News New Gondola Transportation - Disney Skyliner -

MisterPenguin

President of Animal Kingdom
Premium Member
I honestly thought that video had been sped up.

Humans judge speed relatively. A car going down a suburban road at 11 mph might not seem that fast compared to the length of the road. However, if a car shot across that road from one driveway to another... it's going to seem to be going really fast. Same with the gondolas as they cut across foot paths leaving the station.


Maybe it's just me...or maybe it's the angle of the video....or maybe it's nothing, but to me it doesn't look like the cabins are making that big "swoop" (not sure what to call it) as they leave the station. In the early videos, it seemed like the cabins "dragged" as leaving the station and then swung forward as they moved on to the travel rope. I always noticed this because it's just one more thing for me to panic about (along with the height and closed in space) when riding them. I'm wondering if there are now some type of weights in the cabins to simulate passengers. Or maybe nothing's changed....

Since it's mostly free swinging you won't notice the swoop much. Just like the swinging cars on 7DMT flare out on a turn to give the impression that gravity is still straight down from your point of views (instead of slamming you into the sidewall of the car, looking at you, BTMR); so will the initial swing of a gondola ramping up to full speed give you the impressing that gravity is still down. If you look in the direction of motion or in the opposite direction and not sideways out the side window when that happens, you'll hardly notice it (and won't get a rush of motion sickness). Once your at full speed, it'll seem like your not moving at all (Newton's laws of motion and all).
 

allgiggles

Well-Known Member
Since it's mostly free swinging you won't notice the swoop much. Just like the swinging cars on 7DMT flare out on a turn to give the impression that gravity is still straight down from your point of views (instead of slamming you into the sidewall of the car, looking at you, BTMR); so will the initial swing of a gondola ramping up to full speed give you the impressing that gravity is still down. If you look in the direction of motion or in the opposite direction and not sideways out the side window when that happens, you'll hardly notice it (and won't get a rush of motion sickness). Once your at full speed, it'll seem like your not moving at all (Newton's laws of motion and all).

Thanks to my fear of heights, I will *not* be looking down -- I will always be looking straight out and off in to the distance so I guess I'll be ok. And of course I can't ride backwards -- I'll need to be seated on the forward-facing bench. Just one more thing on my list....
 

Goofyque'

Well-Known Member
I bet no one's discussed the possibility of terrorists shooting a grappling hook and cable onto the moving gondola so they can climb aboard and take people hostage. #Aintridingthatdeathtrap


On second thought, terrorists wouldn't be interested in this form of kidnapping. No air conditioning.
Actually, quite a lengthy discussion earlier regarding this. Lots of references to 007 and "Jaws".
 

trainplane3

Well-Known Member
Thank you for filming and posting. I love videos that get right to the point without a lot of chitter chatter. Honestly, I just want images and background music if any :)
Exactly why I couldn't be a blogger. I've never been one on the whole "HEY GUYS ITS DISNEYPERSON19 HERE TODAY WE'RE GOING TO EPCOT TO CHECK OUT STUFF" and then proceed to spend 15 mins doing other things no one cares about. I'd probably just be a Bioreconstruct copy but with short videos too.
 

tissandtully

Well-Known Member
We had a grumpy 7-month old on a Minnie Van from MK to POP at park closing last August. I was in the backseat with my baby while my husband (who doesn't know the property as well) was up front. Our drive ended up being 45 minutes because the driver wouldn't shut up. And I am CHATTY. He literally told us about how he was molested as a child, fired from his last job, and more...it was INSANE.

And then I looked up and we were at the All Stars. He was talking so much, he literally forgot where we were staying (I was so focused on my daughter, I wasn't paying attention).

Again, I am my mother's daughter -- I used to be embarrassed by her chattiness on WDW trips (and the grocery store, etc), but now that I'm in my late 30s, I am absolutely her. This guy was just at a another level, though. And I paid $20 for the "privilege" 🤣.
That's odd, usually it's the top CMs who get the Minnie Van driver roles, unless that has changed.
 

MiddKid

Well-Known Member
I really wish they'd made these glass bottom 😈

Peak2Peak at Whistler Blackcomb has glass bottom cabins. They even have a separate queue for them. Granted on P2P you're ONLY 1,427 feet above the valley floor so... ;)
Peak-to-Peak-gondola-copy-1024x681.jpg
 

cspencer96

Well-Known Member
If anything it might be a blurring of what kind of staff they will need on hand for things like cleaning or supporting maintanence rolls. Like, if Disney contracts DM for the real maint. people... maybe Disney is looking to use their transportation CMs to assist them with manpower for manning stations, etc during their work.
This is the most likely case. Transportation CMs can be scheduled/pick up shifts/be extended into shifts that could be at all hours of the day and night, for anything from extended hours to overnight “spotting” shifts during maintenance and testing work.
 

PeoplemoverTTA

Well-Known Member
That's odd, usually it's the top CMs who get the Minnie Van driver roles, unless that has changed.
This was last August; not sure if it was the same criteria then? He had apparently worked for a cruise line for a really long time but had been fired. I believe (but it’s been a year and I have “mom brain”) he had been working at WDW a few years but I’m sure he had worked for Royal Caribbean or some other big cruise line for over a decade before being fired.

It was so strange, to put it mildly!
 

Rob562

Well-Known Member
So if you look closely at the orange gondola, you can see the mysterious red light. And if you look down the line, you can see the blue and yellow gondolas have green lights:
lfGbmuC.jpg

I only partially followed the discussion about the marker lights on the cabins, so these ideas may have already been brought up, but could they indicate a cabin that's headed for the stationary load/unload platform? Since an arriving handicap cabin would have people remaining inside it as it crawled through the unload section of the station, it would be a visual signal to the unload CM not to hassle the guests to step out. And likewise after the cabin was dispatched from the stationary load, it would have to crawl through the load section of the platform. An indicator light would indicate to the loading CM not to load anyone from the standby line into that cabin.

Or perhaps they designed the Riviera station to only open the doors of cabins destined for Riviera and the lights indicate to the CM loading the cabins who to load into that cabin? (Though doing that would require two separate queues for the Epcot line)

-Rob
 

joelkfla

Well-Known Member
I only partially followed the discussion about the marker lights on the cabins, so these ideas may have already been brought up, but could they indicate a cabin that's headed for the stationary load/unload platform? Since an arriving handicap cabin would have people remaining inside it as it crawled through the unload section of the station, it would be a visual signal to the unload CM not to hassle the guests to step out. And likewise after the cabin was dispatched from the stationary load, it would have to crawl through the load section of the platform. An indicator light would indicate to the loading CM not to load anyone from the standby line into that cabin.
Cabins have been observed leaving the the secondary platform with doors closed. I don't know whether arriving cabins with wheelchairs on board pass thru the unload area with doors closed as well. Theoretically, if the computer is tracking which cabins have chairs, the door opening rail could be retracted.
 

G00fyDad

Well-Known Member
So if you look closely at the orange gondola, you can see the mysterious red light. And if you look down the line, you can see the blue and yellow gondolas have green lights:
lfGbmuC.jpg

And lastly, a shot of a yellow cabin creepin':
GTi2D15.jpg

Are the red/green lights indicators of full/empty cabins? Maybe when the cabin gets into the station the CM helping with loading can see the cabins with green lights and they can direct guests to those easier. The red light ones will have people in them and when the doors open and no one gets out that means the people are heading past that station and on to another one. It seems like this would make loading much more efficient. The CM wouldn't want to send a family to a gondola if the people inside were not planning on getting out at that station.
 

joelkfla

Well-Known Member
Are the red/green lights indicators of full/empty cabins? Maybe when the cabin gets into the station the CM helping with loading can see the cabins with green lights and they can direct guests to those easier. The red light ones will have people in them and when the doors open and no one gets out that means the people are heading past that station and on to another one. It seems like this would make loading much more efficient. The CM wouldn't want to send a family to a gondola if the people inside were not planning on getting out at that station.
That makes sense, but it would apply only to the Riviera station, as all other stations are terminals.

Have the lights been seen on either of the other 2 lines? I don't remember any other spottings.
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom