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

[rteetz]

Agreed and they have new systems with battery backup that prevent any outage whatsoever. I would hope on a system like this where they really require it to run to get people off I would hope they are using a battery backup. This is what Australia worked on with Tesla to handle their power issues.

They definitely have back ups for this system.

 

[sachilles]

Vinyl graphics solve the number problem, quickly and easily. They can be applied in the cabin storage area at CBR, there is enough space underneath to access it.
Assuming they must be disnified, they'll be custom print at the disney sign shop. Reasonably done, it would be a few days?

I bet it will be open by the weekend. Mechanically, not a big issue to fix. Training and company culture will need a serious update though.

 

[TDR32]

So it sounds like we need to be looking for numbers on the bottom of the gondola's to determine the open date?

 

[Heelish]

Ok let’s not make this a guessing game. They will open them when they are ready.

Dad ruining the fun.

 

[Heelish]

What I'm saying is, never say never. The builders of Titanic were very confident that ship couldn't sink but by golly, it did. And when it did, there were huge numbers of fatalities because the White Star Line didn't have enough lifeboats. Which of course they didn't because hey, "This ship can't possibly sink!"

You never say "Oh, that can't possibly happen." You design the system to keep everyone safe in case it DOES. Or at least devise a communication system that works for crying out loud.

False analogy.

 

[Turksmom]

Hey, I got stuck on It's a Small World for 45 minutes back in '89 and I've still got PTSD.

That happened to me in "89 too! It is a small world!

 

[rteetz]

So it sounds like we need to be looking for numbers on the bottom of the gondola's to determine the open date?

That's if they determined they needed to make that change.

 

[Lewisc]

Considering that every gondola would have to either be tipped over on its side or suspended about 6' above the ground in order to reach the underside, I don't think that could be done in a day. Every gondola would have to be tipped over, stencilled, set upright again, and put back where it was.

As far as the AC goes: I've read a few posts on the interwebs that claim the gondolas are equipped with 3 hours' worth of "emergency AC." I don't see any evidence of that, though, so I think it's just a rumor.

There is a storage facility for the Gondolas near CBR. I don't know how close the ground the gondolas are. Overnight lettering could be done if the lettering could be done while the gondolas were parked there. If it's too close they can leave the storage depot and stop when they are far enough off the ground to paint or letter. For that matter they could just stop the gondolas after leaving the station but before they get too high up.

I've read the "emergency AC" is a battery operated exhaust fan. I haven't read anything which confirms it's existence.

pp is correct. We're not even sure numbers are required.

 

[UmmGooD]

Then this shows a better idea of how it actually grips the haul rope. All mechanical.

Thanks for the videos! That really helps. I would love to know what Disney did for backup systems. Do they have two diesel drive motors like the one in the video or did they go electric with battery backup?

Also one thing I noticed is a lot of these ski lifts have down time so they can do deep maintenance. We were in Steamboat in June and the main gondola there was being replaced because it was summer. Disney I don't think will have any downtime for repair. Maybe they run buses for a couple weeks to do the same repair/maintenance?

Anyway I have been on some pretty crazy public transport in Europe so I know these things are reliable. I just wanted to know what Disney was doing to prepare for the worse case scenario.

My favorite thing to ride is the Territet Funicular when I go to Switzerland and it has been running from 1883 and is two cars held by a cable. The cog railway is a close second that also runs from Montreux up to Rochers De Naye. Both transports are reliable and have been running since the 1800's. I don't have any fear of Disney being able to reliably run the Skyliner if they plan accordingly. The Swiss have been defying logic with their transportation for centuries out of necessity.

 

[sachilles]

In general, a lot of maintenance can be done over night, like a lot of disney attractions. I'm sure at some point a few days down time may have to happen.
Many ski resorts run some lines year round. It's doable. However when you are in a position to shut it down for an extended period it makes doing the work a lot easier, and less likely to generate over time. The big issue is maintaining spare parts. In ski country, where resorts have dozens of lifts, and so do their neighboring resorts, you often share parts as a mutual aid system. Disney doesn't really have that backup, but do have some deeper pockets to afford some emergency shipping.

 

[gorkt]

I am guessing it is 50/50 that it will be open for my trip a month from now. I am going to be optimistic and say Veteran's day weekend, Nov 8th.

 

[Tiki Birdland]

Considering that every gondola would have to either be tipped over on its side or suspended about 6' above the ground in order to reach the underside, I don't think that could be done in a day. Every gondola would have to be tipped over, stencilled, set upright again, and put back where it was

Entering a station meets this criteria, doesn't it? All you'd need is a scissor-jack to do the work. Looks like they had one a the Riviera station.

 

[UmmGooD]

In general, a lot of maintenance can be done over night, like a lot of disney attractions. I'm sure at some point a few days down time may have to happen.
Many ski resorts run some lines year round. It's doable. However when you are in a position to shut it down for an extended period it makes doing the work a lot easier, and less likely to generate over time. The big issue is maintaining spare parts. In ski country, where resorts have dozens of lifts, and so do their neighboring resorts, you often share parts as a mutual aid system. Disney doesn't really have that backup, but do have some deeper pockets to afford some emergency shipping.

That makes sense. Also ski resorts also have more than one lift usually so they can shut down one and run the others. That is what they were doing in Steamboat. They alternate running the gondola or the chair lift in the summer so they can maintain the systems. Disney doesn't have that ability since they don't have two lifts going to roughly the same place.

 

[Spridell]

The Riviera station is open, guests could get on and off there. It also doesn't have the separate loop for ECV/wheelchair/etc. loading that the other stations have.

I still can not believe there is no way for an ECV or wheelchair to get on at the Riveria Station. So lets say I paid all this money to buy at Riveria and they hype the Gondola and I can not get on there with my elderly parents who use wheelchairs and ECV?

To me that is completely unacceptable.

 

[sachilles]

I still can not believe there is no way for an ECV or wheelchair to get on at the Riveria Station. So lets say I paid all this money to buy at Riveria and they hype the Gondola and I can not get on there with my elderly parents who use wheelchairs and ECV?

To me that is completely unacceptable.

You misunderstand. You can load and unload an ECV there, it's just a different style than the other stations. The other stations have a separate area to load the ecv's. The rivieria station, doesn't have the separate area, but they can load in the general area. That has potential to delay things, as they may have to slow the line (or stop all together) some to accomplish it.
The whole separate line thing is quite rare for a lift system, so many make due just fine with a station like Riviera. It just has a greater potential to slow the system down.

 

[Krandor]

The cause of this was a power spike/failure. The Rivieria station lost power for a brief moment. That caused a car that was about to be loaded onto the main line to lose it's connection to the main line and stop moving. When the other cars on the Rivieria station line kept moving, that's what caused the crash. Once the first car stopped, 3 other cars kept moving and bumped the stopped car. Once the station attendant realized that this was happening, they pushed the emergency stop , which stopped the whole line. To be honest, the fail safe on the emergency system worked. The issue is Power and what happens when they have a spike or failure. Plane and simple: This was caused by a power spike issue, not in the construction or use of the system. I'm sure that this was an isolated incident. This system has been up and running now for 3 months.

Yeah but the person who was on one of the crashed cars said things were shut down for about 10 minutes before the accident. IF you are right on the power that could have been because of the power issue and the system shutting down as it should. IF that was the case then it looks like when the system restarted something didn't work on the teal car. IF that is the situation then what may be needed is some additional procedures... "in the event of a restart after a shutdown due to X, make sure that Y and Z are done as part of the restart procedure".. or that could also be something that they could just add to the software. Since Riveria is a type of station design not normally seen at ski resorts the possibility of some additional procedures or software updates due to it would not be far fetched.

 

[Spridell]

You misunderstand. You can load and unload an ECV there, it's just a different style than the other stations. The other stations have a separate area to load the ecv's. The rivieria station, doesn't have the separate area, but they can load in the general area. That has potential to delay things, as they may have to slow the line (or stop all together) some to accomplish it.
The whole separate line thing is quite rare for a lift system, so many make due just fine with a station like Riviera. It just has a greater potential to slow the system down.

Thank you very much for clearing that up. Appreciate it.

Kind of odd they didnt add the ECV loading line in that station. And since its a DVC hotel I would imagine there will be lots of ECV's going through that station too.

thanks again.

 

[SgtTibbs]

The cause of this was a power spike/failure....

What is your source of information on the cause?

I second that. Source?

 

[mshanson3121]

Anyone want to start a pool for when the Skyliner re-opens? Pick a date, closest to the actual date wins Internet bragging points.

I'm going with Jan 15th, 2020

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Gtitan21: October 13, 2019
Lewisc: October 15th, 2019
Mome Rath: October 23rd, 2019
NWOhiogal: October 31st, 2019
Spridell: November 1st
Marionnette: November 15th
SgtTibbs: January 15th, 2020
Evita_W: June 1st, 2020

Put me down for November 15th

The cause of this was a power spike/failure. The Rivieria station lost power for a brief moment.

According to two people on the board that were involved, the system was down for a good 10 minutes, before the incident occurred. Not exactly a "brief moment."

And, this incident aside, there have been many reports in the days prior, of many down times - some as long as 30+ minutes. So why so much downtime for a brand new system? A minute or two here and there as people have loading issues, sure. But multiple downtimes lasting 10-30+ minutes shouldnt be happening in the first week, let alone a crash. So to me it seems like there's a bigger picture to be looked at than this one incident.

 

[sachilles]

Thank you very much for clearing that up. Appreciate it.

Kind of odd they didnt add the ECV loading line in that station. And since its a DVC hotel I would imagine there will be lots of ECV's going through that station too.

thanks again.

Its because it's in the middle of a line. It's a mid station, so you can't really do that. You'd have to cut the line in half and have two end stations meet there. Which would cause people to have to transfer.
What you end up with is a station where the cabins stay in it longer, which is almost as good. It's made more complex because folks arriving at that station might not get off.