It's Christmastime, and Delegate Michel Moffatt wanted to treat his wife and two children with a nice trip to Orlando's SeaWorld.
On their way to see family in Naples, Florida, the Putnam County family decided to visit the aquatic theme park over "The Most Magical Place on Earth" because the lines at nearby Disney World are just too long this time of year, he said.
It was about noon Monday when Moffatt and his family boarded SeaWorld's SkyTower, a 400-foot-tall observation tower with a double-decker rotating pod that offers a panoramic view of the park's 200 acres.
Everything was great. Moffatt, his family and the rest of the 50 passengers aboard the ride had a seabird's eye view of Orlando as the pod lazily spun its way up the 40-year-old structure.
"It's a beautiful sight from up there," the Putnam County Republican said.
The ride up and down the SkyTower is brief, but little did Moffatt know that the six-minute ride would eat up his family's entire afternoon.
Once it reached the top of its spire, the pod slowly began its descent. That's when what SeaWorld officials are calling a "mechanical failure" happened.
"We started going back down and, at about halfway, it just stopped," Moffatt said. "It suddenly came to a stop."
Thinking their predicament odd, Moffatt and other riders asked the on-board ride operator what was going on. Moffatt said he was told there was a mechanical issue and that the ride would be up and running within 15 minutes.
That time passed with no results, and Moffatt, who described himself as naturally curious, took to social media to find answers.
"I started tweeting at SeaWorld," he said.
Eventually, SeaWorld had to crane in a tub of maintenance workers to fix the problem and an emergency medical technician made sure passengers were OK, he said.
"They boarded through the roof and checked people out," he said.
Despite obvious frustration, Moffatt said people were calm and collected.
"We were kind of hanging out," he said of his family. "We had a Kindle and my old phone, and my kids were playing Minecraft until the batteries died."
Moffatt kept himself occupied by live-streaming the events from his phone.
That's when he got a call from New York.
The drama on the SkyTower had become international news.
"It was MSNBC," Moffatt said. "We did an interview right there."
Moffatt's video, streamed over the social media website Periscope, had viewers from around the world and attracted the attention of major news outlets.
After hours of work and a nerve-wracking brake release that rattled the pod, workers were able to get the stranded passengers down.
Moffatt said he returned to land at 3:15 p.m.
Upon exiting the ride, Moffatt said passengers were greeted by sympathetic park workers who offered meal and ride vouchers.
While he said getting stuck 200 feet in the air for three hours was "annoying," the Moffatt family trip wasn't ruined. After leaving SkyTower, the Moffatts rode rollercoasters.
"It didn't sour the experience," he said. "We missed some shows, but things happen."
Moffatt said he and his family left Orlando on Tuesday and went on to see family in Naples.
Reach Samuel Speciale at sam.speciale@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-7939 or follow @samueljspeciale on Twitter.