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

[DanBoris]

Except that gate was built for the resorts that are currently there. Now you'll be adding 3 possible resorts worth of people for an area that really only has 4 turnstiles. That's not a huge area for the numbers this might bring.

It's likely that they will re-configure that entire area to increase it's capacity.

 

[DanBoris]

They have to have air. The heat in those glass enclosed bubbles that for safety reasons probably won't have operable windows will be awful in the summer. What if they stop for 15 min at 2 pm in July? It will be over 100 degrees in no time. Boats don't compare - the breeze on the water coupled with open windows makes all the difference.

I have heard that there is no plans for AC but there will be vent windows in the front and back to help with air circulation.

If they're built they won't be open air.
Imagine the lawsuit the first time someone strolling along got conked in the head by a resort mug thrown from a gondola.

There is no doubt this is being built, permits have been filed so preliminary work should start soon if it hasn't started already.

I don't mean that the evidence is insane, but the plan itself is insane. The monorail stops what, maybe 5-10 times per year requiring a fire truck or two to come out and rescue everyone on the 1-2 trains that are stuck. If the gondola system stops 5-10 times per year, how many gondola's would have to be individually rescued taking significantly more manpower and time to rescue the people stuck in the air, on a cable that has some bounce and give to it. I'm sure that won't cause any negative issues - "I was stuck in the air at Disney for 5 hours waiting to be rescued".

The difference is that there are much fewer scenarios that would make a gondola system totally in-operable. This was posted on another board by someone who runs a blog about gondola systems:

"A typical lift system has three movers - the primary electric motor, a large diesel standby drive and a smaller diesel evacuation drive - in addition to three sets of brakes. The evacuation drive bypasses some of the safety systems that could be preventing the lift from moving and is designed only to offload passengers at slow speed under careful supervision. There are still a few possible but unlikely failures that could necessitate a rope evacuation: a major deropement, bad bullwheel bearings or gearbox failure. Disney could opt for additional redundancies including DirectDrive (no gearbox) to further minimize the already unlikely scenario of an evacuation"

 

[sachilles]

I've trained to do these evacuations.
I worked at a resort for 18 years. We had between 12-15 lifts operating during that time.
We did precisely 3 evacuations during that time, and 0 were due to lift failure. All three were do to riders getting a piece of clothing caught, or in one case a child nearly falling off. Those situations only required the one chair to be evacuated, before restarting.
If you can not restart the lift in 20 minutes in winter, it must be fully evacuated.

The nature of the beast is that you may have maintenance issues with the gondola, but it will not be something to prevent it from running long enough safely to clear the system of passengers. There is far more redundancy that busses or monorails.

 

[rteetz]

I don't mean that the evidence is insane, but the plan itself is insane. The monorail stops what, maybe 5-10 times per year requiring a fire truck or two to come out and rescue everyone on the 1-2 trains that are stuck. If the gondola system stops 5-10 times per year, how many gondola's would have to be individually rescued taking significantly more manpower and time to rescue the people stuck in the air, on a cable that has some bounce and give to it. I'm sure that won't cause any negative issues - "I was stuck in the air at Disney for 5 hours waiting to be rescued".

The monorail does stop but by no means do they require an evacuation 5-10 times a year. I believe it's happened once in The last five years. That is exaggeration.

 

[skier_pete]

I don't mean that the evidence is insane, but the plan itself is insane. The monorail stops what, maybe 5-10 times per year requiring a fire truck or two to come out and rescue everyone on the 1-2 trains that are stuck. If the gondola system stops 5-10 times per year, how many gondola's would have to be individually rescued taking significantly more manpower and time to rescue the people stuck in the air, on a cable that has some bounce and give to it. I'm sure that won't cause any negative issues - "I was stuck in the air at Disney for 5 hours waiting to be rescued".

I've trained to do these evacuations.
I worked at a resort for 18 years. We had between 12-15 lifts operating during that time.
We did precisely 3 evacuations during that time, and 0 were due to lift failure. All three were do to riders getting a piece of clothing caught, or in one case a child nearly falling off. Those situations only required the one chair to be evacuated, before restarting.
If you can not restart the lift in 20 minutes in winter, it must be fully evacuated.

The nature of the beast is that you may have maintenance issues with the gondola, but it will not be something to prevent it from running long enough safely to clear the system of passengers. There is far more redundancy that busses or monorails.

I was going to say almost the exact same thing as @sachilles. Gondolas RARELY have to have people rescued from them. There is almost always a way to move the cables enough to get people off of them. You can bet Disney will have the most redundancy possible to ensure this never has to happen. I think a failure once every 5 years is more accurate than 5-10 times a year. (Don't get me wrong, it will STOP often as people do stupid things getting on and off, but then it will restart within a minute or two.)

As far as the AC debate - I don't know how they would be able to NOT have AC in the Florida sun. Those Gondolas will be like small easy-bake ovens. It may not be a strong system, but it will be something that keeps the Gondolas from being 110 degrees.

 

[sachilles]

Complimentary ice chips with every ride

 

[TwoMisfits]

I was going to say almost the exact same thing as @sachilles. Gondolas RARELY have to have people rescued from them. There is almost always a way to move the cables enough to get people off of them. You can bet Disney will have the most redundancy possible to ensure this never has to happen. I think a failure once every 5 years is more accurate than 5-10 times a year. (Don't get me wrong, it will STOP often as people do stupid things getting on and off, but then it will restart within a minute or two.)

As far as the AC debate - I don't know how they would be able to NOT have AC in the Florida sun. Those Gondolas will be like small easy-bake ovens. It may not be a strong system, but it will be something that keeps the Gondolas from being 110 degrees.

It's like the "leave the baby/dog in a car" debate...you are going to leave people in enclosed ovens for at least 5-10 minutes just for the ride. The lawsuits over overheating would be epic and expensive b/c everyone knows you have AC in enclosed places in Florida...no brain power needed...

 

[sachilles]

I think it's likely a case of semantics.
There will likely be some sort of device to make the temperature more comfortable. It might not be traditional Air conditioning. It likely won't be 68° in the cabin on a 100° day, but it won't be a blast furnace either.

 

[skier_pete]

I think it's likely a case of semantics.
There will likely be some sort of device to make the temperature more comfortable. It might not be traditional Air conditioning. It likely won't be 68° in the cabin on a 100° day, but it won't be a blast furnace either.

Right - it won't be like eating at Crystal Palace - whose mean temperature is typically 58 degrees. You have the issue of that the doors will open every time the Gondola enters a station - so having the air super frigid will just result in that air all blowing out...but they'll find a way to bring it down to a reasonably comfortable temperature.

 

[LSLS]

I would think the worry would be if they do have a breakdown. I know it is VERY rare, but if you have something happen and people are trapped in one of those for even say 15 minutes in July, you could have REAL issues if they don't have something in place for AC/fans.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

It's like the "leave the baby/dog in a car" debate...you are going to leave people in enclosed ovens for at least 5-10 minutes just for the ride. The lawsuits over overheating would be epic and expensive b/c everyone knows you have AC in enclosed places in Florida...no brain power needed...

The gondola I rode in Hong Kong (another hot and humid area), which I can see this being very similar to, did not have AC - but it did have windows that could be opened

 

[madhavok]

I don't see this actually coming to fruition, sorry.

 

[LSLS]

I don't see this actually coming to fruition, sorry.

They have obviously filed permits for structures at those locations, what do you see them being for if not something along these lines?

 

[DisFanDad]

The monorail is the most reliable transportation system on the planet (last I saw), and still breaks down 5-10 times per year. At least those trains are in one place. The gondola's would be all over the park requiring significant time and resources to rescue all of the trapped people. A broken down bus can be rescued in 5-10 minutes.

I am actually quite sure the gondolas of the type we are speaking are more reliable than that. And most often when there is an issue a backup motor just pulls in all the "carts" ... no need fir rescue.

 

[DanBoris]

I don't see this actually coming to fruition, sorry.

Unlike a lot of stuff discussed around here, this isn't blue sky rumor. Permits have been filed by the contractors so they can start work. It would take something pretty major to make Disney change their plans at this point.

 

[George4]

The monorail does stop but by no means do they require an evacuation 5-10 times a year. I believe it's happened once in The last five years. That is exaggeration.

I may have overstated the number, but a quick web search finds at least one evacuation per year for the past five years (not counting 2017). I did confuse the number of extended freezes and the number of evacuations. However, several of these failures (and subsequent evacuations) came from lightning strikes. That could be fun in the gondola's. Again, not saying that from an engineering perspective these things can't be accounted for, but that doesn't mean that it will be a pleasurable experience for people to ride in them.

 

[rteetz]

I may have overstated the number, but a quick web search finds at least one evacuation per year for the past five years (not counting 2017). I did confuse the number of extended freezes and the number of evacuations. However, several of these failures (and subsequent evacuations) came from lightning strikes. That could be fun in the gondola's. Again, not saying that from an engineering perspective these things can't be accounted for, but that doesn't mean that it will be a pleasurable experience for people to ride in them.

I'm certain Disney has taken these things into account. Evacuations aren't as frequent as you think. Also I'd like to think the stoppages with the monorail are more frequent now because of the age of the system. Gondolas wouldn't likely have as many stoppages. This is all "what ifs" let's wait and see what actually happens.

 

[George4]

I'm certain Disney has taken these things into account. Evacuations aren't as frequent as you think. Also I'd like to think the stoppages with the monorail are more frequent now because of the age of the system. Gondolas wouldn't likely have as many stoppages. This is all "what ifs" let's wait and see what actually happens.

Isn't that the point of discussing things in a rumor forum, to think through the what-ifs? Both good and bad? You're excitement may be validated, whereas I tend to be more skeptical.

 

[rteetz]

Isn't that the point of discussing things in a rumor forum, to think through the what-ifs? Both good and bad? You're excitement may be validated, whereas I tend to be more skeptical.

I'm not excited persay and this isn't necessarily a rumor either. Permits have been filed and prep work is underway. It's very much happening.

 

[LSLS]

I'm not excited persay and this isn't necessarily a rumor either. Permits have been filed and prep work is underway. It's very much happening.

To be fair, gondolas are a rumor unless I missed something. Permits are all for various structures, and people are connecting the dots.