Let's take Beach Club and Boardwalk Villas for example. Prior to purchasing PVB, we were a diehard Beach Club family. We love the pool, the resort, the access to the restaurants and nightlife at Boardwalk, and the proximity of DHS and especially Epcot.
...none of which is changing.
That search stopped with the announcement of the Gondola system. In our eyes, these resorts, while still great, don't hold the same allure they once did. This has nothing to do with the price of the Value Resorts, or the people who choose to stay there. It does have to do with the fact that this transportation system is going to bring a crush of new people to that entrance which, in our opinion, greatly decreases one of the positive attributes of these properties.
Well, I guess it all comes down to what we see in our mind's eye. Will traffic at the International Gateway increase? Yes. So if the only acceptable outcome was for the IG to remain exactly as it is today...that will obviously not be the case.
However, I do not believe that the end result will be nearly as dire as some apparently envision. Based upon room counts, traffic should roughly double. Beach + Yacht + BoardWalk + Dolphin + Swan is about equal to the number of rooms at Pop + AOA + CBR.
Due to the nature of the gondola, traffic patterns will be much different than what is normally seen at a theme park entrance. There won't be the massive throngs of guests witnessed when a monorail, boat, bus and/or parking lot tram deposits literally hundreds of guests at one time. Instead it's a gradual arrival of one cabin with 8-10 people every (guesstimate) 15 seconds or so.
In all likelihood, Disney could maintain the current entry experience at the IG by opening just one more turnstile. (I'm already anticipating that security screenings will be modified to check passengers before they board the gondola. So that volume of traffic will remain unchanged, with only BW/BC/YC/Sw/Do guests screened immediately outside the IG.)
If "value" of Beach Club and BoardWalk is rooted almost entirely in the ability to get thru the International Gateway in 20 seconds rather than 45 seconds or 60 seconds, we probably don't have much common ground for discussion. If (worst case) waiting twice as long to enter thru that gate is a deal breaker, so be it.
In addition, not only is it going to make the Gateway far busier, but it's also going to make these resorts busier, the lobbies more crowded, and the restaurants far more difficult to get reservations at.
In my 20 years of frequenting Walt Disney World, I've never found myself judging a resort--not even GF/Poly/CR which are FAR more accessible to non-guests--based upon the number of people in the lobby or a gift shop.
As for restaurants, frankly I think additional traffic would do some good in many respects. One location (Spoodles/Kouzzina/Trattoria) is on it's third concept in about 8 years. ESPN does well during sporting events, not so much on average. There isn't much widespread affection for Flying Fish, and if there's any truth to this veiled class warfare, it isn't going to draw a lot of people from AOA/POP/CBR. Atlantic Dance hall and the piano bar are afterthoughts.
Exactly which restaurants are we worried about the Gondola worsening? Cape May, perhaps?
On the flip side, BCV guests (in particular) will benefit from easier transportation to Hollywood Studios. And everyone in that area will gain access to restaurants and other amenities at Riviera and even CBR.