News New Gondola Transportation - Disney Skyliner -

[ford91exploder]

I'd like to know where you get your numbers about US ski participation, I lived in New England for many years where the schools have a winter break essentially for families to go skiing, Washington state was also quite a popular ski location, my time in cali saw a vast majority of people I knew who skied all the time. Many years spent in jersey where skiing is quite popular oh and now in in DC where the Virginia mountains are always amply crowded, I agreed with your post until your wonderful estimates putting it at 1%

I live in new england and nobody who WORKS for a living skis anymore Its BMW's and Lexus vehicles heading up from the cities to go skiing.

Many of the 'local' ski areas have closed their doors and now its just the big ones catering to the 1% left

 

[plutofan15]

I live in new england and nobody who WORKS for a living skis anymore Its BMW's and Lexus vehicles heading up from the cities to go skiing.

Many of the 'local' ski areas have closed their doors and now its just the big ones catering to the 1% left

I don't know about that. I live in Western CT and there are at least five local ski - Ski Sundown, Mt. Southington, Mohawk Mountain, Otis Ridge & Butternut - with 45 minutes of where I live that do a good business of locals. Our high school runs a ski club that goes once a week during the winter and all of these are pretty popular with us working folk.

Now if you are referring to the large resorts in Vermont, then you have a valid point regarding the city slickers making journeys to their winter condos.

 

[ABQ]

I live in new england and nobody who WORKS for a living skis anymore Its BMW's and Lexus vehicles heading up from the cities to go skiing.

Many of the 'local' ski areas have closed their doors and now its just the big ones catering to the 1% left

You mean I can't ski Blue Hills or Waaaaa-waaaa-chusett anymore?

 

[ford91exploder]

I don't know about that. I live in Western CT and there are at least five local ski - Ski Sundown, Mt. Southington, Mohawk Mountain, Otis Ridge & Butternut - with 45 minutes of where I live that do a good business of locals. Our high school runs a ski club that goes once a week during the winter and all of these are pretty popular with us working folk.

Now if you are referring to the large resorts in Vermont, then you have a valid point regarding the city slickers making journeys to their winter condos.

I'm talking about the Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire ski areas where the local areas are basically history and are either being reclaimed by nature or becoming condo sites

 

[ford91exploder]

You mean I can't ski Blue Hills or Waaaaa-waaaa-chusett anymore?

Blue Hills is toast, Wachusett is pretty popular with the low budget college crowd

 

[MinnieM123]

I live in new england and nobody who WORKS for a living skis anymore Its BMW's and Lexus vehicles heading up from the cities to go skiing.

Many of the 'local' ski areas have closed their doors and now its just the big ones catering to the 1% left

I agree with some of the above. However, there are still many people here in New England who go skiing with the family, and they're not wealthy, and they don't own a BMW or Lexus.

IMO, a shift in the duration of a ski vacation may be in evidence here. I recall back when I was a kid, that some families on our street would go up North to the big ski areas and stay from 4-7 days. I'm not sure that is the case presently, and day trips (or just one overnight/weekend trip) are probably more popular with some working people, who are struggling to stretch their dollars.

 

[ford91exploder]

I agree with some of the above. However, there are still many people here in New England who go skiing with the family, and they're not wealthy, and they don't own a BMW or Lexus.

IMO, a shift in the duration of a ski vacation may be in evidence here. I recall back when I was a kid, that some families on our street would go up North to the big ski areas and stay from 4-7 days. I'm not sure that is the case presently, and day trips (or just one overnight/weekend trip) are probably more popular with some working people, who are struggling to stretch their dollars.

When I grew up everybody skied, either cross country or alpine, Now no one does because they are too busy working. What many forget is that when the recession of 2000 struck in rural America for the most part it never left.

In Maine NH and Vermont there are a huge number of derelict winter sports venues just left to rot.

For most Americans outside of prosperous suburbs vacation is no longer a thing it's saved in the event one gets too sick to work.

Not to mention this little blurb

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/55-of-american-workers-dont-take-all-their-paid-vacation-2016-06-15

 

[Horizons '83]

haha, just opened this thread for the first time in a while and now we are talking about Sky Resorts and lifts and the left and the rich?

Back on topic, I think this will be a great addition to the World and hopefully alleviate some of the packed buses.

 

[backwoodsfarm]

Any pictures of the current construction yet?

 

[Tom P.]

For most Americans outside of prosperous suburbs vacation is no longer a thing it's saved in the event one gets too sick to work.

That's a pretty broad brush you're painting with there. Magic Kingdom had 24 million visitors last year. The entire population of the Orlando metro area is around 2.3 million. Pretty sure 24 million people is not compromised solely of locals and "the 1%". There are plenty of vacations still happening, even among the middle class.

 

[stini228]

So Im currently looking for a job here in Orlando and I came across this listing. I know this may not be relevant in this thread (or at all), but the word "guest" peaked my curiosity.

 

[Creathir]

So Im currently looking for a job here in Orlando and I came across this listing. I know this may not be relevant in this thread (or at all), but the word "guest" peaked my curiosity.

View attachment 208706

Disney was hiring Software Engineers for the dev of this system last year.

My guess is they are building an app (feature in MDE) to provide complex bus routing for individuals.

More than likely, my guess is they will instead of offering exact point to point routing, instead stop and multiple locations similar to "lines" in a major citywide implementation.

"Take the 204 to the 117 to get from All Stars to the Contemporary"

In this case, the 204 might stop at All Stars, Blizzard Beach, and DHS.

Another possibility is realtime notification that passenger A needs to get 5 guests from All Stars, and the 204, which normally may not stop at All Stars, has indicated space available and is within range, would get a notification to swing by and pick up the waiting guests.

This job posting you are seeing is for a BA to build use cases, likely for building the SQA (Software Quality Assurance) user stories for the engineers to develop against and SQA engineers to test against.

I think neat stuff could be coming with this system.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Disney was hiring Software Engineers for the dev of this system last year.

My guess is they are building an app (feature in MDE) to provide complex bus routing for individuals.

More than likely, my guess is they will instead of offering exact point to point routing, instead stop and multiple locations similar to "lines" in a major citywide implementation.

"Take the 204 to the 117 to get from All Stars to the Contemporary"

In this case, the 204 might stop at All Stars, Blizzard Beach, and DHS.

Another possibility is realtime notification that passenger A needs to get 5 guests from All Stars, and the 204, which normally may not stop at All Stars, has indicated space available and is within range, would get a notification to swing by and pick up the waiting guests.

This job posting you are seeing is for a BA to build use cases, likely for building the SQA (Software Quality Assurance) user stories for the engineers to develop against and SQA engineers to test against.

I think neat stuff could be coming with this system.

We have the rumored DisneyUber coming up, which is a point-to-point tap on an app system. There was an ad for drivers for their DisUber system.

Then there is the rumored driverless vehicles that Disney allegedly ordered. Right now, Uber and Lyft and car manufacturers and tech firms are falling over themselves to be the first to market with a driverless AI Uber.

Add to that a lot of dedicated Disney-bus-only lanes.

This pretty much adds up, to me, that WDW wants diverless minibuses that act like Uber. Not necessarily replacing what they have, but it would be a boon for lower traffic point-to-point (like from one resort to another), and late night, and, if they built the vehicles right, a way to move EVCs around without tying up the buses.

 

[Creathir]

We have the rumored DisneyUber coming up, which is a point-to-point tap on an app system. There was an ad for drivers for their DisUber system.

Then there is the rumored driverless vehicles that Disney allegedly ordered. Right now, Uber and Lyft and car manufacturers and tech firms are falling over themselves to be the first to market with a driverless AI Uber.

Add to that a lot of dedicated Disney-bus-only lanes.

This pretty much adds up, to me, that WDW wants diverless minibuses that act like Uber. Not necessarily replacing what they have, but it would be a boon for lower traffic point-to-point (like from one resort to another), and late night, and, if they built the vehicles right, a way to move EVCs around without tying up the buses.

It's very possible, but I still think a Disney owned driverless system is probably 8-10 years away.

 

[peter11435]

I was unable to take any pictures but visible work for this project has begun at Pop/Art. The parking lot between the 50's and Little Mermaid buildings has been barricaded off and filled with construction equipment. Trees in this area where the gondola will pass over have also been removed.

 

[Tom P.]

I was unable to take any pictures but visible work for this project has begun at Pop/Art. The parking lot between the 50's and Little Mermaid buildings has been barricaded off and filled with construction equipment. Trees in this area where the gondola will pass over have also been removed.

We will be staying at Art of Animation later this year, but over in the Cars wing, not near the Little Mermaid section. Do you think the construction you saw would impact at all on overall guest experience at AoA?

 

[peter11435]

We will be staying at Art of Animation later this year, but over in the Cars wing, not near the Little Mermaid section. Do you think the construction you saw would impact at all on overall guest experience at AoA?

It's still very early. At this point the Osceola/Victory Way interchange project is more impactful to the resort than the gondola project. I imagine when heavy construction on the station platform begins things could get loud. And the bridge will likely require closing.

 

[danlb_2000]

We will be staying at Art of Animation later this year, but over in the Cars wing, not near the Little Mermaid section. Do you think the construction you saw would impact at all on overall guest experience at AoA?

Here is where the work is going on at AOA. What he is describing is at the top of the picture. Not sure when they will start the actual station shown a the bottom.

 

[peter11435]

Here is where the work is going on at AOA. What he is describing is at the top of the picture. Not sure when they will start the actual station shown a the bottom.

Also of note, they have begun cutting down the trees on the opposite side of the parking lot along century drive.

 

[ChrisFL]

It's very possible, but I still think a Disney owned driverless system is probably 8-10 years away.

I'd say 2-3 years away. There are two companies Disney is already approaching about it, and an advantage is, unlike other destinations, these self-driving vehicles will mostly be on a very short, familiar route, so it won't need to re-calculate a lot of things.