The Skyliner at Walt Disney World had an accident at the Disney Riviera Resort station on October 5–only six days after opening.
Contrary to what the narrative is, vehicles collided and crashed into each other causing the “unexpected downtime.” Disney’s PR has gone to ridiculous lengths to control the story. They probably don’t like the calls being released either.
The calls that came in to 911 from trapped guests have now been released according to WESH Channel 2.
WESH was able to obtain information for about two dozen calls. If you visit their site you can hear clips in their video.
Here is an excerpt from their article/video:
“A few of those people said they were having medical issues.”
“We’re stuck on the Disney Skyliner. It’s going on two hours now and we’re not really, we’re getting some automated message saying that we’re moving shortly,” a caller told a 911 operator.
“Is anybody having a medical emergency in your car?” an emergency operator asked.
“No everybody is OK. We just, I mean,” the caller said
“I understand. I know you’ve been in there for probably over two hours right now. We do have help on the way. They are trying to get it up and running and we have our units standing by,” the operator responds. Several callers did report medical emergencies.
One said a man passed out, while another was reported to be with an unconscious woman.
Ultimately, only a few people were rescued by firefighters.
A majority were forced to wait more than three hours until park staff got the Skyliner running again.”
The Orlando Sentinel had audio of an 11 year old girl calling for help because her mom had epilepsy.
‘The girl was on the way to Epcot with her mom when the gondola cabin, loaded with six people, stopped over Disney’s Boardwalk.
In some moments, she is calm.
“I don’t know if we’re stuck or something,” the girl says early into the call.
But as the minutes tick by, she weeps onto the phone, sounding panicked. Her mother, a 38-year-old Spanish speaker who doesn’t have her medicine with her, isn’t having a seizure on the gondola but she is frightened, the little girl tells the dispatcher.
“It’s been 20 minutes up here!” the child wails. “Please. I’m begging you!”
Get her out of here as fast as you can, people!” the girl says. “I am going to sue Disney for this!”
“It seems like it’s taking forever but we’re trying to get to you as fast as we can, OK?” the dispatcher says in a steady, patient voice. She never let silence on the line last for more than a few seconds.
The dispatcher tells her the truck is coming with firefighters, and Disney is trying to get the gondolas going again. An emergency team is also on the way to the gondola station too, the dispatcher assures her.
At one point, she fans her mother with some paper. The phone battery is dying, but she sees a firetruck, 35 minutes into the call.
“My mom is freaking out but she’s calmer than before,” the child says.
Fifty-one minutes later, the child is crying again. “Please, my mom is the strongest woman I know,” she sobs.
“They’re coming up to you right now,” the dispatcher says.
“I can’t believe this is happening,” the girl says.
The 911 call tape stops at one hour as help has presumably arrived.”
Another call a man is explaining that his 32 year old wife was in and out of consciousness with a fever. He also explained she has a heart condition.
“My wife just passed out and came back … I’m just getting really concerned now, it’s near two hours … she’s breathing, she’s just in a lot of pain … oh gosh, she’s burning up,” the man tells 911. “This is bad. She’s not going to last long.”
Another person called because their 88 year-old, wheelchair bound, mother was getting overheated.
“She’s in a wheelchair, she’s stuck here, and she’s 88 and she’s getting overheated,” the man said. “If she gets overheated and has a stroke or something..”
“We don’t want it running, we want off right now,” he says. “All they need to do is pry the doors open. I could probably do it myself. I’m sure a couple of firemen could easily do it.”
A lot of those trapped complained about the lack of information given to them while stuck in the air. Several mentioned that constant canned messages played across the system started to become a bit unnerving.
Thankfully no one was seriously hurt, although according to reports, one to three people were taking to the hospital over this incident.
Currently the Skyliner is operational again. We still don’t have an official reason to what caused the accident in the first place. But I would recommend they announce the cause when they find it because someone will find out and it’s better to be upfront than have people speculating or having someone else announce it for them.
What do you think? Comment and let us know!
Source: The Orlando Sentinel, WESH
Pirates & Princesses (PNP) is an independent, opinionated fan-powered news blog that covers Disney and Universal Theme Parks, Themed Entertainment and related Pop Culture from a consumer's point of view. Opinions expressed by our contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of PNP, its editors, affiliates, sponsors or advertisers. PNP is an unofficial news source and has no connection to The Walt Disney Company, NBCUniversal or any other company that we may cover.