New Disney Statement Acknowledges Disney Skyliner “Malfunction”; Three Guests Sent to Hospital

    As more details come out about the Disney Skyliner incident on Saturday night, Disney statements continue to adjust. We’re also learning more about the Reedy Creek Fire Department response and any guests treated. Here is the latest.

    At approximately 8pm on Saturday evening, the Disney Skyliner gondola system had what Disney is now calling a “malfunction”. Initial statements provided to us here at BlogMickey.com from Disney stated that “there was no accident”, and that the Disney Skyliner gondola system was experiencing “unexpected downtime”. That statement was provided to us around 11:30pm on Saturday evening, two hours after the initial call for an evacuation went out to the Reedy Creek Fire Department.

    Here is Disney’s latest statement on the incident:

    “We have a team diligently looking into the cause of last night’s malfunction on the Epcot line of the Disney Skyliner. We have been in contact with the guests, many of whom were on the Skyliner for more than three hours until we were able to restart the system. We express our sincere apologies for the inconvenience and continue to work with each guest individually”.

    Photos posted to social media showed that at least five Disney Skyliner gondola cabins were involved in a crash of some sort at the Riviera Resort station leading to the system to be stopped and riders stranded in the air.

    According to Reedy Creek Fire Department, they evacuated only one gondola cabin in the three hour ordeal. Other evacuations took place closer to the ground using smaller lifts like the one seen in our photo below.

    Eventually, Disney was able to move what appeared to be the malfunctioning gondola into a service spur to allow for the line to move guests slowly back into either the International Gateway station or Riviera Resort station, depending on their direction of travel. We were able to capture photos of the blue Disney Skyliner gondola that was the apparent cause of the malfunction as it sat in the Riviera Resort station on Saturday evening.

    A closer look at the gondola cabin reveals shattered glass from the impact.

    The Reedy Creek Improvement District said that three guests were taken to area hospitals during the incident and that they have all been released.

    A Disney investigation into the incident is ongoing. It’s unclear when the Disney Skyliner gondola system will reopen, or if Disney will make a statement to further clarify what happened that left guests stranded on the week-old system for hours.

    As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news and photos of the Disney Skyliner gondola system and much more from around the Disney Parks!

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