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

[waffleking]

I didn't immediately see any mention of the Portland Aerial Tram:

The Portland Aerial Tram or OHSU Tram is an aerial tramway in Portland, Oregon, carrying commuters between the city's South Waterfront district and the main Oregon Health & Science University campus, located in the Marquam Hill neighborhood.
Address: 3303 SW Bond Ave, Portland, OR 97239
Operating speed: 22 mph
Open: December 15, 2006
Ridership: 3,370/day

It looks awesome when you drive by it on the freeway but I've never had a ride on it. I've never seen any breakdowns or injuries reported. I'm not sure if it ever has to close when the PNW gets hit with crazy winter storms we get sometimes. The Wikipedia page has a lot more information. I'm pretty excited about having these things going at WDW, even though I do love me some monorail action!

 

[skier_pete]

Pete,

The problem as always in WDW is capacity...those little midgets are too small to be effective.

You're talking about probably 25,000-35000 in just hotel occupants...plus up to maybe 150,000 using it to transfer in between mgm and Epcot...

It's a nightmare if it operates like the monorail system. And will ruin the crescent lake area forever...from were we sit.

Well, that's what we are talking about - those "midgets" load 10-12 people per car about every 20 seconds - so you are talking 2,000 people per hour - in each direction.

I think you are way overestimating the people using this. Those hotels may have 20,000 in occupancy, but not everyone is going to want to go to Epcot on the same day. Maybe 20 % to Epcot, 20% to DHS? so 4,000 people a day - maybe? I suspect the only issues will be at park closing....

And why in the world would people use it to transfer between DHS and Epcot? There's a good chance there may be a change between two lines, so it may take longer to take the Gondola than ride the boat. (Have to wait in line twice.)

Speaking of the boats - right now boats are the only method of transport between DHS and Epcot - each boat handles about 200 passengers, and they run 4 an hour (Every 15 minutes) so right now you get about 800 people an hour riding the boats each way - you suddenly expect that to go to 10,000 an hour?

And let's do another comparison, how many buses leave CBR for DHS every hour in the morning. THREE, maybe FOUR? Same thing for Pop and AOA...let's say EACH resort has 4 buses an hour at busy morning rush - every 15 minutes is pretty generous. A fully loaded bus holds how many people. I can tell you - 110. That's 440 people from each hotel going to each park an hour, or 1,360 people per hour. Gondola can handle 2,000 people per hour. IT's HIGHER CAPACITY THAN THE CURRENT SYSTEM.

Disney may not do everything right - but they seem to know transportation pretty effectively.

 

[Tardisblue]

There have been accidents on large gondola (enclosed) lifts used in alpine areas...

If I recall...a us military aircraft clipped one - I think it was in Italy - a number of years back and caused a major stink.

Nobody is talking about a traditional "ski lift"

Understood - my point was more to the effect that automobiles are far and away more dangerous to ride in than a gondola, yet some comments here would lead people to believe that bodies will be falling from the sky.

I think they are going to be a great addition and can't wait to try them out.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Understood - my point was more to the effect that automobiles are far and away more dangerous to ride in than a gondola, yet some comments here would lead people to believe that bodies will be falling from the sky.

I think they are going to be a great addition and can't wait to try them out.

Of course...no doubt.

But when you have a phobia...it's usually a tad bit irrational...that's why it's a "phobia"

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Well, that's what we are talking about - those "midgets" load 10-12 people per car about every 20 seconds - so you are talking 2,000 people per hour - in each direction.

I think you are way overestimating the people using this. Those hotels may have 20,000 in occupancy, but not everyone is going to want to go to Epcot on the same day. Maybe 20 % to Epcot, 20% to DHS? so 4,000 people a day - maybe? I suspect the only issues will be at park closing....

And why in the world would people use it to transfer between DHS and Epcot? There's a good chance there may be a change between two lines, so it may take longer to take the Gondola than ride the boat. (Have to wait in line twice.)

Speaking of the boats - right now boats are the only method of transport between DHS and Epcot - each boat handles about 200 passengers, and they run 4 an hour (Every 15 minutes) so right now you get about 800 people an hour riding the boats each way - you suddenly expect that to go to 10,000 an hour?

And let's do another comparison, how many buses leave CBR for DHS every hour in the morning. THREE, maybe FOUR? Same thing for Pop and AOA...let's say EACH resort has 4 buses an hour at busy morning rush - every 15 minutes is pretty generous. A fully loaded bus holds how many people. I can tell you - 110. That's 440 people from each hotel going to each park an hour, or 1,360 people per hour. Gondola can handle 2,000 people per hour. IT's HIGHER CAPACITY THAN THE CURRENT SYSTEM.

Disney may not do everything right - but they seem to know transportation pretty effectively.

How's 2,000 people an hour gonna look at 9:15 behind Epcot when mgm is open to 12?

Just for arguments sake. You know as well as I do that the aggregate "over the course of the day" isn't going to be where the squeaky wheel is...

 

[jknezek]

How's 2,000 people an hour gonna look at 9:15 behind Epcot when mgm is open to 12?

Just for arguments sake. You know as well as I do that the aggregate "over the course of the day" isn't going to be where the squeaky wheel is...

No. But how is that any different than the buses or monorail or boats? No one builds a transportation system for the periods of max demand. It's not remotely cost efficient. On a day to day basis, I see the gondola system providing consistent capacity with the buses providing significant supplemental capacity at high usage times and low level alternative capacity throughout the day. Buses are the easily variable capacity, something a gondola, the boats, and certainly the monorails, simply aren't.

Buses are boring, smelly, loud, slow, and the worst part of my Disney vacations. But they aren't going away.

 

[waffleking]

Buses are boring, smelly, loud, slow, and the worst part of my Disney vacations. But they aren't going away.

They are also the most dangerous.

 

[tjkraz]

How's 2,000 people an hour gonna look at 9:15 behind Epcot when mgm is open to 12?

Probably not much different than how the monorail platform looks know when MK is open until midnight. Except that with the gondolas, a new car will probably arrive every 10-15 seconds. With the monorail it's what...5-6 minutes between trains?

 

[Turn the Page]

I don't have actual numbers to cite but having been a skier for most of my life I know that systems like these can move massive amounts of people. I have no doubt that a gondola system will move many more people much more efficiently than the buses. Exactly how many will depend on several factors but if they make it high speed and the cars are smaller, meaning each car holds 6 to 8 people, and they continuously load then that would be awesome.

I can't wait to see what the final design is and when it goes online. Here's hoping for some AC.

 

[DenLo]

So will Disney eliminate the buses to both DHS and Epcot at the resorts on the Gondola line like they do for MK resorts on the monorail?

 

[rteetz]

Just wondering how bad this is going to ruin the sight lines at Epcot and other portions of the property. It appears that a portion of the route will run behind World Showcase. Are you going to be able to see the gondolas running from behind the countries? Seems like the route will also ruin the views at the BC, YC, and Boardwalk. I guess that's progress for ya!!!

Well you have the swan and dolphin intruding already...

They won't have to be that high off the ground either.

 

[rteetz]

As time goes on...I see more and more comments about "sightlines"...

I gotta ask: why is everyone so worried about the view in the background that you glance at occasionally? Is this the whole "theme park view" money grabbing scheme sinking in?

That's an honest question...not sarcasm.


But back to the original question...you're going to see these cars running just off victory way and buena vista in I assume some kind of cutaway...and likely crescent lake behind boardwalk to the front of studios...so I don't think it will matter too much.

There was this one thing once upon a time that Disney cared about called theme.

 

[rteetz]

So will Disney eliminate the buses to both DHS and Epcot at the resorts on the Gondola line like they do for MK resorts on the monorail?

There has been talk about that.

 

[skier_pete]

So will Disney eliminate the buses to both DHS and Epcot at the resorts on the Gondola line like they do for MK resorts on the monorail?

There's a good chance of that. Unlikely they would want to pay for both. My guess is they would only run buses maybe at start and end of the day, and then not as many.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

No. But how is that any different than the buses or monorail or boats? No one builds a transportation system for the periods of max demand. It's not remotely cost efficient. On a day to day basis, I see the gondola system providing consistent capacity with the buses providing significant supplemental capacity at high usage times and low level alternative capacity throughout the day. Buses are the easily variable capacity, something a gondola, the boats, and certainly the monorails, simply aren't.

Buses are boring, smelly, loud, slow, and the worst part of my Disney vacations. But they aren't going away.

I get that...the point is this car system...whatever it is...needs to have a pretty hefty capacity to be effective where they are putting it.

They would need to design it so it DOESNT become crunched like the boats and monorails...

So far this discussion seems to be cutesy idea of a few stations and some fairly quaint cars...it needs to be made for volume or the system will not work and cause as much trouble as it "fixes"

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Probably not much different than how the monorail platform looks know when MK is open until midnight. Except that with the gondolas, a new car will probably arrive every 10-15 seconds. With the monorail it's what...5-6 minutes between trains?

Monorails can carry in the 450 range I think...that's a key difference. And they wouldn't intentionally build a system in this day and age that can't handle the dumps...nobody can be that foolish.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

There was this one thing once upon a time that Disney cared about called theme.

I'm not talking about consistently In themes...that shark has been jumped. It's not me...FEA is a "big success" and everyone thinks it's great. I didn't decide abandoning theme was good...that was y'all.

What in saying is what is the obsession with view? It's a bigger part of the scheme.

 

[newdeal]

There have been accidents on large gondola (enclosed) lifts used in alpine areas...

If I recall...a us military aircraft clipped one - I think it was in Italy - a number of years back and caused a major stink.

Nobody is talking about a traditional "ski lift"

the article that someone posted about 13 deaths was about ski lifts

 

[lockedoutlogic]

the article that someone posted about 13 deaths was about ski lifts

There have been gondola accidents and ski lift accidents...

Both are safer than belcherz sharing roads with Florida drivers...however.

 

[rteetz]

I'm not talking about consistently In themes...that shark has been jumped. It's not me...FEA is a "big success" and everyone thinks it's great. I didn't decide abandoning theme was good...that was y'all.

What in saying is what is the obsession with view? It's a bigger part of the scheme.

View went out the window when Swan and Dolphin were built.