Is the Skyliner worth it for Disney?

[BabybetterDisney]

I have some number questions for Disney concerning the Skyliner:

1. How many people do they employ to run the Skyliner? Including all operation, maintenance, supervising and technical crew.

2. How much does the Skyliner cost to run per day, counting all payroll and energy costs? And how does it compare to running the buses for all the related routes?

2.1 How much does the electricity cost to run the Skyliner engines, lights, buildings, etc, compared to gas burned by the related buses? And how much fossil fuel does it take to create that much energy in the Skyliner? How much fossil fuel is saved, over all, in running the Skyliner versus the buses?

2.2 How much road maintenance is saved by running the Skyliner compared to bus?

3. How doe the Skyliner compare to the buses in cost per person traveling? The same? Half? Double?

4. How much is the upcharge for Pop, AofA, CBR and Riviera for the Skyliner? Is that enough, more than enough, or not enough? How much does it take to be enough?

5. How much did the Skyliner cost to build? Is it cheaper than the Monorail, just as much, or more?

5.1 Is the Skyliner decreasing attendance at non Skyliner hotels as people choose Skyliner hotels instead? What is the loss of attendance at non Skyliner hotels because of the Skyliner?

6. Is the Skyliner bringing a profit to Disney? Is it pulling even? Or is it a financial loss compared to the days without Skyliner?

I personally believe that the Skyliner is a financial disaster for Disney. This is just an opinion, being that I have no access to any of the numbers I mentioned above. My reasons for thinking this way are as follows:
1. Gondolas are extremely expensive to run. I live next to a ski resort, and they charge $83 per person per day for lift tickets. And that’s just chairs -- they are nothing compared to the fancy Disney cabins. In a nearby town, there is a tourist gondola system with cabins that are nice but not near as nice as the Disney ones. They charge $10 per person for a 15 minute ride. All that sounds like a lot of money.

2. Riviera is having a hard time selling. I believe this because they are discounted to 25% right now, even though most deluxe hotels are discounted much less. And there are still plenty of rooms available even though the value hotels are all snatched up. Back when Bay Lake Tower opened, for many years it didn’t discount a dime. The whole point of the Skyliner is to make Riviera a hot item. I personally find Riviera a boring dump compared to the Grand Floridian (even though it costs about as much), but that’s just me.
I wish Disney had spent the entire Skyliner budget on the Riviera to make it look truly like the French Rivera and replace GF as the new flagship hotel, but that ship has sailed. You might ask, what about the transportation? Just offer free reserved Minnievan rides to all Rivera guests, such that the Minnievan is their new bus. Imagine the prestige in that. (Scan the Magic Band to prevent freeloaders.) Charge enough for the room and it will more than cover it. But like I said, that ship has sailed.

3. Galaxy’s Edge is not drawing near the people, even with RotR opening. The Skyliner was partly to help with the expected surge of DHS attendance, but that isn’t happening, so now the Skyliner has no raison d'être. The hundreds of millions spent to build the Skyliner for what? Help a value resort like Pop get to Epcot faster? The monorail only service deluxe resorts, for a reason. They are the only ones who can afford it.

4. The cost at Pop and CBR are going up fast. I know because they are my 2 most favorite Disney hotels, which means the Skyliner hits me personally very hard in the money pocket. I am hit even harder than that, actually, because I don’t want to ride the Skyliner for transportation (only for entertainment), so I will be dishing out even more money for Minnievans, being that buses are cancelled. The problem with that, is that Disney isn’t gaining anything from the price increase -- all that money goes to pay for the Skyliner. In the mean time, a number of people are getting pushed out for not being able to afford the price hike, whereas in the mean time, people who stay at moderates and joining the crowd at Pop, reducing attendance at other moderates, especially for hotels such as CSR, which recently built the Grand Destino Tower, which is a clear competition for the Riviera. It looks almost as nice, but cost much less.

5. I’ve been watching you tube videos of the Skyliner. It appears to average around 20% occupied most of the time. And there are about 4 times as many people going to Epcot than DHS. DHS has almost no line in any video, ever. The buses are sometimes empty during the day too, but they run fewer buses then. You can’t run fewer gondola cabins. Any mode of transportation with such low occupancy is a bad sign financially.

My conclusion: if I’m right, then it’s a good idea to go to WDW as soon as possible, and as often as possible in the next few years, to enjoy the Skyliner while it lasts. You never know when Disney might ax the project to stop the bleeding wound. If you are interested in the Skyliner, of course. I am extremely interested and impressed with it. The Skyliner is a lot like a rich friend’s private jet. It’s totally awesome, expensive and not worth it, but as long as he has it, you might as well visit him as much as you can and fly for free.

 

[Disneylover99]

I have some number questions for Disney concerning the Skyliner:

1. How many people do they employ to run the Skyliner? Including all operation, maintenance, supervising and technical crew.

2. How much does the Skyliner cost to run per day, counting all payroll and energy costs? And how does it compare to running the buses for all the related routes?

2.1 How much does the electricity cost to run the Skyliner engines, lights, buildings, etc, compared to gas burned by the related buses? And how much fossil fuel does it take to create that much energy in the Skyliner? How much fossil fuel is saved, over all, in running the Skyliner versus the buses?

2.2 How much road maintenance is saved by running the Skyliner compared to bus?

3. How doe the Skyliner compare to the buses in cost per person traveling? The same? Half? Double?

4. How much is the upcharge for Pop, AofA, CBR and Riviera for the Skyliner? Is that enough, more than enough, or not enough? How much does it take to be enough?

5. How much did the Skyliner cost to build? Is it cheaper than the Monorail, just as much, or more?

5.1 Is the Skyliner decreasing attendance at non Skyliner hotels as people choose Skyliner hotels instead? What is the loss of attendance at non Skyliner hotels because of the Skyliner?

6. Is the Skyliner bringing a profit to Disney? Is it pulling even? Or is it a financial loss compared to the days without Skyliner?

I personally believe that the Skyliner is a financial disaster for Disney. This is just an opinion, being that I have no access to any of the numbers I mentioned above. My reasons for thinking this way are as follows:
1. Gondolas are extremely expensive to run. I live next to a ski resort, and they charge $83 per person per day for lift tickets. And that’s just chairs -- they are nothing compared to the fancy Disney cabins. In a nearby town, there is a tourist gondola system with cabins that are nice but not near as nice as the Disney ones. They charge $10 per person for a 15 minute ride. All that sounds like a lot of money.

2. Riviera is having a hard time selling. I believe this because they are discounted to 25% right now, even though most deluxe hotels are discounted much less. And there are still plenty of rooms available even though the value hotels are all snatched up. Back when Bay Lake Tower opened, for many years it didn’t discount a dime. The whole point of the Skyliner is to make Riviera a hot item. I personally find Riviera a boring dump compared to the Grand Floridian (even though it costs about as much), but that’s just me.
I wish Disney had spent the entire Skyliner budget on the Riviera to make it look truly like the French Rivera and replace GF as the new flagship hotel, but that ship has sailed. You might ask, what about the transportation? Just offer free reserved Minnievan rides to all Rivera guests, such that the Minnievan is their new bus. Imagine the prestige in that. (Scan the Magic Band to prevent freeloaders.) Charge enough for the room and it will more than cover it. But like I said, that ship has sailed.

3. Galaxy’s Edge is not drawing near the people, even with RotR opening. The Skyliner was partly to help with the expected surge of DHS attendance, but that isn’t happening, so now the Skyliner has no raison d'être. The hundreds of millions spent to build the Skyliner for what? Help a value resort like Pop get to Epcot faster? The monorail only service deluxe resorts, for a reason. They are the only ones who can afford it.

4. The cost at Pop and CBR are going up fast. I know because they are my 2 most favorite Disney hotels, which means the Skyliner hits me personally very hard in the money pocket. I am hit even harder than that, actually, because I don’t want to ride the Skyliner for transportation (only for entertainment), so I will be dishing out even more money for Minnievans, being that buses are cancelled. The problem with that, is that Disney isn’t gaining anything from the price increase -- all that money goes to pay for the Skyliner. In the mean time, a number of people are getting pushed out for not being able to afford the price hike, whereas in the mean time, people who stay at moderates and joining the crowd at Pop, reducing attendance at other moderates, especially for hotels such as CSR, which recently built the Grand Destino Tower, which is a clear competition for the Riviera. It looks almost as nice, but cost much less.

5. I’ve been watching you tube videos of the Skyliner. It appears to average around 20% occupied most of the time. And there are about 4 times as many people going to Epcot than DHS. DHS has almost no line in any video, ever. The buses are sometimes empty during the day too, but they run fewer buses then. You can’t run fewer gondola cabins. Any mode of transportation with such low occupancy is a bad sign financially.

My conclusion: if I’m right, then it’s a good idea to go to WDW as soon as possible, and as often as possible in the next few years, to enjoy the Skyliner while it lasts. You never know when Disney might ax the project to stop the bleeding wound. If you are interested in the Skyliner, of course. I am extremely interested and impressed with it. The Skyliner is a lot like a rich friend’s private jet. It’s totally awesome, expensive and not worth it, but as long as he has it, you might as well visit him as much as you can and fly for free.

I don’t think anyone on these boards can answer any of those questions with any certainty.

But you seem to have it all figured out anyways. So that’s good.

 

[joelkfla]

1. Gondolas are extremely expensive to run. I live next to a ski resort, and they charge $83 per person per day for lift tickets. And that’s just chairs -- they are nothing compared to the fancy Disney cabins. In a nearby town, there is a tourist gondola system with cabins that are nice but not near as nice as the Disney ones. They charge $10 per person for a 15 minute ride. All that sounds like a lot of money.

A lift ticket is not just paying for the cost to operate the lift. You're paying for all the operational costs of running a ski slope (grooming, snow making, groundskeeping, lighting, etc.) plus capital recovery.

A standalone tourist gondola is similarly paying for amortization of capital, and hopefully a tidy profit. If there are facilities at the top, like gardens, scenic trails, whatever, they're also being covered by ticket prices. $10 is about the going rate for a 2-minute ride on a standalone roller coaster, so it's not indicative of high operating costs.

 

[SaintsManiac]

This again?

 

[sam_gordon]

I have some number questions for Disney concerning the Skyliner:

1. How many people do they employ to run the Skyliner? Including all operation, maintenance, supervising and technical crew.

2. How much does the Skyliner cost to run per day, counting all payroll and energy costs? And how does it compare to running the buses for all the related routes?

2.1 How much does the electricity cost to run the Skyliner engines, lights, buildings, etc, compared to gas burned by the related buses? And how much fossil fuel does it take to create that much energy in the Skyliner? How much fossil fuel is saved, over all, in running the Skyliner versus the buses?

2.2 How much road maintenance is saved by running the Skyliner compared to bus?

3. How doe the Skyliner compare to the buses in cost per person traveling? The same? Half? Double?

4. How much is the upcharge for Pop, AofA, CBR and Riviera for the Skyliner? Is that enough, more than enough, or not enough? How much does it take to be enough?

5. How much did the Skyliner cost to build? Is it cheaper than the Monorail, just as much, or more?

5.1 Is the Skyliner decreasing attendance at non Skyliner hotels as people choose Skyliner hotels instead? What is the loss of attendance at non Skyliner hotels because of the Skyliner?

6. Is the Skyliner bringing a profit to Disney? Is it pulling even? Or is it a financial loss compared to the days without Skyliner?

I personally believe that the Skyliner is a financial disaster for Disney. This is just an opinion, being that I have no access to any of the numbers I mentioned above. My reasons for thinking this way are as follows:
1. Gondolas are extremely expensive to run. I live next to a ski resort, and they charge $83 per person per day for lift tickets. And that’s just chairs -- they are nothing compared to the fancy Disney cabins. In a nearby town, there is a tourist gondola system with cabins that are nice but not near as nice as the Disney ones. They charge $10 per person for a 15 minute ride. All that sounds like a lot of money.

2. Riviera is having a hard time selling. I believe this because they are discounted to 25% right now, even though most deluxe hotels are discounted much less. And there are still plenty of rooms available even though the value hotels are all snatched up. Back when Bay Lake Tower opened, for many years it didn’t discount a dime. The whole point of the Skyliner is to make Riviera a hot item. I personally find Riviera a boring dump compared to the Grand Floridian (even though it costs about as much), but that’s just me.
I wish Disney had spent the entire Skyliner budget on the Riviera to make it look truly like the French Rivera and replace GF as the new flagship hotel, but that ship has sailed. You might ask, what about the transportation? Just offer free reserved Minnievan rides to all Rivera guests, such that the Minnievan is their new bus. Imagine the prestige in that. (Scan the Magic Band to prevent freeloaders.) Charge enough for the room and it will more than cover it. But like I said, that ship has sailed.

3. Galaxy’s Edge is not drawing near the people, even with RotR opening. The Skyliner was partly to help with the expected surge of DHS attendance, but that isn’t happening, so now the Skyliner has no raison d'être. The hundreds of millions spent to build the Skyliner for what? Help a value resort like Pop get to Epcot faster? The monorail only service deluxe resorts, for a reason. They are the only ones who can afford it.

4. The cost at Pop and CBR are going up fast. I know because they are my 2 most favorite Disney hotels, which means the Skyliner hits me personally very hard in the money pocket. I am hit even harder than that, actually, because I don’t want to ride the Skyliner for transportation (only for entertainment), so I will be dishing out even more money for Minnievans, being that buses are cancelled. The problem with that, is that Disney isn’t gaining anything from the price increase -- all that money goes to pay for the Skyliner. In the mean time, a number of people are getting pushed out for not being able to afford the price hike, whereas in the mean time, people who stay at moderates and joining the crowd at Pop, reducing attendance at other moderates, especially for hotels such as CSR, which recently built the Grand Destino Tower, which is a clear competition for the Riviera. It looks almost as nice, but cost much less.

5. I’ve been watching you tube videos of the Skyliner. It appears to average around 20% occupied most of the time. And there are about 4 times as many people going to Epcot than DHS. DHS has almost no line in any video, ever. The buses are sometimes empty during the day too, but they run fewer buses then. You can’t run fewer gondola cabins. Any mode of transportation with such low occupancy is a bad sign financially.

My conclusion: if I’m right, then it’s a good idea to go to WDW as soon as possible, and as often as possible in the next few years, to enjoy the Skyliner while it lasts. You never know when Disney might ax the project to stop the bleeding wound. If you are interested in the Skyliner, of course. I am extremely interested and impressed with it. The Skyliner is a lot like a rich friend’s private jet. It’s totally awesome, expensive and not worth it, but as long as he has it, you might as well visit him as much as you can and fly for free.

Since you like numbers...

1) You're not entitled to the answers to your first 6 questions.
2) Do you REALLY think Disney didn't have answers to these questions before signing off on the Skyliner order?
3) Since you live next to a ski resort, you understand the costs that factor into ski lifts?
3) First you compare Riviera to a deluxe hotel (other deluxe hotels are discounted less) than to a value hotel (value hotel rooms are snatched up). That's not how comparisons work.

Your logic, and therefore your conclusions are very suspect at best if not outright faulty.

 

[Eeyore daily]

I don’t think a multi billion dollar corporation is hurting for money running an alternative form of transportation.

 

[DisneyRobin]

I think the gondolas make the wdw experience better. It makes basic park to park and park to hotel transportation a ride/attraction in itself - unlike the busses that I feel take away from the magic.

It’s hard to measure what that’s worth but I think it’s worth a lot.

 

[FCDub]

Ugh.

 

[kaytieeldr]

4. How much is the upcharge for Pop, AofA, CBR and Riviera for the Skyliner? Is that enough, more than enough, or not enough? How much does it take to be enough?

You can figure this one out yourself. You should even be able to figure out how to figure it out.

I personally believe that the Skyliner is a financial disaster for Disney.

Why do you care? If you're a stockholder, go to an annual meeting. If you're not a stockholder,
1. Disney's financial situation isn't your concern.
2. Feel free to request a income statement an annual report.

 

[Lewisc]

The answer is easy to determine. Look at the next few years. Disney will announce additional Skyliner routes if the "facts" listed on the fan threads are accurate. There will not be any additional skyliner routes if the "facts" you're implying in this thread are accurate.

 

[vwdisney]

Reaction to BabybetterDisney's post.

Have you been on the Skyliner?
It is fantastic.
Eats up the crowds. So much better than waiting for a bus. Certainly more environmentally friendly than the number of buses that it would take to move the same number of people.
We just spent 10 days in Disney and rode the Skyliner as much as we were able. Loved the ride. Loved not having to wait to get on. My only complaint about it is that they need to start it running earlier in the morning so that you can get to the rope drops and early openings early enough. Because the Skyliner was not yet running we had to take a bus in the am to get to HS early enough and we often had to wait a long time for a bus. Wished we could have used the Skyliner for this, too.
And having just been to WDW. HS and Galaxy's Edge are packed! They are both extremely popular. Not sure where you got the idea that Galaxy's Edge and ROTR are a bust. They are both great. I am not sure what you based your "opinion" on, but it does not jive with reality. Your post seems to be based on some fake news.
More Skyliner please!

 

[JimMIA]

 

[Meglen]

Disney will never do anything that would cost them money in the long run... simple as that. The guest per min moved form place to place must be higher than buses and the cost less.

 

[ZJ5/9D47]

You are failing to look at the bigger picture...

Your pockets might be financially strained by the increase of prices at the former "value" resorts, but income worldwide continues to increase and there is only one Disneyworld. More and more people are able to afford to come to WDW every year so Disney is able to push out those guests who don't spend as much or reduce their trips from yearly to every other year and fill that empty space with new guests. Riveria might sell more slowly than the first DVC within walking distance to the MK, but it will sell and so will Reflections in a year or two and also the new hotel rumored for Epcot's entrance that might be exclusively DVC.

Riveria didn't even add capacity because it just replaced torn-down Caribbean Beach rooms. It was a conscious decision to put the resort where it is and to turn those rooms into deluxe time-share accommodations.

The Skyliner is helping to relieve overcrowding on the Friendship boats. With the new hotel by the Swan & Dolphin, more transportation capacity was needed. It also helps guests park-hop, which brings in a lot of money for WDW with increased ticket revenue. Guests who come once in their lifetime like having the flexibility to park-hop along with many guests in general. Free-dining now requires the purchase of a PH ticket so Disney is under pressure to make it convenient. There might also be increases in resort capacity in that area in the future that we don't know about yet that was taken into consideration when planning the Skyliner. The Skyliner was built with the 50-year plan in mind...something we as normal guests have no clue about.

The Skyliner is also helping to move crowds/congestion from the Epcot's main entrance to the back. This will become even more beneficial as new resorts are added and daily attendance continues to increase. The rumored resort at Epcot's entrance is going to affect a lot in that area too.

RotR might not be bringing in huge crowds, but kids are still in school and there are a bunch of new attractions opening in the next several months and years that families might be waiting to open before making a trip. Again, the big picture needs looking at.

 

[Allison]

Faulty conclusions based on faulty assumptions.

 

[Sandisw]

I’ll just say that RIV is selling well and Dec 2019 had its highest DVC sales in 8 years, with RIV selling more than 120,000 points in a month.

The discounts are a marketing tool to get people in to increase sales. I think the Skyliner is very popular and will be the way of transportation as Disney expands.

 

[cranbiz]

I have some number questions for Disney concerning the Skyliner:

1. How many people do they employ to run the Skyliner? Including all operation, maintenance, supervising and technical crew.

2. How much does the Skyliner cost to run per day, counting all payroll and energy costs? And how does it compare to running the buses for all the related routes?

2.1 How much does the electricity cost to run the Skyliner engines, lights, buildings, etc, compared to gas burned by the related buses? And how much fossil fuel does it take to create that much energy in the Skyliner? How much fossil fuel is saved, over all, in running the Skyliner versus the buses?

2.2 How much road maintenance is saved by running the Skyliner compared to bus?

3. How doe the Skyliner compare to the buses in cost per person traveling? The same? Half? Double?

4. How much is the upcharge for Pop, AofA, CBR and Riviera for the Skyliner? Is that enough, more than enough, or not enough? How much does it take to be enough?

5. How much did the Skyliner cost to build? Is it cheaper than the Monorail, just as much, or more?

5.1 Is the Skyliner decreasing attendance at non Skyliner hotels as people choose Skyliner hotels instead? What is the loss of attendance at non Skyliner hotels because of the Skyliner?

6. Is the Skyliner bringing a profit to Disney? Is it pulling even? Or is it a financial loss compared to the days without Skyliner?

well, let me take a guess at some of this.

1. Are you trying to compare this to buses? In the background, for buses, are a LOT of support staffing. You have the mechanics at VM north and VM south, The on call traveling mechanic, managers, wash, fueling and move crews at FIW, park coordinators and managers, etc. I can guarantee that you have less support staff for the Skyliner. You have possible 4 CM's per outlying station and probably a couple more at CBR. Upper management is shared as the Skyliner is in the transportation department. Bus drivers get paid more that a Skyliner CM too.

2. You are forgetting that buses have the same type of overhead. You have coordinator offices at each park, offices and very large spaces at VM North and VM South, plus the heavy lifts, tools, spares (including buses) tow vehicles, tow services. You have depreciation on the buses, you have regular replacement schedules. A bus, on a good day gets maybe 6 MPG and moves theoretically 72 people but except for opening and closings, averages 20 guests per run.

The Skyliner , being serviced from the power grid, uses both commercial and privately generated energy, including solar from multiple solar farms on WDW property. There is no way to accurately state how much fossil fuel is used as a naysayer will say 100% and a cheerleader will say it's mostly solar during the day and only relies on commercial power at night

No savings on road maintenance, I'll bet. The maintenance is going to be done on the schedule created, won't matter if you removed some buses from the roads. You still have buses going to those resorts, using those roads, because they are not Skyliner destinations.

Disney won't tell you the cost to construct the system, but we do know that they spent 3.8M on the electrical work. Based on Googlefu for other systems, I would say that 12M per line would more than cover it and that's probably high. It's a well known fact that a monorail costs at least $50M per mile on good ground. The cost goes higher in the FL swamp.

3. The Skyliner can move more people per hour than a bus can. A LOT more. The amortized cost per guest is probably 1/4 or more of a bus. Empty buses cost more than empty gondola cabins. An empty cabin basically costs nothing to run, it takes just as much energy to move 1 cabin as it takes for 300 cabins. However, an empty bus is expensive. A bus is supposed to be run to each resort every 20 minutes and for the most part, that's what they do. Empty or not the scheduled bus runs.

4. Upcharge, well you can do that seeing as the Skyliner resorts are your favorite. I will say here, if you don't want to help pay for the Skyliner, stay someplace else.

5. No, it's not. As I said above, construction costs for a monorail in ideal conditions, is $50M per mile. In non ideal conditions (like Florida swampland) you could see $150M per mile costs. I'm going to say that $40M covers the cost of the entire Skyliner system. No, attendance isn't dropping at non Skyliner resorts. Room inventory is fixed and even adding Rivera, inventory is still fixed. Some people won't ride it, so they will stay at another resort, some will and want that convenience, so they will stay at a Skyliner resort. I'll bet it's close to a wash.

6. I sincerely doubt it. It's not a profit center, it's a transportation asset and as such, the transportation Dept overall might break even. Boats don't maker a profit, the monorail doesn't make a profit and buses don't make a profit. All of their costs are an expense, and all the resorts are charged back for the transportation they receive.

Bus service at non prime time has been cut to each resort so that's a minimum of 8 buses per hour. I'll also bet you a Mickey bar that there are fewer buses used during high demand times (park openings and closings) when the bus was your only option.

Oh, and none of your reasons make the Skyliner a financial disaster. You have interjected your beliefs as facts. While I'm sure Galaxy's Edge played into the decision to build it, I can assure you it wasn't the only reason. If it was, Epcot wouldn't have been included. Rivera factored into this. Only 1 DVC resort (DAK) at WDW only has 1 mode of transportation and I'll bet that gets taken care of in Phase II.

Comparing this to a Ski Lift? Really? Your lift ticket is your admission ticket to that ski resort. It doesn't cost you $83 to ride the gondola, it costs you $83 to ski for the day, which includes the chair lifts and the gondolas. I guess it's theoretically possible to ski a resort for free if you plan on not using the lift. That's the only way your argument works and I see fail written all over that.

I get it, you hate the Skyliner. Instead of making up BS statements and theories, just say you hate it and move on.

 

[ParrotBill]

Have to assume that smart people did a full financial analysis on this to make the decision.

The build cost is a capital investment, just as it is for buying a bunch of buses. It will amortize into operational costs over a period of years.

The operational costs:
They have reduced bus service to 1 per hour. People will HAVE to use the Skyliner now and it will be full many times of the day.
Maintenance has to be less than the cost of the buses that service all those resorts. It's just 3 mechanical plans and cable/tower inspection and lubrication. Cars and interiors less sophisticated than a bus, similar cleaning costs.

Number of operators - less than number of buses for sure.

Cost of electricity vs. gasoline and carbon budget - Europe has known for years that mass transit on electrified systems is better.

And the best part - faster travel so people are in the parks and spending money sooner.

 

[kaytieeldr]

The whole point of the Skyliner is to make Riviera a hot item.

Unsupported assumption. The whole point of the Skyliner is to move people - more efficiently than buses possibly could

and replace GF as the new flagship hotel

Clearly you don't understand what a flagship hotel is.

Galaxy’s Edge is not drawing near the people, even with RotR opening.

Proof? Or is this another unsupported assumption? Because with all boarding groups being filled within a half hour of park opening, it certainly seems successful.

so now the Skyliner has no raison d'être.

Another unsupported assumption. The Skyliner is transportation, the entire purpose of which is to move people from one point to another. It seems to be doing exactly that.

The monorail only service deluxe resorts, for a reason.

Sure. That reason is that only two, Magic Kingdom-adjacent resorts existed when the monorail was built.

I am hit even harder than that, actually, because I don’t want to ride the Skyliner for transportation (only for entertainment), so I will be dishing out even more money for Minnievans

100% your choice. Period. Full stop.

being that buses are cancelled

Yet another unsupported assumption. And false. Some bus frequency is reduced.

such as CSR, which recently built the Grand Destino Tower, which is a clear competition for the Riviera. It looks almost as nice, but cost much less.

You can't legitimately compare a resort hotel to a DVD property.

I live next to a ski resort, and they charge $83 per person per day for lift tickets. And that’s just chairs

Okay? If your ski resort doesn't charge individually for each run down the mountain, what, exactly, do you think the $83 covers?

Riviera is having a hard time selling. I believe this because they are discounted to 25% right now, even though most deluxe hotels are discounted much less

Riviera is having a hard time selling because they are reduced to 25%? This claim makes no sense.

I personally find Riviera a boring dump compared to the Grand Floridian

Fine. Don't stay there.

 

[Disneypro1]

To the OP:That’s a lot to worry about that doesn’t matter to you. Disney wanted it. They built it.
We love the sky liner.
EOM