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‘Nightmare’ For Riders Stuck on Disney World’s New Cable Cars For Hours

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Walt Disney World park-goers were stuck for up to 3 hours aboard the newly launched “Skyliner” aerial cable car system Saturday night.  Firefighters and rescue workers were dispatched to lift people from the gondolas and bring them back down to the ground safely. 

Riders stuck on gondolas at walt disney world
Emergency responders were brought in to rescue trapped riders (Photo: BlogMickey.com)

“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 the downtime.”

On Sunday, Disney said the problem was not a power outage and that it was continuing to look at the situation.

Walt Disney World's Skyliner gondola malfunctioned Saturday night, stranding riders (Courtesy CruisingTheParks.com)

Chris Edenfield told the Orlando Sentinel he had been stuck on the ride for “hours” with his disabled mother.

“There’s a fire truck and paramedics unloading the people ahead of us. We’ve been stuck up here for hours waiting. We’ve cracked open the emergency kit awhile ago for water; it’s just a nightmare right now.

Edenfield said his mother was having a very hard time.

“She got sick awhile ago, throwing up because of her nerves, but I gave her one of the bags water” he said.

The ride features nearly 300 cabins that Disney says travel at about 11 mph reaching a peak height of 60 feet off the ground.

Riders also said they were asked to open the emergency kits, social media posts show.

Luckily, the malfunction occurred in the later hours of the evening when temperatures had cooled off. The cable cars are not equipped with air-conditioning. 

As compensation, stranded guests are reporting that Walt Disney World Guest Relations provided each of them with a $100 gift card, 2 park tickets, and taxi vouchers.

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