This archive report was first published on 7 October 2019.
On Saturday night, a group of vacation-goers at Walt Disney World in Florida were left stranded in the air for several hours after an unknown problem caused some of the gondolas on the Disney Skyliner system to come to a halt.
Launched on September 29, the Disney Skyliner gondola system connects Epcot, Disney's Hollywood Studios, and three Walt Disney World resorts, with a total of 300 gondolas in operation.
According to eyewitnesses, one of the sections of the system came to an abrupt stop around 8 p.m., with several gondolas scrunched up together at one of the system's five stations in an apparent collision.
Disney World did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Sunday evening, but a company spokeswoman later told The Orlando Sentinel that the company was investigating the cause of the unexpected downtime.
Emergency medical workers received phone calls about anxiety attacks, and firefighters were called to the scene to rescue people in six gondolas. The whole gondola system is now shut down, and it is not clear when it will reopen.
One family, who were on vacation with their two children, described the experience as 'definitely scary' and said they used a glow stick and notepads to try and calm the kids down.
