Disney Skyliner (Gondola Transportation System) Read Post 1 Now Open!

Wait until the really hot weather is back in Orlando, then the lack of a/c will be brought up so much we will look for other topics to distract ourselves here.
Heh.

I am booking a trip in June on the Skyliner (AoA) and planning on using it several days to go to Epcot, DHS and the character breakfast at the Boardwalk. Hopefully it is as comfortable as they say during the hot/humid summer days/nights and faster and more convenient than the buses. Looking forward to trying it out, despite the no A/C. :)
 
The MK boat launches freak me out more than the Skyliner.

The idea of having my kids sailing through the Seven Seas Lagoon or Bay Lake without life jackets is not my favourite thing ever. I don’t know why I don’t feel the same about the Epcot resort area boats.

I guess they’re irrational fears for a reason lol.
 


I agree. Accidents DO happen. Even Doppelmeyer had an issue in Canada where someone cut the haul rope:
Cable cut, sending cable cars crashing to the ground in Canada's Howe Sound
In a dark wilderness area, in the middle of the night, when the system was closed for the night. Intentional vandalism, not an accident.
Even with the Skyliner, we saw issues with cars crashing into one another, causing a 3+ hour delay. They're all "isolated incidents"...
True, but it occurred where the cabins were off the cable, or transitioning from off the cable to on the cable. The only place where they do this off the ground is at the BW turn station.
 
I am booking a trip in June on the Skyliner (AoA) and planning on using it several days to go to Epcot, DHS and the character breakfast at the Boardwalk. Hopefully it is as comfortable as they say during the hot/humid summer days/nights and faster and more convenient than the buses. Looking forward to trying it out, despite the no A/C. :)
To be very clear, my comment about the a/c was intended to be very sarcastic in nature. :rotfl: I stayed at Pop Century towards the end of October last year. While the heat and humidity were not near as bad as the prior August, it was surprisingly hot (and somewhat humid) for late October. I rode the Skyliner every opportunity I had and I did not find the temperature in the cabins to be bad. I think it was worse when we were in the Riviera station since we were barely moving through the turn and the cabins are stacked against each other.
 
According to the article, average winds at the time were 50pmh, with gusts to 68mph. That's tropical storm force. I don't think Disney will be running Skyliner during tropical storms.

I am sure they spoke to the Bronx zoo and found that is a bad idea.
I remember couple years back they had issue during bad storm
 


I have far less fear of an accident on the skyliner, than an accident on I-4 or other Orlando area roads with all the people renting cars and trying to drive in unfamiliar areas, although a breakdown/delay inconvenience is a rational "fear".

On a different note related to everyday skyliner operation for those of us who are looking forward to using it as much as possible. any recent info on what times the lines have started running. Is it even an option to consider to make it to DHS for a 7AM opening.
 
I have far less fear of an accident on the skyliner, than an accident on I-4 or other Orlando area roads with all the people renting cars and trying to drive in unfamiliar areas, although a breakdown/delay inconvenience is a rational "fear".

On a different note related to everyday skyliner operation for those of us who are looking forward to using it as much as possible. any recent info on what times the lines have started running. Is it even an option to consider to make it to DHS for a 7AM opening.

At this point I would definitely not count on the SkyLiner as an option for early mornings at DHS. Of course that is subject to change, but haven't seen anything to the contrary. Our trip isn’t until July, so I’m hoping that it will be a viable option by then.
 
Gondolas are not new technology. They're widely in use at ski resorts world wide. I don't think there has ever been an incident of a cabin falling of the line.
https://snowbrains.com/gondola-cabin-falls-switzerland/
That said, I think that is not something that people need to be worried about and that you are tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of times more likely to be injured or killed in a car accident on the way to the resort then you are on a falling gondola.

Heatstroke on a stalled gondola on a hot day on the other hand...
 
At this point I would definitely not count on the SkyLiner as an option for early mornings at DHS. Of course that is subject to change, but haven't seen anything to the contrary. Our trip isn’t until July, so I’m hoping that it will be a viable option by then.
We are there next week. At this point my plan is to check to see if skyliner is going at 6AM if not then its going to be a Lyft/Uber I guess cause not going to go wait in the long line for a bus chancing that enough come along at the right time to get there. Should only be like $10 to DHS from Pop I believe.
 
We are there next week. At this point my plan is to check to see if skyliner is going at 6AM if not then its going to be a Lyft/Uber I guess cause not going to go wait in the long line for a bus chancing that enough come along at the right time to get there. Should only be like $10 to DHS from Pop I believe.

That would be your best option right now. From what I’ve read the most important thing is to just be in the park the BG process starts. As long as that’s the case it doesn’t seem to really matter if we’re 5 minutes early or 2 hours early atleast for your BG.

There does not seem to be a lot of accurate information on the hours of operation of the Skyliner.

Sadly it doesn’t seem like the operating hours are very consistent from day to day. I’m really surprised they haven’t incorporated into the MDE app yet. Just having the ability to launch it as you getting ready to leave your room and check if it’s running would really be useful.
 
That would be your best option right now. From what I’ve read the most important thing is to just be in the park the BG process starts. As long as that’s the case it doesn’t seem to really matter if we’re 5 minutes early or 2 hours early atleast for your BG.



Sadly it doesn’t seem like the operating hours are very consistent from day to day. I’m really surprised they haven’t incorporated into the MDE app yet. Just having the ability to launch it as you getting ready to leave your room and check if it’s running would really be useful.

We hope to also rope drop MFSR but have two days to do it, will try first day if not will make sure we are even earlier the second time. Our family is more into staying up late than getting up early and our normal January trips we do that but this time we've got a few early mornings planned.

Yes it would be nice to know the hours with some consistency, one night we have an after scheduled park closing res for Oga's hoping the skyliner is still running when we are done. Was also hoping to ride the Epcot line one of the evening to visit boardwalk area and back.
 
We are there next week. At this point my plan is to check to see if skyliner is going at 6AM if not then its going to be a Lyft/Uber I guess cause not going to go wait in the long line for a bus chancing that enough come along at the right time to get there. Should only be like $10 to DHS from Pop I believe.
The Skyliner started running this morning at 7:30 am while DHS opened at 7 am. So far the Skyliner has not been running early enough to get to DHS for rope drop. I would plan on getting that Uber/Lyft. :)
 
Where did you find the "official" hours, how late is it officially open? You would think they would at least start running before park opening even if only by 15-30 minutes earlier.
From the HUB
They only update the hours monthly but January hours for the Skyliner are opening at 7:30am and closing at 10pm every night except Sunday DHS 10:30 and 11:30 for Epcot on Tuesdays due to EMH
 
From the HUB
They only update the hours monthly but January hours for the Skyliner are opening at 7:30am and closing at 10pm every night except Sunday DHS 10:30 and 11:30 for Epcot on Tuesdays due to EMH
Oh OK thanks for the info. You'd think the official schedule would be made easily available to the guests as well, I did find other posts on here with the same answer from others who apparently had access to the info. 10pm should be late enough for anything we need and mornings will have to be rideshare I guess unless I see for certain buses are coming at close regular intervals.
 

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