An unexpected incident at Walt Disney World Resort left one guest with quite the story to tell. Several park visitors found themselves stuck on one of Magic Kingdom Park’s oldest attractions, the Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover, for more than 45 minutes. The ride suddenly broke down, leaving guests stranded on its elevated track.
The Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover opened at Magic Kingdom Park in 1975 and underwent a significant change earlier this week. Sometime in the last few days, Disney cast members removed a historic metal turnstile at the entrance to the PeopleMover, a quiet but permanent change to the decades-old ride.
Amid the changes, Stevie Wilde (@wildeabouttravel_ on TikTok) took to social media to share her experience evacuating the PeopleMover. First, the guest posted a video showing herself walking down the elevated track after the ride came to a halt.
@wildeabouttravel_ The Disney peeps will know what ride! Hints in the hashtags! #disney #disneyparks #magickingdom
Later, she shared more details about the incident.
@wildeabouttravel_ #peoplemover #evacuation #disneyrides #disney #waltdisneyworld #disneyworld
“If you’ve ever been on the PeopleMover, then you know that the PeopleMover will probably stop…a few times to let people on that are handicapped, or just because it’s old and it just breaks down sometimes,” Wilde said. “So it stopped a few times during the ride, and we thought, you know, that just happens sometimes. Turns out, that wasn’t the case.”
What initially seemed like a routine stoppage took a turn when the ride failed to restart after several attempts.
“About the fourth or fifth time of it stopping, it never turned back on,” the Disney Park guest continued. “They try to reboot it for, I would probably say, about a half hour to 45 minutes, and it just wouldn’t turn on. So they had to evacuate us off of the ride.”
Fortunately, Disney cast members ensured that Wilde and her group made it to their dinner reservation without any issues, even compensating them for their time spent stranded on the ride. “We got free FastPasses,” Wilde recalled.
It remains unclear what exactly caused the breakdown. According to the My Disney Experience app, the Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover was operational at the time of this article’s publication.
Have you evacuated a ride at Magic Kingdom Park, EPCOT, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, or Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park? Share your experience with Disney Dining in the comments!
