Recent content by Lift Blog

The longest in the US (and formerly the world) is at Silver Mountain, Idaho at 3.1 miles, followed by the gondolas at Aspen and Heavenly. Many longer ones have recently been built abroad: 5.6 miles in Serbia, 5.5 miles in Turkey, 4.9 miles in Vietnam. We have fallen behind.

I wouldn't call what happened in April a crash. More like a bump. What happened in Italy last weekend was a crash. Exceedingly sad but exceedingly rare. It's in Doppelmayr's interest to keep all the Skyliner lines running safely and efficiently. Any two points at WDW could be connected by...

Just because a door had to be manually locked doesn’t mean there was a malfunction. Usually it’s caused by a body/foot/arm/head/stroller/ski pole getting stuck in the doors. I watched the Instagram story and it looks like that’s exactly what happened. Whomever was trying to get on late also hit...

Been like that since day one. I rode the Skyliner a bunch this weekend and there seems to have been a deliberate shift away from stops in favor of very slow slows. I did not experience a single stop on any of the lines. Good strategy to keep things moving.

The below video shows cabins moving again after just a few minutes. The two hours was probably the time between the incident and when they started loading public again.

Looks very minor if they even collided at all. Bumpers are there for a reason :)

Elon outbid Doppelmayr in Las Vegas and won. The result is not pretty. https://techcrunch.com/2020/10/16/elon-musks-las-vegas-loop-might-only-carry-a-fraction-of-the-passengers-it-promised/

With today's Brightline announcement, a Skyliner link between Disney Springs and the Caribbean Beach hub seems like a no brainer. It could even have a stop at Typhoon Lagoon. https://www.gobrightline.com/press-room/walt-disney-world-and-brightline-enter-agreement-regarding-brightline-station-disney

What do we think the average group size is now? If we say 4, then the Skyliner can only do 40% capacity if running full speed with no stops.

The ski industry has solved its own gondola disinfection problem using snowmaking technology.

That's a lot of spraying. Like 35,000 times per day.

When Disney Parks do reopen, I think the Skyliner will prove to be one of the better parts of the social distancing equation. Every group can have their own cabin without having to share with others. Capacity and frequency are both high so less need for long queues. Much better than buses...

The Doppelmayr gondola where I work is longer than the Hollywood Studios line but shorter than Epcot. We start parking cabins at 5:00 pm sharp. If all goes smoothly, I can usually finish that, go back to my office, change clothes and catch a 5:35 bus home.

Anyone heard whether the parks shutdown includes the Skyliner?

Disinfecting gondolas due to coronavirus: (not at Disney World)