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News New Gondola Transportation - Disney Skyliner -
- Thread starter danlb_2000
- Start date
Incomudro
Well-Known Member
I can only imagine being stopped for 15 minutes in a gondola with my wife after having coaxed her aboard.
That would not go well.
Polydweller
Well-Known Member
Rode it today and it is very comfortable. Temperature was 90 and the breeze made the gondolas quite comfortable. The ride is smooth with a minimal sway. The lines moved quickly at CBR, IG, and DHS. I got a chance to learn a bit about the stops (we had two 1 minute stops).
They are mainly not equipment issues but human. In some cases it’s guest not exiting quickly enough and some CMs hitting the stop instead of the slow button. The CMs can opt to slow or stop the line in the case of some loading or exiting issues. We stopped right beside the console and I could hear the supervisor talking to the operator and explaining how they should have pushed slow instead of stop. That’s apparently happening a lot while staff figure out the system. It should get better as time goes along.
They are mainly not equipment issues but human. In some cases it’s guest not exiting quickly enough and some CMs hitting the stop instead of the slow button. The CMs can opt to slow or stop the line in the case of some loading or exiting issues. We stopped right beside the console and I could hear the supervisor talking to the operator and explaining how they should have pushed slow instead of stop. That’s apparently happening a lot while staff figure out the system. It should get better as time goes along.
flynnibus
Premium Member
Rob562
Well-Known Member
Perhaps they're hitting an Emergency Stop button instead of station slow or stop. Oftentimes with major machinery it's a longer, more involved process to restart from an emergency stop that sometimes requires specific personnel to be in place to clear it.
A WDW ride example: Over at Soarin' there are generally two ways to stop the ride mid-flight. The preferred method is to press the "return to home" button (or whatever it's called). This stops the show and immediately brings the carriages back to the floor. This would be used in 99.9% of the times they'd have to stop the ride, since most issues would be with the guests who are up in the air.
However, the button on the panel that's actually labeled "Emergency Stop" does what the emergency stop button does on all heavy, industrial machinery. It immediately stops all motion and locks all moving parts in place, preventing any further movement. The only way to clear such an e-stop requires Maintenance staff. The only time this button should be used at Soarin would be if there were imminent danger were the carriages to return to the floor. (An example from a few years ago was the parent and child who somehow got out of their seats after the loading CMs had cleared the carriages for departure and had left the floor. The carriages rose, and suddenly the CM at the console had two guests standing around on the floor)
But if the CM panicked and hit the wrong button, you suddenly have guests on carriages locked in the air.
If the Skyliner is set up with a similar e-stop setup (@Lift Blog would probably be able to say), then a panicked CM hitting the wrong stop button could make for an extended stoppage.
-Rob
flynnibus
Premium Member
Yes, I'm familar with e-stops.. and you can see the control panels in liftblog's posts even...
But in all operations... unnecessary e-stops are no laughing matter... and not just an 'oops' moment. It would be quite a serious matter if that were happening repeatedly and training and procedures would be in question right away.
It's not nessesarily any harder to reset than a normal stop and generally anyone can do it as long as it's a 'normal' E-stop and not one caused by a fault.
For any kind of stop, it has to be logged. Slowing is much better as slow is effectly stopped when it comes to the speed in the stations. Also there is no overhead of having to log why it stopped, because it didn't.
An E-stop is a more sudden stop and harder on the equipment etc. but I'm assuming in this case they were just talking about a normal stop.
For any kind of stop, it has to be logged. Slowing is much better as slow is effectly stopped when it comes to the speed in the stations. Also there is no overhead of having to log why it stopped, because it didn't.
An E-stop is a more sudden stop and harder on the equipment etc. but I'm assuming in this case they were just talking about a normal stop.
Polydweller
Well-Known Member
Well, read my post more carefully. I said many are due to human factors I did not say all. But it’s clear that human factors are causing problems and that will definitely improve. And things happening early in an implementation after the general public first gets to use a service are to be expected. After 30 year in the hospitality field you know the general public will do things and cause problems you never would ever have anticipated. It would be a major surprise if things didn’t go wrong. Everything will improve over time but really no system will ever run perfectly 100% of the time.
Here’s my theory as to why there may be long periods of stopping.
On Kali River Rapids, if someone stops the turn table, they are not allowed to restart It until all guests are guests are off the turn table, including those getting out of the rafts and those getting in. They used to be able to restart it whenever, but there must have been too many cases of guests losing their balance when the table would suddenly start moving again and they weren’t expecting it.
So in this case, it might be the same. If the line stops, they don’t want it to start again while people are loading or unloading for fear of people losing their balance and falling (hello lawsuit!) But in this case, you have to wait for not only the guests in YOUR station to all be clear of the loading and unloading decks, they need to be clear ALL of them on your one line, meaning IG, Riviera, Trinidad.
I’m sure they have ways of communicating with each other, but I can see how waiting for 6 different load and unload zones to clear and then communicating with those different zones can take time.
Now, 15 minutes is excessive, so any stop longer than 5 minutes probably has more going on than my scenario above. But for those numerous 2-3 minutes stops, that would be my guess as to what’s happening. And I can imagine families with multiple strollers are having issues boarding in a short amount of time.
On Kali River Rapids, if someone stops the turn table, they are not allowed to restart It until all guests are guests are off the turn table, including those getting out of the rafts and those getting in. They used to be able to restart it whenever, but there must have been too many cases of guests losing their balance when the table would suddenly start moving again and they weren’t expecting it.
So in this case, it might be the same. If the line stops, they don’t want it to start again while people are loading or unloading for fear of people losing their balance and falling (hello lawsuit!) But in this case, you have to wait for not only the guests in YOUR station to all be clear of the loading and unloading decks, they need to be clear ALL of them on your one line, meaning IG, Riviera, Trinidad.
I’m sure they have ways of communicating with each other, but I can see how waiting for 6 different load and unload zones to clear and then communicating with those different zones can take time.
Now, 15 minutes is excessive, so any stop longer than 5 minutes probably has more going on than my scenario above. But for those numerous 2-3 minutes stops, that would be my guess as to what’s happening. And I can imagine families with multiple strollers are having issues boarding in a short amount of time.
It's 8 zones. There are 4 in Riviera by itself, two in each direction, unload and load.
Lift Blog
Well-Known Member
I think it's actually 12. 4 at Riviera, 4 at Trinidad and 4 at International Gateway. That might be a record for a single lift worldwide.
Oh sure, that makes sense. Loading and unloading for either direction. Didn’t even think of that!
I forgot the extra loop, with it’s unload and load too. Just keeps getting worse for a restart.
Any idea how many buttons need to be pressed to restart? Is it conceivably 1 for each area? That could mean coordinating 12 people to tag it safe to start. Lots of room for extra delay.
I was able to disembark at Riviera on my ecv today. I boarded at IG and asked if I could get off at Riviera. The cm in the IG Wheelchair Accessible Vehicle load area radioed Riviera unload with the cabin number. Then the cm at Riviera apparently forgot, and I had to yell at him to get his attention.
He didn't stop the rope, he just slowed it down using a tablet. I then managed to crash into the door frame when backing off.
I explored the area a bit. That Riviera station puts out quite a bit of noise. I wouldn't want to be in one of rooms at the end of Aruba facing the station, unless they have exceptional soundproofing.
Oh, also, the cm's staffing the entrance to the IG station told a Guest that all double strollers had to be folded before boarding.
The glass on the cabins is not glass; it's probably some sort of polycarbonate. I could be mistaken, but it seems to me that it's not as clear as it was on Sunday. It may be difficult to thoroughly clean off finger grease.
He didn't stop the rope, he just slowed it down using a tablet. I then managed to crash into the door frame when backing off.
I explored the area a bit. That Riviera station puts out quite a bit of noise. I wouldn't want to be in one of rooms at the end of Aruba facing the station, unless they have exceptional soundproofing.
Oh, also, the cm's staffing the entrance to the IG station told a Guest that all double strollers had to be folded before boarding.
The glass on the cabins is not glass; it's probably some sort of polycarbonate. I could be mistaken, but it seems to me that it's not as clear as it was on Sunday. It may be difficult to thoroughly clean off finger grease.
flynnibus
Premium Member
Probably why we see the cms apcarrying phones phones/radios (Nextel style p2t?)... needing to coordinate with consoles at each zone before restarts. And probably why the line couldn’t run when the reedy creek radio network was down. No other comms directly to the platform crews
The DHS line was stopped when I rolled into the WAV boarding area at CBR. The cm at the station was listening to his radio, then I saw him hold in the green button on the console for a number of seconds until the line started.
Aries1975
Well-Known Member
Thank you. The vast knowledge you have shared with the group over the last year or so is very much appreciated.
Although the gondolas are your passion, I hope you allow yourself the chance to explore Disney World and have some fun on this trip.
KC00
Active Member
The cabins I rode in on Monday were covered in fingerprints. It was kind of a bummer that they were already looking kind of grimy by day 2.
Like buying a brand new car , it looks and smells brand new. Then later reality sets in..
tractor tipper
Well-Known Member
Double wide or double length? Also thinking of my question can you even have a double wide in the parks with the new width rules?