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

[sachilles]

One advantage over buses is that lack of a wait. While you still have a line. You depart as soon as you board. You aren't waiting for a bus to show up, and you aren't running for a bus that might be the one you want. It'll always be a 10 minute wait to board, but you'll be on your way in a consistent predictable manner.
In theory, they should be able to post the wait times like they would for any of the attractions. Buses are harder to predict. So I perceive that as a win.

 

[rteetz]

I think another question is whether or not they will discontinue buses to those resorts from these two parks. If you think about it, none of the monorail resorts have bus access to MK unless it is down, so I wonder if this will eliminate buses from these 3 resorts to these two parks.

Gondolas are said to take stress away from buses not eliminate them. I think you'll still see buses at CBR, AoA and Pop due to the amount of people at those resorts. The MK resorts are all deluxes and all have less people.

 

[5onadime]

Because AoA and Pop are huge.....wouldn't the gondolas be full by the time they reached CBR or a potential DVC?

 

[rteetz]

Because AoA and Pop are huge.....wouldn't the gondolas be full by the time they reached CBR or a potential DVC?

No. They are separate gondola lines. Much line the express monorail, resort monorail, and Epcot monorail.

 

[jknezek]

One advantage over buses is that lack of a wait. While you still have a line. You depart as soon as you board. You aren't waiting for a bus to show up, and you aren't running for a bus that might be the one you want. It'll always be a 10 minute wait to board, but you'll be on your way in a consistent predictable manner.
In theory, they should be able to post the wait times like they would for any of the attractions. Buses are harder to predict. So I perceive that as a win.

Yes, but one advantage of the bus is you only have to get on once. If you are coming from POP/AoA, you wait in line and load once at the bridge, then unload, move to a new line, and load again. If they build it like the friggin monorail, you'll have to walk down 2 50 yard ramps, and back up 2 50 yard ramps as well. I'm hoping they do better than that, but you still need a place to put a line. I'm still not convinced it will necessarily be faster or less hassle from POP/AoA, but I am convinced it will be more fun!

 

[LSLS]

I think another question is whether or not they will discontinue buses to those resorts from these two parks. If you think about it, none of the monorail resorts have bus access to MK unless it is down, so I wonder if this will eliminate buses from these 3 resorts to these two parks.

True, but they also have boat service. I don't think there is any way you can eliminate busses as there are just too many people afraid of heights. You need a secondary option.

 

[CMNJ]

It's not just the monorail resorts. Any resort with non-bus transportation to a park does not have buses I believe. No bus from FW to MK, though there might be both buses and boats from WL to MK. Can't remember. No buses from YC or BC to EPCOT or DHS. But Pop and AoA are huge resorts. I know we keep speculating about gondola capacity, but it would need to be a lot of capacity from those resorts to EPCOT and DHS to eliminate buses.

WL definitely has both bus and boat to/from MK. It is actually the first resort bus stop at MK

 

[ckelly14]

True, but they also have boat service. I don't think there is any way you can eliminate busses as there are just too many people afraid of heights. You need a secondary option.

Don't forget about walking. I wonder if they would consider adding a walking path, at least to Epcot from CBR. I never knew how close it was...

 

[Roxyfire]

Don't forget about walking. I wonder if they would consider adding a walking path, at least to Epcot from CBR. I never knew how close it was...

Oh boy, let's not go down that path again!

 

[rteetz]

Don't forget about walking. I wonder if they would consider adding a walking path, at least to Epcot from CBR. I never knew how close it was...

They'd have to add in a new entrance then which I don't think they want to do.

 

[skier_pete]

I think another question is whether or not they will discontinue buses to those resorts from these two parks. If you think about it, none of the monorail resorts have bus access to MK unless it is down, so I wonder if this will eliminate buses from these 3 resorts to these two parks.

Well, assuming the Gondola's can handle wheelchairs/ECV - which I'm sure they can - I think it is extremely likely they would want to eliminate buses to these parks. The only potential issue I see is that there's a small fraction of people that would be afraid to ride the Gondola...so I am not sure how they would handle those people. (You could say they would tell them not to stay at those resorts, but I don't know if that's really an option.) They also will have to shut down the Gondola during thunderstorms and will need to run buses in those cases. This isn't really a problem for DHS, but at Epcot it is. Can you imagine travelling to the back of the park to catch a Gondola, and then being told "nope you have to walk all the way back to the front of the park to catch the bus"? Perhaps they are planning to run in all but the worst storms...

 

[skier_pete]

Don't forget about walking. I wonder if they would consider adding a walking path, at least to Epcot from CBR. I never knew how close it was...

They do not want people walking across the highways around there. There's a reason there currently is very little options for walking to the parks. I don't think that will change with this.

 

[dlavender]

Oh boy, let's not go down that path again!

But it's so close.......

 

[rteetz]

Well, assuming the Gondola's can handle wheelchairs/ECV - which I'm sure they can - I think it is extremely likely they would want to eliminate buses to these parks. The only potential issue I see is that there's a small fraction of people that would be afraid to ride the Gondola...so I am not sure how they would handle those people. (You could say they would tell them not to stay at those resorts, but I don't know if that's really an option.) They also will have to shut down the Gondola during thunderstorms and will need to run buses in those cases. This isn't really a problem for DHS, but at Epcot it is. Can you imagine travelling to the back of the park to catch a Gondola, and then being told "nope you have to walk all the way back to the front of the park to catch the bus"? Perhaps they are planning to run in all but the worst storms...

I don't think they'll need to shut down the gondolas during storms. Do all monorails stop during storms?

 

[sachilles]

Yes, but one advantage of the bus is you only have to get on once. If you are coming from POP/AoA, you wait in line and load once at the bridge, then unload, move to a new line, and load again. If they build it like the friggin monorail, you'll have to walk down 2 50 yard ramps, and back up 2 50 yard ramps as well. I'm hoping they do better than that, but you still need a place to put a line. I'm still not convinced it will necessarily be faster or less hassle from POP/AoA, but I am convinced it will be more fun!

We don't know how they are configuring this transportation yet, we only know the routes. We don't know that it's going to be an off load at the trindad and board anew scenario. It certainly could be.
Might also be more practical to walk from the northern part of pop/AoA to the station at trinidad, assuming there will be a walking connection out of this.

It is rumored that there are 3 distinct lines. It would make sense for one line to be dhs to trinidad station. One line from trinidad to pop. and one line from trinidad to north CBR then boardwalk lot and Epcot.
If that's the case, the bottle neck will be the morning at park opening time. If it's predictable you can plan for it. In that case I think they could channel the line transfer to make it more seamless.
I'm still of the opinion that whatever type of device is used, the line from trinidad to DHS will be a higher capacity than the other two lines. Even if its just a operational speed change. That will effectively reduce the bottle neck.

 

[Roxyfire]

I don't think they'll need to shut down the gondolas during storms. Do all monorails stop during storms?

They may not need to but they might want to out of an abundance of caution. There's a change management process that has to happen with guests too. People do have to "see for themselves" and get used to things.

 

[rteetz]

They may not need to but they might want to out of an abundance of caution. There's a change management process that has to happen with guests too. People do have to "see for themselves" and get used to things.

Which is what I thought but I am not so sure. Maybe in a severe storm but WDW gets storms almost every day but most only last 10-20 minutes. I also don't think buses will just stop being used at these resorts but rather they use less of them and continue to have them as an option.

 

[Madonna3]

Well, assuming the Gondola's can handle wheelchairs/ECV - which I'm sure they can - I think it is extremely likely they would want to eliminate buses to these parks.

I disagree with this. Pop uses articulated buses on a regular basis and even with those buses, the transportation demand is still very high. I think this would be a supplement kinda like the boats are at POR/FQ

 

[FastPasser]

I wonder if they would consider adding a walking path, at least to Epcot from CBR.

If you look at the satellite images, you'll see that access from the WS between AA and Italy to the CBR already exists. The roadway is located next to the Fire station on BVD and is used by authorized personnel and vehicles to access Epcot. In order for it be usable by guests, they'd have add a couple of pedestrian bridges similar to the two installed near DS, one over Buena Vista Drive and one over Avenue to the Stars inside Epcot. It'd be a lot cheaper then the silly gondola concept.

BTW, the only unofficial response I've heard internally regarding this scheme is laughter and jokes.

 

[rteetz]

I disagree with this. Pop uses articulated buses on a regular basis and even with those buses, the transportation demand is still very high. I think this would be a supplement kinda like the boats are at POR/FQ

Exactly, they likely wouldn't always need the articulated buses anymore since they have the gondolas but they would still need buses to go with the demand.