busses have similar issues. It will be interesting to see if this is a design flaw with the gondola system, an issue with swing tolerances leaving the stations, a defect in materials, or human error. For all we know, it could be a simple loose or defective mounting bolt. I'm sure the manufacturer, Doppelmayr, already has a team en route to Florida from Austria to determine the cause. Doppelmayr has been around since 1892.

The two companies have their work cut out for them determining the cause and coming up with a more efficient evac plan.

The first gondola cable system in the US opened in 1957 and worked reliably until it ceased operations in 1999.

 

[danielocha30]

Monorail crashes have resulted in deaths so don’t ride those either. Also don’t lookup how many people die per day in cars.

Yeah don’t look how many people die on their sleep either

 

[suemom2kay]

A woman on the local news said a fire rescue ladder was halfway up to rescue them when the gondola line started to move again. My goodness.

Why would they not alert the FD that the line was about to move? What if someone was transferring from gondola to rescue equipment at that moment. Power should have been locked out with zero ability to re-start.

This “downtime incident” aka crash is going to warrant a HUGE and lengthy investigation. As will the rescue effort. No criticism to Reedy Creek and other first responders they must be getting tired of rescuing people from Disney transportation.

 

[seashoreCM]

The gondolas are still worth a joy ride, if they are running when you go. But I would say don't do it on your last day when it will be hectic going back to the airport.

(copied from another post) Was it a mistake to have the gondolas so high up (over 50 feet) in many places? With lower hanging fruit, sorry, gondolas, it would be easier to do rescues.

 

[suemom2kay]

Remember that good, reliable gondola systems have been around for over 50 years worldwide. Even DIsneyland and the Magic Kingdom had them operating between their respective Tomorrowlands and Fantasylands. And they were quite popular. As to why this happened, rather than happening during testing, who knows? I'm sure they will find an answer, and modify/repair it as necessary. I do remember seeing the gondolas at DIsneyland stopped for over an hour once, when I was young, in the 1960s.

I agree that they should have had a better, more efficient evac plan in place. But for some reason, they didn't. I'm sure the riders were extremely uncomfortable and anxious waiting for the evacuation, to say the least.

For those saying Disney should not use outside contractors to design systems and design everything in house...they have been using outside contractors since day 1.

Accidents happen on any transportation system, remember there have been monorail breakdowns, a crash and a fire over the years, too. The busses have similar issues. It will be interesting to see if this is a design flaw with the gondola system, an issue with swing tolerances leaving the stations, a defect in materials, or human error. For all we know, it could be a simple loose or defective mounting bolt. I'm sure the manufacturer, Doppelmayr, already has a team en route to Florida from Austria to determine the cause. Doppelmayr has been around since 1892.

The two companies have their work cut out for them determining the cause and coming up with a more efficient evac plan.

The first gondola cable system in the US opened in 1957 and worked reliably until it ceased operations in 1999.

My engineer husband suspects the lug grip that releases in station failed to re-grip on the leading gondola.

 

[artinlife]

What is the rescue protocol for those stranded above water?

I don't think they operate above water. We rode them last week and the path was over land.

 

[FredPinsocket]

While this won’t lead me to never ride the Skyliner, my desire to stay at Caribbean Beach and have to rely on this as a major form of transportation just went WAY down.

I’m glad that nobody was hurt. This is a nightmare for Disney, as the fix to this might be a substantial cost and cause a significant amount of downtime to at least part of the Skyliner. I’m so sorry that people were stranded on this for hours in the middle of the night. Disney should’ve been handing out free APs and upgrades to the nicest rooms on properties after this.

 

[Disneylover99]

I don't think they operate above water. We rode them last week and the path was over land.

They run over Hourglass lake to the Pop/AofA station.