Disney Skyliner Gondolas Closed Indefinitely After Accident & Evacuation
Last night at Walt Disney World, there was an accidental collision at one of the Disney Skyliner stations, causing the Epcot line to close. Thereafter, Reedy Creek Fire Department evacuated guests on that line via lifts over the course of a few hours. In this post, we’ll look at what happened and our commentary about the future impact of this incident on the Disney Skyliner’s operations.
Sometime between 8 and 9 pm, at the Riviera/Caribbean Beach Skyliner station, the aqua-colored gondola cabin did not attach to the cable to dispatch from the station en route to Epcot (see top image via @Ada58974405 on Twitter). The gondola cabins behind it slowly crashed against it. The crushing of the vehicles caused the glass to shatter on the impacted vehicle and several of the yellow cabins behind it to be damaged.
Consequently, the Epcot line went down for several hours, necessitating an evacuation by Reedy Creek Fire Department. This process was done via lift on a cabin by cabin basis, and reportedly took until after 11 pm to complete. Some guests report being stuck for as long as 3 hours, and the entire Skyliner system remains closed today…
Thankfully, Walt Disney World is reporting that no guests were injured in the accident. (It’s also fortunate that this happened at night, as the lack of air-conditioning definitely would have been an issue had this occurred during the middle of the day yesterday.)
Walt Disney World has informed Orlando-area media outlets that there has not been an accident, but rather “unexpected down time” of the Skyliner. That is quite the disappointing spin, especially with widely-circulated photos on social media reflecting what actually happened.
As compensation, stranded guests are reporting that Walt Disney World Guest Relations provided each of them with a $100 gift card, 2 park tickets, and taxi vouchers. Some guests who were stuck stated in the “Disney World Junkies” Facebook group that they applaud how Disney handled the situation.
Many of the guests who saw the crash first-hand or were stranded on the Epcot line of the Skyliner posted photos to social media. Here’s a look at some of those:
Not a fun experience on the new skyliner. @WaltDisneyWorld @WESH pic.twitter.com/fwuXjlN9wg
– Ada (@Ada58974405) October 6, 2019
What happened with this new ride? Feeling sorry for the people still trapped. @WaltDisneyWorld @WESH pic.twitter.com/mAjcH7hD5o
– Ada (@Ada58974405) October 6, 2019
Part 2 Disney Skyliner Stuck @ the Boardwalk #disney #skyliner #disneyworld #epcot #epcotforever #disneyskyliner #disneypark #disneysboardwalk @WESH pic.twitter.com/QLR7gE5Znr
– JK DeLaCruz (@JK2559) October 6, 2019
More trucks now being dispersed for evacuation. This one has parked directly under us for Disney Skyliner. #disneyskyliner #disneyworld @WDWToday pic.twitter.com/ml64YWAoC7
– Aaron Murray (@WaltyDis) October 6, 2019
– Theme Park Alex (@themeparkalex) October 6, 2019
Well here’s a look inside the emergency kit on the #Skyliner. We were just told we could open it. There’s water inside, a note pad, cups (possibly in case nature calls), light stick … hitting 90+ min @WaltDisneyWorld @WFTV pic.twitter.com/3xyvrHGyUO
– Cierra Putman WFTV (@CPutman_WFTV) October 6, 2019
Evacuating two people at a time off of the Disney World Skyliner… could be very slow with 10 capacity gondolas…. #disneyskyliner #disneyworld @WDWToday pic.twitter.com/y5S1IJxhtP
– Aaron Murray (@WaltyDis) October 6, 2019
UPDATE the gondolas #Skyliner are moving! pic.twitter.com/WH5WytPlFc
– Jena Polyak (@jenapolyak) October 6, 2019
Additionally, our friends over at BlogMickey.com headed to the scene and captured some good photos of the evacuation as it was in progress. Coincidentally, we were driving on Buena Vista Drive shortly after the accident but before road closures started and the evacuation began. Oblivious to it all, we didn’t see anything even though we were right there!
We did, however, head out to Disney’s Hollywood Studios early this morning to confirm that the Skyliner would remain closed today (our photos in this post are all from this morning).
Although there was no signage outside indicating as much, Cast Members posted outside the Skyliner station indicated that it would remain closed today. We could see from a distance that the Epcot line was likewise not moving. No one with whom we spoke has insight into when it’ll reopen, and as such, this closure should be treated as indefinite.
It seems likely that safety inspections or more will need to occur before the Skyliner can resume operations. We hesitate to speculate as to when it’ll return, or what training, technical, or other safety adjustments might need to be made before Walt Disney World is comfortable running the Skyliner again.
For us, this news is incredibly disappointing. It’s no secret that we’re huge fans of the Skyliner and have been strong advocates of this system since even before it was officially announced two years ago. This has been among our most anticipated additions in a long time at Walt Disney World.
It’s also no secret that the Skyliner has been dogged by delays and closures throughout the first week of operations, but we chalked these up to early growing pains. Given the uptime and reliability of the thousands of similar Doppelmayr gondola systems around the world, it seemed likely that these would be resolved in the near future and the Skyliner would become a reliable–and beloved–form of transportation at Walt Disney World.
In fact, our experiences with the Skyliner have been resoundingly positive. Since publishing our Skyliner Gondola Review: Disney World’s Most Magical Flight on Earth article, our rides have been even better. We’ve used the gondolas for Extra, Extra Magic Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Epcot’s rope drop a couple of mornings and had zero delays, zero wait in line, and zero other guests in our cabins. It has been (had been?) smooth and flawless.
Despite our unblemished firsthand experiences, there is no denying that others have not had similarly glowing results. Last week, the Art of Animation and Pop Century station had a delayed opening by 2-3 hours on at least one morning. The Epcot line has had a lot of sporadic downtime leading to backups at the International Gateway station, and one evening we saw it down completely for the rest of the night while walking over to Crescent Lake.
Those are just the issues we’ve been on hand to observe or hear about–it’s possible there have been more. Given the reliability of these gondola systems elsewhere and the fact that Walt Disney World has been testing the Skyliner for months, we’re left scratching our heads. What happened? Why have there been so many operational challenges?
Still, all of what happened prior to last night would be fairly easy to shrug off as early hiccups (so long as you aren’t a first-time visitor who was delayed for a prolonged period by one of the outages). Short stoppages, delayed openings, or early closures would be long forgotten after a few months of reliable operations with minimal downtime. None of those are stories that would stick with visitors and cause them not to use the Skyliner in the future.
Judging by social media, this incident is quite clearly different. Some guests already had understandable fears of being so high up in an aerial transportation system, and reports of being stuck for 2-3 hours in a small cabin is only going to give more guests pause about riding. For many Walt Disney World fans, images of the collided gondolas and the evacuation process will cast a long-term pall over the Skyliner.
We’re still incredibly enthusiastic about the Skyliner, but have to admit that this one really stings. However, we have to report the realities of the new gondola transportation system, rather than what we want it to be.
As much as we’d like to convince ourselves otherwise, this is a serious issue for the long-term perception of the Skyliner. This will be a PR nightmare for Walt Disney World–especially as the story is already making international news.
We will continue to use the Skyliner as normal with zero hesitation just as we would automobiles, airplanes, bicycles, monorails, peoplemovers, our feet, or any other mode of transportation with an imperfect record. More concerning than safety is reliability and up-time.
If you’re traveling to Walt Disney World in the next couple of months, you should keep apprised of Skyliner operations to determine whether it’s sufficiently reliable for you to use during your trip. For Walt Disney World vacation planning purposes, we’ll keep you posted on that and everything else to do with the Skyliner.
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Your Thoughts
Did you witness the Skyliner accident? Does this crash have you more hesitant to use Walt Disney World’s newest form of transportation in the future, or will you stick to buses? Anything else to add? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
How unfortunate – I really enjoyed riding the Skyliner a few times last week. I’ll definitely continue riding them when I’m back in January (assuming they’re running).
We rode it last week and I loved it. My husband who works in the construction field was less enthusiastic but ride it. We booked a bounce back for next year at Caribbean Beach mainly for the ease of transportation with the Skyliner. I’m now considering switching resorts but I’m going to wait and see how things go in the next month or so.
That’s a shame. I rode the skyliner from the Pop all last week and loved it- so much better than taking a bus everywhere. I have to wonder though, what would that rescue scenario look like if you’re stuck over Hourglass Lake?
Apparently there are barges (with ladders) for rescue over water
The barges have scissors lifts on them to lift up to the Skyliner cars. They can evacuate two at a time on the lift.
My fear/concern was when I watched the videos on the opening days, it looked like the gondolas came into the stations fairly fast. I was concerned about them not stopping fast enough to avoid the gondola in front of them. Never thought of a problem at the front of the line.
I’m as excited about the skyliner as you are, Tom. If I was going by myself or with other adults, I wouldn’t hesitate to ride it. However, I’m on the fence about taking my 8-year-old on it during our upcoming trip. There is such a deep and intense need to protect your children and that feeling might win out over everything else. I DEFINITELY won’t take my infant on it until it’s been successfully operating for at least several months to a year. There is no way I could handle being stuck in the sky in the heat or cold with a 1-year-old. Dealing with the “rescue” process with him would be so scary. What a nightmare.
We were staying at Pop Century the week prior to the public opening. It opened to the public the day after we left (gah!). Originally, I was SUPER excited about the sky gondolas. And it was even suggested to us that we ask a cast member very nicely on our last night to see if they miiiiight let us ride it (since it would literally open the next day anyway). But at the last moment, I got cold feet and we didn’t bother asking if we could ride. Too many times on our trip, they seemed to be stopped for long periods of time, and knowing cast members were riding, I thought that was odd. My anxiety got the better of me, and now, I’ll admit, it will probably be quite some time before I’ll feel willing to ride them.
OH well. Thrill seekers will relish in the thought of riding as soon as it opens again. I am looking forward to riding and excited about the unknown. I will be going to AKL on Oct. 22 but I anticipate it will not be working that soon. Therese always next year.
OMG! I do have a fear of heights but was definitely going to use the Skyliner When I visit next year but getting stuck up there for 3 hours? I would have soiled my pants
And with the monorail being refurbished, this will definitely hinder transportation from park to park, right? 🙁
So my wife is probably out, as it took me cashing in all my chips to get her on the Icon last Spring, but I’m still in on trying this out.
This news doesn’t impact me wanting to try out the gondolas. There are people that refuse to ride the monorail for similar reasons. Disney just needs to identify how to keep or lessen the chance of these issues from happening in the future. I respect this will impact others’ usage, but it doesn’t phase me.
I rode Friday by myself with my 2 toddlers, and we had a blast. We will continue to ride as well. In my opinion, it was much cooler than a crowded monorail with all the vents and airflow lol. I feel awful for the ones that were stuck so long, but we are huge fans even still.
I feel sorry for anyone with a wheelchair, scooter or stroller. There is very little room between the two benches. I talked to one lady who was in line ahead of us getting on the loop to Epcot and she had a double stroller. When we got off in Epcot I saw her again and asked her how it was with the stroller in the car. She said it was very crowded and very little room on each side of the stroller. She didn’t fold it up because she was carrying a bunch of stuff in the stroller.
On a forum I was teased by a guest and a cast member working the Skyliner for saying I didn’t think they were safe. I said I would not ride until the first major shut because they had no AC. People thought that was crazy but I’m also 6 months pregnant. Getting stuck on the monorail is bad enough and they have AC and are not hanging in midair. I don’t see myself riding the Skyliner in the future not as a pregnant person or with an infant. Too risky if we were to get stuck.
Everyone should be thankful this happened in the evening when the sun was setting and not in the heat of the day. It could have been much worse than it was for all of the stranded guests.
Yeah, I don’t know. Extensive testing in 2019 should make this avoidable unless it is a human error. While Disney handed out this and that, it’s America after all and I am sure someone will sue. Could not imagine being stuck on that with small children. Vacation would be ruined. Anxiety to go on anything else would be at an all time high.
I rode the system this past week and loved it. I am an avid skier and am shocked that this happened as I have never before seen a chair/gondola not make the rope connection at launch, and I have ridden thousands of lifts.
My speculation is that there is still something amiss with the cable length/taughtness on this line. (If your description of what happened is accurate, this is the cable that was replaced last month). I am thinking that too much slack could cause a bit of ‘wobble’ in the cable, causing this missed connection.
Of course, it could be much simpler in that this particular car could have had a defective gripping mechanism.
I am also thinking that the specific issue has already been diagnosed and will be corrected quickly. No matter, this will not deter me from riding the least bit. I will be back for 4 days later this month. I hope its back up by then.
What a bummer that this happened. I’m also an avid skier and am shocked by this. I have seen chairlifts evacuated but never a gondola and I have also been on thousands of rides especially as a transportation link connecting towns just like this in Telluride, CO. I would still get on it at night but would be very concerned about getting stuck on it during the heat of the day. I’m also impressed by their evacuation plan. I have only seen ropes used to evacuate chairlifts but they would likely be much higher with steeper terrain below them at a ski resort!
That is a spectacular failure for this system. Not just gondolas, but 4+ person chair lifts and even hybrid “chondolas” use the setup for loading and unloading. Curious of how prevalent this failure is for the number of systems in use. Interesting to see what the cause was and if Dopplemayr or Disney/Operator error is to blame.
Is the line 1 continuous cable through the turn or 2 separate cables?
I believe there are three cables on the EPCOT line:
CBR to RIV; RIV to the Turn Station; Turn Station to EPCOT.
The other lines have one cable each. If I am correct, that would make a total of 5 cables in use.
As I was never going in one it doesn’t really matter to me. Just being stuck was enough for me but collisions I never even thought about that. The process of being saved is enough to kill you.
As a parent, I would be terrified for myself if I was stuck in one of these elevated for hours. But for my children I would be absolutely beside myself. They would be scared, I would be scared, and then having to evacuate out of a bucket truck from that high? Who’s to say there’s not going to be an accident just trying to get out of the vehicle itself and down all of the steps? No way. And how are they equipped to evacuate somebody in a wheelchair with just an extension ladder?
I’ll be surprised if it reopens within the next month. I was excited to try these for our upcoming trip, but doubt I will now, even if it does reopen by then. This right after the evacuation of the monorail is going to be a PR nightmare. I agree that with any kind of transportation, there are always risks, but what is really bothersome is that reporters were told there was no accident – so there is the lack of trust that causes me to pause.
Commenting on my own post. Thankfully no one was hurt!!!!!
Yes accidents happen with all types of transportation but few involve having to be rescued from high in the air in a swinging box with no A/c.
I 100% concur with this sentiment, Tanne.
We just rode it Monday and the line to Epcot from Caribbean Springs had been shut down. There was a long line at CSR to get on it to Epcot. We had seen it not moving several times during our stay last week.
We stayed a couple of nights at the Swan & Dolphin with a good view of the Epcot line from our balcony, and noticed it was stopping a decent amount over the couple of days we sat out there. Most of the time, they were short (<5 minute) delays, but one night, it was down for at least 2 hours.
I can’t imagine how often these stops will occur once the Riviera Resort opens as there is absolutely no way a wheelchair, stroller or ECV could embark at this station without disturbing the whole line… Particularly when we saw the huge line for this demographic to embark at the Epcot station last week.
I understand that accidents happen all the time with transportation, but as someone that already had hesitations with the system, this is a lot. Thank goodness the situation didn’t occur during the day when it was 90+ and sunny. It’s really surprising to me that an accident occurred so soon after opening. I hope that they conduct a thorough investigation of the system and truly fix any issues or weak points before rushing to reopen.
Absolutely–totally understand that. For a lot of people who were on the fence about the Skyliner when it comes to things like fears of heights, this is going to be a dealbreaker. Damage that cannot be undone.
I am one of those people. This discussion is giving me heart palpitations. And for all the ride experiences at Disney that we enjoy, neither my daughter or myself care for ferris wheels. The gondola, I think, would have a similar type of sensation. swinging, up in the air….gah…….no thanks. This would have terrified my nine year old.