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.