The Disney Skyliner Incident

There has been a lot of talk about the Disney Skyliner incident that took place on October 5, 2019. A lot of guesses and misinformation about what happened have been making the rounds. I thought that it would be best to tell you the facts that I have found out, as well as some speculation. If something is not fact, I will state that.

I’ll start with what happened. At some point that evening, the Disney Skyliner line that runs from Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort and Epcot shut down. This line also stops at the not-yet-open Disney’s Riviera Resort. After being stuck for over an hour, those in the stopped gondolas were instructed to take out the emergency packs, which are located under the seats. Some guests were escorted out of their gondolas by the fire department. Eventually (it’s been reported between two and three hours) the gondolas started to move again, and the rest of the guests were able to disembark. Only the one line was affected.

Disney has released an official statement about the matter. According to local station WFTV Disney has said the following:

One of the three Disney Skyliner routes experienced an unexpected downtime Saturday evening. As a result, the Skyliner will be closed while we look into the details surrounding this downtime. We apologize for the situation, and we are working with each guest individually regarding impacts to their visit with us.

There has been a lot of speculation as to what caused the problem. The most prevalent theory is that there was an accident. A picture of several gondolas crashed together at the Riviera Station seems to back that up, but pictures are not always what they seem. As far as I know, that station is currently just a turning point, since the resort is not yet open. I have not heard of one person who claimed that they were in a gondola that was in an accident. While I will agree that the gondolas in the picture have crashed into each other, I kind of doubt that was the problem. I wonder if instead it happened because the gondolas stopped suddenly. Again, this is just a guess on my part.

I have heard reports that there was a power outage, which caused the stoppage. I also heard that it was a system failure. We might not ever know what happened. One thing that we can be sure of is that Disney will get to the bottom of the problem.

As I already mentioned, guests were instructed to open the emergency kits that were located under the seats. These contained several items, including water, glow sticks, cooling packs, a whistle, and a notepad. It is good to know that Disney has the kits ready in case there is a situation.

According to the statement that Disney released, they are working with those who were affected to compensate them. I have heard of several people who received a $200 Disney Gift Card and four one-day park passes. I don’t know if that was the norm. I doubt that would work for everyone, which is why the statement says that they are working with them individually.

All three lines of the Disney Skyliner are stopped today. I drove by earlier. The gondolas are on the lines, they just aren’t moving. There is no word yet on when the Disney Skyliner will transport guests once again.

A lot of people are saying that this proves that the Disney Skyliner wasn’t ready, or that it was a bad idea. I don’t think that was the case at all. Instead, I think that it shows that Disney was ready for an emergency situation. There were no injuries, everyone made it off safely. It may have taken a while, but the important part is that no one, guest or firefighter, was hurt.

The Disney Skyliner will fly again. When I hear more information, I will let you know. There are a lot of people who say that they will never ride because of this incident. Me, I will ride it again. No one was hurt, and no one was in any real danger. The Disney Skyliner is a convenient and fun way to get around, and I know that it will not open again until Disney is satisfied that a similar incident will not take place.