News New Gondola Transportation - Disney Skyliner -

[smooch]

But there are signs at each station entrance saying it is normal for the system to stop from time to time.

There are also signs and narrations everywhere telling people to remain seated and those don't work either. I am starting to sound like the cynics of the boards but most theme park guests just simply don't listen / follow instructions even when they are explicitly stated to them, a sign at a station won't calm people's nerves of the gondolas stopping occasionally.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Dec 1-7, 2019

http://www.orlandoparksnews.com/2019/12/weekly-walt-disney-world-times-guides.html

 

[joelkfla]

There are also signs and narrations everywhere telling people to remain seated and those don't work either. I am starting to sound like the cynics of the boards but most theme park guests just simply don't listen / follow instructions even when they are explicitly stated to them, a sign at a station won't calm people's nerves of the gondolas stopping occasionally.

But there's a difference between telling people what to do, and letting them know what to expect.

 

[smooch]

But there's a difference between telling people what to do, and letting them know what to expect.

I will concede that one but I still don't think a sign telling people stopping is normal is enough to ease the mind of most of the people that visit WDW i.e. families that are dealing with children and might not notice the sign or the kids won't notice the sign and panic when it stops even if their parents tell them it's normal. I like the system and will happily use it next chance I get to visit WDW, I saw it being built while I was there in March and was wishing I got to try it, but I am sure plenty of people will use the gondolas and plenty of people will be wary of them stopping whether they end up riding them or not.

 

[danlb_2000]

Any reason why the Epcot line keeps going down?

I haven't heard anything recently, is it still going down for extended periods of time (30 minutes+)?

 

[Heppenheimer]

I will concede that one but I still don't think a sign telling people stopping is normal is enough to ease the mind of most of the people that visit WDW i.e. families that are dealing with children and might not notice the sign or the kids won't notice the sign and panic when it stops even if their parents tell them it's normal. I like the system and will happily use it next chance I get to visit WDW, I saw it being built while I was there in March and was wishing I got to try it, but I am sure plenty of people will use the gondolas and plenty of people will be wary of them stopping whether they end up riding them or not.

Ski resorts are filled with kids too, some quite young. Particularly the mountain I visited this past weekend.

 

[JoeCamel]

Ski resorts are filled with kids too, some quite young. Particularly the mountain I visited this past weekend.

Yeah, those are athletic and skiing, ours are stroller riding, churro/mickey bar eating blobs....

 

[Disone]

Yeah, those are athletic and skiing, ours are stroller riding, churro/mickey bar eating blobs....

I honestly think this is overstated. I wouldn't exactly paint myself as a picture of a fit person who is athletic. I'm overweight, BMI say I am obese and yet I ski just fine and so do my overweight darn right chubby friends. And we see plenty of others on the ski slopes that are also on the heavier side.

I think this group both assumes / gives too much athletic credit to the people who enjoy snow skiing and also not enough credit to how wonkie it is to try to get onto a moving Gondola while wearing ski boots and loading your skis on the outside before stepping in.

Guessing if you were to take a guess as to who was going to be a few inches smaller around the waistline, a Disney guest or ski resort guests, you would probably guess the ski resort. For as much as it has been stated on this forum, is there actually any data to show how great or small the disparity is between the two groups? I don't really think it is nearly as big of a factor as people make it out to be on here. Ski resorts are not made exclusively of people who have maintained their High School weight, nor is Disney made exclusively of a population you would expect to see from the movie Wall-E.

And again I cannot stress even at your most fit, loading onto a moving Gondola while wearing ski boots and putting your skis on the outside before stepping in isn't exactly natural or graceful, I'll even go as far as to say loading onto the Disney system is far easier.

I think the one thing that can be said is that Disney system is accommodating more wheelchairs. It has a dual load system at most of it stations that was designed to address that.

That dual load system seems to be a new feature/enhancement of this kind of system. I certainly have not seen it before. I give them credit for trying something new with this kind of system, especially on this scale, but clearly they still have kinks to figure out.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

I’ve never gone skiing and yet I’ve ridden gondola systems in Colorado, Maine, Lake Taho (cant remember if the gondola is on the Nevada or California side) and New Hampshire. They don’t operate just for people who ski.

The one in Telluride Colorado conects 2 towns - it’s a full public transit system just like Disney. The others offer rides to hiking trails during the warmer months.

 

[Gabe1]

First timer on Skyliner yesterday....I liked it, although it was windy here yesterday ...lotsa rocking. Made my wife a “not a fan” of it.

The gondolas are certainly not smoothe Between the winds and the pole bump it was an unexpected surprise to me. The first pole bump caught my attention unexpectedly.

 

[wdisney9000]

It's something people should be teaching their kids at a young age.

I respect the parents who make their kids knock on doors for their Boy/Girl Scout or Sports teams annual door-to-door sales to raise money. Its a great way for kids to learn how to interact and even gain a little business skill. When the parents just bring the sheet to work and have their friends and colleagues buy stuff, it kinda defeats the purpose of teaching the child something.

 

[Incomudro]

Nobody panicked because people at ski resorts know it's normal for short stops every so often. I love to snowboard and anybody I have taken up for the first time always freaks out when the lift stops for even 10 seconds and I have to assure them we won't be trapped up there forever. I wish my home mountain was large enough to warrant the sealed cabins, it sounds nice to heat up a little on the way to the summit, but we finally upgraded from scanning barcodes to using NFC chips and automated gates to speed up the process. Anyways, and I know it's been said before, but the idea of even riding in a gondola is foreign to a lot of the visitors to WDW guests so when it inevitably stops and they don't know it's a norm they immediately assume the worst. That's one of the biggest challenges of the system in my opinion is getting people to fully trust and understand the system.

That kind of talk isn't allowed here.

 

[BoarderPhreak]

I haven't heard anything recently, is it still going down for extended periods of time (30 minutes+)?

In the almost two weeks(!) we've been here, it's been running like a champ. Actually a nice ride.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

I respect the parents who make their kids knock on doors for their Boy/Girl Scout or Sports teams annual door-to-door sales to raise money. Its a great way for kids to learn how to interact and even gain a little business skill. When the parents just bring the sheet to work and have their friends and colleagues buy stuff, it kinda defeats the purpose of teaching the child something.

A lot of troops don't allow that anymore for safety reasons. When my oldest was a scout, the troop made arrangements with local stores to set up tables at their entrance/exit, and it actually worked out much more favorably for everyone...you could pick specific days/times, and generally sales were much better that way (and more fair for the kiddos wanting to earn prizes). The only down-side was that our specific troop didn't get in on sales early (August) and waited until October, so the poor families are standing out there for 2-4 hour stretches in freezing cold on some days.

 

[Incomudro]

I respect the parents who make their kids knock on doors for their Boy/Girl Scout or Sports teams annual door-to-door sales to raise money. Its a great way for kids to learn how to interact and even gain a little business skill. When the parents just bring the sheet to work and have their friends and colleagues buy stuff, it kinda defeats the purpose of teaching the child something.

I disrespect anyone who knocks on anyone's door unless they are friend's of the occupant or they are warning them that their house is on fire.
I really disrespect anyone who knocks on someone's door looking to get something (usually money) out of the occupants, and I really resent any parent or organization that would send a kid to do such a thing.

 

[Andrew C]

I disrespect anyone who knocks on anyone's door unless they are friend's of the occupant or they are warning them that their house is on fire.
I really disrespect anyone who knocks on someone's door looking to get something (usually money) out of the occupants, and I really resent any parent or organization that would send a kid to do such a thing.

*sends an email requesting to buy my niece's girl scout cookies online*

 

[wdisney9000]

I disrespect anyone who knocks on anyone's door unless they are friend's of the occupant or they are warning them that their house is on fire.
I really disrespect anyone who knocks on someone's door looking to get something (usually money) out of the occupants, and I really resent any parent or organization that would send a kid to do such a thing.

There is a difference between your neighbors child knocking on your door to ask for your participation or purchase some cookies to help support their association versus a door to door salesman selling vacuums or trying to convince you to replace your roof.

The child is learning valuable skills ranging from group participation to social confidence. Its a shame you "disrespect" and "resent" a child who is simply learning to become a more stable and confident person and you would rather shun them and not guide them. But hey, the child will most likely be ok and wont have any issues sitting in a gondola next to a few strangers without needing to pop a pill or complain on a forum online that companies such as Disney should cater to their lack of confidence.

 

[wdisney9000]

A lot of troops don't allow that anymore for safety reasons. When my oldest was a scout, the troop made arrangements with local stores to set up tables at their entrance/exit, and it actually worked out much more favorably for everyone...you could pick specific days/times, and generally sales were much better that way (and more fair for the kiddos wanting to earn prizes). The only down-side was that our specific troop didn't get in on sales early (August) and waited until October, so the poor families are standing out there for 2-4 hour stretches in freezing cold on some days.

Where we live, the parents are always with the children and usually stand back and allow the child to handle business. But we also have the stands in front of local business as well. The only downside to that is after a few months, you have had different kids out their trying to sell the same thing to you for the 100th time. Either way, I enjoy participating and even if Ive got enough cookies I will donate dollar but only after tell the kid they gotta convince me. Ive had many fun exchanges with the kids and been thanked by many parents for making them actually work for it.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

Where we live, the parents are always with the children and usually stand back and allow the child to handle business. But we also have the stands in front of local business as well. The only downside to that is after a few months, you have had different kids out their trying to sell the same thing to you for the 100th time. Either way, I enjoy participating and even if Ive got enough cookies I will donate dollar but only after tell the kid they gotta convince me. Ive had many fun exchanges with the kids and been thanked by many parents for making them actually work for it.

Yup...lots of overlap for both popcorn and cookie sales! I have a weakness for caramel delites, lol...and the caramel popcorn is good, but $10 for a regular-sized bag of popcorn is a lot for people to swallow even if the troop gets to keep between 25-40% (depending on total sales). My oldest also had cold-induced asthma for a long time (thankfully he's outgrown it), so it did get to a point where I'd just write them a check for a couple hundred dollars because he'd end up sick every time we did the outdoor sales, and they used the money raised from sales to cover all expenses (our troop was great about not asking parents to pay for pretty much anything, but they went all-in super hard on popcorn sales).

 

[ImperfectPixie]

I disrespect anyone who knocks on anyone's door unless they are friend's of the occupant or they are warning them that their house is on fire.
I really disrespect anyone who knocks on someone's door looking to get something (usually money) out of the occupants, and I really resent any parent or organization that would send a kid to do such a thing.

I don't want people knocking on my door unless they're going to sell me Caramel DeLites. My husband actually told the Jehovah's Witnesses that kept showing up that we worship the devil after flat-out telling them that we weren't going to convert and to stop coming didn't work. They haven't shown up since.