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

[DopeyDame]

That would be so awesome! I love gondolas.

 

[Robo]

I like the idea of linking Epcot to HS without having to either walk or go through IG to Beach Club to take the boat.

You don't have to do that now.

 

[zemra406]

But on the other side, away from the buses, right?

It actually looks very close to where some of the busses stop. Right by the end of the walking path from the boardwalk.

 

[hodad]

As people suggested over on that wdwmagic thread, run everything through CBR to make it a super-moderate resort and get the new DVC owners there to pay for the gondola with their annual maintenance fees.

I think this is a great idea, and every bus route should be replaced with a dedicated gondola line.

 

[ErinsMommy]

You don't have to do that now.

Well with the new transportation system you can certainly go that route as well -- however, the bus pickup in Epcot seems to be very close to the entrance which is a pretty decent walk from WS/IG.

 

[Minsc]

What the what??

 

[BuckeyeBama]

We drive to the parks - don't see this changing that strategy for us.

 

[mikepizzo]

I was just thinking...maybe I'm wrong here...but wouldn't this actually save Disney on some bus costs?

Now they don't have to have buses go to EPCOT or Hollywood Studios from these resorts, just like the monorail.

 

[DLgal]

Ok, what about all the crazy lightning/storms that happen practically daily at WDW? How often will this gondola system be "temporarily unavailable due to weather."

And are these gondolas air conditioned?

How fast do they go? If they are really fast, that's cool, but if they operate at "Blizzard Beach Chair Lift" speed, no thanks.

 

[adear11]

The only downside I see here is it is probably going to increase the crowds and lines to get into the EPCOT IG by an order of magnitude.

Our favorite resort to stay at is BC. We love the convenience of having the IG right next to the resort. Having a gondola loading/unloading area right in front of it is going to make that whole area crazy crowded.

 

[jlwhitney]

Interesting I wonder how fast it would take and if there would be long lines to get on.

 

[xlsm]

I am excited for this and I don't even stay at any of the involved resorts, lol! But you can sure bet we'd be seeking it out to ride around for fun.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

Seems pretty cool and definitely less expensive than a Monorail expansion.
Hopefully they end up with a route directly between Epcot and DHS because it would not be very time efficient to ride it all the way around.
Get one to go all the way from POP/AOA to MK and I'd be super impressed

 

[TexasKiwiPrincess]

The only downside I see here is it is probably going to increase the crowds and lines to get into the EPCOT IG by an order of magnitude.

Our favorite resort to stay at is BC. We love the convenience of having the IG right next to the resort. Having a gondola loading/unloading area right in front of it is going to make that whole area crazy crowded.

Clearly adding new IG as a new transportation stop will increase the crowds there, but if guests pass through security before boarding the gondolas, I don't think it will be as much of an issue. Guests will still need to pass through tapstiles though, which may be a bottleneck.

 

[MommaBerd]

I was just thinking...maybe I'm wrong here...but wouldn't this actually save Disney on some bus costs?

Now they don't have to have buses go to EPCOT or Hollywood Studios from these resorts, just like the monorail.

The question is, what does Disney do with people who have a fear of heights? (Answering my own question: Those people could choose not to stay at those resorts...) I wouldn't say I have a fear of heights, but I have a real fear of the cables breaking. It is irrational, I know. That video of the gondolas (or whatever is the appropriate term) in Dubai...I'm not sure I could ride those.

 

[adear11]

Clearly adding new IG as a new transportation stop will increase the crowds there, but if guests pass through security before boarding the gondolas, I don't think it will be as much of an issue. Guests will still need to pass through tapstiles though, which may be a bottleneck.

That's true. Having the security screening happen at the resort will help manage the crowd.

I wonder how they'll handle transferring from park to park on a Gondola? Will you have to get off at a resort and reboard/transfer? I ask because it doesn't look like the loading points are inside the parks, so how will they handle security if, say, someone boards at DHS and rides all the way to EPCOT? They wouldn't have been screened, so they'd have to go through bag check. But how would they know if you've been screened or not?

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Seems pretty cool and definitely less expensive than a Monorail expansion.
Hopefully they end up with a route directly between Epcot and DHS because it would not be very time efficient to ride it all the way around.
Get one to go all the way from POP/AOA to MK and I'd be super impressed

I think with the boats and walking path already connecting DHS and EPCOT already this wouldn't be used for that - really just for transport to Caribbean Beach ... specifically the new DVC there so they can market it as having direct access to two parks

 

[sachilles]

The question is, what does Disney do with people who have a fear of heights? (Answering my own question: Those people could choose not to stay at those resorts...) I wouldn't say I have a fear of heights, but I have a real fear of the cables breaking. It is irrational, I know. That video of the gondolas (or whatever is the appropriate term) in Dubai...I'm not sure I could ride those.

The same thing they do with the people who are afraid of boats.
It's not going to be your ONLY option, just one of many.

 

[TexasKiwiPrincess]

The question is, what does Disney do with people who have a fear of heights? (Answering my own question: Those people could choose not to stay at those resorts...) I wouldn't say I have a fear of heights, but I have a real fear of the cables breaking. It is irrational, I know. That video of the gondolas (or whatever is the appropriate term) in Dubai...I'm not sure I could ride those.

I don't know that this would eliminate buses. More likely the buses would run less often. There are reports of cables breaking on other similar systems, so I don't know that I would call it an "Irrational fear." Those reports involved older systems that had not been maintained as they should have been. I think any incident would be very unlikely at Disney because they are fastidious about maintenance. The bit that would give me pause is the wind- would the cars sway a bit in the wind?! My girls had a good laugh at me in the swinging gondolas on Mickey's Fun Wheel when we visited Disneyland.

 

[adear11]

The same thing they do with the people who are afraid of boats.
It's not going to be your ONLY option, just one of many.

Is that really true though? In the case of getting from say BC or BW to EPCOT or DHS, if you don't like boats, your only option is to walk, right? They generally don't provide bus service from those resorts to those parks. If they were to stop bus service, the gondola would be your only option. Walking isn't an option from CBR or AOA, is it?

ETA: with that said, I can't imagine they'd stop bus service. I wouldn't expect this system to have any where near the capacity to move people around that buses do.