LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — As many as 100 people were trapped on a stalled monorail late Thursday at Disney World, prompting first responders to use cherry-pickers and large trucks to help evacuate those who were stranded. 

  • People rescued from stalled monorail at Disney World
  • About 75 to 100 people were trapped; no injuries reported
  • Incident is latest in series of issues with monorail system

“We are safe but still on the monorail,” Loren McCarthy said on Twitter. “Each bucket can only remove two passengers at a time. Currently there are two trucks.”

Orange County Fire Rescue’s public information officer Mike Jachles confirmed they were assisting Reedy Creek Fire Rescue. 

Messages to Reedy Creek and Disney were not immediately returned. 

Jachles heard about 75 to 100 people were trapped. 

McCarthy said the monorail lost power shortly after leaving the Ticket and Transportation Center, which serves as a parking lot facility primarily for the Magic Kingdom resort.

Another guest, Stephanie Lasal, spotted the stalled monorail and rescue workers from the ground while she was driving away from Disney’s Contemporary Resort.

“Smell in the air like electrical and brakes,” she wrote on Twitter. 

The call about the stalled monorail came in around 10:27 p.m., Jachles said. Reedy Creek Fire Rescue requested Orange County Fire Rescue’s presence under a mutual-aid pact.

An OCFR battalion chief and four fire-rescue officials responded. They brought in a piece of heavy equipment called an aerial platform, which reaches 125 feet. OCFR workers are trained in all aspects of difficult technical-rescue operations like this one, Jachles said.

However, in this case, the five from OCFR were in standby mode as Reedy Creek Fire Rescue carried out the work. 

This is the latest in a series of operational issues for Disney’s monorail system:

  • In July, guests became stuck on a stalled monorail without air conditioning for about half an hour. 
  • In December 2018, several Disney guests became trapped when the doors on their monorail train failed to open after several stops. 
  • In November 2018, a monorail door fell off at the Grand Floridian Resort station. In that incident, a Disney spokesperson said the issue was caused by a guest in a motorized scooter who reportedly hit the door while loading. The impact caused the door to fall off. 
  • A video posted online in January 2018 showed a Disney monorail with a train door wide open while in motion.

The current monorail trains have been in service since 1989. Each train is 203 feet long and can carry upwards of 360 passengers.