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

[DisLiss]

I would be surprised if they cram 10 people in there very often - probably not more than 6-7 adults at a time.

I don't think you will see 10 adults in there - but I could see 4 adults and 6 kids or something

I'll go out on limb and would be willing to bet a mickey bar that there will never be 10 adults on a gondola except during testing...ever !
..unless it's a party of 10 that just want to be together..

I agree with all of this. I personally never saw Disney say they would hold 10 adults...just 10 people, and that they averaged it at 150 lbs. per theoretical person. But given the size of many people (of which Disney is certainly aware) and the fact that WDW is teeming with kids, I think that when they say 10 people, they mean a mix of adults and kids. Sure, as someone joked above, if the group in line are all 15s, you might get 10 almost-adults together in a gondola, but I doubt you'll often get 10 actual adults trying to cram into a gondola together. And as I've said before, if some of the people are considerably heavier than 150 lbs, then they are obviously going to use more than 18" of bench, which logically means you'll fill the gondola with less people simply based on bench space.

I think the continuous nature means that to keep it moving smoothly they won't be trying to cram a bunch of smaller groups into one car if they don't have to. It takes a while for people to get situated, and unless the line is ridiculous and they feel pressure to put more people in each one, I think it would be faster to just keep loading one or two groups (depending on size, of course) to each gondola car, because it's faster for one group of 5 to situate themselves in one car while the next group of 4 gets situated in the following car than to have them jockeying for position and settling themselves all in the same space.

 

[DisLiss]

Seeing the interior photos actually makes them look roomier to me than I originally thought. For some reason I didn't think the benches would run the entire length of the gondola walls. I don't know why!

 

[OSUZorba]

It looks like they have three openings on the front and only two in the back. This should help force air down to the floor vents. I think these guys are going to be pretty comfortable.

 

[sachilles]

I'm in the boat of, the limited capacity is at 10 guests, but will likely limit to 8. Basically a family of 10 will be accommodated in one cabin. Otherwise, 8 random strangers in one.

 

[OSUZorba]

All this talk about cramming them full, yet nobody has even explained how you get enough people to the station to even have a need to cram them full. Except for closing, there is no way these are going to need to be crammed to prevent a long line.

I do see them combining small groups in the morning, no combining most the day, and a fair amount of combining at closing. Even at closing I doubt it'll really be cramming, it'll probably be if two groups in a row are below 5 people they'll combine.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

All this talk about cramming them full, yet nobody has even explained how you get enough people to the station to even have a need to cram them full. Except for closing, there is no way these are going to need to be crammed to prevent a long line.

I do see them combining small groups in the morning, no combining most the day, and a fair amount of combining at closing. Even at closing I doubt it'll really be cramming, it'll probably be if two groups in a row are below 5 people they'll combine.

Fully agree - though I could see more combining on the DHS line in the morning as you have people coming from POP/AoA and the people getting on at CBR, plus potentially some others coming down from the boardwalk resorts, all (or at least majority) wanting to go to DHS so I could see like no combining on the POP/AoA line and then some combining on the DHS line

But even then, not "cramming" people in - but at the same time if you are a party of 2 I wouldn't expect to ride alone

 

[scrappinginontario]

All this talk about cramming them full, yet nobody has even explained how you get enough people to the station to even have a need to cram them full. Except for closing, there is no way these are going to need to be crammed to prevent a long line.

I do see them combining small groups in the morning, no combining most the day, and a fair amount of combining at closing. Even at closing I doubt it'll really be cramming, it'll probably be if two groups in a row are below 5 people they'll combine.

Having visited Pop numerous times and stood in an Epcot line that filled 4 buses in front of us to capacity before we finally got on the 5th bus, I can easily see the Skyliner lining up in the morning and in the evening. As you say, not during the day but even with continual loading I'm sure there will be lines (although not long lines) at both the Pop/AoA station and CBR in the mornings.

When we were at Pop the 2nd week of December, we went to the buses around 9am. (Yes, probably the busiest time of the entire day!) When we arrived it was a sea of humanity TRYING to find the end of each line. We finally found the end of the Epcot line somewhere down by the DS line!! People were organizing themselves well but I've honestly never seen anything like it at Pop. The buses were arriving in a steady flow (never less than a bus at every stop and often another circling, waiting to pull in.) On days like those I think even the Skyliner will have some sort of a line to board the gondolas.

Also, we are a family of 2 and as you say, I do not anticipate us riding a gondola on our own unless we're travelling mid-day and there are no lines.

 

[middlechild]

Combining groups / individuals would be the very rare exception, in my opinion. Mostly due to the liability factor of "IF" something untoward would happen in the cabin between stations Disney would be roped into liability if a CM was directly involved in populating that cabin. Without combining, then Disney cannot be included in the liability claim.

 

[OSUZorba]

Having visited Pop numerous times and stood in an Epcot line that filled 4 buses in front of us to capacity before we finally got on the 5th bus, I can easily see the Skyliner lining up in the morning and in the evening. As you say, not during the day but even with continual loading I'm sure there will be lines (although not long lines) at both the Pop/AoA station and CBR in the mornings.

When we were at Pop the 2nd week of December, we went to the buses around 9am. (Yes, probably the busiest time of the entire day!) When we arrived it was a sea of humanity TRYING to find the end of each line. We finally found the end of the Epcot line somewhere down by the DS line!! People were organizing them selves well but I've honestly never seen anything like it at Pop. The buses were arriving in a steady flow (never less than a bus at every stop and often another circling, waiting to pull in.) On days like those I think even the Skyliner will have some sort of a line to board the gondolas.

Also, we are a family of 2 and as you say, I do not anticipate us riding a gondola on our own unless we're travelling mid-day and there are no lines.

The gondolas will be able to load and transport a full bus load of people every 90 seconds (assuming 8 per and a 12 second launch, which is a little slower than what they are doing). A bus can't even back up and have a new one park in that time, much less load.

I'm sure there'll be pockets of lines in morning for a couple minutes at a time, but not truely long lines. But like I said, I think they'll combine in the mornings, but I don't think they are going to cram them to 10 ea in the morning. If for no other reason they won't really have time on the loading platform to look for groups of specific size.

 

[Tigger's ally]

It looks like they have three openings on the front and only two in the back. This should help force air down to the floor vents. I think these guys are going to be pretty comfortable.

and not to mention that if you pay close attention in the video, the air comes in the three front vents and is forced down because they have air deflectors on the inside of the back side vents. That makes the air flow down and then come back up to exit through the back vents. If they didn't have deflectors up there the air would just go straight on through.

 

[Tigger's ally]

Having visited Pop numerous times and stood in an Epcot line that filled 4 buses in front of us to capacity before we finally got on the 5th bus, I can easily see the Skyliner lining up in the morning and in the evening. As you say, not during the day but even with continual loading I'm sure there will be lines (although not long lines) at both the Pop/AoA station and CBR in the mornings.

When we were at Pop the 2nd week of December, we went to the buses around 9am. (Yes, probably the busiest time of the entire day!) When we arrived it was a sea of humanity TRYING to find the end of each line. We finally found the end of the Epcot line somewhere down by the DS line!! People were organizing them selves well but I've honestly never seen anything like it at Pop. The buses were arriving in a steady flow (never less than a bus at every stop and often another circling, waiting to pull in.) On days like those I think even the Skyliner will have some sort of a line to board the gondolas.

Also, we are a family of 2 and as you say, I do not anticipate us riding a gondola on our own unless we're travelling mid-day and there are no lines.

and remember, you were waiting on a bus going to one park from one resort. The gondola's at Pop/AoA will be handling people going to two parks from two resorts. So, at rush hour, if all were to take the Gondola's it would be 4X the numbers.

 

[Mikey15]

and remember, you were waiting on a bus going to one park from one resort. The gondola's at Pop/AoA will be handling people going to two parks from two resorts. So, at rush hour, if all were to take the Gondola's it would be 4X the numbers.

When Skyliner's loading 40 people a minute though, and factoring in ECVs, even back-to-back-to-back buses could, best case, load 60 people in 3 minutes, x2 (2 parks), that's also 40 per minute. The scenario of literally having buses back to back on deck for two parks only just gets you to the Skyliner's continuous loading capacity, and I think I'm actually being pretty generous with 180 seconds for a bus to leave, new bus pull up, offload anyone on it, load ECVs, load people, and leave again.

 

[sachilles]

ECV loading on a bus takes quite a bit of time. If they load ecv's on the gondola as expected on a separate grouping, it will be an efficiency for any group of people that lack an ECV in it. The whole bus line must wait for ECV's to load and unload. If you get a bus ride that doesn't load or unload an ECV or two, it tends to be much quicker.
So in theory, any group should be able to leave quicker without the ECV being involved.

 

[Tigger's ally]

When Skyliner's loading 40 people a minute though, and factoring in ECVs, even back-to-back-to-back buses could, best case, load 60 people in 3 minutes, x2 (2 parks), that's also 40 per minute. The scenario of literally having buses back to back on deck for two parks only just gets you to the Skyliner's continuous loading capacity, and I think I'm actually being pretty generous with 180 seconds for a bus to leave, new bus pull up, offload anyone on it, load ECVs, load people, and leave again.

Oh, I definitely think it will be better no doubt but I do see some lines forming around the openings and closings time periods. This can also be alleviated when the two parks open/close at different times.

 

[jade1]

Oh, I definitely think it will be better no doubt but I do see some lines forming around the openings and closings time periods. This can also be alleviated when the two parks open/close at different times.

Agree with this.

However, this still kinda "seems" like a ride/attraction to me, where a bus doesn't.

I would think a lot of guests will be glad to wait a bit to cap the night off with a "ride" (esp with a much better view) over a bus. I know I would.

 

[sachilles]

I think we will definitely see lines at park opening and closing times, but I also think people will be pleasantly surprised at how quickly the line moves.
They'll be loading quicker than most of the omni mover rides in the parks, with far fewer people lined up than least popular omni mover rides.
I'd bet that will the most poorly timed arrival to the line, will see 10 minutes pass before they are in a cabin. That's factoring in all the nonsense

 

[DanBoris]

Combining groups / individuals would be the very rare exception, in my opinion. Mostly due to the liability factor of "IF" something untoward would happen in the cabin between stations Disney would be roped into liability if a CM was directly involved in populating that cabin. Without combining, then Disney cannot be included in the liability claim.

Strangers always sit together in Monorail cars, I don't see this as being any different.

 

[dclpluto]

You think there will be a gondola club or will they have video cameras in there?

 

[The Pho]

You think there will be a gondola club or will they have video cameras in there?

Each cabin will have power so it’s possible. But I’m expecting that to be more for lighting and speakers. And elevators having cameras certainly don’t stop that club.

 

[CarolynFH]

You think there will be a gondola club or will they have video cameras in there?

Each cabin will have power so it’s possible. But I’m expecting that to be more for lighting and speakers. And elevators having cameras certainly don’t stop that club.

@dclpluto are you thinking “gondola club” akin to “mile high club”?

ETA I find it interesting that the quote from @The Pho that I captured includes a final sentence that wasn’t there when I first read his/her post!