News New Gondola Transportation - Disney Skyliner -

SpaceMountain77

Well-Known Member
This post will be no different from my typical posts, so I will apologize in advance for my redundancy.

It is my sincere hope that this transportation addition will seamlessly blend into the surrounding environment and not disturb well-established sight lines, storytelling, and theming.

I understand the need for progress and do not believe in standing in the way of justifiable change. However, as Walt Disney World's transportation infrastructure continues to expand and mirror one of a large U.S. city, I fear that Walt's utopia continues to be lost.

Also, are the gondolas traveling directly over existing resort rooms?
 

DisneyCane

Well-Known Member
Possible, I've never been in a ski gondola with adequate heat ever though...

Also the straightline diagram @danlb_2000 provided goes over buildings at CBR that are not being demolished. The one thing this does have going for it, is that it is cheap.

Gondola one at Vail has heated seats. Honestly, when you are bundled up for skiing you would cook if they heated the cabin.

A/C would be a weight issue for sure. As others have said, throughput would probably be too low. Plus the speed of the ride is pretty slow to cover those distances.
 

Master Yoda

Pro Star Wars geek.
Premium Member
Gondola one at Vail has heated seats. Honestly, when you are bundled up for skiing you would cook if they heated the cabin.

A/C would be a weight issue for sure. As others have said, throughput would probably be too low. Plus the speed of the ride is pretty slow to cover those distances.
AC weight should not be an issue. A simple 12000 BTU concealed wall unit comes it at under 30 lbs.
 

larathydo

Member
Gonna switch gears here for a sec, but an interesting transportation option i'd like to see in the running (as a smaller-scale alternative to Monorails/Gondolas) would be the PRT / "Pod" cars as seen in Heathrow airport and Morgantown West Virginia:



It seems like there are certainly benefits for a Florida implementation:
  • Vast majority of distance traveled would be on flat-ground throughout the property.
    • So no underground tunnels necessary (not even an option in Flordia) or high-rise tracks such as monorail beams.
  • I would assume this would be vastly cheaper than monorail beams (you would just laying down small-scale concrete roads).
  • Emergency stops / evacuations would be easier (since it operates at ground level).
  • Small bridges (given the size of the pods) could be used for road intersections.
    • It appears that such bridges would be no more complex than perhaps your typical pedestrian bridge across a road?
  • Complete automation that's been proven as far back as the mid 1970's and more recently in Heathrow airport.
    • Cuts down on required operational costs, also electric and they do not require a person to pilot them inside the cab.
In a way, it kinda feels like the spiritual successor (if you could call it that) to the original Peoplemover concept.
 
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peter11435

Well-Known Member
Gondola one at Vail has heated seats. Honestly, when you are bundled up for skiing you would cook if they heated the cabin.

A/C would be a weight issue for sure. As others have said, throughput would probably be too low. Plus the speed of the ride is pretty slow to cover those distances.
A/C weight is not an issue. Througput is not low of properly implemented and speed is decent and distances are relatively short. Remember you won't have to deal with traffic, stop signs and stop lights, and long waits for buses to arrive.
 

DDLand

Well-Known Member
I feel like there are some misconceptions about what this is. These are comfortable climate controlled cabins that can disconnect and connect to the propulsion cable. That means that these cabins are fully capable of stopping without stopping the entire line. They'll be able to deploy much faster than buses; including for less abled individuals. No kneeling buses necessary.

Some people are thinking of this:
IMG_0970.JPG

When this is more along the lines of what it will be:
IMG_0971.JPG
 
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Creathir

Premium Member
Gonna switch gears here for a sec, but an interesting transportation option i'd like to see in the running (as a smaller-scale alternative to Peoplemovers/Monorails) would be the PRT / "Pod" cars as seen in Heathrow airport and Morgantown West Virginia:



It seems like there are certainly benefits for a Florida implementation:
  • Vast majority of distance traveled would be on flat-ground throughout the property.
    • So no underground tunnels necessary (not even an option in Flordia) or high-rise tracks such as monorail beams.
  • I would assume this would be vastly cheaper than monorail beams (you would just laying down small-scale concrete roads).
  • Emergency stops / evacuations would be easier (since it operates at ground level).
  • Small bridges (given the size of the pods) could be used for road intersections.
    • It appears that such bridges would be no more complex than perhaps your typical pedestrian bridge across a road?
  • Complete automation that's been proven as far back as the mid 1970's and more recently in Heathrow airport.
    • Cuts down on required operational costs, also electric and they do not require a person to pilot them inside the cab.
In a way, it kinda feels like the spiritual successor (if you could call it that) to the original Peoplemover concept.


I 100% agree and felt it might be that earlier in the thread.

It certainly makes a LOT more sense than any fixed point to point transportation system.

Now what could be being worked on is a hybrid PRT/gondola system.

Certainly no reason the physical transit medium has to be track/guideway based.

A PRT gondola system would be cost effective AND offer the benefits of multi destination PRT systems.
 

danlb_2000

Premium Member
Original Poster
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?

Someone posted a response attacking Tom under my name, so if anyone reads that, it was not me. I responded to the thread also. I am disappointed they posted this without crediting WDWMagic, but to me it's not that big a deal since this is all from public documents.
 

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