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

The race sounds super fun until the walker and skyliner rider are waiting outside DHS for 30 minutes for the boat traveller 😂.

Sorry, those boats are such a pet peeve of mine lol. But a race would actually be really fun! My money is on the skyliner rider.
I think the reason we didn't do it was because nobody wanted to take the boat! Automatic third place lol. The boat can be a nice ride as long as you don't have to be somewhere in a timely manner and as long as you don't show up as one is pulling away.
 
I've been staying at Caribbean Beach this week, so I've ridden the skyliner plenty. It's amazing. I think the buses are miserable, but this is quick, peaceful, calm, and fun. I really hope we don't see any more accidents and that Disney chooses to expand it. Coronado used to be my favorite moderate, but having the skyliner at Caribbean might win me over. Please add Coronado to the skyliner is what I'm saying. And the Animal Kingdom!

I've ridden with a lot of strangers on the Skyliner. It's funny because the tone here has been so negative while today one of the quotes I heard on the Skyliner was "This is the future." I think they might be right. Another person suggested just tearing down the monorail now. Yeah- they're wrong.
 
Not wrong. Realistic and adaptable. We can all bending from exercising those muscles a bit more.

The main reason I doubt they would replace the monorail with gondolas is that they would have to spend so much repurposing/rebuilding the stations as well as constructing a whole new station at CR as I doubt they can retrofit a station inside the resort. Also, would it be one large loop, or separate runs between each hotel? I don’t think you would want one long run, or even two (MK GF PV, MK CR TTC) because you might not want the whole system to go down if there is an issue.

I am not saying it can’t be done, but I think it is more easily done, and at less expense, in new construction rather than a retrofit situation. I could more easily see a gondola route extended toward AK or DS first.
 


My dream vision for Skyliner expansion:

*A station at Disney Springs (buses are terrible there, and it would connect the resorts with boats to DS to the parks apart from buses

*A station at Coronado Springs (the Gran Destino Tower would be the place to be with alternative transport

*Shared station for the All Star Resorts

*Station between AK park and AK lodge with walking paths to both. AK is the only park with bus only transportation

*Walking path around Epcot from Skyliner station to Monorail station to connect the two for people without park passes or who only have single park passes and want to go to MK
 
I would love to see a Skyliner between TTC and the Magic Kingdom. It would be wonderful to have a continuous load for both morning and after fireworks crowds.
I see it running along the east side of Seven Seas Lagoon (parallel with World Dr)
 


I would love to see a Skyliner between TTC and the Magic Kingdom. It would be wonderful to have a continuous load for both morning and after fireworks crowds.
I see it running along the east side of Seven Seas Lagoon (parallel with World Dr)
I wouldn’t. I think that would ruin the aesthetic of the area. There is a certain charm with the monorail and boats.
 
Looking forward to riding it our next trip. Our last trip, we just didn't have time, but it looks really fun.
 
I wouldn’t. I think that would ruin the aesthetic of the area. There is a certain charm with the monorail and boats.

"Charm" when everything is working well but there can be some crazy lines at times. Not saying a Skyliner is needed but I can see why people think *something* needs to be done to help with transportation TT to/from MK
 
The downside with skyliner plans involving MK is the most efficient routes, would likely be aesthetically non-pleasing.
I think to minimize that, you have to use the eastern side of the lagoon. The efficient route might not really help any resorts. You'd want to go from TTC, down the peninsula, sort of parallel to world drive, and land it on the south side of the bus loops. Then in my wishful thinking you have a 2nd line, with the TTC at the hub and run it by Wilderness lodge, reflections and Fort wilderness. That would minimize the need for turn stations. You'd still end up with a "mid-station" along the route to the fort, but you'd be able to have greater loading area because it's not a turn type of station. Of course that line could also be easily served by a funicular, as that serves multi stops a bit better. Thematically the funicular could look like frontier style train similar to hogwarts etc.
That doesn't really help the grand floridian nor the contemporary but they have (will have) walking access, and in theory a less burdened monorail.
 
The more I look at the map of the magic kingdom area, the more I realize what a mistake the world drive tunnel was. It is very cool, but in practical terms it scuttles so many potential plans. The riverboat having access through there makes most reasonable sized bridges impractical. Any sort of swing/draw bridge would be impractical with the amount of boat traffic, unless is it was high enough to clear all but the river boat.
 
The downside with skyliner plans involving MK is the most efficient routes, would likely be aesthetically non-pleasing.
I think to minimize that, you have to use the eastern side of the lagoon. The efficient route might not really help any resorts. You'd want to go from TTC, down the peninsula, sort of parallel to world drive, and land it on the south side of the bus loops. Then in my wishful thinking you have a 2nd line, with the TTC at the hub and run it by Wilderness lodge, reflections and Fort wilderness. That would minimize the need for turn stations. You'd still end up with a "mid-station" along the route to the fort, but you'd be able to have greater loading area because it's not a turn type of station. Of course that line could also be easily served by a funicular, as that serves multi stops a bit better. Thematically the funicular could look like frontier style train similar to hogwarts etc.
That doesn't really help the grand floridian nor the contemporary but they have (will have) walking access, and in theory a less burdened monorail.
I love the look of the Skyliner floating along, you could land it in the middle of Main Street and I'd be OK with it. Granted there is a possibility I'm in the minority on that but for me, straight from TTC over parts of the Seven Seas Lagoon to the MK front gate works just fine.
 
I love the look of the Skyliner floating along, you could land it in the middle of Main Street and I'd be OK with it. Granted there is a possibility I'm in the minority on that but for me, straight from TTC over parts of the Seven Seas Lagoon to the MK front gate works just fine.
I do think that would be cool. However, I think that there are a few more issues to deal with in that orientation.
A-more time over water, means a bit more of a challenge evacuation wise.
B-it would congest the route already used by the ferry's
C-Aesthetics if you were in one of those $$ bugalows, you would potentially block views of the castle(not a guarantee, but the route would be close.)

That being said, there are many, many options to move more people into the MK that don't involve moving a bus on world drive. I'd love for it to be skyliner.
I do think funiculars could be a good use option around there.

While I know the area between the Floridan an MK is prime for development, I'm sure they could just as easily put some parking there and charge a premium for "walk up" access once that bridge is in.
 
Just a real quick note about my first impressions in riding the Skyliner last week - IT. IS. AWESOME.

I am very impressed with it. The stations are beautiful and the speed and efficiency can't be beat. I made a late hop form HS to Epcot and at the hub station the line for Epcot was long with people heading over for fireworks. The line filled the entire corral and a little more, but I was through it in about 90 seconds. Also, the thing is just fun to ride. It's fantastic!
 

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