Monorail Blue Evacuated After Breakdown And Large Metal Part Falls Off Near Epcot
The everyday storms at Walt Disney World became a bit more frightening on Friday afternoon after Monorail Blue broke down and became stuck near Epcot. Guests said that they saw smoke and sparks coming from the railing, but they weren’t quite sure what had happened. Leave it to social media to find out more, though, as one guest at the parks found a large metal part that actually fell off of the monorail and into the Epcot parking lot.
Around 1 p.m., Monorail Blue broke down near Epcot and became stranded for close to an hour. Many thought it was just a breakdown for one of the old trains, but there appears to be much more to the situation than originally thought.
WESH reported that a man by the name of Jim Parker claims a large piece of metal actually broke off of Monorail Blue and fell to the ground. He said that it came flying off and “nearly hit him” as he was walking along and missed him by about 10 feet.
Parker states they went up to a Walt Disney World cast member and advised them of the situation. He said that a Disney security guard took the piece of metal from them after warning them of the issue at hand.
@WESH this just flew off the monorail at epcot pic.twitter.com/WCzh1Z9sKQ
— Jim Parker (@iOSTrade) June 16, 2017
I thought brakes? Made a few noises and came flying off. We ran the part to a Disney worker
— Jim Parker (@iOSTrade) June 16, 2017
.making sounds and some little pieces flew off then the bigger piece flew off. Thankfully we were more to the left and it went right.
— Jim Parker (@iOSTrade) June 16, 2017
No one seemed to buy notice but us so I grabbed it and hollered for a parking lot employee. I was afraid it was a brake part…
— Jim Parker (@iOSTrade) June 16, 2017
As soon as the breakdown occurred, officials from Reedy Creek emergency services were on the scene to check things out. They eventually ended up pushing Monorail Blue back to the Transportation & Ticket Center for an evacuation and to let all the guests go on their way.
By 2:30 p.m., all monorail service was back up and running as scheduled, but it was a bit of a mess for quite some time.
Numerous fire trucks and ambulances preparing to evacuate guests from monorail blue at Disney World pic.twitter.com/kpprUNOwDX
— Tharin White (@TharinWhite) June 16, 2017
The Walt Disney World transportation system consists of monorails, buses, and boats, but the monorails are obviously one of the more popular modes. Still, there have been a lot of troubles and breakdowns as of late, which shows the need for replacement trains is even more important. The big metal piece coming off of Monorail Blue in the Epcot parking lot is a serious situation, which will need to be addressed and could bring about big changes in the future.
[Featured Image by Danny Cox]
