News New Gondola Transportation - Disney Skyliner -

[WildcatDen]

I like whizzing 3 to 4 feet over the ground .

Are you fairly tall or standing on a step ladder?

 

[Master Yoda]

It's been mentioned in this thread already how to mitigate seeing backstage:

1. Automated opaquing glass.
2. Low traveling gondolas. Except to go over a roadways, gondolas could theoretically be just 10 feet off the ground.




Dueling gondolas!

Would they be racing each other or jousting?

3. Just deal with the bubble break. You are riding in a cabin in the sky so you are going to see some less than attractive back stage stuff.

 

[HarrisburgMouse]

I see some other Disney fan sites have started to run with this story. Waiting to see how long before the main stream media picks it up.

Thumbs up to the site that did acknowledge us, and thumbs down to the one that didn't (you can guess which one that was).

From the comments on the site that did not.... Pretty childish (and did not deny he basically stole the hard work from the sleuths here):

Jon
February 15, 2017 at 10:04 AM - Reply
Why didn’t you acknowledge it was WDWMagic forum members who made the discovery?

• 
  Tom Corless
  Author
  February 15, 2017 at 10:11 AM - Reply
  Why didn’t they acknowledge our Banshee picture when they posted it?
  

 

[marni1971]

If you look at where it lands at DHS, it's consistent with pushing security out further from the entrance point there as well. The bus dropoff would need to be reconfigured too, unless you screen before you get on the buses somehow.

There are / were plans to reconfigure the bus / taxi area at DHS as part of the lot reconfiguration.

 

[TiggerDad]

I want to give credit to @TiggerDad for being the first to notice the interesting alignment of the buildings which is what started this all.

Glad to help. You are the one who speculated it could be transportation related due to the location at DHS.

 

[Grimley1968]

3. Just deal with the bubble break. You are riding in a cabin in the sky so you are going to see some less than attractive back stage stuff.

True. The Skyway in MK operated for decades and showed guests an eyeful of rooftops and backstage stuff. I still enjoyed it.

 

[danlb_2000]

There are / were plans to reconfigure the bus / taxi area at DHS as part of the lot reconfiguration.

The new building is shown going right onto the current path to the bus drop offs, this would seem to indicate that there are still plans to re-configure this area.

 

[orky8]

3. Just deal with the bubble break. You are riding in a cabin in the sky so you are going to see some less than attractive back stage stuff.

Seriously. Who cares. This is transportation, not an attraction. You see backstage areas from busses already.

 

[danlb_2000]

Not sure if this is helpful at all, but I found this awhile ago and it seems to show the bus loop reconfiguration. No gondola building though, but that could likely be because the building was irrelevant to these particular plans.

Interesting, where did this come from?

 

[Sachilles]

I feel like this discussion is spread on so many sites, it's hard to keep track of everyone's very valid points. For loading and unloading points are a big mystery. Next is whether this is a one off project, or something where they are planning future implementations of this type of transport.
The number of lines in this one project now could indicate the future of it. To me, looking at the plans we can see, I feel like the line from CBR across from trinidad south to DHS is it's own line. A second line from that CBR station to the new tower area, then the boardwalk lot and international gateway make sense.
The line from DHS to CBR certainly if continued straight can connect to Corrando on the southern end, and could even get to a Yeti. Disney springs also seems like a natural spot.
It need not be the end all transportation system. Busses will still be king due to flexibility, but the roads are congested as is. This can go along way to helping ease that burden.
While it's more armchair imagineering, I can't help but think of the Magic Kingdom, would it not be an epic entrance to the park if you came in at elevation greater than the monorail at a trajectory looking right at main street and the castle. I think Walt would even think that was cool.
Now when they bulldozed the race track, it was for future transportation projects. We've seen a new flyover for that area being proposed. Might there be something else being worked in?
This tech isn't the solution for everything, but cost wise, if it proves to work reasonably well, I can see it being used a bit more.

 

[wendysue]

This sounds awesome, but sadly, with recent price increases, and the price increases that would accompany this for the participating resorts, many will no longer be able to afford the "Value" or moderate resorts. We recently bought AP's, but realize that we better make this next year count, because we most likely are done when these expire. (But the gondolas look totally awesome!)

 

[Coaster Lover]

For clarification, are we believing that only the rectangular shaped buildings will be stations with the "L" shaped buildings being only turns"? If so, I think it's short sighted to believe that the "L" shaped buildings would NOT be stations. Similar systems have stations on turns like this and the positioning of the turns at Boardwalk and in the heart of CBR seem like logical locations for stations. Additionally, if they were just turns, it would seem unusual that they wouldn't have made a more direct route to avoid these turns. If anything, I see the larger rectangular building south of CBR as being a maintenance/storage building/transfer hub and NOT a station. Basically just a building that will transfer cars coming from CBR to either Studios or AoA (or any other combination of those three stations) and a building to store/maintain the extra gondolas when not in use. Thoughts?

View attachment 189660

 

[Fox&Hound]

As a person scared of heights this looks absolutely terrifying! I know the monorail is high up but it seems safer somehow. Am I the only who who would find this to be the scariest ride on property?

 

[Notes from Neverland]

While this is very intriguing, I am left feeling that even a gondola system feels a bit outdated compared to other potential options. Cost of course is a big factor and it could be a fun improvement or additional option, but I suppose I was hoping for something a bit more futuristic.

 

[tonganprince]

This would be awesome. I hope it comes to light.

 

[nolatron]

2. Low traveling gondolas. Except to go over a roadways, gondolas could theoretically be just 10 feet off the ground.

I would think another benefit to a low travel system is evac as well (or god fordid castrophic failure of something). I don't know how many pods are normally strung out on a line at a time, but I imagine if a major issue occured causing the cable line to be inoperable, evac'ing multiple pods at a high elevation would be a nightmare for both guests and emergency crews.

 

[Brad Bishop]

They were saying the London system handles 10+ people per car and dispatches every 15 seconds... An average bus at capacity is 50 people and dispatches every 20 minutes + Even if the gondolas dispatch every minute, it is still faster loading than a bus...and will not be hampered by street traffic... Seems like it would be worlds more efficient than the bus transportation.

It's also constant loading/constant movement. The gondola comes down and is waiting for the next guests. Then it leaves and there's another right behind it.

A bus fills up and drives away. Hopefully another will be along soon, but maybe not.

I know that there are a few resorts there (Wilderness Lodge being the primary one) where I've had no luck with buses, often waiting 45+ min before just taking any bus and working my way back through their transportation system to where I actually want to go (or hopping in a car, if I have one there). The value resorts seem better served by buses, by my observations.

 

[Coaster Lover]

I can already imagine them envisioning an up-charge potential. Several of the larger Ferris wheels out there (the kinds you find in major cities as stand alone attractions, not the amusement park based ones) offer a VIP cabin which may contain extra amenities such as softer seats, built in WiFi, lighting packages, other on-board entertainment. Wouldn't seem a stretch for them to include such a car as an up-charge.

 

[Sachilles]

I would think another benefit to a low travel system is evac as well (or god fordid castrophic failure of something). I don't know how many pods are normally strung out on a line at a time, but I imagine if a major issue occured causing the cable line to be inoperable, evac'ing multiple pods at a high elevation would be a nightmare for both guests and emergency crews.

It's not that bad, I've trained to do it. The mechanism to do it is easy, it's the handholding of the people stranded which is the real challenge.

 

[yaksplat]

They've been thinking about it for decades. It was always accepted the busses were finite.

They've looked at monorail. Personal pods. Boats. Trolley systems. And now this.

If they can negate weather stoppages it's appeal is clear. Relatively simple, relatively cheap and relatively reliable.

I've always thought that the individual pods would be amazing. Given that the self driving cars are becoming a reality, it wouldn't be unheard of to create pods based off of the concept. Wait for all outside traffic to be banned on the internal roads beyond a common parking lot.