Sizing and Safety
While the gondolas don’t appear very large from the ground, they are actually pretty roomy upon boarding. They are sized for a maximum of 10 guests, or six guests with a wheelchair or
ECV onboard. Ten full-sized guests would fully fill the cabin, but the advantage of the gondolas are their capacity. The cabins are constantly loading and unloading, allowing for less cramped space and more privacy for families. That is a significant improvement over the monorail system, which could have numerous families taking up the same area.
As with all things Disney, safety is a huge concern that is clearly the forefront of this project. All cabins are equipped with an emergency call box and a speaker system to relay messages from the cast members to the guests onboard. Other than entering and exiting stations the gondola was very smooth and didn’t appear very affected by the wind. The wind speed during out trip today was 10 miles per hour on ground level. The cabins do have some tilting that happens when they enter and leave a station and get fully attached to the wires.
In the Skyliner stations, guests are held in a waiting spot until an available cabin has entered the loading area. From here, they’re guided to the cabin and quickly reminded of the safety rules, like no rocking or standing while the vehicle is in motion. The cabin is also equipped with graphics that will allow the rules to be understood by people of all languages.