News New Gondola Transportation - Disney Skyliner -

[GoofGoof]

Just doesn't seem like it would have the capacity to be worthwhile. They could buy hundreds of buses for the same cost.

A valid point. They could probably buy 100 busses for the same price, but they would also need to pay hundreds of drivers plus the cost of fuel. I'm way out of my league here in even guessing what it costs to operate and maintain a gondola system, but my guess is it would be much less than a series of buses. It also provides a more novel form of transportation.

 

[SteveAZee]

Hmm, too bad that it seems a little convoluted to get from Epcot to the Studios.

 

[asianway]

@lazyboy97o You hear about this?

 

[Marc Davis Fan]

Slightlines: Disney, if you build a gondola system, please be careful to ensure that it's not visible from inside of the parks. Thank you. (Others have rightly expressed similar concern about backstage views from said gondalas.)

That said, I welcome the idea of more non-bus transportation, if it's done well. The buses are the one aspect of WDW that really take me out of the experience of feeling that I'm "in another world."

 

[roj2323]

Transportation perhaps, but Gondolas? Really that's what we're going with? It doesn't make and sense either from cost or capacity perspectives. What ever this is it will have a track based system of one kind or another.

 

[lazyboy97o]

@lazyboy97o You hear about this?

Nope.

 

[FigmentFan3]

Slightlines.

Disney, if you build a gondola system, please be careful to ensure that it's not visible from inside of the parks.

Thank you.

This may have been considered already by those height testing balloons from Fantasia Gardens a while back.

 

[GoofGoof]

Transportation perhaps, but Gondolas? Really that's what we're going with? It doesn't make and sense either from cost or capacity perspectives. What ever this is it will have a track based system of one kind or another.

A ground level standard light rail track type system would likely be cheaper but an elevated system would likely be just as expensive or more since the supports would have to be larger to hold both the train and the tracks themselves. The stations would likely need to be elevated too so you have the cost of elevators and building the stations up.

A ground level rail system would be the most practical answer, but the diagram posted would need to be altered where it crosses parking lots and roads.

 

[Nemo14]

Couldn't it also be a transportation system that goes underground like a subway?

in Florida swampland?

 

[peter11435]

Hmm, too bad that it seems a little convoluted to get from Epcot to the Studios.

There's already a boat to do that

 

[GoofGoof]

Couldn't it also be a transportation system that goes underground like a subway?

The first problem would be this:

in Florida swampland?

Even if they could it still has to cross the canal around EPCOT and at least 1 roadway. That would make it cost prohibitive to build as an underground system. A ground level system could cross the roadway with railroad crossing lights and a small bridge over the canal. The easiest to get over things would be an elevated system.

 

[GoofGoof]

There's already a boat to do that

Well, technically there's also already a bus to get from these resorts to the parks

 

[doctornick]

Just doesn't seem like it would have the capacity to be worthwhile. They could buy hundreds of buses for the same cost.

Why not? Seems like the capacity could actually be pretty high.

I would assume gondolas would be individually motorized as opposed to being attached to a constantly moving line, right? The latter would have higher capacity, but would make load/unload more difficult especially since these would have to be large enough for a number of people as well as strollers, wheelchairs, etc.

Edit: in searching the web, I found this article from 2013 that proposed a gondola system for WDW. It suggests they have a "high capacity moving over 10,000 people an hour"

 

[doctornick]

There's already a boat to do that

And it's not like having multiple forms of transport for the same route is unheard of at WDW (i.e. T&TC to MK).

 

[MisterPenguin]

Hmm, too bad that it seems a little convoluted to get from Epcot to the Studios.

There's already a boat to do that

Well, technically there's also already a bus to get from these resorts to the parks

Between boat, gondola, and bus, the fastest way to go between Epcot and DHS is on foot.

 

[HauntedPirate]

This is... an interesting possibility. It would have to be elevated from a practicality standpoint - too many obstacles to build around otherwise. But I'm still trying to figure out the "Why?" part of the equation.

 

[MisterPenguin]

This is... an interesting possibility. It would have to be elevated from a practicality standpoint - too many obstacles to build around otherwise. But I'm still trying to figure out the "Why?" part of the equation.

WDW are challenging themselves to create a ride that's so difficult to evacuate people off of that they can't even do it.They've been really bored since none of the cruise ships have gone adrift yet.

 

[Magic Feather]

 

[TabulaRasa]

@Magic Feather anything you'd like to share with the rest of the class?

 

[GoofGoof]

Between boat, gondola, and bus, the fastest way to go between Epcot and DHS is on foot.

Not in August. That stop at the ER for heat stroke delays the trip quite a bit

In mild weather the walk is actually one of the most enjoyable at WDW.