Best Skyliner Joyride Starting Point?

chekhovgirl

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jun 13, 2011
We'd like to ride the Skyliner for fun and the views on a rest day. We are staying at Wyndham Bonnet Creek, which is "off property", but right next to Caribbean Beach. Where would be the best place to get on the Skyliner without having to pay for parking? Will they care if we come there just to ride it? I've never had a problem visiting resorts before to eat, etc., but after reading some reports, I'm afraid they've become more touchy about it. People have reported no problem getting into CB to pick up people from the Skyliner, but that means they're not parking...
 
Good luck! I'm not sure I would ride the Skyliner after all the bad publicity. Sadly
 
Good luck! I'm not sure I would ride the Skyliner after all the bad publicity. Sadly

Well, I'm not going to rely on it to get to the parks, because we rope drop and want to make sure we have control over when we get there, but we are skiers and ride gondolas all the time, so I have no problem riding this when it comes to safety/height reasons.
 
We'd like to ride the Skyliner for fun and the views on a rest day. We are staying at Wyndham Bonnet Creek, which is "off property", but right next to Caribbean Beach. Where would be the best place to get on the Skyliner without having to pay for parking? Will they care if we come there just to ride it? I've never had a problem visiting resorts before to eat, etc., but after reading some reports, I'm afraid they've become more touchy about it. People have reported no problem getting into CB to pick up people from the Skyliner, but that means they're not parking...
You can park at AoA or Pop without paying for parking and ride all the lines. Sunset is a really good time to ride for all the pretty views
 


We have been on many times, no breakdowns, we love it, soooo much faster than bus, even last night when leaving DHS at closing the very long queue to board moved quickly.

one thing to be aware of is that there are compulsory exits at DHS, Epcot and CBR, AoA, you can’t stay on a loop just to joyride, you will have to exit and reboard, but that gives you a chance to look around resorts - when you get off at a resort no one checks if you are staying there.

CBR is central hub, so you can board all the different loops of the sky liner there.
 
We did this in December. We parked at CBR, for free, just to ride the Skyliner. We took it to Pop/AoA. What a mistake that was. The Skyliner broke down right as we were getting ready to head back. It left us stranded at Pop and our car was at CBR. Thankfully we weren't in any hurry, so it didn't ruin our day. However, we had to ride a bus (ugh, awful, awful experience) from Pop to Epcot, then from Epcot to CBR just to get back to our car. Took over an hour. Kinda silly...why they didn't have a bus to run directly to CBR from Pop when the Skyliner went down is beyond me.
 
We did this in December. We parked at CBR, for free, just to ride the Skyliner. We took it to Pop/AoA. What a mistake that was. The Skyliner broke down right as we were getting ready to head back. It left us stranded at Pop and our car was at CBR. Thankfully we weren't in any hurry, so it didn't ruin our day. However, we had to ride a bus (ugh, awful, awful experience) from Pop to Epcot, then from Epcot to CBR just to get back to our car. Took over an hour. Kinda silly...why they didn't have a bus to run directly to CBR from Pop when the Skyliner went down is beyond me.

Oh, no, sorry you got stuck! Did you tell the guard at CBR that you were coming to ride the skyliner? I think we're planning on journeying to International gateway and then exploring the boardwalk, because we never have...
 


We have been on many times, no breakdowns, we love it, soooo much faster than bus, even last night when leaving DHS at closing the very long queue to board moved quickly.

one thing to be aware of is that there are compulsory exits at DHS, Epcot and CBR, AoA, you can’t stay on a loop just to joyride, you will have to exit and reboard, but that gives you a chance to look around resorts - when you get off at a resort no one checks if you are staying there.

CBR is central hub, so you can board all the different loops of the sky liner there.

Glad to hear you like it so much! I'm not too wary of timing, but if I get on the skyliner and for some reason it breaks down on the one day that we're going to try to ride Rise of the Resistance? Not chancing it at this point ;)
 
I know you are talking about riding the skyliner on a rest day, but we found it really easy and convenient to try the Skyliner on our Epcot day. It was a nice activity to do as a little mid-day break. Something to keep in mind since you are concerned about parking at the resorts etc. Thankfully we did not get stuck and it was such a fun experience!
 
Oh, no, sorry you got stuck! Did you tell the guard at CBR that you were coming to ride the skyliner? I think we're planning on journeying to International gateway and then exploring the boardwalk, because we never have...

No, we just said we were there to visit the resort.
 
Glad to hear you like it so much! I'm not too wary of timing, but if I get on the skyliner and for some reason it breaks down on the one day that we're going to try to ride Rise of the Resistance? Not chancing it at this point ;)
the skyliner doesn't open early enough as of now, to get a BG for RotR
 
We took a quick ride after our breakfast reservation at the Riviera Resort just to try it out and it was so fun! Wherever you start your journey, I'd recommend exploring the Riviera a bit. You've got to see those murals that everyone loves near the Skyliner station!!
 
I'm hoping to ride it from Epcot as a little break as we walk around the world showcase. It would be a nice 30-60 min break, depending on how far we ride it. Has anyone done this?
 
I was just going to ask the same question. We are doing Universal this year instead of Disney but were hoping to sneak over one evening for dinner at a resort and to check out the Gondola. I was planning to park at AOA and ride to Riviera. That would also give us a chance to peek around the new resort.

So if we pull up to the guard station at AOA should we tell them that we want to ride the Gondola or should we just tell them we're coming to have dinner? Is there a time limit on parking at a resort? I just can't remember!
 
Good luck! I'm not sure I would ride the Skyliner after all the bad publicity. Sadly
One minor crash with no injuries but, yes, a three hour delay in bringing in the cabins manually because one car needed emergency evacuation followed by a week-long closure while the incident was investigated and changes made, along with a few momentary to half hour stoppages, does not, to me, equate "all the bad publicity."
However, we had to ride a bus (ugh, awful, awful experience)
Lucky you, not living in an area where you have, or have to rely on, public transportation.
why they didn't have a bus to run directly to CBR from Pop when the Skyliner went down is beyond me.
Disney does not run buses between resorts. Quite likely, they do not have a combination of available buses/CMs to redirect buses.
This is likely one of the few reasons they strongly recommend that visitors who just want to ride the Skyliner, park at DHS.
 
I'm hoping to ride it from Epcot as a little break as we walk around the world showcase. It would be a nice 30-60 min break, depending on how far we ride it. Has anyone done this?
I did this one afternoon on our Epcot day and it was fun checking out the views and mixing the day up a bit.

It was a busy day and the CBR switch station was very busy with guests hopping between EP & HS, so the lines there were 15 min waits. That's probably as bad as it gets though. If it is crowded you could just cut a leg off your journey though to stay on schedule.

Of course I had to try a Toffee Flight Iced Latte at Jeoffrey's CBR skyliner kiosk for the full effect :)
 
In November, we were denied parking at Art of Animation. They had the sandwich board out about only resort guests. We actually wanted lunch from the food court, so we said we were going to get food and were still turned away. We ended up parking at DHS, because my Dad has free parking at theme parks with his pass.
 
In November, we were denied parking at Art of Animation. They had the sandwich board out about only resort guests. We actually wanted lunch from the food court, so we said we were going to get food and were still turned away. We ended up parking at DHS, because my Dad has free parking at theme parks with his pass.
wow, that's the first time I hear that happened in a value resort. I visit the resorts about twice a month, year round and have never had that happen
 
wow, that's the first time I hear that happened in a value resort. I visit the resorts about twice a month, year round and have never had that happen

Shocked us too, because we visit the hotels a lot for various reasons (usually pin trading and lunches, but also holiday decor, and Trader Sam's mug pickups) and have never gotten turned away. Even at the Polynesian!
 

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