News New Gondola Transportation - Disney Skyliner -

[nickys]

How long before we see gondola play sets on sale, like the monorail play set? With each of the four stations as accessories.

I give it a year after opening.

 

[Robbiem]

The biggest benefit of an elevated monorail system is no tunnels or overpasses and less overall area for construction. Light rail would be dirt cheap if it just crossed open space. It becomes expensive when you put it in a city and have to dig up existing roads and/or build overpasses. Gondolas are a good mix since you can build over existing roads and parking lots with minimal disruption (similar to a monorail) but the flexible cables allow the stations to be ground level (similar to most light rail). I’m not sure if it would be possible to build a monorail where the track dips enough to have ground level stations, but it is easy with a gondola.

In Tokyo Disney Resort the monorail dips to ground level or almost ground level when it passes Tokyo Bay so it doesn’t spoil the view of the Columbia from Disneysea. Trains can run over gradients but they aren’t very efficient when they do this which is why they are usually built at grade and as you say above this is likely to be expensive (and wear out the trains faster) so something like a cable car is a viable alternative. Another advantage would be adding capacity. With cable car systems its quick to add in additional cars when you need them compared with signalling an additional monorail plus you can have almost continuous boarding

 

[GlacierGlacier]

Let’s face it, the Skyliner won’t open until they have enough of a stockpile of these little babies all branded and ready to be “adopted”

Not going to lie, I'd buy a tiny adorable Skyliner gondola.

 

[Goofyernmost]

There seems to be more "sure thing" tragedies connected to Gondola's then airplanes, space travel and motorcycle bus jumping. Lets see.... we have broken cables dropping us in to swamps with hungry gators, heat so intense in the wild and unreachable area of the worlds largest resort that no one will be saved from literally cooking. Connected to that cooking problem, we have the surety that there are no backup systems on line to take over for cable drive machinery causing that deadly hold up in spite of the fact that you can basically walk from station to station in about 10 minutes. Winds so high that the gondola will be blown into a 90 degree angle causing everyone to crash to one side of the gondola and lightning that will immediately fry the occupants of a fully grounded system. Now we have to worry about suicides, when that will only do harm to the person that attempts it. I'm starting to lose my sense of reality... must stop reading... must stop reading.

 

[Minthorne]

Not going to lie, I'd buy a tiny adorable Skyliner gondola.

Christmas ornament!

 

[MisterPenguin]

toy lift

 

[GoofGoof]

View attachment 293980

Slap some Disney characters on the cars and it will fly off the shelves at World of Disney. There’s a sucker born everyday....but it would go perfect with my model monorail that goes through my model CR....and when I say “my” these are really toys Santa brought my kids

 

[GoofGoof]

In Tokyo Disney Resort the monorail dips to ground level or almost ground level when it passes Tokyo Bay so it doesn’t spoil the view of the Columbia from Disneysea. Trains can run over gradients but they aren’t very efficient when they do this which is why they are usually built at grade and as you say above this is likely to be expensive (and wear out the trains faster) so something like a cable car is a viable alternative. Another advantage would be adding capacity. With cable car systems its quick to add in additional cars when you need them compared with signalling an additional monorail plus you can have almost continuous boarding

That’s a good point about monorails. They can and do change height, but you need a lot of length because the changes are gradual. With the gondolas they can dip very rapidly due to the design which makes changes of height a lot more practical.

Also a good point on adding capacity and loading. Waiting to be crammed on the monorail after Illuminations is not the most enjoyable experience. The only thing that makes it bearable is playing the guess which color monorail is coming next game. With the gondolas there may be a line but at least it will constantly move.

 

[DisneyCane]

There seems to be more "sure thing" tragedies connected to Gondola's then airplanes, space travel and motorcycle bus jumping. Lets see.... we have broken cables dropping us in to swamps with hungry gators, heat so intense in the wild and unreachable area of the worlds largest resort that no one will be saved from literally cooking. Connected to that cooking problem, we have the surety that there are no backup systems on line to take over for cable drive machinery causing that deadly hold up in spite of the fact that you can basically walk from station to station in about 10 minutes. Winds so high that the gondola will be blown into a 90 degree angle causing everyone to crash to one side of the gondola and lightning that will immediately fry the occupants of a fully grounded system. Now we have to worry about suicides, when that will only do harm to the person that attempts it. I'm starting to lose my sense of reality... must stop reading... must stop reading.

Yes, apparently, based on this thread, riding a gondola is more dangerous than sword swallowing or being shot out of a cannon. All guests will have to go to the Walenda training academy before riding!

And what is up with the suicide concern? On a chairlift, anybody that wants to can just hop off at a high point. Why do enclosed Gondolas need special regulations for door opening when chairlifts have no doors. Most ski resort lifts have spots significantly higher off the ground than Skyliner will be.

 

[Beacon Joe]

Will each gondola have a security camera or something? Asking for a friend.

 

[GoofGoof]

Yes, apparently, based on this thread, riding a gondola is more dangerous than sword swallowing or being shot out of a cannon. All guests will have to go to the Walenda training academy before riding!

And what is up with the suicide concern? On a chairlift, anybody that wants to can just hop off at a high point. Why do enclosed Gondolas need special regulations for door opening when chairlifts have no doors. Most ski resort lifts have spots significantly higher off the ground than Skyliner will be.

I don’t think there is any suicide concern. After a person who was a single rider fell from a Ferris wheel in NJ a few years back it became a trend to ban single riders for Ferris wheels. I don’t know if it was even proven to be suicide or just poor judgement that caused the incident. Either way, I’ve never heard it extended to ski lifts which definitely allow single riders. Unless there’s no wait at all I would assume single riders would be paired with other smaller groups but just for logisitical reasons.

 

[winstongator]

Yes, apparently, based on this thread, riding a gondola is more dangerous than sword swallowing or being shot out of a cannon. All guests will have to go to the Walenda training academy before riding!

And what is up with the suicide concern? On a chairlift, anybody that wants to can just hop off at a high point. Why do enclosed Gondolas need special regulations for door opening when chairlifts have no doors. Most ski resort lifts have spots significantly higher off the ground than Skyliner will be.

My exprience with gondolas also came with ski lifts. We rode both In Jackson hole last summer. Gondola was awesome and sold me on the wdw concept. On the Ski lift, we didn't realize there was a lap bar. The mountain bikers we saw weren't using them, so we didn't. Definitely a little precarious, but nowhere close to doing the ski runs on a mountain bike. Skiing is dangerous, so the added danger from the gondolas and lifts is minimal. Disney is safe, so slightly different. I do drive I-95 and I-4 to get there, which is definitely much less safe than wdw.

This is going to have great views and could be more fun than the monorail. I guessing people are really going to like this.

 

[Kylo Ken]

Shot from Studios today

 

[MisterPenguin]

Shot from Studios today
View attachment 294065

I'll add cars crashing into the towers to the list.

 

[DisneyCane]

My exprience with gondolas also came with ski lifts. We rode both In Jackson hole last summer. Gondola was awesome and sold me on the wdw concept. On the Ski lift, we didn't realize there was a lap bar. The mountain bikers we saw weren't using them, so we didn't. Definitely a little precarious, but nowhere close to doing the ski runs on a mountain bike. Skiing is dangerous, so the added danger from the gondolas and lifts is minimal. Disney is safe, so slightly different. I do drive I-95 and I-4 to get there, which is definitely much less safe than wdw.

This is going to have great views and could be more fun than the monorail. I guessing people are really going to like this.

You don't need the lap bar on a ski lift. It's like a swing on a playground. You don't fall off the swing. When skiing, the main reason I use them is for the foot rests.

The only real added danger from a lift (and I guess Gondola also) is getting on and off. With a lift, you can catch your ski or board tip or have somebody crash into you as they get off.

I don't know if Disney will but if you do a moving walkway like an omnimover, then you remove that minute danger pretty much as well. At WDW, there is far more danger of being on a bus that gets into an accident than anything happening on a Gondola. There's probably more danger of being run over by a stroller and tearing a knee ligament.

 

[DisneyCane]

Will each gondola have a security camera or something? Asking for a friend.

Can't imagine that they would and who is going to keep an eye on hundreds of camera views? If they do any kind of cameras I'd imagine it would be on a few of the towers so they can see into passing cabins.

 

[nace888]

Aside from the Haunted Mansion/ Peoplemover etc style boarding, could there potentially be multiple station tracks to hold an extra car or two for ecv loading and slower families? Would CMs push the cabins into place or would it be from a console?

 

[lazyboy97o]

Aside from the Haunted Mansion/ Peoplemover etc style boarding, could there potentially be multiple station tracks to hold an extra car or two for ecv loading and slower families? Would CMs push the cabins into place or would it be from a console?

The terminal stations have dedicated accessible loading stations.

 

[larryz]

Aside from the Haunted Mansion/ Peoplemover etc style boarding, could there potentially be multiple station tracks to hold an extra car or two for ecv loading and slower families? Would CMs push the cabins into place or would it be from a console?

The loading stations appear to be designed with a "slow lane" for wheeled vehicle access.

 

[nace888]

The terminal stations have dedicated accessible loading stations.

There's only one main terminal station, it seems.

The loading stations appear to be designed with a "slow lane" for wheeled vehicle access.

I'm glad there's consideration of it. When I worked monorails, that was one focus I had was the safety of my wheelchair guests.