On Saturday October 5, after being open just over a week, guests who were using the Skyliner gondola transportation system in the late evening were stranded for several hours after an unspecified malfunction. Though they did not provide any details, Walt Disney World released an official statement at the time saying that the Skyliner was having technical difficulties and was experiencing “unexpected downtime”.
Though Disney didn’t say as much, social media posts shared last week show several gondolas crushed together at the Disney’s Riviera Resort station, which many believe to be what led to the stoppage across the system.
Image: Disney
Though not all, some guests were evacuated by emergency personnel, who used cherry pickers and fire trucks to get guests out of the air. First responders from Reedy Creek were joined by fire trucks from Orange and Osceola counties, who also came to assist with the emergency.
Following this incident, the Disney Skyliner was closed for a full week while testing was done on the system and the problem that caused the downtime was identified. However, it looks like the tests of this system are done as of October 14th.
The Disney Skyliner has reopened to all guests, effective today
Image: Disney
While Disney has still not released any details about what exactly caused the issue last week, they have reopened the Disney Skyliner transport system effective today, October 14th, just over a week after the incident occurred, in a statement Disney said:
Following a complete review with the manufacturer, we’ve made adjustments to our processes and training, and we are improving how we communicate with guests during their flight with Disney Skyliner. We again offer our deepest apologies to the guests impacted by the malfunction that resulted in extended operating delays on Oct. 5.
Running on a modified schedule
Image: Disney
Though the Disney Sklyliner has basically resumed normal operation, it looks like some maintenance work (that may or may not be related to the incident that occurred last weekend still needs to be done, as the Disney Hollywood Studios line will be closed on October 16th while the other two lines will be available from 1 p.m. – 10:30 p.m. and then on October 17-18 all lines will be running on a modified schedule from 1 p.m. – 10:30 p.m.
Things to keep in mind
Image: Disney
Disney made sure to point out in their prepared statement that the Disney Skyliner may slow or come to some stops during the ride, particularly when we need to accommodate guests who require additional time to load their cabin. In addition, though this system is now operating as normally, while the Disney Skyliner does feature lightning protection, Disney has confirmed that they will be suspending Disney Skyliner service if lightning is reported within a few miles or if thunderstorms are in the forecast.
While we probably will never know all the details that led to the unfortunate Disney Skyliner incident last week, hopefully Disney has worked out all the issues that led to whatever happened and this transportation option can continue running normally.
Image: Disney
The timing of last week’s issues were undoubtedly a public relations black eye for Disney (a system encountering problems just days after a grand opening following months of extensive testing is certainly not a good look) but with time and continued reliable service, hopefully the Disney Skyliner can recover and become a trusted Walt Disney World transportation option just like the Monorail and Ferryboat.
