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

[tjkraz]

After a few days of dealing with people's panic attacks, they'll rethink their strategy. You can't expect tens-of-thousands of guests to grasp that the only way to reach two key destinations at WDW is by climbing into an 8x8' cab suspended 50' off the ground.

No reason they couldn't offer minimal service between CBR, POP and AOA combined. One bus route from both Epcot and HS to all of those resorts. Still tremendous savings over prior costs to provide bus service to those 5000 rooms.

 

[STLstone]

After a few days of dealing with people's panic attacks, they'll rethink their strategy. You can't expect tens-of-thousands of guests to grasp that the only way to reach two key destinations at WDW is by climbing into an 8x8' cab suspended 50' off the ground.

No reason they couldn't offer minimal service between CBR, POP and AOA combined. One bus route from both Epcot and HS to all of those resorts. Still tremendous savings over prior costs to provide bus service to those 5000 rooms.

These would most-likely operate at a height similar to the monorails - which is lower than 50 feet.

 

[jknezek]

These would most-likely operate at a height similar to the monorails - which is lower than 50 feet.

The highest point of the WDW monorail is 65 feet, where it enters and exits the Contemporary. But yeah, for the most part it is under 50 feet.

 

[tjkraz]

The highest point of the WDW monorail is 65 feet, where it enters and exits the Contemporary. But yeah, for the most part it is under 50 feet.

40'...60'...that's not really the point. I don't think you can compare something like the monorail, which for all intents and purposes looks and feels like any bus/train/subway, with a tiny, claustrophobic car dangling from a wire.

Perhaps time will prove me wrong but among the thousands of guests staying in those resorts at any given time, I'm envisioning some will have objections to the Skyliner.

 

[RescueRanger]

What would you like to wager? They'll trust the numbers more than anything. They'll have ridership numbers to justify what ever decision they make.

You can wager what ever you want. I personally don’t care. I don’t stay at those resorts nor do I plan on staying there. My post is strictly informational. What people choose to believe is there own problem. I will state again, people in the know have stated that the bus routes are going away. These are people with a long track record of knowing things about projects before the information is public. If people want to hope for something different, then so be it, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.

 

[beer dave]

What would you like to wager? They'll trust the numbers more than anything. They'll have ridership numbers to justify what ever decision they make.

We could bet a beer for old times sake....... I'll take the "no buses" by default if you want......

 

[Farro]

Every hotel that uses something other than buses for service somewhere has at least one other transportation option. I wouldn't worry too much about this being the only option for these hotels.

No - there is no other way to Epcot from Polynesian other than monorail. You can walk to the TTC from Poly, but then still need to take monorail. Buses only run if it's broken down.

Your other option is Uber.

 

[Q-man]

These would most-likely operate at a height similar to the monorails - which is lower than 50 feet.

And likely lower than the monorail as the bottom would only need to be 20' to clear traffic(they don't need to be that high but people need to be high enough not freak out that a bus will hit them.) as they don't need to accommodate oversized loads like the monorail track does as such item can be moved between cars or after closing.

 

[Q-man]

We could bet a beer for old times sake....... I'll take the "no buses" by default if you want......

Agree they go no buses and force people to try the gondolas otherwise the tremendous transportation savings doesn't happen.

Pretty sure every transportation evolution ever was accompanied by great fear.

Once people realize they can be in World Showcase faster than the walk, down the spine, from front entrance the complaints will quickly die. That doesn't even include dropping to 2 buses an hour.

 

[Iowamomof4]

Will the friendship boats still run from Epcot to DHS and back?

 

[umichigan10]

Will the friendship boats still run from Epcot to DHS and back?

Yes

 

[skier_pete]

I think it's quite possible they have a restricted bus option. They will need to be able to have a bus option for when the skyliner closes due to weather. Maybe they will run one bus an hour or something. I do agree there WILL be the occasional person that won't ride because of fear of heights. It MAY be possible they will initially try to go without a bus completely, and maybe just accomodate the occasional freak-outs with some sort of van transportation.

 

[sachilles]

My bet is they go with a less palatable bus option where it's shared service CBR and AoA or something.

 

[Lee Matthews]

Oh, I wasn’t expecting them to reduce the amount of buses to the Skyliner resorts. I thought the Skyliner was to help with the expected increased crowds

 

[jknezek]

Oh, I wasn’t expecting them to reduce the amount of buses to the Skyliner resorts. I thought the Skyliner was to help with the expected increased crowds

Those hotels are at 90%+ capacity most of the year. Their isn't an increased crowd from hotels to parks because other than the new construction, there is no available capacity. It is most likely being designed to see if it can be a cheaper and more efficient way of moving people around. Which means buses are likely to be significantly reduced if not eliminated.

 

[Lee Matthews]

OK, I can see why they would do that and I’m not against reducing fuel emmisions and money at the same time but if they decide to build more Skyliners, they’ve got to make them in keeping.

They should extend it up to animal kingdom as that area and resort is all on its own

 

[Tigger's ally]

IF this is successful, a second leg that includes AK, CSR, and the All stars seems pretty much a no brainer. Almost be like a mirror image.

 

[tjkraz]

IF this is successful, a second leg that includes AK, CSR, and the All stars seems pretty much a no brainer. Almost be like a mirror image.

Perhaps. The current project involves an enormous concentration of resorts (NINE, including Dolphin and Swan) linking to two theme parks.

No other project would give Disney the same bang for the buck. But if they can still save and/or streamline in areas that aren't quite as dense, seems likely they will.

 

[Tigger's ally]

Perhaps. The current project involves an enormous concentration of resorts (NINE, including Dolphin and Swan) linking to two theme parks.

No other project would give Disney the same bang for the buck. But if they can still save and/or streamline in areas that aren't quite as dense, seems likely they will.

Well, since the swan, dophin, BC/YC and BW are already linked to the same two parks, really all the current project really is doing is linking POP/AOA, Carribean and the new Riviera Resort to that area. Yes, there will be some overlap of the epcot resorts in passengers. What I am talking about though is if you flip this little diagram over, the bottom leg would stretch to the all stars, the turn would be near CSR and the top leg would stretch towards AKL. They would just have to intersect at Studios to make it even more of a transportation hub.

P.S. just noticed it looks pretty new but why does this say MGM?

 

[Q-man]

Well, since the swan, dophin, BC/YC and BW are already linked to the same two parks, really all the current project really is doing is linking POP/AOA, Carribean and the new Riviera Resort to that area. Yes, there will be some overlap of the epcot resorts in passengers. What I am talking about though is if you flip this little diagram over, the bottom leg would stretch to the all stars, the turn would be near CSR and the top leg would stretch towards AKL. They would just have to intersect at Studios to make it even more of a transportation hub.

P.S. just noticed it looks pretty new but why does this say MGM?

That what I thought at first until I realized that 'only' is over 7K rooms and roughly a third of on property rooms.