50 SeaWorld Guests Rescued After Being Stranded on Sky Tower Ride for More Than 2 Hours

The riders were up in the air for more than 2 hours.

ByABC News
December 21, 2015, 6:38 PM

— -- Sky Tower riders are safely on the ground at SeaWorld in Orlando, Florida, more than two hours after being stranded about 100 feet off the ground, the park said.

"The Skytower cabin is now on the ground and all guests and team members have exited safely," SeaWorld told ABC News in a statement just before 5 p.m. "The SeaWorld guest services team and onsite medical personnel worked closely with individual guests to address their immediate needs and assist them in any way possible."

About two hours earlier, the park tweeted:

About 50 guests and 2 parks employees were on the ride at the time, said an Orange County Fire Rescue spokesperson. There were no injuries or hospitalizations, said the spokesperson.

It was not immediately clear what caused the ride to get stuck.

SeaWorld said that the ride was stuck about a quarter of the way up the pole, which is 400 feet high.

"The capsule was immobile for less than three hours and we were in communication with guests during this time," the park said in a statement.

PHOTO: Aerial footage shows park goers stuck on the Sky Tower ride at SeaWorld in Orlando, Fla., Dec. 21, 2015.
Aerial footage shows park goers stuck on the Sky Tower ride at SeaWorld in Orlando, Fla., Dec. 21, 2015.

Passenger Michel Moffatt told ABC News he boarded the ride around 12:05 p.m.

"We enjoyed the view and came to the top, and then it started descending. And about halfway down, there was a [disembark] announcement," he said.

A few minutes later passengers were told there was a mechanical issue and they'd be getting down momentarily, said Moffatt.

"They came back on a little while later and said the emergency brake was locked up ... they'd have to send a maintenance tech up to address it and it'd be about an hour or so ... after we'd been there about half an hour already," he said. "We ended up sitting there until about three hours later, when we finally touched back down to the ground."

Moffatt said the only nerve-wracking part was when the maintenance tech released the brake.

"They actually raised us up a little bit, and it jerked us up and down, and then jerked us up again, and that's when we really started going down slowly ... the break was stuck and he had to lift us off the break to get us down," he said.

PHOTO: Aerial footage shows park goers stuck on the Sky Tower ride at SeaWorld in Orlando, Fla., Dec. 21, 2015.
Aerial footage shows park goers stuck on the Sky Tower ride at SeaWorld in Orlando, Fla., Dec. 21, 2015.

The Sky Tower ride debuted in 1973, according to the park.

"Get a seabird’s eye view of Orlando during this leisurely capsule ride, and take a load off as you plot the rest of your day in the park," the park says in a description.

Moffatt said SeaWorld gave them passes to come back and enjoy the park another time.