News New Gondola Transportation - Disney Skyliner -

[neoshinok]

Yesterday just happened to be my first chance to make it over to Galaxy's Edge and we decided to try out the Skyliner and stop into Epcot for a bit.

These things seem amazingly efficient and really keep the line moving. Much more enjoyable than a bus ride. And, comparing to other modes of Disney transportation, I think it's more fun than the monorail.

Only thing they'll need to work on is better queuing at the CB station. The lines to head to the parks extended far beyond their designed queue and stretched far enough away from the signage that it was confusing to tell where you're supposed to be.

 

[lentesta]

My round trip between IG and CBR took 70 minutes at 6 pm today. We counted 9 line stoppages.

Let me say that I really like the ride experience, and I expect Disney to get these operational issues resolved.

In observing what stops the line, it appears that not-folded strollers may have problems fitting through the doors. I saw one instance of the line stopping when a parent couldn't get the stroller into the cabin, before reaching the end of the boarding platform.

The one-way trip between IG <> CBR seems to take around 13 minutes without delays. We waited about 10 minutes to board at IG. We waited about 20 minutes to board at CBR. So the round-trip ride took 40 minutes, and it should've taken 26. Thus, 9 delays took 14 minutes, or about 90 seconds per delay.

 

[larryz]

Let me say that I really like the ride experience, and I expect Disney to get these operational issues resolved.

In observing what stops the line, it appears that not-folded strollers may have problems fitting through the doors. I saw one instance of the line stopping when a parent couldn't get the stroller into the cabin, before reaching the end of the boarding platform.

Hmmm. I believe that issue was predicted earlier in this thread.... at least a couple of times...

 

[joelkfla]

Your two videos are amazing. That little track that flips up is brilliant! Thanks for the detailed info.

Where is the plug? I see what's happening with the doors, but can't see the plug that deactivates the door rail.

Thanks!

Seems it's more of a plunger than a plug. Wheelchair cabin is on the left; plunger is pulled out. Regular cabin is on the right; plunger is pushed in. You can see the difference more clearly as they pass by in the video.

 

[Captain Barbossa]

So the Skyliner has officially been open for over 24hrs. Do we have the current number of casualties yet? You know, this is supposed to be some sort of deathtrap?

 

[monothingie]

No, I was referring to your statement about Trinidad being a disaster. I didn't leave until well after park close, by which time the IG station was pretty much empty.

Trinidad was a disaster. People confused and going all over the place. While the line moves quickly, the sheer number of guests coupled with the lack of direction overwhelms the capacity of CMs and facility.

 

[danlb_2000]

The site which cannot be named posted an article about the contents of the emergency kit in each car.

a glow stick, lots of packs of drinking water, a notebook, and some, uh… waste disposal bags. S

Everything about wheelchair cabin management:

• Wheelchair cabins are assigned at the beginning of day, and are identified by setting a plunger near the top of the hanger.
• The plunger causes the door opening rail to collapse, so the doors stay closed thru the main unload platform.
• The plunger also activates the track switch into the wheelchair unload area. As a flagged cabin approaches the switch, a chain drive activates and pulls the cabin across the switch.
• Doors open as the cabin enters the wheelchair unload position.
• Wheelchair cabins are unloaded and loaded simultaneously.
• The chair is backed out.
• The control podiums at both unload and load have a countdown timer. Operators at both positions must be holding in a button on the panel when the counter reaches zero for the cabins to advance. If either is not holding in the button when the timer is approaching zero, a reminder chime sounds. (The chime can be heard in the door opener video above.)
• The cabin advances from unload to load position, while the cabin in load position moves around to prepare for re-entering the mainstream.
• Doors remain open between unload and load.
• The load operator briefly inspects the cabin, and then loads the wheelchair in a forward direction, instructing the rest of the party to wait.
• Seats will never be folded during operation.
• The wheelchair is instructed to move forward as far as possible. ECV’s are instructed to pull up against a guide rail along the floor.
• Rubber chocks are placed behind the rear wheels.
• Then the rest of the party is invited to enter.
• Both operators release the cabins as described above.
• Doors close immediately upon leaving the load position.
• After advancing around the curve, the cabin pauses for a few seconds before re-entering the mainstream.
• Empty wheelchair cabins will not be available to load at the regular load platform. Doors will remain closed, and the cabins remain empty.

I was told that the Epcot line will be stopped for wheelchair loading at Riviera. In fact, I was going to get off at Riviera on my ecv to look around, but they requested that I not.

Interesting point about the seats never being folded. Wonder why they needed folding seats at all?

It's a shame that there wasn't a way to handle Riviera, but I guess it's a small hotel so won't have a lot of ECVs, although I assume there will be some from CBR.

I wonder if they will start pulling people out of line to use the wheelchair cabins when there aren't wheelchairs/ECVs waiting?

 

[Notes from Neverland]

It's too early to judge waits and crowds, in my opinion. The lines should have better efficiency as time goes on and the number of people making round trips for fun will drop as more begin to use this as a normal mode of transportation.

 

[larryz]

Trinidad was a disaster. People confused and going all over the place. While the line moves quickly, the sheer number of guests coupled with the lack of direction overwhelms the capacity of CMs and facility.

Not unanticipated but disappointing. One would think WDW could handle sorting out a few lines...

 

[Disney4family]

It looked great. The only thing I couldn't get out of my head as it went over Hourglass Lake was...

 

[joelkfla]

I wonder if they will start pulling people out of line to use the wheelchair cabins when there aren't wheelchairs/ECVs waiting?

I think that would be difficult the way the queues are physically laid out.

There was some confusion and resentment among ecv users at IG yesterday afternoon. The path from the entrance to the back of the station is divided, with wheelchairs on the right and able-bodied on the left. At the entrance there's a gate to the wheelchair path. That gate was open only when there was a cm stationed at the entrance, which was intermittent.

So a bunch of ecv's were directed into the wheelchair path. Because of the delays, they were backed up out of the station building. Then the entrance went unstaffed and the gate was closed. Now ecv's were coming up the able-bodied path, which was moving much faster than the wheelchair line. When they reached the point where the 2 lines diverge, they were beyond some of the ecv's that had entered thru the gate.

I happened to be waiting in my ecv right at the divergence point. I let the 1st ecv that came up the able-bodied path in front of me, thinking they had just accidentally come up the wrong path. Then all the others started to show up, and there was consternation by those behind me. We worked it out, but it's an operational issue that Disney needs to address.

 

[joelkfla]

Trinidad was a disaster. People confused and going all over the place. While the line moves quickly, the sheer number of guests coupled with the lack of direction overwhelms the capacity of CMs and facility.

I think disaster's a bit strong. People weren't running around screaming at cm's or anything like that.

I would call it poorly planned and a mess. Maybe on the border of chaotic.

 

[Grimley1968]

This thread sometimes makes me thankful that there wasn't such a thread when Disney began the ferry boat rides between TTC and MK.

 

[Andrew C]

Getting rid of all the reported stops to the line is going to go a long way to make things smoother.

 

[Lilofan]

One area that impressed me is that the powers that be have their staff consistently look into current procedures, gather lots of feedback and tweak tweak tweak if necessary

 

[Minthorne]

 

[Bender123]

This thread sometimes makes me thankful that there wasn't such a thread when Disney began the ferry boat rides between TTC and MK.

Just a parade of parents and ECV people driving off the dock, being eaten by gators...bad days, man...bad days...

 

[lentesta]

Let me say that I really like the ride experience, and I expect Disney to get these operational issues resolved.

In observing what stops the line, it appears that not-folded strollers may have problems fitting through the doors. I saw one instance of the line stopping when a parent couldn't get the stroller into the cabin, before reaching the end of the boarding platform.

The one-way trip between IG <> CBR seems to take around 13 minutes without delays. We waited about 10 minutes to board at IG. We waited about 20 minutes to board at CBR. So the round-trip ride took 40 minutes, and it should've taken 26. Thus, 9 delays took 14 minutes, or about 90 seconds per delay.

Related to capacity:

• An IG CM said they can load 10 people every 10 seconds, so one station's THC is 3,600
• Cabins are not being filled with 10 people. I don't think they're averaging more than 7/cabin, so the THC is probably closer to 2,500 max.
• I don't think they're sending out 6 gondolas/minute on average, but that would be worth watching. That would also lower the capacity.

 

[KC00]

I had a much better experience riding today - 22 minutes from entering the line at Epcot to walking off at DHS. However I overheard a CM saying the Pop Line is down for mechanical reasons and no ETA for when it will be back up.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I think once the shakedowns are done...people should start taking selfies with their favorite monorails when they ride...
...memories should last a lifeline