Guests Evacuated By Epcot From The Disney World Monorail

Walt Disney World’s monorail system isn’t having a good year. Months after a serious accident that injured a guest, the resort’s transit system suffered another issue.

Today, the monorail cars were evacuated after getting stuck between EPCOT and the Transportation and Ticket Center. We first spotted this news from the Orlando Sentinel.

The exact number of guests trapped was not reported in that story. However, thanks to WFTV9, we learned that 71 people ended up being ushered off of the elevated vehicles.

The yellow monorail vehicle suffered a flat tire, which led to people onboard smelling burning rubber. The first call to emergency services happened at 9:15 AM. Reedy Creek and Orange County Fire Rescue evacuated all passengers within an hour and twenty minutes.

Thankfully, no one was injured during this incident, according to a statement from Disney:

“This morning, the monorail experienced a flat tire near the Epcot parking lot toll plaza. No guests or cast members have reported injuries, and all passengers were safely evacuated.“

In May of this year, the Walt Disney World monorail officially came under the control of the Florida Department of Transportation. It’s unclear if FDOT has started inspecting the resort’s popular transit system.

I was on the monorail from the Ticketing Center to the Magic Kingdom a couple of weeks ago for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, and I saw no positive changes. The passenger cars still smell terrible. The rails you hold on to if you’re standing are loose.

Cast Members also don’t appear to care if too many people pile into one car. Having reported on the monorail issues in the past, I was tempted to test some of the emergency procedures to see if they even worked.

Let’s see what the FDOT says about today’s events.

[Source: Orlando Sentinel]

[Source: WFTV9]