News New Gondola Transportation - Disney Skyliner -

[MisterPenguin]

Except The monorails sway with normal movement and while accelerating AND during some turns.

Those lateral forces pale in comparison to what a bus goes through.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Those lateral forces pale in comparison to what a bus goes through.

Different type of movement though. Buses will sway, but, are more just rocking with the wheels firmly on the ground. Gondolas will sway in a very uncontrolled manner just being suspended under a loose cable. A bus will rock with the extreme being on top. Gondolas from the bottom when the passenger actually is, it's a much greater footprint.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Gondolas will sway in a very uncontrolled manner just being suspended under a loose cable.

Depends what you mean by sway. I envision a very small rocking motion. I'm sure others are envisioning the twister scene from Wizard of Oz.

 

[danlb_2000]

According to sources were were going to have a completely refurbished Imagination by now. Let's go with things that make sense. I guess it depends on what the final configuration ends up being like. Right now, it would be fool hardy to limit it to just one system, just like the Monorails started out to begin with and ferry service became necessary. They can easily make a bus setup a secondary setup by limiting the numbers. Eliminate them completely and the line at Guest Services will reach all the way to the entrance of Universal.

"Makes sense" is a matter or perspective. If they choose to offer both bus and gondola transportation then there is only so far they can scale back the bus and still have it be a reasonable means of transportation. They would have to run from all three resorts to both Epcot and DHS and would have to do it on a somewhat regular schedule, for sake of argument let's say worst case once an hour. That's still leaving a lot of buses on the road for that route which cuts into any saving they would get by running the gondola. If they offer buses you will also get people who would take them for one reason or another even though they would have no problem with the gondola which adds more traffic to the buses.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Depends what you mean by sway. I envision a very small rocking motion. I'm sure others are envisioning the twister scene from Wizard of Oz.

I used to work at ski resorts and I have actually seen gondolas right out to a 45 to 90 degree angle from straight. And that wasn't even near hurricane winds.

 

[s8film40]

I used to work at ski resorts and I have actually seen gondolas right out to a 45 to 90 degree angle from straight. And that wasn't even near hurricane winds.

Yeah but those probably didn't have ECV's on board to help weigh them down.

 

[peter11435]

I used to work at ski resorts and I have actually seen gondolas right out to a 45 to 90 degree angle from straight. And that wasn't even near hurricane winds.

I think it's safe to say the gondola will not be operating in a hurricane.

 

[Lift Blog]

I used to work at ski resorts and I have actually seen gondolas right out to a 45 to 90 degree angle from straight. And that wasn't even near hurricane winds.

I find that unlikely. Code requires gondolas to have 15 degree swing clearance laterally and longitudinally at towers. The truth is modern gondolas provide an extremely smooth ride, generally with only a few degrees of swinging and much lower forces than you'd experience in a car. These are not thrill rides. They are transportation systems and safe/smooth ones at that.

 

[larryz]

I used to work at ski resorts and I have actually seen gondolas right out to a 45 to 90 degree angle from straight. And that wasn't even near hurricane winds.

Were those ski resorts in Colorado by any chance?

 

[Kamikaze]

Really? I thought I had read 50' somewhere?

50 foot tower height. That means the gondolas are lower.

 

[roj2323]

50 foot tower height. That means the gondolas are lower.

yep by about 15ft at the lowest point so 35ft off the ground. Stations being an exception of course. Stations will probably bring the bottom of the gondolas in at 12-15 ft off the ground.

 

[Kamikaze]

yep by about 15ft at the lowest point so 35ft off the ground. Stations being an exception of course. Stations will probably bring the bottom of the gondolas in at 12-15 ft off the ground.

I dunno, I would think these are going all the way to the ground at the stations. Especially knowing one is going in the lake at AoA/Pop. I can't see them building giant ramps (for ADA compliance) for these to be above ground level. Easier to just bring them all the way down.

 

[peter11435]

I dunno, I would think these are going all the way to the ground at the stations. Especially knowing one is going in the lake at AoA/Pop. I can't see them building giant ramps (for ADA compliance) for these to be above ground level. Easier to just bring them all the way down.

Bringing them to ground level creates several other issues and is unlikely. Notice the old skyway at magic kingdom never came down to ground level.

 

[GoofGoof]

I seem to remember the Epcot busses running pretty regularly, it's been a while though so I don't know.

Still no one answered my question: If the MK resorts have monorails why do they also have boats?

In any case the whole discussion is kind of silly. We all agree that there is only the slimmest minority that will have an issue with these gondolas and even then there are other options. Maybe not the most convenient options, but options nonetheless.

In the past they may have run busses too but not for a while now. It's all about cost savings. Drivers are expensive CMs since they have to have special skills and a license.

The boats at the MK resorts are not really a primary transportation option. I think it's more about people liking to take a boat ride than people wanting to avoid the monorail. If the monorail is down they add busses not more boats. They aren't high enough capacity to be an efficient transportation mode. Those boats are also smaller than the ones at the EPCOT resort which are the primary transport for BC/YC/BW and DHS or EPCOT (although most people probably walk to EPCOT instead).

 

[GoofGoof]

Bringing them to ground level creates several other issues and is unlikely. Notice the old skyway at magic kingdom never came down to ground level.

Especially for tall people. The EPCOT station has to pass over the walkway to the back gate so if it went too low you'd have an issue.

 

[Creathir]

Bringing them to ground level creates several other issues and is unlikely. Notice the old skyway at magic kingdom never came down to ground level.

We've been told by insiders the stations are level with the ground.

I would guess minimum clearance desired is at least powerline height. (20' or so)

Sag and what not probably puts the tower at 50'.

It's still pretty high.

That cable gets severed, you're talking serious injuries.

(That's the sort of thing those afraid to ride will think)

 

[s8film40]

If the monorail is down they add busses not more boats.

Actually I've seen them add more boats for monorail downtimes. They have those boats from DAK and occasionally will have the cruisers pick up at the resorts. I've even seen them use the ferry boats at the Polynesian.

 

[Disone]

Actually I've seen them add more boats for monorail downtimes. They have those boats from DAK and occasionally will have the cruisers pick up at the resorts. I've even seen them use the ferry boats at the Polynesian.

I second this. They do add cruisers when the resort monorail goes down.

 

[jt04]

We've been told by insiders the stations are level with the ground.

I would guess minimum clearance desired is at least powerline height. (20' or so)

Sag and what not probably puts the tower at 50'.

It's still pretty high.

That cable gets severed, you're talking serious injuries.

(That's the sort of thing those afraid to ride will think)

Please stop. This isn't even plausible.

 

[Kman101]

JT telling someone to stop because something isn't plausible. I've seen it all lol.