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

[Q-man]

I’d expect buses to continue to be an option.

Both because of volume once SWGE opens, and because some will just not want to use gondolas (fear of heights, small enclosed spaces, mere preference, etc.).

Volume will not be an issue. A full bus would have to depart every 90 seconds to match the skyliner’s capacity. The rest can be addressed by staying at other properties.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

Volume will not be an issue. A full bus would have to depart every 90 seconds to match the skyliner’s capacity. The rest can be addressed by staying at other properties.

So even with the increase in attendance with SWGE and the other things coming online beyond that? We're sure that gondolas alone would handle the volume?

 

[Cinderumbrella]

Volume will not be an issue. A full bus would have to depart every 90 seconds to match the skyliner’s capacity. The rest can be addressed by staying at other properties.

Exactly.

I think a lot of people are thinking with their hearts and not their heads. The Disney of today is about cost cuts (even if it means saving pennies per use/customer). They are offering a new mode of transportation that is proposed to be quicker (we shall see) and cost them less (which is all they care about as a financial matter). I just don’t see today’s Disney offering that second option at resorts that never had it before.
(I’m excluding Riviera merely because it’s a truly unique property in that it has no current transportation and it’s at a moderate resort.)

 

[Cinderumbrella]

So even with the increase in attendance with SWGE and the other things coming online beyond that? We're sure that gondolas alone would handle the volume?

Nothing is going to handle the SWGE masses at any resort run transportation. There will be long lines at all of them, whether it’s bus, boat or gondola (IMO).

 

[Q-man]

Nothing is going to handle the SWGE masses at any resort run transportation. There will be long lines at all of them, whether it’s bus, boat or gondola (IMO).

Lines won’t build for the skyliner as it will move a full bus load of people(60-70 people) every 90 seconds or a full monorail’s worth every 5 minutes if that helps illustrate capacity. Any wait of 3-5 minutes will be rare.

 

[rteetz]

So even with the increase in attendance with SWGE and the other things coming online beyond that? We're sure that gondolas alone would handle the volume?

This is why they are building it. The capacity is much higher and connects DHS to other properties better.

 

[jade1]

Nothing is going to handle the SWGE masses at any resort run transportation. There will be long lines at all of them, whether it’s bus, boat or gondola (IMO).

Yep true in the am anyway, that's the beauty of EPCOT Resorts and EPCOT DVC Resorts. We walk anyway so transportation can back up all it wants.

Although FP+ will play a big roll IMO.

 

[rteetz]

Lines won’t build for the skyliner as it will move a full bus load of people(60-70 people) every 90 seconds or a full monorail’s worth every 5 minutes if that helps illustrate capacity.

There may be a line at peak times but it will be consistently moving unlike a bus.

 

[jade1]

Lines won’t build for the skyliner as it will move a full bus load of people(60-70 people) every 90 seconds or a full monorail’s worth every 5 minutes if that helps illustrate capacity. Any wait of 3-5 minutes will be rare.

That is a crazy amount, very smart addition.

 

[Cinderumbrella]

Yep true in the am anyway, that's the beauty of EPCOT Resorts and EPCOT DVC Resorts. We walk anyway so transportation can back up all it wants.

Although FP+ will play a big roll IMO.

I agree whole heartedly. Back in SWW days, we stayed almost exclusively at Epcot resorts for the ability to walk. That is going to make those resorts invaluable IMO.

However, I will be curious about the security bubble for the gondolas and if it will help or hurt once you arrive at DHS in relation to the next set of lines.

 

[OKW Lover]

Yep dues would/could change. But verbiage is scarily in favor of WDW with the DVC contracts. It's basically room only guarantees (and only at your home resort) if I remember.

So...if the skyliner results in lower transportation costs (fewer buses) then the owners will see a reduction in fees...or at least not as large an increase.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

I just can't quite get past the idea that if buses are eliminated, anyone uncomfortable with that mode of transportation just couldn't stay at those resorts. Seems a bit much.

Doesn't affect me in the least, but seems like a bridge too far to have NO bus service.

 

[jade1]

So...if the skyliner results in lower transportation costs (fewer buses) then the owners will see a reduction in fees...or at least not as large an increase.

Riviera owners? I think they will have those dues figured out when it starts selling.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I just can't quite get past the idea that if buses are eliminated, anyone uncomfortable with that mode of transportation just couldn't stay at those resorts. Seems a bit much.

Doesn't affect me in the least, but seems like a bridge too far to have NO bus service.

I do get that - but there are other options in each of the categories impacts and it is only to 2 parks (still would be buses to MK, AK, Disney Springs, etc.) and you could take a MinnieVan or drive yourself if you have a car, etc.

Guess in the end I think there will only be a small percentage of people that truly want to stay in these resorts but not want to ride the gondola and for those people there are other ways to get to EPCOT/DHS for the times that small % of people would go there

 

[rteetz]

I just can't quite get past the idea that if buses are eliminated, anyone uncomfortable with that mode of transportation just couldn't stay at those resorts. Seems a bit much.

Doesn't affect me in the least, but seems like a bridge too far to have NO bus service.

I don’t see it any different than the monorail. At monorail resorts they don’t run Epcot buses unless the monorail isn’t operating.

 

[rteetz]

This discussion keeps going in circles whether it’s air conditioning or whether they will have buses.

 

[Cinderumbrella]

This discussion keeps going in circles whether it’s air conditioning or whether they will have buses.

Sorry

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

I don’t see it any different than the monorail. At monorail resorts they don’t run Epcot buses unless the monorail isn’t operating.

The difference I see -- which I wouldn't expect to affect a ton of people -- is that some have a fear of heights and/or small enclosed spaces that I don't think is triggered in the same way by a monorail.

I know a couple of people with those issues who have no problem at all riding elevated trains, but would NEVER ride a gondola.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

This discussion keeps going in circles whether it’s air conditioning or whether they will have buses.

Anything else to discuss about it before it opens or until we have awesome new pics?

 

[jknezek]

Anything else to discuss about it before it opens or until we have awesome new pics?

No. But the hundredth time through the same discussion seems a bit ridiculous. All of this was questioned even before it was announced, when the rumor first started. Since then, AC and buses probably make up more than half of the comments on this thread, with almost no new information since those very first rumors. About the only news on either topic was the pics of the gondolas, clearly sans AC. We won't have an answer on buses for a few more months, but when we do, it will be definitive. Until then, it's all an endless, silly, circular, rehash of old arguments.