Just a mere six days after opening the Skyliner at Walt Disney World has crashed due to a power failure on the Caribbean Beach Line. At about 9pm on Saturday night a power failure at the Caribbean Beach Station on the Skyliner caused a blue gondola to get stuck right before it was about to take off from the station. That caused about five other gondolas to crash into the blue gondola and for the whole system to auto-stop after the crash was detected. It was reported that one of the gondolas had its glass shattered, but luckily no guests were injured.
Speaking of the guests, although no guests were injured plenty of angry guests were stranded in other gondolas (some over water) for anywhere between 45 min for up to 3 hours. Now as one can imagine being stuck suspended in a gondola with no air conditioning in the humid and warm Florida air is not the most comfortable thing in the world. Luckily it was dark so it was not as hot as during the day and also guests were lucky not to have any stormy weather pass through while they were stuck. Unfortunately though it was dark so guests had no light besides their cellphone flashlights to guide them as they were waiting for help.
Guests also complained on social media of Disney not offering any updates on the situation for as much as 3 hours. The gondolas came equipped with emergency kits that included water, paper bags, and some other medical supplies for emergencies. At there highest point the gondolas reach 60 feet (six stories) above the ground which is enough for firetrucks to reach. The entire system has 300 cabins and crews have to evacuate each one manually which as one can expect takes quite a bit of time. For gondolas over water it takes even more time because crews have to get on small boats and evacuate the guests on to the boats and transport them back and forth to land before retrieving the next set of guests.
Disney has stated that the incident occurred due to “unexpected downtime” on the line and that they are offering guests four all day park tickets as well as a $200 gift card. I for one would be very hesitant to take the Skyliner because I do not like heights and get claustrophobic and for this very reason of being stranded for 3 hours above water or anywhere makes me wary to say the least.
What do you think of this situation? Just a fluke? Did Disney not do enough testing on the system and opened it to early? Do you think they will do the same thing with Rise of the Resistance and Avengers Campus? Leave your thoughts below!
Theme Park Universe 