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

[AggieDizzer]

I am 100% IN on this. I've had the chance to visit Telluride, Colorado several times and ride their gondola system, and it is fantastic. (Of course, the amazing views of the San Juan Mountains add to that experience!) It's relatively quiet and relaxing, and yes, the air moves quite well through the gondola without the need for AC. Even up in the mountains, it can get pretty warm in the summer yet I have always found the gondolas to be comfortable! Anyway to those who are not convinced, no worries, there are other options for you. But I will definitely queue up for a gondola, without hesitation. These look so cool.

 

[Mikey15]

Just wanted to point out that it won’t be serving just 3 resorts. Guests staying at all the Epcot resorts (7 of them) might choose to use the gondolas too. And anyone going to or from Epcot by way of the international gateway.

People will come to check them out too, sure, but potential traffic from Yacht & Beach Club and Boardwalk is still limited. The BC/BW rooms close to IG could definitely feel like taking the Skyliner to DHS. For YC, the rest of BW, and definitely Swan/Dolphin/Cove, it seems to be as far a walk to get to either Skyliner. Boats will still run too. The sheer number of people at Pop/AoA and CBR who will absolutely use it for DHS and Epcot will dwarf the limited portion of a smaller number of BC/BW guests, so they're wagging the dog when we're thinking of traffic volume.

I can't see midday park-to-park traffic being a big bottleneck either. It's open & close that offer the potential of a line forming. For what it's worth, with SWGE opening, Disney's already scheduled out 6:00-9:00 EMH for DHS for Sept & Oct, into November. Guests will be heading there earlier than the ones heading to Epcot IG, which should stagger crowds a bit in the first few months of opening.

 

[Q-man]

Which loop they choose wouldn't matter in terms of total capacity per hour, though. I wasn't referring to how fast they load, but how many people are actually going to be in each gondola that takes off.

Tired at the end of the day and wanting to get back to the resort? I'm probably not going to even blink at a guy in a hockey mask carrying a chainsaw getting in the cabin with me.

 

[rwalker1304]

Anyone know what the hours of operation will be? Wondering whether it will be open 1-2 hours before EMH?

 

[focusondisney]

People will come to check them out too, sure, but potential traffic from Yacht & Beach Club and Boardwalk is still limited. The BC/BW rooms close to IG could definitely feel like taking the Skyliner to DHS. For YC, the rest of BW, and definitely Swan/Dolphin/Cove, it seems to be as far a walk to get to either Skyliner. Boats will still run too. The sheer number of people at Pop/AoA and CBR who will absolutely use it for DHS and Epcot will dwarf the limited portion of a smaller number of BC/BW guests, so they're wagging the dog when we're thinking of traffic volume.

I can't see midday park-to-park traffic being a big bottleneck either. It's open & close that offer the potential of a line forming. For what it's worth, with SWGE opening, Disney's already scheduled out 6:00-9:00 EMH for DHS for Sept & Oct, into November. Guests will be heading there earlier than the ones heading to Epcot IG, which should stagger crowds a bit in the first few months of opening.

The IG Skyliner is less than a 5 minute walk from YC. The Skyliner travel time will be about 5 minutes faster than the boat. Add in wait time if there is no boat in the dock when they exit & yes, lots of YC guests will be taking the Skyliner. As for park to park transfers, I was just at YC 2 weeks ago. We left the Studios between 1:30 -3 pm 3 times in the week we were there. Every time, the line was 2 boats deep. Many of those people were staying on to Epcot.

Disney didn’t put this system in to service just 3 resorts.

 

[DanBoris]

And if you figure a bus every 15-20 minutes per resort per park covered, that's 4 buses an hour x 2 parks x 3 resorts (not counting Riviera because it's not online yet so it's not affecting capacity). 40 buses is a whole lot more than 24 per hour, and gondolas are constantly moving so you won't be standing still much in the queue line.

The 3000 number is per line, in each direction, so it's like 20 buses leaving each resort to both parks every hour.

 

[DanBoris]

Anyone know what the hours of operation will be? Wondering whether it will be open 1-2 hours before EMH?

It is assumed they will run the same hours as other type of transportation.

 

[focusondisney]

While this is true, there is no anticipated decrease or removal of bus or boat services to those resorts.

Those resorts don’t have any bus service for the Studios unless the boats can’t run due to weather. And we don’t have any idea how it will impact boat service. For years boats ran every 20 minutes. The last year or so, they have increased the boats to run about every 10-15 minutes. It is entirely possible they will change back to every 20 minutes, or longer. Just like we don’t know what will happen with the buses. Everything is speculation.

 

[OSUZorba]

I would think that one of the closest ride-load approximations would be TSMM, since that ride also has a "disability loop" loading zone. TSMM holds 4/car, so you can cut the expected load time at least in half, but you would pretty much have to have the Skyliner's load speed at more than 10X the load speed of TSMM to eliminate the line backup.

I don't expect the Skyliner to have a 30 minute wait as an all-day thing, but it won't surprise me to see that at resorts in the mornings for the hour or so bracketing rope drop, at least for a while when the system is new and novel.

It will be interesting to see how many folks with strollers will choose to use the stationary load area. Certainly, single strollers should not need to use it, but I think that some folks with doubles will choose to, for fear of not being able to back it off in time.
(Which brings up the question of how often that happens -- that someone who rolled on with no problem cannot roll off as easily, and causes a safety issue. (Assuming that CM's will have a panic-stop button available, and I cannot see how it would be possible not to.)

There are plenty of videos that show the launch time of the Gondolas, much faster than TSMM at about 11 seconds. Sit down, do some math, then compare it to the current bus capacity.

 

[KYMickey]

While this is true, there is no anticipated decrease or removal of bus or boat services to those resorts.

I would be extremely surprised if there wasn't a significant decrease in the number of buses running from the resorts that have access to the gondolas. Disney isn't going to spend the amount of money I get on the system without being able to get savings someplace else.

 

[rwalker1304]

I am familiar with these types of lift systems and we have several of them in the mountains around here for skiing and sight-seeing. Quite efficient.

With the several lines, I can see there will be at least one possibly two turn stations. Does anyone know if there is any information out there (or does anyone know) if it is possible to ride in the same cabin from IG to DHS? Or (as is my guess), will it be necessary to change cabins at the Caribbean Beach Resort to catch one heading to DHS? I could see the system working best by not integrating the two (or three) lines. That prevents downtime issues, but also leaves guests who leaves Pop/AoA intending to make a quick trip to DHS (say for Galaxy's Edge EMH), who then find themselves in a large line at the Carribean Beach Resort station waiting to catch a DHS bound cabin along with everyone else from CB, Riv, YC/BC, BW resorts who is also trying to get to the same place.....

Curious how they will be managing this.

 

[joelkfla]

The 3000 number is per line, in each direction, so it's like 20 buses leaving each resort to both parks every hour.

No, it's combined, because everyone leaving DHS for any of the 4 resorts has to ride the same line to CBR, and so it goes for Epcot as well. So the capacity of each line leaving a park has to be divided among the resorts. And the capacity of the Pop/AoA line has to be divided between DHS & Epcot.

3000/hr is about 42 buses, so it's like 10-11 buses to each of the 4 resorts

 

[joelkfla]

I am familiar with these types of lift systems and we have several of them in the mountains around here for skiing and sight-seeing. Quite efficient.

With the several lines, I can see there will be at least one possibly two turn stations. Does anyone know if there is any information out there (or does anyone know) if it is possible to ride in the same cabin from IG to DHS? Or (as is my guess), will it be necessary to change cabins at the Caribbean Beach Resort to catch one heading to DHS? I could see the system working best by not integrating the two (or three) lines. That prevents downtime issues, but also leaves guests who leaves Pop/AoA intending to make a quick trip to DHS (say for Galaxy's Edge EMH), who then find themselves in a large line at the Carribean Beach Resort station waiting to catch a DHS bound cabin along with everyone else from CB, Riv, YC/BC, BW resorts who is also trying to get to the same place.....

Curious how they will be managing this.

• Everyone transfers at CBR; the 3 lines are separate.
• Riviera is a turn station with optional boarding and deboarding.
• BW is a turn station only.

 

[rwalker1304]

• Everyone transfers at CBR; the 3 lines are separate.
• Riviera is a turn station with optional boarding and deboarding.
• BW is a turn station only.

That makes sense to me. I wonder if the CBR station will be a morning EMH madhouse.....

 

[rwalker1304]

Although, I have seen lines where the optional boarding/deboarding could be at multiple stations, so you could have the IG/Riv/Pop-AoA stations all on one line. With CBR as an optional boarding/deboarding station, and then a separate line for CBR-DHS. Functionally it would work. The lines still would be separate, but there would be a connector track such that the cabins coming in from IG to CBR could continue "south" to the Pop/AoA line and jump back on there.

 

[joelkfla]

Although, I have seen lines where the optional boarding/deboarding could be at multiple stations, so you could have the IG/Riv/Pop-AoA stations all on one line. With CBR as an optional boarding/deboarding station, and then a separate line for CBR-DHS. Functionally it would work. The lines still would be separate, but there would be a connector track such that the cabins coming in from IG to CBR could continue "south" to the Pop/AoA line and jump back on there.

1. That would create a wall which would prevent transfers to the 3rd line, unless the boarding areas were raised to an upper level, which would require stairs, ramps, and/or elevators. (Or building a mezzanine for transfers.)
   
2. It would greatly complicate crowd management and seat allocation. As it stands, everyone is on equal footing at CBR, and the only conflict between ride-throughs and boarding passengers is at Riviera in the Epcot direction, which should be manageable considering the small size of Riviera relative to the other resorts.

 

[rwalker1304]

Potentially. I think there is a design that would not require an upper level/lower level. It would require an underpass for passengers, but all the lines could be on the same level.

I think the way you envision it makes the most sense. I suppose we shall see soon.

 

[rteetz]

Potentially. I think there is a design that would not require an upper level/lower level. It would require an underpass for passengers, but all the lines could be on the same level.

I think the way you envision it makes the most sense. I suppose we shall see soon.

The way the previous poster envisions it is the way it is. You can look back at construction images to see how the stations are set up.

 

[vacationer1954]

Not sure anybody has said/predicted "no wait" esp at busy times like open/close.

Yes, surely no one in an official capacity at Disney said anything of the sort. If it is better than the average 45 minute wait I've experienced trying to get back to my hotel from Epcot by bus in recent years, than that'll be great.

1. That would create a wall which would prevent transfers to the 3rd line, unless the boarding areas were raised to an upper level, which would require stairs, ramps, and/or elevators. (Or building a mezzanine for transfers.)

Yes, that also came up recently somewhere (maybe here) as part of discussion of whether a fourth line could be built emanating from CBR. That also would require putting different lines on different levels with stairs, ramps, and/or elevators.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

That makes sense to me. I wonder if the CBR station will be a morning EMH madhouse.....

I think seeing how everything functions at CBR in the morning once Galaxy's Edge opens will be fascinating as you will have an uneven amount of people wanting to go on the various lines - meaning, more people coming in to CBR (from Pop/AoA and coming from CBR itself and potentially some coming down from EPCOT resorts) wanting to go to DHS than on the other lines combined.

So how is this handled? Is there just a backup at CBR for the DHS line? Do they run the other lines slower than the DHS line so the Output can try to match the Input? How is the exit line from the other lines merged in with those walking up from CBR? .... All will be very interesting to see in action