Lightning stopped an EPCOT-bound monorail for 90 minutes, and riders removed windows for air
A Walt Disney World monorail headed to EPCOT stopped on the beam for about 90 minutes on September 8 after passengers were told lightning had struck the line. Riders were talked through removing two emergency windows for airflow before the train was towed to a station, and Disney met each passenger with cold water, a $50 gift card and a Lightning Lane pass.
A Walt Disney World monorail bound for EPCOT stopped on the beam on Tuesday, September 8, after passengers were told that lightning had struck the line during a round of thunderstorms. The train sat there for roughly 90 minutes before power was restored and it was towed back to a station, and while they waited, riders were talked through removing two of the cabin's emergency windows to get outside air moving through the car.
A sudden stop on the way to EPCOT
Florida resident Tanya Lee was on the train with other guests when it halted, and she later shared her video of the wait with the news agency Storyful, which is how the footage reached FOX 35 Orlando. By her account, an operator told the passengers that the monorail line had been hit by lightning and that the stop was temporary. It then took about an hour and a half to get power back and tow the train to one of the monorail stations.
The EPCOT line is the odd one out in the system. The two Magic Kingdom loops circle Seven Seas Lagoon past the Contemporary, the Polynesian and the Grand Floridian, so a stopped train there usually has a hotel or a station in view. The EPCOT beam leaves the Transportation and Ticket Center, runs across open ground, passes over the EPCOT parking lots and loops through the front of the park before it reaches the station. A stop on that stretch means sitting high on a slim concrete beam with nothing nearby, which is why Lee, who does not like heights, described it as the exact scenario she had always worried about.
Ninety minutes on the beam, and two windows out for air
While the train waited, the crew walked riders through opening two of the emergency windows so some outside air could get into the car. A monorail that has lost power has also lost its air conditioning, and on a September day in Central Florida a sealed cabin gets uncomfortable fast. The video shows passengers standing at the side windows and working them loose while a baby waits in a stroller in the foreground.
"We were there for one and a half hours and during that time the driver talked us through how to take out the window," Lee told Storyful.
She admitted the situation tested her nerves, but said the mood in her car held up.
"I was nervous as I do not like heights, and I have always been worried about being stuck on one of those [monorails] when I ride them. Everyone was in good spirits, as there is not much you can do at that point. The people in the car I was in were upbeat despite the situation," Lee said.
Key Details
- When: Tuesday, September 8, 2026, during a round of thunderstorms
- Where: The EPCOT monorail line, on a train headed from the Transportation and Ticket Center to EPCOT
- Cause given on board: A lightning strike on the monorail line, according to the operator
- How long: About 90 minutes before power was restored and the train was towed to a station
- Make-good: Cold water, a $50 gift card and a Lightning Lane pass for each passenger
- Footage: Tanya Lee's video, distributed by Storyful and reported by FOX 35 Orlando
Cold water, a $50 gift card and a Lightning Lane pass at the station
Once the train was back at a station, Disney guest relations cast members were waiting to meet each passenger with cold water, a $50 gift card and a Lightning Lane pass, according to Lee's account to Storyful. That is a notch above the usual make-good after a ride breakdown, where guests who get walked off a stopped attraction typically receive a recovery Lightning Lane pass that lets the party come back to that ride or pick another one later in the day. Adding a gift card suggests Disney treated an hour and a half on the beam as a different order of inconvenience from a short pause inside a show building.
FOX 35 Orlando asked Walt Disney World for more information on Tuesday, September 15, and had not published a response from the resort when its report went up. Disney has not said publicly what the strike hit, how long the EPCOT line stayed out of service, or whether other trains on the beam were affected.
Why a lightning strike can stop a monorail
The Walt Disney World Monorail System opened with the resort in October 1971 and today runs three lines over roughly 14.7 miles of elevated beam: the Express and Resort loops that serve Magic Kingdom and its three monorail hotels, and the EPCOT line, which opened with that park in 1982. The Mark VI trains that have run since the turn of the 1990s draw their electricity from a bus bar mounted along the beam, so a train carries no power source of its own. A strike that cuts power to a section of beam leaves the train exactly where it was, and getting it moving again means either restoring power or bringing in another vehicle to tow it, which is what happened here.
Central Florida is the lightning capital of the United States, and Walt Disney World has a well-rehearsed storm routine: outdoor attractions pause when lightning is detected nearby, the ferryboats between the Transportation and Ticket Center and Magic Kingdom hold at the dock, and the water parks clear their pools. The monorail generally keeps running through rain, which is part of why guests treat it as the dependable option when the sky turns. This incident is a reminder that the beam itself is exposed to the weather. Since 2023, the monorail has also been subject to inspection by the Florida Department of Transportation under a state law passed that year.
What to do if your monorail stops
- Stay put and listen. The pilot can talk to every cabin, and on September 8 the crew gave step-by-step instructions before anyone touched a window. The emergency windows are there for exactly this situation, but they come out on instruction, not on impulse.
- Carry water on storm days. A powerless cabin has no air conditioning. A bottle in the bag turns 90 minutes from miserable into merely long.
- Know the fallback. When a beam is down, Disney moves guests onto buses between the Transportation and Ticket Center and the parks. If you arrive to find the monorail suspended, head for the bus loop rather than waiting at the platform.
- Build a buffer. A dining reservation at EPCOT an hour after you park is tight on a clear day and unworkable on a stormy one. Give yourself room.
- Stop at Guest Relations. If a stoppage costs you a reservation or a Lightning Lane return window, the cast members at the park entrance can usually put it right, as they did with the water, gift cards and passes on the platform this time.
What Disney has not said yet
The open questions are the ones only Disney can answer: what the strike damaged, whether the EPCOT line ran a reduced service afterward, and whether anything changes about how trains are held when storms roll over the beam. FOX 35 Orlando's request for comment was still unanswered when it published on September 15. For guests, the practical takeaway is narrower. The monorail remains a sound way to reach EPCOT on a stormy day, but it is worth packing water and knowing that a stop on the beam has a routine behind it, from the pilot's instructions to the guest relations team waiting at the station.
