Gondolas

[nuts]

Sooooo....any news or rumors on expansion?

 

[hardcorestitch]

For starters, you won't be able to ride them for the last 6 days of January next year.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Nope. Not a whiff of rumor.

I have a vague memory of a Disney podcaster (think it was Disney Dish) briefly mentioning a little while back the expansion plan would be to DS and require crossing over some Bonnet Creek territory owned by people Disney rather tried for very long to screw over so it’s basically guaranteed never gonna happen.

 

[CarolynFH]

In recent months, I’ve occasionally read rumors of Skyliner expansion from DHS across World Drive to CSR, AK, AKL, and the All Stars, including a diagram map showing the potential route. And I remember when the Skyliner was under construction pre-Covid reading that such an expansion was in the long range plans, but of course many pre-Covid plans seem to have been shelved. So it might happen, might not!

 

[LAS2AMS]

A widescale expansion of the Skyliner system was never going to happen - it’s just not realistic in Florida. The system goes down way too often… which means that Disney would have find other ways to move people. Maintaining a fleet of busses and drivers for those brief periods make it nothing more than fantasy. Not to mention other logistical challenges in 5+ mile lines.

Bottom line - Disney built out the system they wanted.

 

[scrappinginontario]

A widescale expansion of the Skyliner system was never going to happen - it’s just not realistic in Florida. The system goes down way too often… which means that Disney would have find other ways to move people. Maintaining a fleet of busses and drivers for those brief periods make it nothing more than fantasy. Not to mention other logistical challenges in 5+ mile lines.

Bottom line - Disney built out the system they wanted.

Interesting that you feel the system goes down ‘way too often’. We visit in Aug and Sep each year (plus other times) and after over 100 Skyliner flights we have been moved to a bus exactly twice. We find the Skyliner to be extremely reliable and far easier to use than the buses.

 

[Lewisc]

We find the Skyliner to be extremely reliable and far easier to use than the buses.

Mechanically the skyliner is reliable. It stops running during frequent thunderstorms.

 

[HopperFan]

I think Disney is (and should be) focused on income generating expansions.

 

[hardcorestitch]

 

[LAS2AMS]

Interesting that you feel the system goes down ‘way too often’. We visit in Aug and Sep each year (plus other times) and after over 100 Skyliner flights we have been moved to a bus exactly twice. We find the Skyliner to be extremely reliable and far easier to use than the buses.

I spent two weeks at WDW last year in late June/ early July. Skyliner went down fairly often due to heavy storms that occurred daily. If the system were larger, that would’ve been a major problem.

Imagine having to clear thousands of people from the parks with the Skyliner down. Finding busses would be logistically challenging, and probably not practical., especially with unionized labor costs. Disney would probably have to find a place to shelter guests until the storm passed.

 

[Lewisc]

I think Disney is (and should be) focused on income generating expansions.

Aren't room rates at POP and AoA higher then All Stars? Didn't the skyliner help sell Riviera?

I agree with PP. Weather related requirements for backup buses restricts economics of expansion.

 

[HopperFan]

Aren't room rates at POP and AoA higher then All Stars?

Yes they are but not tremendously more than All Stars. DS just shifted a trip from Music to POP for only $10 more per night. And it really depends on the discounts. Not even sure they have recouped the cost of building the system as yet. And it only replaced half their transportation.

Didn't the skyliner help sell Riviera?

Honestly I don't think it would matter. The price point of Riviera, it would have likely sold the same. Is it even sold out? They still have to bus to two parks. The monorail resorts have to bus to two parks and do the two monorail trip to Epcot (I'd rather bus) .... they sell fine. Honestly for me if I were buying DVC would look at the bus only resorts first, they are the most reliable.

I agree with PP. Weather related requirements for backup buses restricts economics of expansion.

Disney knew all about the weather issues they were going to come up against when they built the Skyliner. It did not factor in to their decision to move forward anyway. But agree it is dumb to build a system you have to still maintain a full bus system to back it up. There is no savings in that ~ and no money to be made. Perhaps their experiment failed on paper. I think they will be careful going forward wasting money on non-income generating projects. All those hotels on the Skyliner would sell the same without it.

 

[ParrotBill]

Pretty tricky to route an expansion from the east side of Studios to go westward. You can go to All-Star with one turn. You can go north with one turn to go west to Coronado Springs. They would not build a line for park-to-park transfer, that's not a steady stream of people. They want to move people to/from resorts and parks.

I cannot imagine ever considering a line to Disney Springs. Bad enough people park there and get on the buses to the resorts to go into the parks and avoid parking charges. A line to a park? Abuse city.

If they were ever thinking to expand from Studios, they left no room to add additional lines next to the Skyliner station. They recently redid that parking lot and you think they would have left space.

I imagine electric buses is their plan for moving people from now on.

Imagine this: I've wished for a light rail line (like those at many airports) from the TTC heading south, curving past Coronado, Animal Kingdom, All-Stars, and ending at Studios. That would eliminate many buses and could run late for getting to resort restaurants, and be far more resistant to storms. I'd love to see another line from EPCOT to Port Orleans, OKW and Saratoga Springs but there is a golf courses in the way!