News New Gondola Transportation - Disney Skyliner -

monothingie

Nakatomi Plaza Christmas Eve 1988. Never Forget.
Premium Member
Clickbait is saying that the multiple Gondola Doors are busted and not working, lots of unexpected downtime on the line....Those 30 year old monorails are looking pretty good right now.
 

sfbntpc

Member
When we left Hollywood yesterday the line was still down. So you could not travel from Riveria to the station and you could not switch to the international gateway line at the station either. It was moving throughout the day, but no passengers. I saw a tech guy walk out and watch closely as the gondolas left the station headed back to the Riveria. Sorry fo no update yesterday, it was crazy at the park and my phone died.
 

Goofyernmost

Well-Known Member
So the only way to compare is if someone can offer a system with no delays?
I don't see any other way, do you? How do you compare it to something that doesn't exist? This isn't DC. Alternative realities are not realities. There might be something out there and if someone can come up with it, I will apologize.
 

sfbntpc

Member
I still say the issue is with the Riviera station and its lack of a HC spur.

I still suspect that this was rushed and the specs for this system were substandard to save money.

I think I figured it out going back and reading comments....Handicap Spur????
What is an HC spur?
 

drizgirl

Well-Known Member
I don't see any other way, do you? How do you compare it to something that doesn't exist? This isn't DC. Alternative realities are not realities. There might be something out there and if someone can come up with it, I will apologize.
What? Of course there are varying levels of reliability. You can say one form of transportation is less reliable than another without having to provide an alternative that is completely free of delays. One might stop more often than another. One might be easier to evacuate than another. One might be more of a hassle to endure while being stuck. All sorts of shades of gray to use in comparing systems without having to provide an alternative that is free of delays.

Saying 2 systems both have delays does not mean the two are equal.
 
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Incomudro

Well-Known Member
I don't normally disagree with you, but if you can name one mode of transportation that is not susceptible to delays I would be surprised. I cannot think of one that is less likely then the Gondola's. There are nightmare stories about buses, monorails, trains, planes, boats and cars. Even walking can be sidelined by a turned ankle or some other obstacle. Life is full of barricades.

Delays are one thing.
There's a difference between a bus running late and not showing up at a bus stop on time, than multiple gondola cabins stopping and leaving their passengers dangling in the air face to face with strangers for prolonged periods of time.
The bus doesn't stop on the road on route to its destination laden with passengers, and sit there for minutes at a time.
As I state repeatedly, it's different with and in a gondola.
The closest equivalent as far as Disney transportation goes would be if the Friendship boats stopped mid travel and sat out in the water for 10, 15, 20 minutes at a time.
I want to like the Skyliner.
I want to ride it.
But it is clearly not operating as it was intended to.
 
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joelkfla

Well-Known Member
Oh, ok. I didn't realize the gondolas could go to half speed- thanks for pointing that out.
It can actually run at a number of different speeds. It seemed to me that the last time I rode, which was a couple of days after Riviera opened, that they were running at a lower speed than they had in the past when the line was slowed down (presumably for boarding issues.)

To your previous post, the cause of the crash at Riviera remains undisclosed. It appears that a cabin at the end of the loading platform failed to move when the line was restarted after a stop. There are a large number of conceivable causes: a computer error, a failed motor, a broken or misaligned drive belt, a faulty or improperly installed tire, oil on the surface of the tire or the hanger contact point, etc. The reason for the stop preceding the crash is also undisclosed; I haven't seen any eyewitness report that a wheelchair was loading or unloading at Riviera.
 

Ravenclaw78

Well-Known Member
I would much rather be stuck in a stationary gondola with strangers than standing crushed in a line of 70 people for an hour during a downpour waiting for a bus back to my resort to finally show up. (Yes, that's a thing that has happened to me, and I ended up giving up and going back into the park to find a first aid station so my utterly soaked and blue-lipped child could get treated for hypothermia.)
 

Incomudro

Well-Known Member
I would much rather be stuck in a stationary gondola with strangers than standing crushed in a line of 70 people for an hour during a downpour waiting for a bus back to my resort to finally show up. (Yes, that's a thing that has happened to me, and I ended up giving up and going back into the park to find a first aid station so my utterly soaked and blue-lipped child could get treated for hypothermia.)

What if it was a chilly and windy day, and you were stuck on - correction in the gondola with 5 other people - two of which were screaming kids?
Well, at least you'd be dry in the gondola - so there is that.
 

DisneyJeff

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
Delays are one thing.
There's a difference between a bus running late and not showing up at a bus stop on time, than multiple gondola cabins stopping and leaving their passengers dangling in the air face to face with strangers for prolonged periods of time.
The bus doesn't stop on the road on route to its destination laden with passengers, and sit there for minutes at a time.
As I state repeatedly, it's different with and in a gondola.
The closest equivalent as far as Disney transportation goes would be if the Friendship boats stopped mid travel and sat out in the water for 10, 15, 20 minutes at a time.
I want to like the Skyliner.
I want to ride it.
But it is clearly not operating as it was intended to.

I was stranded on the side of the road once in a fully loaded bus. We were going from MK to CSR after park closing. The bus had some kind of issue with the raising/lowering feature when we were at the MK. Apparently, the driver got it "fixed" enough to where he felt comfortable leaving. When we got to the exit of World drive to Buena Vista Dr, the issue happened again. The driver pulled over on the side of the ramp to try to fix the problem. I don't recall how long the stoppage was, but I would say that it was at least 15 minutes. Eventually, he drove us (slowly) to the resort. There were still issues at the first stop so we got off there and walked to our room.

The point is, you could still be stranded for an extended period of time on a bus. During this ordeal, we were not permitted to get off the bus. Obviously, if the bus had broken down, they would've sent another bus to take us to our destination, but it could still be quite a while for the replacement bus to arrive.
 

jaklgreen

Well-Known Member
I would much rather be stuck in a stationary gondola with strangers than standing crushed in a line of 70 people for an hour during a downpour waiting for a bus back to my resort to finally show up. (Yes, that's a thing that has happened to me, and I ended up giving up and going back into the park to find a first aid station so my utterly soaked and blue-lipped child could get treated for hypothermia.)

What? You rather be stuck in midair where you can't leave if you had to over the option of walking away? Not me.
 

Creathir

Well-Known Member
I would much rather be stuck in a stationary gondola with strangers than standing crushed in a line of 70 people for an hour during a downpour waiting for a bus back to my resort to finally show up. (Yes, that's a thing that has happened to me, and I ended up giving up and going back into the park to find a first aid station so my utterly soaked and blue-lipped child could get treated for hypothermia.)
Do any of the parks have unsheltered bus stops still? Maybe the water parks?
 

Incomudro

Well-Known Member
I was stranded on the side of the road once in a fully loaded bus. We were going from MK to CSR after park closing. The bus had some kind of issue with the raising/lowering feature when we were at the MK. Apparently, the driver got it "fixed" enough to where he felt comfortable leaving. When we got to the exit of World drive to Buena Vista Dr, the issue happened again. The driver pulled over on the side of the ramp to try to fix the problem. I don't recall how long the stoppage was, but I would say that it was at least 15 minutes. Eventually, he drove us (slowly) to the resort. There were still issues at the first stop so we got off there and walked to our room.

The point is, you could still be stranded for an extended period of time on a bus. During this ordeal, we were not permitted to get off the bus. Obviously, if the bus had broken down, they would've sent another bus to take us to our destination, but it could still be quite a while for the replacement bus to arrive.

Does this happen regularly?
Because it's happening regularly with the Skyliner.
 

Ravenclaw78

Well-Known Member
Do any of the parks have unsheltered bus stops still? Maybe the water parks?
Shelters only hold so many people. If the bus at a particular bay is that late, the line can stretch past the switchbacks and out from under the shelter. I've also once seen the line for the All Star Resorts at DHS park closing stretch for the entire length of the bus depot, but that was during Pop Warner week, so it's probably an anomaly.
 

DisneyJeff

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
Does this happen regularly?
Because it's happening regularly with the Skyliner.

Well, technically, every bus I've ridden on in WDW has stopped on route. It's usually due to traffic, stop signs, red lights, etc. These would be considered normal stops. Apparently, the gondola also has what they consider normal stops too. It's the stops that are not normal that's the problem. The Skyliner is having more of these than expected. Hopefully it's something that they can fix and won't be a lingering issue.
 

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