Skyliner in November - when does it usually shut ?

OP95

Mouseketeer
Joined
Jun 12, 2022
Messages
269
Hi all,

I just wanted to ask a few questions about the skyliner which I’ve been trying to research but couldn’t find. I will be visiting in November and when I went last time I remember the weather being pretty mixed so I didn’t want to stay at a hotel where the skyliner is closed for most of the time. I just wanted to see is it only lightning that shuts the skyliner or does it close during heavy rain? I also wanted to ask does run during after hour events and the late showing of Fantasmic ?

Appreciate the help!
 
IIRC, the DHS leg of the Skyliner should be running for at least 1hr after park close, so that should be plenty after Fantasmic. The weather closures can be unpredictable though. We had some evening rain on a trip a couple of Novembers ago, and had to take a boat back to Epcot because the Skyliner was closed. I believe it is lightning that closes it rather than rain, but it's lightning "within x miles." That means it can close even if it doesn't look like there's lightning in the immediate vicinity. I also find they can be slow about putting up a "hey, this is closed, seek alternate transportation" sign.

The Skyliner is absolutely a fun ride that we enjoy, but there's a lot of things at Disney World that can be thrown off by Florida weather, and it's one of them.
 
November shouldn’t be too bad as far as Skyliner closures go. We go the first week of December a lot, and there have been very few times that we couldn’t use the Skyliner. We walked to the BC and did a rideshare when it happened instead of walking to the front of Epcot for a bus. I have been on the Skyliner in moderate rain, but not in high winds or lightning.
 
Lightening within X miles or high wind closes it. You will only very rarely get an app notice, Disney is horrible about that.

Skyliner does not run during after hours (neither do boats).

I wouldn’t hesitate to book a Skyliner resort in Nov personally but sure, you could get a bad batch of weather anytime of year that takes it down. That’s FL.
 

Exactly what gottalovepluto said. Lightning is the number one cause of down time. High winds is very rare. Not sure of the exact x on lighting anymore but the boats lightning threshold is real close to the Skyliner. Even if it goes down, they won’t strand you, they run buses.
Check with a skyliner cm about extra magic hours. Most are supported, some are not.
No, you won’t get a text or email if it goes down or up, the system isn’t fast enough and way to many variables.
November through most of May there are very few lightning shut downs.
Stay behind the white line, enter the cabin assigned to you, fold up that double stroller before it’s your turn and when exiting the cabin, step across the second yellow line and keep moving towards the exit will keep everything moving in a timely manner. Don’t forget to fist bump that cm assigning you the cabin and taking you off, they work in all kinds of weather and they are responsible for your safety.
 
... Even if it goes down, they won’t strand you, they run buses.
They should strand people at IG. It would be a mercy.

As someone who waited an hour for that bus, trudged through the pouring rain and 4 inch deep water to the backstage area to get to it, was packed on like a sardine with bus drivers yelling “we have more people” and guests rightfully screaming back at them “there is no more room!” I cannot in good conscience recommend anyone take the bus option from IG Skyliner. Worst decision I made on a Disney trip in a couple years. If you don’t wanna walk to the front of the park for the Skyliner bus, walk to BC & take a rideshare or bus to another park and bus to your hotel.

You’d think Disney would have the bus IG situation settled by now with drivers ready to roll if there was X percentage chance of bad weather- but every report we get you’d think the transportation department was shocked they needed to provide transport 🙄
 
They should strand people at IG. It would be a mercy.

As someone who waited an hour for that bus, trudged through the pouring rain and 4 inch deep water to the backstage area to get to it, was packed on like a sardine with bus drivers yelling “we have more people” and guests rightfully screaming back at them “there is no more room!” I cannot in good conscience recommend anyone take the bus option from IG Skyliner. Worst decision I made on a Disney trip in a couple years. If you don’t wanna walk to the front of the park for the Skyliner bus, walk to BC & take a rideshare or bus to another park and bus to your hotel.

You’d think Disney would have the bus IG situation settled by now with drivers ready to roll if there was X percentage chance of bad weather- but every report we get you’d think the transportation department was shocked they needed to provide transport 🙄
Ahhh yes, rivers of IG, use to walk those things five times a week in the summer.
I’m not sure how things are handled in the last few years, the IG bus pick up was in its early stages. The problem with that little corner of the world, there just isn’t enough room, it’s very small. You also have to remember, when it rains guest flood out of parks for some reason. You can’t send three extra buses to each and every location every time it gets cloudy. You would have to have a couple hundred buses and drivers on standby fifteen hours per day. Four parks and a major shopping and entertainment area with buses to every resort on property. The buses would sit in traffic jams all day. When they get called out of standby, they have safety measures they have to complete before jumping in behind the wheel and very strict driving safety guidelines. It takes time for them to get to any location. That location, its tight back there. That’s about all I can tell you. They know how many people need to be moved from one location to another and buses get sent to those locations.
Example, I’m at IG, I think they should have five buses there as soon as it rains to take me where I want to go. I’m at MK All star bus stop which is overflowing, they should have six buses as soon as it starts raining to get me out of here and so on.
The 70k CMs use the same roads to get to work as do the guest in their loaner Mustangs and Suburbans as do the buses, all the ride shares and the emergency response people.
Weather, very unpredictable. Things can pop up with no warning ( yesterday was a fine example) and disappear in minute’s, not a drop. Things can also pop up with no warning and gives you four inches in twenty minutes. I’m from the northeast, you can watch the rain systems roll out of the Rockies, come across the country, through Ohio and into Pa for a week before it gets to you, here, your in a tropical climate, it don’t work that way here.
You are better off when it starts raining, get your rain gear out, I know, it hot, welcome to summer in Florida, stay in the park and you will ride more attractions in an hour than you did in two days. There is no easy escape during a park dump of any kind.
 
1 bus would have been nice lol.

Anywho, bus situation there is a nightmare and should not be considered for sane people.
The trials and tribulations of moving 100k people plus. lol.
Backstage areas aren’t designed for guest much less a couple hundred of them at one time. That’s the biggest problem.
Send one bus and the people who have wait for the next one……….. If you sent one extra bus to every bus loop on property? There is no easy solution other stay where you are till the rain passes or go have in the rain.
For close to 50 years as an out of state guest, rarely use the transportation. I drove every trip because I felt like I had more control rather than an air line. If staying at a monorail resort, I used the monorail. When crescent lake was built, walked to two parks and drove the other one. Enjoy plenty of time in the parks soaking wet riding rides while everyone is trying to push out. When it came time to leave, no crowds, people left.
You could walk to a resort to take a bus to another park but the resort you walked to just pulled two buses from that loop to fill the demand of another loop because of lower demands going to the parks.
It’s a huge place, you only see a very small fraction of what it takes. It’s bind blowing how they do what they can do.
 












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