Would you like to see Disney Skyliner expand to all 4 parks and see the newly planned Brightline Train eventually connect WDW?

[ppete1975]

be careful what you wish for. you connect everything via skyliner, then there is no need for other "alternative transportation"
and i think a long jaunt on the skyliner wouldnt be the funnest thing ever. If i am remembering right MK to epcot is about 4 miles... that doesnt seem fun... esp on a windy day.. and I am not sure how far spans can be so cost might not even be worth it.

The "alternative transportation" should just be taken care of in the areas it goes.

*the term "alternative transportation" is being used as to not give anyone named bob any ideas.

 

[jpinkc]

be careful what you wish for. you connect everything via skyliner, then there is no need for other "alternative transportation"
and i think a long jaunt on the skyliner wouldnt be the funnest thing ever. If i am remembering right MK to epcot is about 4 miles... that doesnt seem fun... esp on a windy day.. and I am not sure how far spans can be so cost might not even be worth it.

The "alternative transportation" should just be taken care of in the areas it goes.

*the term "alternative transportation" is being used as to not give anyone named bob any ideas.

So long as its not Rocket Rods, I am good with alternate transport.

 

[mergatroid]

be careful what you wish for. you connect everything via skyliner, then there is no need for other "alternative transportation"
and i think a long jaunt on the skyliner wouldnt be the funnest thing ever. If i am remembering right MK to epcot is about 4 miles... that doesnt seem fun... esp on a windy day.. and I am not sure how far spans can be so cost might not even be worth it.

The "alternative transportation" should just be taken care of in the areas it goes.

*the term "alternative transportation" is being used as to not give anyone named bob any ideas.

How about feeding the poor people or homeless in exchange for them becoming rickshaw drivers for Disney to transfer guests from park to park. Who wouldn't enjoy such a unique experience of a person peddling their little legs off in the Florida heat whilst you sit there enjoying the luxury of life?

 

[doctornick]

How about feeding the poor people or homeless in exchange for them becoming rickshaw drivers for Disney to transfer guests from park to park. Who wouldn't enjoy such a unique experience of a person peddling their little legs off in the Florida heat whilst you sit there enjoying the luxury of life?

Well, Universal does have rickshaw bikes so your idea doesn’t seem that crazy….

 

[tanc]

Oh I looooooved the Skyliner when we went in Dec. It was a true game changer staying at POP. A fun, efficient mode of transportation that allowed for beautiful views around the property. My father has DVC at BayLake and it struck me that the monorail hotels (Poly, Contemporary, GF, and BL) are beautiful in their own right, but are wonderful in their proximity and direct access to MK and Epcot. But for the price point, to be able to access Epcot and DHS from POP in a short Skyliner ride: Yes, please. =) I hate heights and was worried about the experience on the Skyliner but wow- it was my favorite part of my trip.

For me I found it the opposite. Having to wait 15 minutes only to be transferred to the caribbean beach resort and wait like 30 or 45 minutes for an inconsistent transportation time was enough for me not want to deal with it. Maybe my situation in August 2020 was different, maybe there are more gondolas now in operation but I personally had only 1 time when it was really fast. Anytime there is someone with a handicap it is stopped and generally for me I would be suspended in the air for a long time. Maybe this has changed too, but Disney said you had to use the skyliner to get to Hollywood studios and epcot. There was no alternative unless the skyliner was down.

And then good luck if they close the skyliner. Disney provided no transportation to your resort from where you are dropped off if it closes, so we had to take a bus to nearest park, and another bus back. Took over an hour to get back to the resort as a result of it. I guess you could pay an Uber though.

But to each their own.

 

[GimpYancIent]

be careful what you wish for. you connect everything via skyliner, then there is no need for other "alternative transportation"
and i think a long jaunt on the skyliner wouldnt be the funnest thing ever. If i am remembering right MK to epcot is about 4 miles... that doesnt seem fun... esp on a windy day.. and I am not sure how far spans can be so cost might not even be worth it.

The "alternative transportation" should just be taken care of in the areas it goes.

*the term "alternative transportation" is being used as to not give anyone named bob any ideas.

Riden the Sky Liner many times, enjoyed the ride every time and believe it would be a great enhancement to transportation options for all the parks. Between various boats, buses, monorail then there is Uber or people operating their own personal vehicle then also Skyliner that's a lot of options, depending on your destination. To expand the Sky Liner to AK particularly would be great. Not worried in the least about emergency vehicles or apparatus being able to reach the gondolas. As for Bright line I see no linkage to the Sky Liner.

 

[doctornick]

If you'd like me to... IMO, the Skyliner mars every vista it enters. It reminds me of ubiquitous high-power lines, boardwalk skyways or ski mountain gondolas... ugly but necessary stuff we experience regularly in normal life. Imagine each of the below views if the Skyliner didn't exist. They would be better. Not saying it isn't a fun ride or a great convenience for certain hotels. For me, neither of those is nearly as valuable a tradeoff for losing how unique & amazing WDW looked and felt - in the macro - before all the visionless, I-4 style, max-RoI development of Iger/Chapek era (Bay Lake Tower being the opening salvo and Skyliner being a more recent one).
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Conversely, the monorail trains make every vista they enter more unique and awesome. Its beams are smooth & monolithic (and now a little dirty, yes), and become part of landscape (though I wouldn't mind if they let vines grow on them). While the Skyliner wires & pylons are noticeably chaotic & jarring (to my eye & brain):
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To each their own, but I think the kinetics and color of the Skyliner vehicles is beautiful. And that is what the attention is drawn towards as they are always there and moving. And I don't really see how the plain concrete beams of the Monorail track are in any way "pretty" or how they don't resemble white concrete supports and structures you can see in everyday life. And that's what you are seeing most of the time since the Monorail is intermittent. (As an aside, I notice all of the pictures of the Monorail you used have the Monorail train in the shot while some of the ones of the Skyliner are just of the "track" without vehicles; not entirely fare comparisons IMHO).

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the Monorail (and boats) as well but I love the new character that the Skyliner brings in addition to the resort. The Skyliner feels like a truly unique way to get around and gives the resort more of an "escape" feel by being a different way to get around than most people experience regularly.

 

[UNCgolf]

I'd prefer the Skyliner be demolished and replaced with something that was actually pleasant to ride and didn't detract from the visuals of the resorts/parks it serves.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

The only visual I think the skyliner has an issue with is Carribean Beach. It alters the scale and feel of the resort. Everywhere else it blends in very nicely and I think it’s just as charming as the monorail.

(The monorail doesn’t exactly scream Polynesian but it doesn’t cut through the Resort in the same way.)

 

[J4546]

i wish there was a direct route between epcot and dhs, that would be great imo. And id love to see disney springs/waterparks connected.

 

[ppete1975]

Riden the Sky Liner many times, enjoyed the ride every time and believe it would be a great enhancement to transportation options for all the parks. Between various boats, buses, monorail then there is Uber or people operating their own personal vehicle then also Skyliner that's a lot of options, depending on your destination. To expand the Sky Liner to AK particularly would be great. Not worried in the least about emergency vehicles or apparatus being able to reach the gondolas. As for Bright line I see no linkage to the Sky Liner.

You would be ok with it from MK to epcot? (I havent ridden it, so Im honestly curious not being a jerk). Even on the monorail, it seems like a pretty long trip (4ish miles). While I think it would be great for the shorter jaunts, the longer ones just seem like they would be tedious, compared to the efficient model we have running that now. I wouldnt mind seeing it hit some of the resorts and eliminate some busses, but knowing disney if we got skyliners they would remove everything else that goes to the same spot.

 

[GimpYancIent]

You would be ok with it from MK to epcot? (I havent ridden it, so Im honestly curious not being a jerk). Even on the monorail, it seems like a pretty long trip (4ish miles). While I think it would be great for the shorter jaunts, the longer ones just seem like they would be tedious, compared to the efficient model we have running that now. I wouldnt mind seeing it hit some of the resorts and eliminate some busses, but knowing disney if we got skyliners they would remove everything else that goes to the same spot.

Fair! I just happen to enjoy the ride up and over the hubbub to my destination, some folks are afraid of the ride for various personal reasons (and that's OK, just like some folks have a fear of heights or flying). I see it as an easy, convenient and actually efficient way to go from one park to another and linking resorts in along the way. True current management will probably try to take away one of the other options, I do not have a lot of confidence in the common sense (or lack thereof) that current management has.

 

[Trackmaster]

I think that DAK and Magic Kingdom are way too far away from DHS/Epcot to make that practical. Busses are a cheaper, more reliable, and practical technology, especially when the resort is full of roads already.

 

[GimpYancIent]

I think that DAK and Magic Kingdom are way too far away from DHS/Epcot to make that practical. Busses are a cheaper, more reliable, and practical technology, especially when the resort is full of roads already.

Not exactly. The gondola systems are proven to be very efficient / practical, the technology is not new, used globally with proven reliability. Yes, there are lots of roads and lots of vehicles clogging them generating a lot of exhaust. I have nothing against busses, but options are good to have.

 

[Trackmaster]

Not exactly. The gondola systems are proven to be very efficient / practical, the technology is not new, used globally with proven reliability. Yes, there are lots of roads and lots of vehicles clogging them generating a lot of exhaust. I have nothing against busses, but options are good to have.

But I think that Magic Kingdom is way too far away from DHS/Epcot to extend out there. Plus, you don't know about the ground feasibility and what's being environmentally protected that would stand in the way.

I think that the next step would be to get a fleet of fully electric and fully autonomous Magic Busses. It would be cool if they could design them with an entrance side and an exit side, and have guests get on and off from continuously moving floors, and the busses never had to come to a stop when loading and unloading.

 

[GimpYancIent]

I'd prefer the Skyliner be demolished and replaced with something that was actually pleasant to ride and didn't detract from the visuals of the resorts/parks it serves.

What "something" would you prefer? Suggestions? Of course, it would need to be something that would not detract from the visuals.

 

[GimpYancIent]

But I think that Magic Kingdom is way too far away from DHS/Epcot to extend out there. Plus, you don't know about the ground feasibility and what's being environmentally protected that would stand in the way.

I think that the next step would be to get a fleet of fully electric and fully autonomous Magic Busses. It would be cool if they could design them with an entrance side and an exit side, and have guests get on and off from continuously moving floors, and the busses never had to come to a stop when loading and unloading.

Electric would make for a less toxic ride. Autonomous? not confident on the current state of development for that technology to be safely used for mass transit. Moving floors / walkways etc. eh well some guests are not particularly stable on non-moving surfaces as is so the Legal Department will have a say if that would be a viable option. The on one side and off the other side entry and exit from the vehicles would definitely be efficient. Still the number of vehicles on the roads will not be reduced so no reduction of traffic issues.

 

[Trackmaster]

Electric would make for a less toxic ride. Autonomous? not confident on the current state of development for that technology to be safely used for mass transit. Moving floors / walkways etc. eh well some guests are not particularly stable on non-moving surfaces as is so the Legal Department will have a say if that would be a viable option. The on one side and off the other side entry and exit from the vehicles would definitely be efficient. Still the number of vehicles on the roads will not be reduced so no reduction of traffic issues.

I think that WDW would actually be a great test case for the viability of fully autonomous cars. Its a very large area that's fully privately owned and maintained so they can set the rules. The more autonomous vehicles, the safe and easier it is. I find it ironic that people "don't trust" AI to drive. I personally don't trust humans behind a wheel. They're way too emotional and selfish to be trusted in a system that allows them to benefit at the expense of others and that requires traversal of lanes and intersections. I trust 1's and 0's and computers a lot more to make cut and dry decisions. The results speak for themselves, as human controlled driving is one of the most dangerous activities known to man.

An option to take care of ADA stuff would be to offer Uber/Lyft like autonomous cars for the ADA people who qualify. A better argument you could have made is that 20% of the groups have strollers and young children, and that would make it harder for rapid fire loading and efficiency. I always shake my head at how they do the monorail all wrong. To make it work and be efficient, it would have to be like in a major city where they pack people in, and scoot them off to the next stop without taking so long for all the safety stuff. I've used a lot of subways in my life, and there's no safety announcement at every stop. Not saying that safety is wrong -- they just should have thought of their clientele before investing in a rapid transit system that's expensive and that won't be used to its fullest benefit.

 

[JohnD]

Since my family still gets confused on the route of the Skyliner, I do not want to see it expanded…lol. Seriously, every time we are here I have to explain to them that there isn’t a direct line from Epcot to DHS and that you have to transfer at Caribbean Beach. I would use the Brightline once it is built from Tampa to Orlando just to avoid the mess that I-4 is. It took me close to three hours to drive from St. Petersburg to WDW a few weeks ago. Anything to relieve that stress.

Has your family never been on a subway? Even with the monorail you have to transfer to another line if traveling from MK to Epcot.

 

[UNCgolf]

What "something" would you prefer? Suggestions? Of course, it would need to be something that would not detract from the visuals.

Boats, light rail, monorails... I'm sure there are other options. I just really dislike the Skyliner.

I'm afraid of heights, so I wasn't planning to ever ride it, but my GF really wanted to so we ended up doing it. The height aspect actually didn't bother me at all (probably because it's completely enclosed) but I just didn't enjoy it; it was slow and annoying. I wouldn't stay at any of the resorts with it because they expect you to use it over other types of transportation.