News New Gondola Transportation - Disney Skyliner -

[WDW95]

Where will the maintenance facility be? And also, the route that's been floating around here is probably not accurate. I am 100% certain the gondolas will not travel above buildings and resort rooms.

 

[Skyman1971]

Any idea on the size of these? Surely they must be able to fit wheelchairs & scooters?? The little ones they have at ski lifts are too small.

None of the older style would work I agree, but the newer versions in the 10-12 size I have ridden, easily accommodate both.

 

[Lift Blog]

10 passengers is the figure I've heard bounced around.

Given the style of proposed cabin I'd hazard a wheelchair or scooter group would take one for theirselves.

10 passenger cabins have a rated capacity of 1,750 lbs. Usually with a standard wheelchair one bench can remain down and a few other people loaded. The cabins are bigger than they look.

 

[marni1971]

Where will the maintenance facility be? And also, the route that's been floating around here is probably not accurate. I am 100% certain the gondolas will not travel above buildings and resort rooms.

CBR South.

It's mostly accurate. Especially the route above Aruba.

 

[Minthorne]

Peter here from Lift Blog. I see someone linked to my article a few posts above. You guys can probably tell I've never been to Walt Disney World! However if anyone has technical lift questions I'd be happy to answer them. In addition to my blog about lifts I run a gondola operation at a major ski resort.

With regard to a drop/load station mid line (if that terminology makes sense) such as what would be at what is the new DVC location (also label CBR North in places) - I'm assuming this is also be a place where the gondolas detach. It is in the middle of the line. If a passenger wants to continue I also assume you would not disembark. Would the car move through the same loading queue or could it "fast track" back onto the cable? Or could it skip detaching altogether?

 

[marni1971]

10 passenger cabins have a rated capacity of 1,750 lbs. Usually with a standard wheelchair one bench can remain down and a few other people loaded. The cabins are bigger than they look.

Exactly. I'd envisage the chair user and their group taking one cabin.

 

[peter11435]

Where will the maintenance facility be? And also, the route that's been floating around here is probably not accurate. I am 100% certain the gondolas will not travel above buildings and resort rooms.

You would be 100% wrong

 

[Notes from Neverland]

Has anyone stated or taken a guess at how many cabins there might be running at a given time?

 

[Lift Blog]

With regard to a drop/load station mid line (if that terminology makes sense) such as what would be at what is the new DVC location (also label CBR North in places) - I'm assuming this is also be a place where the gondolas detach. It is in the middle of the line. If a passenger wants to continue I also assume you would not disembark. Would the car move through the same loading queue or could it "fast track" back onto the cable? Or could it skip detaching altogether?

Anytime there's an angle change more than a few degrees, cabins must detach, turn and re-attach with a time penalty of about 30 seconds. There are examples of straight mid-stations where cabins only detach in one direction but I doubt that would apply here. (Example: Heavenly, CA https://skiliftblog.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/img_57451.jpg)

Disney execs are probably grappling with which route will most commonly be taken and that will become the direct routing, whether it's two, three or four stages. Other lines can be built tangent to the main line, but passengers will have to transfer. That shouldn't be a big deal when cabins can be spaced as little as ~15 seconds apart on each line.

 

[Lift Blog]

Has anyone stated or taken a guess at how many cabins there might be running at a given time?

Hundreds. You guys could do some math assuming cabin spacing of 130 feet on the line and approximately 6 cabins in each station at any given time (12 for mid-stations as they are basically two stations put together with the turnarounds cut off.)

 

[MisterPenguin]

Peter here from Lift Blog. I see someone linked to my article a few posts above. You guys can probably tell I've never been to Walt Disney World! However if anyone has technical lift questions I'd be happy to answer them. In addition to my blog about lifts I run a gondola operation at a major ski resort.

Hi, Peter!

So, among the lift enthusiast community, is the news (well, very very very likely rumor) that Walt Disney World is going to be using Gondola Lifts a big deal?

 

[Warren's love Disney]

They're going to need to use Slo-Trans engines to get that thing up to 800mph. Preferably without an AI that's gone mad.

Hyper loop baby! Oh yeah
Park hopper ticket is going to be expeeeeensive though!

 

[danlb_2000]

Peter here from Lift Blog. I see someone linked to my article a few posts above. You guys can probably tell I've never been to Walt Disney World! However if anyone has technical lift questions I'd be happy to answer them. In addition to my blog about lifts I run a gondola operation at a major ski resort.

Any input you have on this would be most welcome.

 

[ford91exploder]

You'd be surprised. CBR south is the transfer station.

Kind of makes sense if you include the convention business in there as it allows for multiple destinations and resort dining as well

 

[Lift Blog]

Hi, Peter!

So, among the lift enthusiast community, is the news (well, very very very likely rumor) that Walt Disney World is going to be using Gondola Lifts a big deal?

I'd say so. To give you an idea, U.S. ski resorts added zero new gondolas from 2013-2014, only two in 2015 and one in 2016. A five-section system would be the largest ever built in North America. The contract for this may exceed the value of all other lifts (including chairlifts) built in North America combined for the year.

Lift geeks aside, the larger ski industry views the theme park world as somewhat of an enemy.

 

[frankc]

Peter here from Lift Blog. I see someone linked to my article a few posts above. You guys can probably tell I've never been to Walt Disney World! However if anyone has technical lift questions I'd be happy to answer them. In addition to my blog about lifts I run a gondola operation at a major ski resort.

Lift Blog, based on the likely system to be installed do you see the necessity to shut down during the daily afternoon thunderstorms?

 

[marni1971]

Kind of makes sense if you include the convention business in there as it allows for multiple destinations and resort dining as well

I anticipate the CBR internal bus stopping at this station. It'll also bring guests here from the CBR resort whom currently take a bus to DHS and Epcot. The CBR DVC building will be quite substantial capacity wise I think too.

Further down the line.... for other destinations... who knows.

 

[matt9112]

Speaking of maintenance, what is the life cycle on these gondolas?

Its irrelevant disney will use them twice as long as whatever the manufacturer recommends.......

 

[ford91exploder]

Anytime there's an angle change more than a few degrees, cabins must detach, turn and re-attach with a time penalty of about 30 seconds. There are examples of straight mid-stations where cabins only detach in one direction but I doubt that would apply here. (Example: Heavenly, CA https://skiliftblog.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/img_57451.jpg)

Disney execs are probably grappling with which route will most commonly be taken and that will become the direct routing, whether it's two, three or four stages. Other lines can be built tangent to the main line, but passengers will have to transfer. That shouldn't be a big deal when cabins can be spaced as little as ~15 seconds apart on each line.

This I think is the most underrated yet most important part about gondola systems I.e. They are continually flowing so the system never stops which translates to a enormous rider throughout

 

[Lift Blog]

Lift Blog, based on the likely system to be installed do you see the necessity to shut down during the daily afternoon thunderstorms?

These systems operate in some of the harshest environments on Earth but there's no question lightning poses a challenge. Keep in mind with the rumored WDW system no one would ever be more than a few minutes from a station. The ski area I work at in Wyoming gets daily afternoon thunderstorms and operates 3 lifts in the summer. Typically, we monitor storms and clear the lines of riders when strikes are registered within about 10 miles. Once the lifts are stopped, we attach special grounding clamps to the cables. When the storm passes, the clamps come off and the lifts are started right back up. I imagine Disney has plenty of experience with lightning monitoring and procedures for other types of rides.

The towns of Telluride and Mountain Village in Colorado operate a gondola transit system with a custom lightning protection system to minimize downtime: http://www.lightningprotection.com/...-village-transportation-case-study-020513.pdf