The Disney Skyliner gondola transportation system returned to service Monday, a little more than a week after visitors were stranded in the air for as long as three hours.
Notifications on Walt Disney World’s official website and the My Disney Experience app indicated that the system would operate from 8 a.m.-10:30 p.m. Monday. Disney also says that on Wednesday, the line going to Hollywood Studios will be closed for “system updates,” and the other two lines will run from 1-10:30 p.m.
All lines are scheduled to run from 1-10:30 p.m. on Thursday and Friday.
The Skyliner has been closed since the evening of Oct. 5, when the system stalled with hundreds of visitors aboard. The Skyliner had been open for seven days when it halted.
At least one person who was rescued was taken to the hospital, but nothing about his or her condition was released. A union spokesman for the Reedy Creek Fire Department, which serves Disney, complained that the rescue operation required nearly all of its personnel, something that a spokeswoman for Reedy Creek later disputed.
Disney has not disclosed the cause of the shutdown or commented about photos circulating on social media showing crumpled cabins at one of the system’s loading stations.
“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,” a post said on the official Disney parks blog.
Last week, observers on the ground could see the lines and cabins being periodically put through their paces without passengers.
On Monday morning, Skyliner passengers were surprised and generally pleased that the gondolas were in service again.
“We’ve been here for a couple days, and we saw it was running. So we said ‘Why not?'” said Melanie Davis, an annual passholder who lives in Tampa.
“I was like, it can’t fail a second time, probably, so let’s try,” laughed Brianna Fanning, who is visiting from New Jersey. “It was actually very nice.”
Kristi Yates said she and her family watched Skyliner in action for about 15 minutes from the ground at Disney’s Pop Century resort.
“We were hesitant to jump on it, but after watching it for a while, we decided we’d go,” she said.
“It’s a lot cooler than I expected and no motion sickness, not very rocky,” Yates said. “I mean, when you’re looking at it from the outside, and they do the takeoff. It’s like, ‘Man, I bet you’re swinging backwards or something. But you don’t really feel it.”
Cabins were leaving the stations about every 10 seconds on Monday morning.
New signs at the Skyliner loading stations indicated that service “may occasionally be interrupted by stops and delays.” That is particularly true, Monday’s blog post notes “when we need to accommodate guests who require additional time to load their cabin.”
The three lines of the gondola system connect Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Epcot and four Walt Disney World resorts, including Caribbean Beach, Art of Animation, Pop Century and the Riviera Resort, a Disney Vacation Club property set to open in December.
