Disney World Skyliner gondola mishap leaves 3 people hospitalized: report
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Three people were reportedly hospitalized and released after an apparent mechanical glitch at Walt Disney World’s new aerial gondola ride trapped riders for hours on Saturday night.
No injuries were reported in the incident. Officials for Disney have not said when the temporarily-shuttered attraction may open again.
On Oct. 5, shortly after 9 p.m., an image of a gondola pile-up at the theme park surfaced on social media, with additional videos and park visitor accounts suggesting that some kind of malfunction had occurred, resulting in delays for passengers still in the air.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}As noted by WDW News Today, the Skyliner ride had opened to the public just days before, on Sept. 29.
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Responding to the mishap, a Disney statement said only that the ride had been experiencing “unexpected downtime,” Orlando’s FOX 35 reported. The phrase was widely mocked on social media.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}After midnight, the Twitter page BlogMickey posted that all riders had been evacuated.
On Tuesday, Eryka Washington, a spokesperson for the Reedy Creek Improvement District, confirmed to USA Today that three people were hospitalized following the gondola incident. Reedy Creek is a special taxing district that provides emergency services for Disney’s theme parks, the outlet reported.
At least one of the people hospitalized had been stuck on the gondolas, though it remains unclear if the other two people had also been trapped on the ride, according to The Orlando Sentinel.
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Though reps for Disney were not immediately available to offer further comment, a spokesperson offered Fox News the following statement on Monday:
“We have a team diligently looking into the cause of Saturday’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,” a Disney official said. “We express our sincere apologies for the inconvenience and continue to work with each guest individually.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Reps for Reedy Creek were not immediately available to offer further comment.
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According to Disney’s website, the Skyliner attraction remains "temporarily closed" for the time being.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“Take to the skies—travel by aerial gondola for a bird’s-eye view of various locations around Walt Disney World Resort!” a description page for the new ride states. “This grand, state-of-the-art gondola system conveniently connects Disney's Hollywood Studios and International Gateway at Epcot to the following Resort hotels: Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort, Disney's Art of Animation Resort, Disney's Pop Century Resort and Disney's Riviera Resort.”
Fox News’ Dom Calicchio contributed to this report.