Disney Skyliner (Gondola) Construction Updates



I'm torn - I think it's great that they are making a new transport system, WDW definitely needed one. But I think the part that goes over the resort at CBR is tacky. There are no gondolas overhead in the Caribbean! I think it will ruin the atmosphere there.

And the part about them being detachable... that just glares at me as an accident waiting to happen!
 


I'm torn - I think it's great that they are making a new transport system, WDW definitely needed one. But I think the part that goes over the resort at CBR is tacky. There are no gondolas overhead in the Caribbean! I think it will ruin the atmosphere there.

And the part about them being detachable... that just glares at me as an accident waiting to happen!

I rode a gondola in February in the Caribbean! There is a gondola ride that is one of the options on the Disney cruise when the ship stops in St. Thomas so they are in the Caribbean!
 
And the part about them being detachable... that just glares at me as an accident waiting to happen!
All modern aerial gondolas are detachable. There are probably hundreds of systems in daily operation all over the world. Accidents are very rare, and virtually non-existent on properly maintained systems operated by well-trained staff in appropriate weather conditions.

They've been around for dozens of years; in fact, the Skyrides in Disney parks were early versions. Of course, the modern system being installed is much more technologically advanced.

One of the most visible modern systems is the Emirates Airline gondola in London, which runs hundreds of feet over the Thames.
 
All modern aerial gondolas are detachable. There are probably hundreds of systems in daily operation all over the world. Accidents are very rare, and virtually non-existent on properly maintained systems operated by well-trained staff in appropriate weather conditions.

They've been around for dozens of years; in fact, the Skyrides in Disney parks were early versions. Of course, the modern system being installed is much more technologically advanced.

One of the most visible modern systems is the Emirates Airline gondola in London, which runs hundreds of feet over the Thames.

One of the times when I hope my 'spidey sense' is wrong - but I'm not expecting WDW to keep a high standard at this time, as it seems they aren't doing that for pretty much anything down there anymore. Properly maintained - nope, think monorail, bus system, yeti, and the shaman in Navi. Well -trained staff? Nope, throw some CP CMs out there, right? Weather conditions - that's the big one! How long does it take to empty a loop? How soon do you have to call bad weather to get everyone out safely?
 
One of the times when I hope my 'spidey sense' is wrong - but I'm not expecting WDW to keep a high standard at this time, as it seems they aren't doing that for pretty much anything down there anymore. Properly maintained - nope, think monorail, bus system, yeti, and the shaman in Navi. Well -trained staff? Nope, throw some CP CMs out there, right? Weather conditions - that's the big one! How long does it take to empty a loop? How soon do you have to call bad weather to get everyone out safely?
  1. Agreed, Disney maintenance is not what it used to be, but I don't think they'll allow something like this to deteriorate to the point that it's in danger of failure.
  2. Yes, they'll probably have some low wage cm's doing the crowd control and loading, but I think Disney is still pretty conscientious about training cm's responsible for running things.
  3. The weather concern is high winds. There have been a couple of incidents where ski resorts have run gondolas in winds higher than they should have, and cabins have struck the supports. Hopefully, Disney will be monitoring forecasts and radar to shut down well in advance of high wind danger. We don't know what the travel times will be, but I don't think time to the next station will ever be more than 10 minutes. At 10mph, which is on the slow side for modern gondolas, you can travel 1.67 mi. in 10 minutes. The longest run, from Epcot to CBR, looks to be about 1.3 mi (if there's no load/unload station at the new Riviera Resort.)
 
Word is that the practical estimateof throughput for the Disney system is supposed to be around 3K guests per hour, with each car carrying up to 8 guests. What I see as the major issue for load speed will be the capacity; unlike sardine-packing a bus or monorail car, you cannot over-load cable gondolas, so there will be times when parties will have to be split, which I predict will lead to cars lifting off empty or half-empty quite frequently. (Look at what happens on BLSRS when a family can't decide how to split up; the ride cars roll on with no one in them, slowing the load speed.)

A similar gondola to the ones planned for WDW was on display at a recent tech show (though this one does not have enclosed windows, is decorated for a zoo installation, and has also been rigged as a sales booth, with a table in it. Operational gondolas don't have conference tables, LOL.) https://blogmickey.com/2017/11/photos-company-behind-disney-skyliner-gondola-display-iaapa/

The new WDW system will have glass-enclosed gondolas. According to people who have seen Dopplmayr's proposal, this is the window design that is in the initial plan: https://skiliftblog.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/img_3465.jpg?w=636 The specifications do NOT include A/C at this time (though they DO include wifi), but I suspect that will change once they start testing the planned "passive ventilation" and discover that it won't work for spit in central Florida humidity. Without A/C, glass-walled gondolas *will* get dangerously hot in the afternoon. (Not to mention that US guests who hear that there is no A/C would avoid the system like the plague in the daytime.)

FWIW, if you look at the company's website, you'll see that Doppelmayr routinely provides their own employees for key positions on overseas installations. If the pattern holds at WDW, the engineers and maintenance techs will work for them, not for Disney.'
 
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Word is that the practical estimateof throughput for the Disney system is supposed to be around 3K guests per hour, with each car carrying up to 8 guests. What I see as the major issue for load speed will be the capacity; unlike sardine-packing a bus or monorail car, you cannot over-load cable gondolas, so there will be times when parties will have to be split, which I predict will lead to cars lifting off empty or half-empty quite frequently. (Look at what happens on BLSRS when a family can't decide how to split up; the ride cars roll on with no one in them, slowing the load speed.)
Don't know what you mean by BLSRS, but I don't see any reason cabins should be leaving empty when there are Guests queued. Disney could easily group riders in advance, just as they do for TT @ Epcot or KS @ AK. It all depends on how smartly they design the stations. Even if they don't, the vast majority of parties contain less than 9 Guests.
 
Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin.

The load system for these gondolas uses a stationary platform, but gondolas do not stop moving; they just slow down. The best Disney load setup analogy is the load scheme of rides such as BLSRS, Peter Pan, Spaceship Earth, TTA, etc that feed a single queue onto a moving walkway. Just having a CM there asking "how many" would slow things down, let alone using dots on the floor. As the gondolas don't stop at all, I can't see any possible way to insist that people fill them. No matter how hard you try to organize them, some people simply won't move fast enough. (The videos show strollers and bikes being loaded with no stop, so I assume that would be the case at WDW for strollers as well. It will be interesting to see how they handle wheelchairs and ECV's.)

If you look at the demo videos from Dopplmayr (which mostly depict ski resort situations), it's obvious that it isn't the norm to always fill gondolas to capacity. People get on as quickly as they can, but if you have any slow people boarding, there just won't be enough time to get every space filled before the gondola doors close.

A system like this one could theoretically carry 5K passengers per hour, but that isn't likely to happen in practice. Somewhere north of 3K/hr is thought to be a more realistic estimate under ordinary conditions. (I can see that at park closing there would probably be CM's working the entrance queue telling people to fill up every available seat, and that would help, but it won't be foolproof.)
 
Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin.

The load system for these gondolas uses a stationary platform, but gondolas do not stop moving; they just slow down. The best Disney load setup analogy is the load scheme of rides such as BLSRS, Peter Pan, Spaceship Earth, TTA, etc that feed a single queue onto a moving walkway. Just having a CM there asking "how many" would slow things down, let alone using dots on the floor. As the gondolas don't stop at all, I can't see any possible way to insist that people fill them. No matter how hard you try to organize them, some people simply won't move fast enough. (The videos show strollers and bikes being loaded with no stop, so I assume that would be the case at WDW for strollers as well. It will be interesting to see how they handle wheelchairs and ECV's.)

If you look at the demo videos from Dopplmayr (which mostly depict ski resort situations), it's obvious that it isn't the norm to always fill gondolas to capacity. People get on as quickly as they can, but if you have any slow people boarding, there just won't be enough time to get every space filled before the gondola doors close.

A system like this one could theoretically carry 5K passengers per hour, but that isn't likely to happen in practice. Somewhere north of 3K/hr is thought to be a more realistic estimate under ordinary conditions. (I can see that at park closing there would probably be CM's working the entrance queue telling people to fill up every available seat, and that would help, but it won't be foolproof.)
I agree that the cabins will not be filled to capacity, but I still don't think they'll be sent off empty on a regular basis. I still think intelligent design of the station will make the difference.

For example, I think an extended loading platform would allow Guests to be pre-grouped and to load multiple cabins in parallel. There would need to be one or more cm's directing Guests into the proper cabin as several pass by.

We'll have to wait and see whether Disney's priority is to maximize capacity or minimize operating cost.
 
Disney is a master at moving people efficiently. I have to believe they’ve thought the loading process of the gondolas through and this system will move people as efficiently as possible.
 
Disney is a master at moving people efficiently. I have to believe they’ve thought the loading process of the gondolas through and this system will move people as efficiently as possible.

I agree. These are not new systems. They've been around for many years. They're used as transportation (not just ski lifts!) all over the world including in places that are as hot or hotter than central Florida (and those systems don't have a/c). I'm confident that all the potential issues (loading ECV's and strollers; air conditioning; lightning; etc.) that the arm-chair quarterbacks (not referring to anyone specific) are concerned about were discussed and addressed by true experts in the field before this system was ever purchased by Disney. I'm sure it will all be fine.
 
I posted this on the disibilities boards also. I think the one at Disney will work similar to this.
Here is a video from Telluride Co. They use their gondola both winter and summer.
 
Also here’s a video I found on YouTube that shows a Gondola with a handicap car
 
Also here’s a video I found on YouTube that shows a Gondola with a handicap car

I don't think the ones at Disney will require a ramp. I've been following a thread on another message board where some industry "experts" post information and I'm 99% sure the video they posted of a system similar to the one Disney is getting showed the gondola as being level with the loading platform. And the ones at Disney won't come to a complete stop for loading, they will just slow down significantly.

Just mentioning it because I'm sure someone will come along and comment about the system stopping (and thus slowing travel time) every time someone in a wheelchair or ECV needs to load.
 

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