Opening day of the holiday season at Disneyland Resort is meant to bring festive parades, wintertime magic, and smooth trips along the “Highway in the Sky.” On Friday afternoon, November 13, 2026, however, a heavy Southern California rainstorm left dozens of passengers stranded mid-air aboard the Disneyland Monorail for roughly 40 minutes.
According to eyewitness updates and videos posted on social media, Monorail Red stalled directly above Tomorrowland’s Autopia attraction shortly after 2:00 p.m. as a downpour swept across Anaheim. With passengers unable to exit the elevated Mark VII train on their own, Disney maintenance crews eventually deployed a specialized tow tractor onto the concrete beamway to haul the disabled train back to the Tomorrowland station.
All guests aboard exited safely without injury, though the dramatic mid-air recovery capped off a rainy, disruption-filled first day of Holidays at the Disneyland Resort.
How the Downpour Halted Monorail Red Mid-Route
The operational snag began just after 2:00 p.m., when rain fell heavily over Disneyland Park. Unlike Walt Disney World’s climate-controlled monorail trains in Florida, Disneyland’s Mark VII fleet relies on passive airflow through manually operated, tilt-in passenger windows rather than full cabin air conditioning. Whenever rain rolls into Southern California, cast members must pause trains inside the stations to manually close every cabin window.
According to social media reports from guests waiting at the Tomorrowland station, Monorail Orange was held inside the loading platform so that cast members could close its windows against the storm. Out on the elevated track above Autopia, Monorail Red came to a stop behind it—and when the system cleared to resume service, Monorail Red refused to move.
By 2:18 p.m., a cast member on the Tomorrowland platform confirmed to waiting visitors that Monorail Red was officially stuck on the beamway. Operations teams quickly cleared the standby queue at the Tomorrowland station while engineers evaluated the stalled train.
40 Minutes Above Autopia and a Dramatic Tow Recovery
By 2:23 p.m., social media updates noted that Monorail Red had already been sitting motionless above the winding Autopia roadways for roughly 15 minutes with guests still inside. Meanwhile, Monorail Orange remained parked inside the Tomorrowland station with its windows sealed shut; cast members subsequently unloaded all passengers from Monorail Orange so the platform could be cleared for a recovery operation.
Because the Disneyland Monorail travels along an elevated concrete beam without exterior evacuation walkways along most of its Tomorrowland curve, rescuing stranded riders requires either Anaheim Fire Department ladder trucks or towing the train into a station. Given the steady rain and the train’s location above Autopia, Disney opted for a tow recovery.
Around 2:38 p.m., video shared on social media captured a heavy-duty gas-powered monorail tow tractor—dispatched from the backstage roundhouse—coupled to Monorail Red, slowly pulling the silent train along the rain-slicked guideway toward Tomorrowland.
Just before 2:50 p.m.—roughly 40 minutes after the train first stopped—every guest aboard Monorail Red stepped off safely onto the Tomorrowland platform. Once cleared of passengers, the tow tractor pushed Monorail Red backward through the track switch into the backstage roundhouse for inspection. Disneyland has not announced when Monorail Red will return to service.
A Rainy Kickoff for Holidays at the Disneyland Resort
Friday’s breakdown added to a bumpy operational day for both the monorail and the wider resort. Even before the afternoon rain arrived, the Disneyland Monorail had operated with only Monorail Orange during the morning, resulting in 25- to 30-minute waits before Monorail Red joined the track later in the day.
The afternoon storm also dampened opening-day entertainment for Holidays at the Disneyland Resort. While Mickey Mouse and his friends completed the season’s inaugural holiday march-along down Main Street, U.S.A. before the clouds opened up, persistent rain forced Disneyland to cancel both scheduled afternoon performances of A Christmas Fantasy Parade.
For guests visiting when rain is in the forecast, remember that even brief showers require cast members to halt monorail trains to close passenger windows. Whenever storm clouds roll in, walking through the Main Street, U.S.A. gates and across the Esplanade remains the most reliable way back to Downtown Disney.
