Disclaimer: This post is about the Disney Skyliner gondola system at Walt Disney World. If you’re an average person, you might not have even heard about it. If you’re a Walt Disney World fan, you’ve likely heard nothing but Skyliner news for days on end and this post is for you.

I haven’t even ridden the darn thing and I’m exhausted by it! So much speculation among my fellow Disney fans from the very first announcement. Some people were excited, some afraid, some so negative that they predicted those gondolas doomed from the get-go. Then? The mishap and holy guacamole, everyone went completely nuts! Let’s talk about…

Walt Disney World Skyliner Exhaustion

Back when Disney made their intentions clear about a new-ish mode of transportation for Walt Disney World resort guests, my initial reaction was excitement. I loved the gondolas in Magic Kingdom and only got to ride them on one visit before they were gone. I thought the Skyliner sounded like a fantastic alternative to a crowded Disney bus.

Then I saw a map of where the Skyliner routes would be located and my excitement dimmed a bit. We typically stay at resorts that aren’t reachable by the Skyliner. I realized we probably wouldn’t be riding the gondolas unless we just wanted to check out the experience and take in the scenery. I knew the views would be amazing and contrary to many, we aren’t worried about the interiors being too hot. We don’t fear heights and motion sickness isn’t a problem. The only drawback is that it seems to me (I could be mistaken) that the Skyliner will simply not be the most efficient way to get between the Studios and Epcot when we could walk or take a boat.

Then, The Mishap

What an explosion! Nope, I’m not talking about the Skyliner incident itself, it’s the aftermath that wore me out! Twitter and Facebook were overrun with rumors, stories, speculation, and too many “I told you so’s” to count. From the “I will never ride the Skyliner now” people to the “I wonder how many law suits will be filed” folks and everything in between. I avoided social media for big swaths of time and still, it went on for days. I found it all a bit overblown. It got old in a hurry.

Let me acknowledge that yes, being stuck in a gondola for 3 hours on vacation would be horrible. That’s time that cannot be recovered. I’d have been extremely disappointed and angry. Would I understand that even after months and months of testing, glitches were likely? Maybe not, to be honest. The gondolas were only in official operation for a week before stranding passengers for an extended period of time. (The Perera family was my favorite story by far.) But is it the worst thing that could happen to a vacation? Not by a long shot. I believe what many are missing is perspective.

Wait and See

That’s where I am now. Social media has calmed down somewhat. Mostly, I suspect, because the Skyliner has yet to reopen as of this moment, but it will. I’m not any more or less likely to ride it than I was before the incident. I’m simply tired of hearing about it. How about you?