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

[tlmadden73]

This Gondola will be interesting. With those seemingly small cars, how fast can this get people over to these parks? Taking waiting/traffic out of the mix, will it be faster than a bus?

How will it handle the "morning rush" of guests wanting to get to these two parks at Rope Drop compared to buses that they can bring extra in for.

Will these resorts stop offering bus transportation to DHS and Epcot (just like the boats are the only way to get to/from those parks from the Epcot resorts).
Where will the stations be in regards to the entrances? It appears the Epcot one will be near the International Gateway (which will be nice).

Will this raise the prices of Pop/Art of Animation due to demand? (already the preferred Value resorts, I feel these will skyrocket in price due to increased demand to use/try out these new Gondolas).

I am excited about new transportation options. Having stayed at Pop Century once, being more "connected" to the parks will be nice without having to pay Deluxe prices, but it just depends how convenient this is.

 

[jknezek]

This Gondola will be interesting. With those seemingly small cars, how fast can this get people over to these parks? Taking waiting/traffic out of the mix, will it be faster than a bus?

How will it handle the "morning rush" of guests wanting to get to these two parks at Rope Drop compared to buses that they can bring extra in for.

Will these resorts stop offering bus transportation to DHS and Epcot (just like the boats are the only way to get to/from those parks from the Epcot resorts).
Where will the stations be in regards to the entrances? It appears the Epcot one will be near the International Gateway (which will be nice).

Will this raise the prices of Pop/Art of Animation due to demand? (already the preferred Value resorts, I feel these will skyrocket in price due to increased demand to use/try out these new Gondolas).

I am excited about new transportation options. Having stayed at Pop Century once, being more "connected" to the parks will be nice without having to pay Deluxe prices, but it just depends how convenient this is.

Multiple opinions on all of these questions can be found in the 56 pages of this thread:

https://www.disboards.com/threads/skyway-on-steroids-disney-skyliner-announced.3578988/

 

[joelkfla]

This Gondola will be interesting. With those seemingly small cars, how fast can this get people over to these parks? Taking waiting/traffic out of the mix, will it be faster than a bus?

Theoretically, depending on cabin size and operating speed, up to 4500 pph, equivalent to about 60 busloads. Realistically, maybe about 2/3 of that.

How will it handle the "morning rush" of guests wanting to get to these two parks at Rope Drop compared to buses that they can bring extra in for.

Just my opinion: Disney may offer supplemental bus service to some resorts at peak times. They might even delay opening of some stations past park opening to relieve morning load on the system.

Where will the stations be in regards to the entrances? It appears the Epcot one will be near the International Gateway (which will be nice).

DHS station will be in the bus area on the lagoon shore, closer than the current Pop & AoA loading zones.

 

[MaC410]

Where will the gondola station be for AoA/Pop? From that picture posted on the first page it looks like the station is on the bridge connecting AoA and Pop. Does that mean during construction that bridge will be closed?

 

[rteetz]

Where will the gondola station be for AoA/Pop? From that picture posted on the first page it looks like the station is on the bridge connecting AoA and Pop. Does that mean during construction that bridge will be closed?

It will be part of the bridge between the resorts.

 

[MaC410]

It will be part of the bridge between the resorts.

Do you think they would completely close off that bridge during construction?

 

[rteetz]

Do you think they would completely close off that bridge during construction?

Not sure yet.

 

[cwis]

One question I have in mind is how they will handle people in ECV or otherwise not able to walk in/out on moving cabins.

In a traditional gondola setup, the cabins are pulled away from the main cable and travel through the station at reduced speed (at the end they are launched back on track to full operating speed).

Obviously, this would not work for people in ECV and it could prove difficult to travel with strollers. One workaround would be a moving sideways, though it will probably require it to be quite long. Another option would be to halt the system when a guest with special needs is about to embark or disembark, which would obviously stop the entire ride…

Another option would be requiring people to be able to walk and stand to use the system. This might even be a requirement in case of evacuation? I'm not familiar regarding Floridian regulations with gondolas, if any

 

[Brandon B]

The Disney Skyliner news - although already known - is great. I already love the monorail, I loved the old skyride in MK, and this concept just fits in with both. I think the only way it could be made better would be if they somehow link in Animal Kingdom on that route. It's the only park that other than driving yourself, the buses are the primary means of getting there.

The "Minnie vans" news is probably in the list of "who cares" news that came out of D23, along with the news about the theater they're putting in MK.

 

[joelkfla]

One question I have in mind is how they will handle people in ECV or otherwise not able to walk in/out on moving cabins.

Videos posted by the manufacturer show wheelchairs and strollers being loaded into a cabin while moving at loading speed. The seat on one end of the cabin folds up.

London's Emirates Airlines website says they can accommodate scooters up to a certain size.

Disney may offer complimentary van service or alternate bus service to ecv users who are uncomfortable driving into the moving cabin or who have a large ecv.

 

[Q-man]

The Disney Skyliner news - although already known - is great. I already love the monorail, I loved the old skyride in MK, and this concept just fits in with both. I think the only way it could be made better would be if they somehow link in Animal Kingdom on that route. It's the only park that other than driving yourself, the buses are the primary means of getting there.

The "Minnie vans" news is probably in the list of "who cares" news that came out of D23, along with the news about the theater they're putting in MK.

If you go to the main gondola thread and read the economic analysis of buses v gondolas this is like a test setup/rollout that will spread across WDW once the kinks are ironed out.

 

[Princess_Kirky]

I would think the bridge will stay open during construction. The station is just north of the bridge, and they are building a boat ramp to bring stuff out to the site. My guess is it won't touch the bridge at all during construction, then a small walkway will T off from the bridge to connect to the station near the end of the project. I'm betting the guest impact will be minimal aside from noise.

I hope they do! We use that bridge quite often during our stays at POP. The bus lines at park close are often unbearable so we take the AoA bus and walk across to POP.

 

[ucfknight]

Wondering if the Skyway will run during the frequent thunderstorms.

The single-cable gondola systems like what Disney is building tend to have a fairly low tolerance for winds. Since the afternoon thunderstorms tend to have unpredictable and sometimes sudden bursts of high winds, I would think they would err on the side of caution and shut it down if a storm was in the immediate area.

 

[Spridell]

So I am guessing the Gondolas will NOT have ac. Looks like one of the pics shows what looks like a vented window.

Boy that will be brutal in the humid summer months.

 

[Lee Matthews]

The lack of AC on these is crazy

 

[OSUZorba]

One question I have in mind is how they will handle people in ECV or otherwise not able to walk in/out on moving cabins.

In a traditional gondola setup, the cabins are pulled away from the main cable and travel through the station at reduced speed (at the end they are launched back on track to full operating speed).

Obviously, this would not work for people in ECV and it could prove difficult to travel with strollers. One workaround would be a moving sideways, though it will probably require it to be quite long. Another option would be to halt the system when a guest with special needs is about to embark or disembark, which would obviously stop the entire ride…

Another option would be requiring people to be able to walk and stand to use the system. This might even be a requirement in case of evacuation? I'm not familiar regarding Floridian regulations with gondolas, if any

The other thread has videos of people loading with wheelchairs, ECVs and bikes on these without them stopping. Even so, I personally wouldn't be surprised if they actually put in a separate switched line, where one side kept moving and the other side came to a full stop that didn't affect the cable. This would be very similar to how the remove and add cars for maintenance.

 

[joelkfla]

So I am guessing the Gondolas will NOT have ac. Looks like one of the pics shows what looks like a vented window.

Boy that will be brutal in the humid summer months.

There's an extended discussion of that on the "Official D23" thread. Cliff's Notes version: A/C is technically feasible (has been done before), those "in the know" say they won't have a/c, others say that's crazy.

 

[Spork24]

The single-cable gondola systems like what Disney is building tend to have a fairly low tolerance for winds. Since the afternoon thunderstorms tend to have unpredictable and sometimes sudden bursts of high winds, I would think they would err on the side of caution and shut it down if a storm was in the immediate area.

I've heard the model they are buying operates up to 35mph wind. I'm assuming there is a factor of safety above that and at 35mph isn't catastrophic, but is the point at which you start pulling people off.

Lightning shouldn't be an issue, as the Gondalas will essentially be a Faraday cage and protect those inside.

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

I fully agree with this - though that is assuming it is in addition to buses and not instead of. Like at the Poly they don't have bears to MK or EPCOT- I hope they don't do that at POP and say the only way now to get to EPCOT or DHS is the gondolas

No bears? But bear transport seems like so much fun...

 

[joelkfla]

Lightning shouldn't be an issue, as the Gondalas will essentially be a Faraday cage and protect those inside.

Physically, but they still might be scared to death. I've practically jumped out of my shoes when there's been a strike on a nearby building's protection system at Epcot.