The skyliner is the worst

[mjr0483]

I would never stay at a skyliner resort for the skyliner. Our first time riding it and it has been up and down all day. Doesn’t it rain and lightning every day in the summer?

and the alternate bus is a joke. There are no signs for the skyliner bus. We waited and hour and it never came. We had to find our own way. And the screen said Hollywood studios to use Skyliner, but for sure it was down. What a joke of a system and waste of money. How can you build something that only works when the weather participates?

 

[FastPasser.]

Doesn’t it rain and lightning every day in the summer?

Nope

 

[Elle23]

We stayed at Pop last trip in April and ended up walking over to AoA and using those buses to get to and from HS and Epcot.

The Skyliner was great mid day when there were no crowds, but it was a nightmare at park opening / closing (maybe that will change now that they are loading multiple groups…)

 

[MinnieMSue]

Sorry you had all those issues. We personally love it. Only once did we have a small issue - epcot line was down when we went from Pop to CBR. They had a steady stream of busses to take us from CBR to Epcot. No other issues. The end of day lines were long but moved quickly and that was when it was one party per car.

 

[bsmcneil]

Nope

While it's not literally every day, it does rain more than half of the days in June, July, and August. I don't see data on how many days have lightning strikes.

https://weather-and-climate.com/average-monthly-Rainy-days,orlando,United-States-of-America
https://www.bestplaces.net/climate/city/florida/orlando

 

[OKW Lover]

Doesn’t it rain and lightning every day in the summer?

Rain alone doesn't shutdown the SkyLiner.

 

[Fangorn]

Rain does not stop the Skyliner from operating. Lightning and high winds do. Not all rain is accompanied by lightning in the immediate area, nor by winds high enough to shut down the Skyliner. The boats have the same shutdown parameters. Even the monorail can shut down due to serious weather. Even the buses can cease operations under really adverse conditions - its just at a higher threshold than other options, and thus happens less often.

Is it frustrating to plan on using the Skyliner and then have it not be running? Sure, and I'm sorry you experienced that, particularly on your first time.

Even with the downtime that occurs with the Skyliner, though, the system moves way more people faster than any other form of transportation at Disney. And at a much cheaper cost. My experiences both in Dec and in May were that even at park close with the line to get on the Skyliner stretching from the international gateway station nearly to the Beach Club, the wait was never more than 30 minutes and moved continuously. That's way faster than waiting at the bus stop for 3-4 buses to show up.

I know that doesn't take the sting out of your experience. Again, I'm sorry it happened.

Steve

 

[FastPasser.]

While it's not literally every day, it does rain more than half of the days in June, July, and August.

But half the days is much different than every day?

 

[macrom75]

The only odd thing we noticed was lack of aircon. I get the expense and such, but geez, no A/C in the summer when it gets stuck for some reason. No fun.

 

[SL6827]

Middle of the day, its good to go, early morning, late night, nope.

 

[jamescanuck2001]

I love it myself, but then I only go to WDW in the fall/winter months. Can certainly see how weather related stoppages would be a big pain.

 

[4luv2cdisney]

My daughter got there today. She is already complaining about it. Admittedly, we are spoiled by BWV and being able to walk to our 2 most visited parks quickly and easily. She is only there for 3 days and it looks like storms all 3 days. So, yeah, it's pretty much a bus resort for her and they were really needing to maximize their time. Bummer indeed.

I guess my opinion is that RIV seems priced (points chart wise) as a monorail resort and more than BWV / BCV but you can only count on it being as good an any bus resort. I will wait to hear her full report, but we have a RIV trip planned for next month and will likely be cancelling and booking SSR. At least we can walk to DS every evening for our dinner and late night entertainment.

 

[joelkfla]

The only odd thing we noticed was lack of aircon. I get the expense and such, but geez, no A/C in the summer when it gets stuck for some reason. No fun.

It's not expense, but practicality.

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

The only odd thing we noticed was lack of aircon. I get the expense and such, but geez, no A/C in the summer when it gets stuck for some reason. No fun.

`That was discussed multiple times in the thread in the news and rumours section well it was being built. The only system in the world that has AC on bard it is the one in London and it doesn't work, there isn't enough space on board the cabins for a battery the size that would need to be installed for AC to work and the isn't enough time in the station for one to charge.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

It's not expense, but practicality.

While I agree it’s not practical, but it’s not practical because of the expense.

 

[joelkfla]

While I agree it’s not practical, but it’s not practical because of the expense.

It's not practical because no one has figured out how to make it work well on a gondola lift.

 

[gharter]

It's not practical because no one has figured out how to make it work well on a gondola lift.

That seemed to be the problem from the previous discussion.
You have the weight of the batteries lowering capacity of each car (based on total weight) and no good way to recharge the batteries. The cars are not stopped anywhere long enough to charge and solar would add enough to make a difference.

 

[mster425]

We were there June 21-July 1 and had a whole song about how the Skyliner is the worst. It was down a LOT and we were stuck in it one day for about 15 minutes (feels a lot longer swinging back and forth with no air con) However, I do think it would be lovely outside of tropical storm season. I think those 10 days we did have lightning every day, maybe 8 out of 10.

 

[cccory]

We rode it when it was pretty new, and decided it was not worth staying at a resort just for the skyliner. We went when it was cool, so it wasn't bad, but couldn't imagine being in one in the dead heat of summer. And it wasn't always working. Would hate to relay on that transportation and then have to take a bus.

 

[SarahWI]

We were there in 2019 when it opened and still there when it crashed. Pre crash we were stuck for like 20 minutes - so not long but not short. It was not fun- I’m somewhat claustrophobic and was starting to get panicky. I’m just speaking from our experience here but I can’t imagine staying at a skyliner resort and needing to use it regularly.