Do You Remember The Sky Buckets ?

[beksy]

The buckets were one of my sister's favorite rides. She was so dissappointed that they were gone this trip (shows how long we had to wait to get back!).

[g8rgirl29]

From Wikipedia:
"At the Magic Kingdom, the Skyway was removed in 1999, but not before a worker was killed when he was swept off the platform and dropped 40 feet on February 14 of that year. The Tomorrowland station is off-limits to guests, while the Fantasyland station is now used for stroller parking. Another key reason for the decision to remove the Skyways was because they were in technical violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act. It was very difficult to load and unload mobility-impaired guests (one must step up when boarding and down when de-boarding), and this usually required having to stop the ride. Furthermore, wheelchairs could not be loaded onboard because the vehicles were too small.

On Sunday morning, 17 April 1994, a 30-year-old man named Randle Charles fell approximately 20 feet from one of the Skyway cabins and landed in a tree near the "Alice in Wonderland" attraction. He was helped out of the tree by paramedics and taken to nearby Western Medical Center, where he was treated for minor injuries and released. Charles later filed a $25,000 negligence lawsuit against Disney, claiming that he had suffered permanent neck and back injuries as a result of his fall.

Despite the initial assertion of Mr. Charles' attorney that Randle "wasn't doing anything improper, and he certainly wasn't trying to get out of the ride," Charles indeed jumped, not fell, from his Skyway cabin. Charles' lawsuit was dismissed just before it was to go to trial on 23 September 1996; at that time he admitted that he "came out" of his Skyway cabin and that his lawsuit against Disney was "ill-advised."

Events seemingly repeated themselves five years later. In February 1999, a park custodian at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom was killed when the skyway started up unexpectedly while he was cleaning one of its platforms. Raymond Barlow, 65, was sweeping off a narrow skyway platform inaccessible to park guests an hour after the park's 9:00 A.M. opening when other cast members, unaware of his presence, started up the ride. Barlow, startled by the approaching gondola, grabbed onto it and tried to climb inside; he fell 40 feet into a flower bed, hitting a tree on the way down, and died. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration later ruled that the area in which Barlow had been working violated federal safety codes and fined Walt Disney World $4,500 for a "serious" violation of safety standards. Several months later, in November 1999, the Magic Kingdom's skyway was also permanently closed. Once again, the decision to close the attraction was supposedly based on factors other than its being involved in a recent accidental death.

[wdwgrl377]

Oh my!! I so remember the Sky Buckets! how I missed them...and River Country!! thanks for bringing back some happy memories!!

[CU Tiger]

I miss the skyway! I can still picture in my mind the last time I rode in one with my cousin.

[Mickey91]

I miss the skyway as well!

[Imagineer1981]

Maybe that's why they got rid of them!

actually the cost of running them, plus the accident to a CM and the age of the attraction all added to its removal

[brertosh]

Sky Way rocked..........

[joonyer]

actually the cost of running them, plus the accident to a CM and the age of the attraction all added to its removal

It was also slow loading and had a very low rider capacity. Not enough bang for the buck so to speak. Add the problems with people dropping things and spitting and it was doomed.

[Joanna]

thanks g8rgirl29 for that informative post. Wikipedia is amazing isn't it?

My favorite memory of the skyway was looking down on Spectromagic.