News New Gondola Transportation - Disney Skyliner -

[Rteetz]

Updated Skyliner list

Also some notes. Skyliner testing is on schedule but station construction is a bit behind. Disney is planning to open the entire system at once but does have a segmented opening plan if needed.

 

[joelkfla]

Will it have air conditioning?

The average high temperature in Mexico City in May, the hottest month of the year, is only 81 F, with much lower humidity than FL.

 

[flynnibus]

This issue was pointed out by EVERYONE who first heard there would be no AC in these units. I would like to point out.. if there is ANY issue with the gondolas loading/unloading any other failure.. and instead of just having 1 monorail that needs rescued(as an engineer having spoke with a company who had been tasked with coming up with a solution to unload a monorail out of the stations) I knew disney's expectations for that failure.. and this will take far longer to unload car by car.

1) There is more than one monorail on a loop
2) It's not like you unload a monorail full of people onto a basket and drop them down - it still takes multiple cycles as you can only unload a handful of people at once
3) Monorails don't have AC either when the line is shutdown
4) Unlike the monorails, this system has its own power alternatives onsite

So in many ways... it's not like the monorail is some slam dunk and the skyliner is hard.

 

[Lift Blog]

Don't know how true this is but interesting nonetheless..

Ain't gonna happen but as a last resort, the cabin windows could be swapped for screens. I rode this gondola the other day. There used to be a giant water bucket that was choreographed to dump onto the cabins when they entered one of the stations! Disney could add that to the Trinidad clock tower.

The cabins are actually the 1993 version of the same Skyliner Omega cabins. Best selling gondolas of all time.

 

[Goofyernmost]

This might have been mentioned, but, I have heard and read concern about how dim the lights in the gondola's are. And I just want to remind that we are looking at them through dark tinted windows. It may be a lot brighter inside. The red and green lights may also be to define which direction the gondola's are moving more easily (red on the right and green on the left.

 

[danlb_2000]

This might have been mentioned, but, I have heard and read concern about how dim the lights in the gondola's are. And I just want to remind that we are looking at them through dark tinted windows. It may be a lot brighter inside. The red and green lights may also be to define which direction the gondola's are moving more easily (red on the right and green on the left.

Not sure why dim lights would be any concern, once out of the station you really don't need bright lights to see anything in the car, and most people have cell phones if the really need light. Dim lights would actually be better so you can see out at night.

 

[joelkfla]

The red and green lights may also be to define which direction the gondola's are moving more easily (red on the right and green on the left.

No, the color was not constant on a side. One cabin had green on the left, and another one had red. It could be to alert staff when a cabin is to be diverted to the 2nd loop. Or it might indicate when a cabin is empty, particularly for the benefit of the Riviera crew. All just logical guesses, of course.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Not sure why dim lights would be any concern, once out of the station you really don't need bright lights to see anything in the car, and most people have cell phones if the really need light. Dim lights would actually be better so you can see out at night.

I don't think so either but it was mentioned that the lights were very dim and, like I said, we were looking at them through tinted glass so they would probably be slightly brighter when inside them. As you said, it wouldn't be a good idea to have it too bright inside anyway if one is trying to see out the windows at night.

 

[Goofyernmost]

No, the color was not constant on a side. One cabin had green on the left, and another one had red. It could be to alert staff when a cabin is to be diverted to the 2nd loop. Or it might indicate when a cabin is empty, particularly for the benefit of the Riviera crew. All just logical guesses, of course.

That could be it, I was just guessing.

 

[begood524]

Updated Skyliner list

Also some notes. Skyliner testing is on schedule but station construction is a bit behind. Disney is planning to open the entire system at once but does have a segmented opening plan if needed.

What sort of scenario would cause them to have a segmented opening?

 

[Rteetz]

What sort of scenario would cause them to have a segmented opening?

I don't know for certain but my speculation would lead me to believe any sort of further delays with the stations would lead to this.

 

[joelkfla]

What sort of scenario would cause them to have a segmented opening?

I don't know for certain but my speculation would lead me to believe any sort of further delays with the stations would lead to this.

IMHO, there's no pressing need to open the Epcot line with Riviera not yet open, but they would want to open the Pop/AoA and DHS lines, if ready, to get Guests between the resorts & DHS when SWGE opens.

 

[Jon81uk]

The average high temperature in Mexico City in May, the hottest month of the year, is only 81 F, with much lower humidity than FL.

 

[danlb_2000]

IMHO, there's no pressing need to open the Epcot line with Riviera not yet open, but they would want to open the Pop/AoA and DHS lines, if ready, to get Guests between the resorts & DHS when SWGE opens.

Yeah, and if any line was going to be held up it would be Epcot due to the work going on at the International Gateway.

 

[GlassHalfFull]

1) There is more than one monorail on a loop
2) It's not like you unload a monorail full of people onto a basket and drop them down - it still takes multiple cycles as you can only unload a handful of people at once
3) Monorails don't have AC either when the line is shutdown
4) Unlike the monorails, this system has its own power alternatives onsite

So in many ways... it's not like the monorail is some slam dunk and the skyliner is hard.

I never said the monorails were a slam dunk and the skyliner is hard, but it will take a lot longer to unload hundreds of skyliner buckets along the line.. If a monorail goes down, the majority of the monorails are either in a station or near a station they can get to(obviously a power disruption makes the "getting to" a station not possible).. skyliners are segmented at a distance.. so at any one time they will necessarily have 85/90/95%(whatever the number actually is) of the gondolas away from a loading station..

For the record the ask from Disney WAS that you would be able to unload each half of the cabin in one "bucket" as you called it.. these aren't the same buckets that you see doing electrical work, think the sky dining carts that load on planes.. meaning an average monorail would take 12 loads OR LESS(obviously a half full monorail could have people step over the backs of the seating in the cabins to make it 6 loads or so..

I don't think there is an expectation that there wouldn't be a power alternative.. power isn't the only "concern" with reasonable expectation to potentially cause delays though.. Each potential issue is assessed and there are typically protocols for expected issues.. Many people point out these issues because many times companies assume the "low expected outcome" is worth the risk, but that doesn't take away the fact that if there is something major that happens at a load/unload that causes a big delay the hundred+ skyliner gondolas will take far longer than accessing and unloading a handful or less of monorails.

 

[flynnibus]

I never said the monorails were a slam dunk and the skyliner is hard, but it will take a lot longer to unload hundreds of skyliner buckets along the line.. If a monorail goes down, the majority of the monorails are either in a station or near a station they can get to(obviously a power disruption makes the "getting to" a station not possible).. skyliners are segmented at a distance.. so at any one time they will necessarily have 85/90/95%(whatever the number actually is) of the gondolas away from a loading station..

When monorails go down - power is almost always involved or shutdown for safety.. on the entire loop. So, no, monorails aren't necessarily able to get back to station.. they are stuck where they are at and the tug moving them to stations is the preferred option. Of course being on a single beam means you have to do a dance of moving the blocking trains to even get to the point in question. Not a fast proposition.

Reality is power is the most common thing that interupts monorail operation on a large scale. The gondolas are more resilient here in that they have more segmentation and onsite backup power for each line. Plus, the gondola's don't have a high voltage rail that needs to be shutdown on the entire loop whenever people are out on the beam, etc.

Yes there are many more 'cabins' to evacuate on a gondola... but the system has been designed with evacs in mind too. From the height of the lines, to ground clearance, to having the specialized vehicles on hand. It's designed to be a managable, repeatable, easy task.

I'd argue the gondolas are in a far BETTER starting point for evacs than the monorails are.

 

[larryz]

I never said the monorails were a slam dunk and the skyliner is hard, but it will take a lot longer to unload hundreds of skyliner buckets...

I don't think there is an expectation that there wouldn't be a power alternative.. power isn't the only "concern" with reasonable expectation to potentially cause delays though.. Each potential issue is assessed and there are typically protocols for expected issues.. Many people point out these issues because many times companies assume the "low expected outcome" is worth the risk, but that doesn't take away the fact that if there is something major that happens at a load/unload that causes a big delay the hundred+ skyliner gondolas will take far longer than accessing and unloading a handful or less of monorails.

Well, with the stations all having aux power generators big enough to turn the bullwheels, the only other situation I can think of that might require a static evacuation is a cable coming off a tower (due to structural failure, sudden wind or some clowns swinging their cabin).

 

[tractor tipper]

Well, with the stations all having aux power generators big enough to turn the bullwheels, the only other situation I can think of that might require a static evacuation is a cable coming off a tower (due to structural failure, sudden wind or some clowns swinging their cabin).

I'd make sure the clowns were the last rescued.

 

[danlb_2000]

Well, with the stations all having aux power generators big enough to turn the bullwheels, the only other situation I can think of that might require a static evacuation is a cable coming off a tower (due to structural failure, sudden wind or some clowns swinging their cabin).

Or a failure of the drive motor. @Lift Blog mentioned at one point that some systems have a third backup which is a diesel engine which directly drives the gearbox which would cover failure of the motor, not sure if Disney went with that option.

 

[SLUSHIE]

Do you guys all drive around in your cars at night with all the interior lights on? Why are you so concerned how bright it is inside? It will be bright enough to see, and if you need more light you can always use your phones light if you have to.