Disney Skyliner shutdown and evacuation - October 6 2019

[Victor Kelly]

The reverse is also true. I laugh my butt off when it’s like 58 at Disney and I’m in shorts and a T-Shirt and people shuffle by in hats, coats, and freaking mittens LOL...

That was us in January 2015

 

[Beacon Joe]

I see the corporate social media accounts have chimed in to throw in a little Sentosa, Singapore, reference as a way to defend the terrible decision to put these in the Florida sun, un-airconditioned.

Just a sampling of traveler reviews of the Sentosa gondolas:

From TripAdvisor.com:

" the cable car that we were in was so hot. There was no proper ventilation so considering the weather in Singapore, we were like inside an oven! "

"However, the cabin would be like an oven during hot sunny days and somemore there were no fans in the cabin"

"It was too hot inside the cable car"

"it gets too hot inside. I was waiting to get out."

"It was something different but with no AC in the cabs it can get very hot and sweaty in there."

"Hot and uncomfortable"

"The food itself was really nice but the cable car was hot."

" it was quite hot inside. a small fan, air conditioner or cooler inside would have made the trip more comfortable."

"The cart where [sic] very hot they had windows but no Aircon."

"Everything in Singapore has aircon including the trains and buses but not the cable car which can get hot inside."

" the Cable cars are not air conditioned so very hot during the day."

"I'm really disappointed about singapore cable car, because in cable car very hot, only using tiny fan"

"The inside is hot and stuffy as there is no air conditioning and the fan may as well be turned off for all I could feel"

"A bit hot as there are only little windows"

" it is stifling hot inside the cable car and for a prolonged period it truly is tough going for small children."

"A bit hot since there is no air conditioning on the car."

"We went during the afternoon so it was ridiculously hot. For some reason I thought they were air-conditioned but apparently I was wrong. The fans were also tiny so it was very hot in the car."

"It gives you a nice view of different parts of the island but is not air conditioned so can end up being a hot box!"
"It tends to get hot inside the cabins."

" It can be quite hot inside."

"The ride was safe and hot as it is very sunny."

"However, the cabin would be like an oven during hot sunny days and somemore there were no fans in the cabin"

"Hot inside cable car"

"There are 2 small fans in the cable car and if its a hot day its not gonna be strong enough to cool you down"

"Nice and easy ride, but a little hot when in the sun."

"Hot, and ideally the cars would be air conditioned"

"[T]he older line (coming from city center to Sentosa) had very little ventilation and were uncomfortably hot."

"The Cablecars are not air conditioned now as they used to be, quite hot and humid, small windows open to blow through though"

"It was HOT!"

"On a hot day it was be quite uncomfortable."

"The cable car was very hot there was no ac inside and the weather the also very hot."

"Can be warm inside with all plastic so would recommend not to do during a really hot part of day."

"Cable cars can get a little hot though during the day"

"It can be very unpleasantly hot inside the cable car during hot sunny day"

"The cabin is too hot since there's no air conditioning inside! We took the ride in the morning, yet we were so uncomfortable due to hot weather. Don't waste your money on this one!"

"They're also hot"

"the cable car wasn't airconditioned, so it was quite hot inside "

"avoid afternoons as the cable car can get a little hot."

 

[ImperfectPixie]

I see the corporate social media accounts have chimed in to throw in a little Sentosa, Singapore, reference as a way to defend the terrible decision to put these in the Florida sun, un-airconditioned.

Just a sampling of traveler reviews of the Sentosa gondolas:

I won't use TripAdvisor for reviews...they almost always seem to skew way towards negative.

 

[ThatMouse]

Does it bother anyone else that a person who knew they have issues with claustrophobia and seizures chose to ride the Skyliner anyway?

Most people with claustrophobia should be fine on a WORKING gondola that's not stuck for 3 hours with no way of getting out. That's the main thing I want Disney to address. The sad thing is Disney will probably just tweet us some exciting news that it's working again with no further information about evac procedures.

 

[EdnaMode]

Not being insensitive (which probably really means I am), but wouldn't you avoid using the skyliner knowing that could happen and take a bus instead?

People keep saying how very unlikely this situation was. So, in a quick and dirty personal risk assessment at the head of the line for the Skyliner, most people probably jumped on and hoped for the best -- even with claustrophobia or other health issues that might make an evacuation necessary or more complicated.

Some people will probably rethink that at this point and for awhile, but some will still wrap their heads around 5 minutes or so in the air, dismiss the concerns that go with an unlikely evacuation, and ride it.

 

[WDWBryan]

Here’s what I can confirm after speaking with a close source:

Shortly after the Skyliner stopped due to the incident at the station, a guest or someone else onboard with them in one of the vehicles called 911. The guest was patched through to Reedy Creek as they were claustrophobic, hyperventilating, and had a history of seizures in the past. The maintenance team that was dispatched to assess what happened was stopped from doing any work until the guest was emergency evacuated as a result of emergency services in the ride path. Reedy Creek had major challenges locating the specific Guest since the vehicle identification number is only printed on the side of each cabin - not on the bottom. The vehicle itself was in a position that obstructed the view of the number as well as the low light conditions. Reportedly the operators also do not have a system in place to determine how many guests are onboard or if the vehicle is occupied at all.

As a result of the delayed evacuation, other guests on board were overloading the emergency call button as well as the 911 operator if they had cell phones. My source is unsure how many other vehicles were evacuated by Reedy Creek, but I’m sure that each minute they were up there and seen doing so elicited more responses from other guests that may not have necessarily required it. People who were in no physical danger - just the many who were exhausted, hot, scared, hungry, needed a restroom, and some who did not speak English.

Once the maintenance team resolved the issue and deemed it safe to do so, they slowly cycled out the Skyliner as this is the most efficient way to get people off any ride.

From my source, it’s been a shared that the emergency kits on board some of the vehicles were previously opened or taken by guests earlier in the day who knew of their existence. Disney would have no way of knowing as It would be an operational nightmare to continuously check the contents of each vehicle throughout the day. They also would have had to come up with some way of locking them that did not impede proper usage. If the kits were not tampered with, they often did not have enough to supply the entire cabin.

- - - - - - -
The following is completely speculatory:

I’m not aware of the failures that happened when the gondola transitions from the station at Rivera back to the main line which resulted in a “trains ahead” collision that caused the Skyliner to emergency stop. I would very much like to know if this was something that the ride system monitors with sensors.

I will say that it’s concerning how fast, to me, the vehicles enter into the station echoing some concerns expressed earlier. If for some reason a group of unaccompanied teenagers or heavy drinkers from one of Epcot’s many festivals decided to forcibly rock the vehicle they were riding in as it enters the station, I fear it would be up to the Cast Members recognize the danger to the vehicles in between and to e-stop it. I’m sure that this has been thought of, but I’m concerned that they are relying too much on the operators in the station or control tower to stop the Skyliner given that there was nothing that preemptively stopped the collision of the vehicle last night.

I would also like to throw my hat into the ring regarding the heat discussion. If you’ve ever been stopped on the PeopleMover in one of the interior tunnels, excluding Space Mountain, it’s completely shielded from the outside elements. However it is not air conditioned and there is absolutely no breeze unless the vehicles are moving. It’s super hot, even in cooler days. Getting evacuated from there takes much less time than being cherry picked or zip lined down by Reedy Creek up in the sky.

The Skyliner is not the Monorail. Both traverse high-in-the-sky above roadways, parking lots, and buildings. While the monorail’s vehicles are condensed into separate trains, the Skyliner’s vehicles are stretched out over a vast space. There’s no towing option either. Logistically it’s a much bigger beast to evacuate the Skyliner.

Time and time again Disney likes to do things on the cheap, but put a fancy dress on it. They are more concerned on appearances and how it goes into the story versus the comfort of the people who actually utilize it. In many cases too, the designers are building with California in mind instead of super intolerable Florida weather. Hell, they even screwed up with Disneyland’s most recent monorail makeover and their lack of cabin ventilation.

Choosing a gondola based transit system that spans long distances in Florida weather, in my opinion, shows how out of touch the powers that control expenditures are at Disney. During normal operation it’s semi-practical, but once it stops for any long period of time it’s logistically going to be a huge problem like we saw.

This was my thought on why the delay was so long as well. They couldn't move the line because reedy creek was called to evacuate cabins.

There was a reedy creek firefighter interviewed on the news that said they were called to evacuate 6 cabins and not the entire line. So the evacuation was not random there were specific cabins target. and the length of time to evacuate was the reason the were stopped so long

 

[ImperfectPixie]

Most people with claustrophobia should be fine on a WORKING gondola that's not stuck for 3 hours with no way of getting out. That's the main thing I want Disney to address. The sad thing is Disney will probably just tweet us some exciting news that it's working again with no further information about evac procedures.

That's the ironic part of this whole situation and why I brought it up. The evacuations only took as long as they did BECAUSE that rider with claustrophobia and seizure history called 911, and the emergency evacuation teams were in the way of the gondola path, preventing the re-start of the system. See what I quoted below...

Here’s what I can confirm after speaking with a close source:

Shortly after the Skyliner stopped due to the incident at the station, a guest or someone else onboard with them in one of the vehicles called 911. The guest was patched through to Reedy Creek as they were claustrophobic, hyperventilating, and had a history of seizures in the past. The maintenance team that was dispatched to assess what happened was stopped from doing any work until the guest was emergency evacuated as a result of emergency services in the ride path. Reedy Creek had major challenges locating the specific Guest since the vehicle identification number is only printed on the side of each cabin - not on the bottom. The vehicle itself was in a position that obstructed the view of the number as well as the low light conditions. Reportedly the operators also do not have a system in place to determine how many guests are onboard or if the vehicle is occupied at all.

As a result of the delayed evacuation, other guests on board were overloading the emergency call button as well as the 911 operator if they had cell phones. My source is unsure how many other vehicles were evacuated by Reedy Creek, but I’m sure that each minute they were up there and seen doing so elicited more responses from other guests that may not have necessarily required it. People who were in no physical danger - just the many who were exhausted, hot, scared, hungry, needed a restroom, and some who did not speak English.

Once the maintenance team resolved the issue and deemed it safe to do so, they slowly cycled out the Skyliner as this is the most efficient way to get people off any ride.

From my source, it’s been a shared that the emergency kits on board some of the vehicles were previously opened or taken by guests earlier in the day who knew of their existence. Disney would have no way of knowing as It would be an operational nightmare to continuously check the contents of each vehicle throughout the day. They also would have had to come up with some way of locking them that did not impede proper usage. If the kits were not tampered with, they often did not have enough to supply the entire cabin.

 

[cindy_k]

That's the ironic part of this whole situation and why I brought it up. The evacuations only took as long as they did BECAUSE that rider with claustrophobia and seizure history called 911, and the emergency evacuation teams were in the way of the gondola path, preventing the re-start of the system. See what I quoted below...

and if Disney had bothered to provide more information about what was happening they might not have panicked.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

and if Disney had bothered to provide more information about what was happening they might not have panicked.

We all know Disney isn't going to come out and say "we're experiencing a significant delay", and even if they did, that's no guarantee that the person wouldn't have still panicked.

 

[Beacon Joe]

and if Disney had bothered to provide more information about what was happening they might not have panicked.

Are there speakers in the sky ovens? A nice message early on of, "Sorry for the delay. You will get complimentary churros after your ride," probably would have done wonders to ease the tension.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

Are there speakers in the sky ovens? A nice message early on of, "Sorry for the delay. You will get complimentary churros after your ride," probably would have done wonders to ease the tension.

There are, but when it became important for Disney to use them, there were already too many guests trying to use them because of seeing the evacuation teams.

 

[rickdrat]

Aren't there some sort of PA speakers on the towers themselves? Don't know their intended purpose, but perhaps that could be used to relay information? Of course how well you hear that in the cabins, along with the PR downside of broadcasting the problem around the entire property is an unknown.

 

[matt9112]

While it would be great to just start it up again, without having someone qualified look at the accident area and properly assess damage, you could be creating a worse situation than what’s already transpired. What if there was structural damage or the haul rope was damaged or a multitude of other scenarios that need to be looked at before the reset button can be pushed. They did the right thing by waiting. The situation was stable and no one was put in immediate danger. Those that experienced issues were assessed and removed accordingly.

If the right thing is a 3 hour failure at the worlds most visited theme park im sorry thats not the proper implementation of this system.

 

[Captain Chaos]

In the first days of people allowed to video their experience of the gondolas, some of the vloggers took thermometers with them and showed only a degree raise in temperature when the gondola stopped.

I'll ask you again:

1) What time of day were these videos taken?
2) What was the outside temperature during the video?
3) What was the temperature inside the gondola BEFORE stoppage?
4) How long was the stoppage?
5) Would it be fair to say, in a 5 minute stoppage during a day where the outside temperature was over 90, the gondola temperature raised 1 degree, but in a 180 minute stop, the temperature will raise a lot more than 1 degree?
6) How many people were in the gondola? The more people, the more body heat will be given off.

Again, just asking so we can have a real basis here. You are using vloggers who aren't exactly conducting scientific experiments, and who won't dare put anything in a negative light toward Disney (and thus risk losing their access to their gravy train). But if we can get more factual information regarding these unscientific tests, we can at least formulate better opinions.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

If the right thing is a 3 hour failure at the worlds most visited theme park im sorry thats not the proper implementation of this system.

It only took three hours because someone called 911 due to having claustrophobia, hyperventilating and having a history of seizures, and the emergency crews were in the direct path of the gondola, preventing re-starting the system. There were further issues surrounding the evacuations themselves, but that's the main cause.

 

[VaderTron]

It only took three hours because someone called 911 due to having claustrophobia, hyperventilating and having a history of seizures, and the emergency crews were in the direct path of the gondola, preventing re-starting the system. There were further issues surrounding the evacuations themselves, but that's the main cause.

I'm sure the 911 caller would have been OK with a 5-10 minute wait for an ambulance at the station rather than a 3 hour wait for a cherry picker to lower them to the same ambulance...So, maybe it wasn't that the person had to be rescued. It was that the decision makers made poor decisions in how to handle the situation.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

I'm sure the 911 caller would have been OK with a 5-10 minute wait for an ambulance at the station rather than a 3 hour wait for a cherry picker to lower them to the same ambulance...So, maybe it wasn't that the person had to be rescued. It was that the decision makers made poor decisions in how to handle the situation.

Well, their call to 911 was routed to Reedy Creek, so my guess is that from then on it was basically out of the hands of the Disney employees at the park.

EDIT: I'm sure the caller would have rather have been brought back to the station, too, but when a person is panicking, they don't always behave rationally.

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

We rode the skyliner last week and those gondolas come in HOT into the stations. The first station we went into, I screamed because I thought we were going to hit the one in front of us. They brake very fast and at the last minute almost. I'm afraid of heights as it is, so this definitely doesn't make me feel better about it. Otherwise, we loved them! they move quickly and get you where you need to be fast.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

We rode the skyliner last week and those gondolas come in HOT into the stations. The first station we went into, I screamed because I thought we were going to hit the one in front of us. They brake very fast and at the last minute almost. I'm afraid of heights as it is, so this definitely doesn't make me feel better about it. Otherwise, we loved them! they move quickly and get you where you need to be fast.

That's VERY helpful information!!! My husband is a last-minute braker when he drives and sometimes it freaks me out.

 

[Tanna Eros]

We rode the skyliner last week and those gondolas come in HOT into the stations. The first station we went into, I screamed because I thought we were going to hit the one in front of us. They brake very fast and at the last minute almost. I'm afraid of heights as it is, so this definitely doesn't make me feel better about it. Otherwise, we loved them! they move quickly and get you where you need to be fast.

I want to ride it, especially after you told me what to expect when landing. I'm not leery of them; this problem will be sorted. They did all those trial runs with CMs, didn't they? What if the CM's felt the need to be more positive in their assessments of the ride? You don't want to tee off the boss.
One fellow, I believe it was on the DISboards, (I'm not sure, I've seen so many comments today,) that the blue gondola jumped a bit, twisted a bit, and then stopped. I'm not saying human error, for the gondola did not stop, but the doors opened, CM's spoke to passengers about staying onboard, then the gondola was to go onto it's next destination.
Could it be possible that a confused person tried to exit the gondola, causing the jump and twist? That perhaps a passenger thought it was their stop, and began to exit, only to be told to stay on? The twisting might have mussed the tracking.
Could someone who rode them tell me if there's any motion to the displacement of weight when unboarding?