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

[TheMaxRebo]

I think the Skyliner map indicates some strange choices made. Given distance and what would be traversed, I don't understand why they didn't connect the BW parking lot 90° turn to Hollywood Studios. It seems to me that it would have made more sense making AoA/Pop Century - to - Caribbean Beach - to - a 110° turn/loading/unloading station at Riviera - to - some kind of hub station in the BoardWalk parking lot, from which guests would switch to short runs to either of the two parks. That would have made it a little shorter overall and left more wetlands undisturbed. I know that they needed a yard, but they could have used the BoardWalk parking lot for that, replacing the capacity with a parking deck. The only thing I can think of was that this way, with the yard at Caribbean Beach, it's a shorter run to clear the cable in case of a coming storm.

The challenge with making the “hub” at the Boardwalk parking lot is then people coming from AoA/POP would have to change twice - at CBR and then in the hub and I think this project is largely about getting as many people as efficiently as possible from their hotel rooms to DHS. So it you look at it that way and the. The EPCOT line almost as secondary I think this set up makes sense.

I do agree when just looking at the map it does seem like the Boardwalk turn is rather close to DHS why not have some sort of connection there. But I also think there isn’t as much room as one would think for like a real hub station and why just a very simple turn - which I think is largelylaid out this way to minimize visual impact to World Showcase

 

[Weedy]

Here they are over Hourglass Lake
It will be a beautiful ride

 

[joelkfla]

Here they are over Hourglass Lake
It will be a beautiful ride

Your link was malformed:

 

[joelkfla]

The challenge with making the “hub” at the Boardwalk parking lot is then people coming from AoA/POP would have to change twice - at CBR and then in the hub and I think this project is largely about getting as many people as efficiently as possible from their hotel rooms to DHS. So it you look at it that way and the. The EPCOT line almost as secondary I think this set up makes sense.

I agree. PP is forgetting that the purpose of the system us to efficiently move Guests between the resorts and a park, not between Epcot & DHS.

Putting the hub at BW would mean everyone traveling to either park would travel between Riviera & BW, overloading that segment and thus reducing the effective capacity of the system. As currently designed, each segment carries either Guests traveling from all resorts to one park, or Guests traveling from 2 of the 4 resorts to both parks. The hub at CBR splits the resorts, so Guests traveling to Epcot are generally traveling in the opposite direction to Guests traveling to DHS. It also provides a shorter overall transit time to DHS for everyone, and eliminates a transfer for CBR Guests.

In the PP's route, there wouldn't necessarily be a need to a have Guest's traveling from Pop to Epcot transfer at CBR, but that would cause a capacity management problem for Guests traveling from CBR to the parks. As it is now, everyone gets off and enters the queue. At Riviera, empty cabins to the parks via BW would be few and far between.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

In the PP's route, there wouldn't necessarily be a need to a have Guest's traveling from Pop to Epcot transfer at CBR, but that would cause a capacity management problem for Guests traveling from CBR to the parks. As it is now, everyone gets off and enters the queue. At Riviera, empty cabins to the parks via BW would be few and far between.

Yeah, I did think about that and came to the same conclusion that it could be done but feels like would be much more complicated to handle so many people coming from AoA/Pop and having them just pass through or not and then CBR people having to be added in or something - much more of a challenge than just at the small station at Riviera

but it could be done

 

[joelkfla]

Yeah, I did think about that and came to the same conclusion that it could be done but feels like would be much more complicated to handle so many people coming from AoA/Pop and having them just pass through or not and then CBR people having to be added in or something - much more of a challenge than just at the small station at Riviera

but it could be done

Even in the current design, I don't see a technical reason why cabins from Pop/AoA couldn't have been allowed to continue on to one of the parks. I suspect Disney didn't do it for the reason you described.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Even in the current design, I don't see a technical reason why cabins from Pop/AoA couldn't have been allowed to continue on to one of the parks. I suspect Disney didn't do it for the reason you described.

I also think they wanted to make it a shorter/easier trip for people that pay to stay at a moderate (CBR) vs a Value (AoA/POP) where for the later you have to switch to get to either park

 

[Dr.Mickey]

This recent discussion about the layout has me wondering...Riviera is the only “in line” resort, right? Meaning, they will be the only stop that has to wait for an empty cabin (especially heading to Epcot)? So, what is the likelihood that at rush time (mornings toward Epcot) that Riviera guests will get stuck waiting and waiting? I mention toward Epcot, because in the mornings Riviera should have no competition for cabins going toward DHS. Any thoughts on this?

 

[intertile]

This recent discussion about the layout has me wondering...Riviera is the only “in line” resort, right? Meaning, they will be the only stop that has to wait for an empty cabin (especially heading to Epcot)? So, what is the likelihood that at rush time (mornings toward Epcot) that Riviera guests will get stuck waiting and waiting? I mention toward Epcot, because in the mornings Riviera should have no competition for cabins going toward DHS. Any thoughts on this?

I would think that between stations there will be communication. So that when there is someone waiting at Riviera to go to Epcot, they will request a cabin from CBR and vice versa.

 

[joelkfla]

This recent discussion about the layout has me wondering...Riviera is the only “in line” resort, right? Meaning, they will be the only stop that has to wait for an empty cabin (especially heading to Epcot)? So, what is the likelihood that at rush time (mornings toward Epcot) that Riviera guests will get stuck waiting and waiting? I mention toward Epcot, because in the mornings Riviera should have no competition for cabins going toward DHS. Any thoughts on this?

One option is that, when loading for Epcot at CBR, cm's will keep every 3rd (or some number) cabin empty. There might also be communication from the Riviera cast to the CBR cast when the queue builds up at Riviera, to dispatch more cabins empty.

 

[sachilles]

Every cabin may not be filled to capacity either, so smaller groups at the Riviera may be able to load into an already partially loaded cabin at Riviera station.
In that scenario, you aren't sending empty cabins when there is a line, and not rushing to load 8 people in each cabin. There is lots of flexibility in this system.

 

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

I think the bigger question is how they will handle ECVs at Riviera, as there is no 2nd loop.

 

[RRB]

I think the bigger question is how they will handle ECVs at Riviera, as there is no 2nd loop.

Is it possible that they will make ECVs and wheelchairs use buses?

 

[Mikey15]

I was surprised how few rooms there are at Riviera. Current estimates are around 300. Mind you there's 2BRs and Grand Villas, but I wouldn't be surprised if Riviera only has 2,000 guests at any given time, and only so many of those guests would be going to Epcot for rope drop. They probably won't have to dedicate very many cabins to leave empty from CBR.

 

[vacationer1954]

The challenge with making the “hub” at the Boardwalk parking lot is then people coming from AoA/POP would have to change twice - at CBR and then in the hub

If they wouldn't have to change at the Riviera the way that the current plan is, then I don't understand why they would have to change at CBR the way I suggested - thought I admit that that would be one rather long, uninterrupted cable, going from AoA/POP through CBR through Riviera to BoardWalk Parking Hub.

 

[Mikey15]

If they wouldn't have to change at the Riviera the way that the current plan is, then I don't understand why they would have to change at CBR the way I suggested - thought I admit that that would be one rather long, uninterrupted cable, going from AoA/POP through CBR through Riviera to BoardWalk Parking Hub.

The way CBR station is designed now, there's space between the three separate loops where you choose which loop you're going on. If AoA/Pop->Epcot was one long continuous loop, people exiting at CBR to get on DHS would then have to go down a level, go under the long loop, to get to the other side for DHS loop loading. It's certainly doable but I think the traffic flow is probably better managed as the terminus for three loops.

https://twitter.com/bioreconstruct/status/1109792325100806144

Maybe they could have loaded the DHS loop from "floor 1" and a continuous north/south loop from "floor 2," but I think the way they've chosen will probably work fine.

 

[joelkfla]

The way CBR station is designed now, there's space between the three separate loops where you choose which loop you're going on. If AoA/Pop->Epcot was one long continuous loop, people exiting at CBR to get on DHS would then have to go down a level, go under the long loop, to get to the other side for DHS loop loading. It's certainly doable but I think the traffic flow is probably better managed as the terminus for three loops.

https://twitter.com/bioreconstruct/status/1109792325100806144

Maybe they could have loaded the DHS loop from "floor 1" and a continuous north/south loop from "floor 2," but I think the way they've chosen will probably work fine.

Yes, I keep forgetting about that. They would have had to either build an overpass or elevate the station. Or, passengers would have to walk out far enough to go under the cabins after they lift off, like Riviera Guests will do to get to the boarding area for DHS.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

If they wouldn't have to change at the Riviera the way that the current plan is, then I don't understand why they would have to change at CBR the way I suggested - thought I admit that that would be one rather long, uninterrupted cable, going from AoA/POP through CBR through Riviera to BoardWalk Parking Hub.

Theoretically they could - but it is way, way more people that would "pass through" - and how would you handle all the people at CBR to get on those cars where most are just passing through?

Riviera has ~300 units/rooms

POP has 1,008 rooms and AoA has 1,984 total rooms between suites and rooms ... so that is 10 times the number of rooms being serviced. Just much more of a logistics issue

 

[Lumpy1106]

One option is that, when loading for Epcot at CBR, cm's will keep every 3rd (or some number) cabin empty. There might also be communication from the Riviera cast to the CBR cast when the queue builds up at Riviera, to dispatch more cabins empty.

The gondola at Mammoth Mountain does this. When the station at mid-mountain gets a long line they send every-other cabin out from the bottom of the mountain empty.

 

[Weedy]

Your link was malformed:

Thanks for fixing it