Disneylover99
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2012
I was in one of the stuck gondolas last night. I’ve been skimming through and there are a couple points that were brought up that I can address.
The only thing we were being told in the gondolas through the speakers was that there was a “temporary delay” And “thank you for your patience. We had access to social media. We had seen the pictures of the collided cars. I would have much preferred to hear something like “There is a blocked line at the Riviera station that has halted the gondola system for the time being. We are working to clear the line and we will keep you updated.” Additionally, the speaker in our cabin was very staticky and cut out a couple times, so the few times they did give a new message, like when they told us we could open the emergency kits, it was difficult to make out what was said.
We pressed the emergency button in our cabin about halfway through because one person was having a panic attack - shaking, breathing too fast, feeling numb in her fingers, etc. We told them this, and they just made a generic comment that they were working on resolving the situation and then the speaker cut-off mid-sentence and they never spoke directly to us again. They did not connect us with any medical personnel for advice. They did not check back with us through the speaker at any point. We never even saw anyone on the ground looking up at our gondola to try to figure out how to evacuate us or anything like that. (We were over water, so we would have needed a special evacuation method.) Thankfully, another person in our cabin had experienced panic attacks before and was able to help - I don’t know what would have happened if no one in our car had known how to best help her slow down her breathing and try to get through the panic attack.
I don't know how it was at other locations, but my car was close to the Epcot station and there was someone at the platform handing out the gift cards and tickets as we got onto the platform. We did not have to ask. They also took the information for a point of contact for our group. They also provided my group with a hotel room and sleepwear because we had driven in for a day trip from a couple hours away - the gondola ride had been the last thing we had planned to do before heading home.
It sounds like they treated you well on the ground, but they didn’t treat you very well in the air. That is a huge problem.
Glad you’re okay.
I hope the person who had the panic attack is doing well also.