News New Gondola Transportation - Disney Skyliner -

Kamikaze

Kamikaze

Well-Known Member
Doug Means said:
yes

gondolas at best would just be a nice novelty addition to the area it is planned in. young kids will want to ride them, and that will put but a small dent into the entire crowd scheme of WDW, but families will like it and traditions to ride them will be made. just like the monorails did!
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You're a big fan of turning transportation into family bonding, eh?
 
chiefs11

chiefs11

Well-Known Member
Kamikaze said:
A single gondola line is going to do at least 3000 per hour. (Thats what the La Paz system does as a minimum) If you were to put them in at the MK area resorts, they would put in 4 direct lines. Thats 12000. And if it was me, I'd run two between TTC and MK, so that would be 15000. (And if this was the plan, they'd clearly do a 5th for WL, but that number doesn't matter here).

You're missing out on the biggest thing. It has to do with peak numbers. Anything can handle the crowds during the day. Monorail is fine for that. But at peak it can't handle the rush. That isn't in question. A flexible system or one that is constantly moving both handle all crowds better than a fixed system based on a train. If the monorail track was replaced by a PeopleMover? That is the actual perfect solution. Constantly moving, 'futuristic', electric, pretty reliable.

Also, your 'sight lines' thing is thinking this is going to be something its not. These are not going to be MK Skyway height for the entire trip. They will keep them decently low to the ground because a) its cheaper and b) there isn't any reason to go that high.
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That would look ridiculous to have 4 to 7 separate gondola lines running around and across bay lake.

The issue with the capacity on the monorail at peak times could be solved by simply adding a switched siding to the express beam where an extra train could be parked and brought online/offline quickly as needed. Kinda the way any other mass transit system would handle it.
 
Kamikaze

Kamikaze

Well-Known Member
chiefs11 said:
That would look ridiculous to have 4 to 7 separate gondola lines running around and across bay lake.
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I'm not saying that they would do it - just that the capacity would be higher.

chiefs11 said:
The issue with the capacity on the monorail at peak times could be solved by simply adding a switched siding to the express beam where an extra train could be parked and brought online/offline quickly as needed. Kinda the way any other mass transit system would handle it.
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That doesn't fix anything... only one train can be at a station at a time. Which means that with four other trains on the line, one will constantly be sitting waiting for another to load/unload.
 
Doug Means

Doug Means

Well-Known Member
Kamikaze said:
You're a big fan of turning transportation into family bonding, eh?
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it was for me! and i think little weird memories are some of the things that keep people coming back. i don't live where you can ride monorails and gondolas on a regular basis. so, these are things that made WDW magical for my family. its the things you can't get just anywhere else. there are a lot of amusement parks around and i like the majority of them i have been to, but i expect a little more from Disney and have never really be let down. the little things have always mattered there. one more little thing to make the overall experience "not like" anywhere else is good with me. sure i'm a big fan of family bonding. something that is disappearing in this country at an alarming rate. isn't that what WDW is for?
 
Figment2005

Figment2005

Well-Known Member
Kamikaze said:
This is a blatantly false statement. How could something like a fixed capacity possibly cope with increasing demand? Monorail capacity is 360 every 4-5 minutes at maximum. Unless they put new trains in, that can't go higher. Even then, whats top going to be? 450? With a bus system, you just send another bus. Yes, a gondola system has a max throughput as well, but it is a continuous system, which means lines are moving and capacity continues to flow. It moves the same amount of guests continuously all the time.
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It's more like 360 every 2 minutes so please use accurate numbers. Don't forget about the large amount of ECVs, wheelchairs, and strollers in use. Yes, busses and boats can be added at a whim, assuming there are more available, but and ecv or wheelchair turns a 2 minute bus load time into a 10 minute load time where the monorail is unaffected.

Now onto the gondola. Your one gondola path is equal to 3 train operation, assuming your numbers are accurate. It would take multiple lines to keep up with just one monorail line, so it's not as perfect of a system that you seem to be pushing.
 
Kamikaze

Kamikaze

Well-Known Member
Figment2005 said:
It's more like 360 every 2 minutes so please use accurate numbers. Don't forget about the large amount of ECVs, wheelchairs, and strollers in use. Yes, busses and boats can be added at a whim, assuming there are more available, but and ecv or wheelchair turns a 2 minute bus load time into a 10 minute load time where the monorail is unaffected.

Now onto the gondola. Your one gondola path is equal to 3 train operation, assuming your numbers are accurate. It would take multiple lines to keep up with just one monorail line, so it's not as perfect of a system that you seem to be pushing.
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What fantasy world do you live in? The monorails do not unload and load in two minutes in any circumstance.

Even using your insane numbers, thats 10800 per hour. The numbers I gave are already higher. (3K x 3 resorts + 1 or 2 lines from TTC = 12-15K)

Doug Means said:
it was for me! and i think little weird memories are some of the things that keep people coming back. i don't live where you can ride monorails and gondolas on a regular basis. so, these are things that made WDW magical for my family. its the things you can't get just anywhere else. there are a lot of amusement parks around and i like the majority of them i have been to, but i expect a little more from Disney and have never really be let down. the little things have always mattered there. one more little thing to make the overall experience "not like" anywhere else is good with me. sure i'm a big fan of family bonding. something that is disappearing in this country at an alarming rate. isn't that what WDW is for?
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I just prefer my memories to be something other than transportation, I guess. No matter what the system is - monorail, boat, gondola, bus, catapult, car; its just to get me to where I want to be. Doing so in the most efficient, reasonable way possible should be the primary focus, not nostalgia or 'looks'.
 
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rushtest4echo

Well-Known Member
Figment2005 said:
With 4 trains operating on the express there is absolutely nothing on property with even close to the same throughput. With that in mind, even with the massive extended queue in use, the average wait will still be less than 15 minutes from entering to boarding.
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That's only if a door doesn't break or a train doesn't need to be pulled. When one train goes down, the entire line does. ALl the efficiency in the world doesn't matter when an unexpected breakdown occurs. The issue with WDW's monorails is that they don't have enough trains to meet peak demand (since a few are almost constantly off-line), and the ones that are on line commonly have little issues that cause 10-15 minute delays. All of it adds up to a system that's extremely temperamental. One hour they move 25,000 people via the 3 lines. The next hour, there are 15 minutes of downtime on express beam, the EPCOT beam needs to do a transfer and the hotel beam pulled a faulty train and that system instead pulled 10,000 people. And if that situation happens between 9-10 AM/PM, god help everyone at the parks. That's not some far-fetched scenario either, it happens quite often at the worst of times.
 
jt04

jt04

Well-Known Member
kthomas105 said:
Here is a photo showing how a gondola could actually work for the resorts around bay lake. Basically each colored gondola in this photo has a specific station it stops at, but lets take this a step further, in theory with an automated system riders could operate the gondola similar to an elevator and press a button for their desired stop once entering the vehicle. For example you leave the MK and board the gondola with just your 10 family members and you are staying at the contemporary. You would depart the MK station traveling the same path the monorail takes now but instead of stopping at all 3 stations between you and the contemporary you bypass them and stay on the main line. Think of it as a horizontal, continuous elevator (I realize that is an oxymoron but humor me). That would be the ideal people mover for this area, although I have nothing against the monorail and still get excited riding it. I'm just intrigued at the options gondolas can provide for transportation. Also by moving the security screening area out to the resorts and TTC a gondola system would create a steady flow of people arriving at their destination. This is completely different from the current system that creates waves of people from ferries and monorail trains.View attachment 201314
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There is another place on property where this system would be perfect.
 
Coaster Lover

Coaster Lover

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
Is there currently any construction work going on at Art of Animation? If not, this email that I got may indicate that construction on what I can only presume will be the Gondola station should be starting soon... (we are staying at Art of Animation July 29th through August 6th)
 

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