News New Gondola Transportation - Disney Skyliner -

[olie64]

If I'm thinking long term and years down the road, maybe they're reserving the huge section of land between Buena Vista Dr, Victory Way and the DHS parking lot (north of the proposed sky-way gondola) for a new resort?

Martin did say something about maybe new resorts being built. In a post yesterday or the day before.

 

[ElreTigo]

It's all fun until someone decides to find a way of jumping out of one mid flight

At first glance, I thought this was an insanely outlandish & unnecessary worry to have...until I remembered that one of the stations will be within feet from World Showcase. Your concern is warranted (during certain events in particular).

 

[Sachilles]

To further the discussion, with the evidence we have now, I believe there are 2 lines. One line from trinidad south to DHS. One line from trinidad south, to the new cbr tower section, to boardwalk lot, to IG.

 

[P_Radden]

For those discussing a futre connection to Disney Springs from the new T&TC2 at CBR..

This is how I could see it going. This path is almost the shortest path possible, and features a great view of TL. The only question is (and I know this aerial from Bing is old) where will the DS station go? I've left that off for now..

Here is a blank if anyone else wants to have a go at this section of the sky way gondola:

 

[DisneyOwl12]

There's a gondola in Breckenridge, CO called the Breck Connect. It has a capacity of roughly 3,000 riders/hour over a one-way route of around 7,600ft. According to the link below, it as 121 cars, each with an 8-person capacity. That's on average, one car for every 125ft of cable (15,200ft. total length). It also has two mid-stations which allow riders to get on/off between the line's two end-stations.

http://www.breckenridgeresortmanagers.com/breckenridge-gondola

A rough estimate using the ruler on google earth would have this gondola at around 13,000ft., one way, going only from Epcot IG through CBR to DHS. Thus, at a total cable length of 26,000ft., the 200 car estimate somebody posted earlier in the thread would result in one car for every 130ft. of this proposed system, if that's what this is, which is strikingly similar to the Breck gondola. If the Breck gondola takes 10 mintues from bottom to top at 7,600ft., this 13,000ft. trip would take roughly 17 minutes, so each car would complete about 3.5 one-way (Epcot to DHS or DHS to Epcot) trips per hour. With 200 8-person gondolas, this would result in an hourly capacity of roughly 5,600 riders.

According to wdwmagic's monorail information, the monorail has an hourly capacity of 7,000 per direction (which I'm assuming means 7,000 on the express and 7,000 on the resort, for example), which is needed for the TTC to Magic Kingdom route, but it's likely this route will not see that level of demand. Engineering and aesthetic concerns aside, there's no reason a system such as this wouldn't work for this route.

This type of system, with possibly a separate line from AoA/Pop to the larger CBR mid-station where AoA/Pop guests could connect to the main line in either direction, would seem to me to be the idea if this were to happen.

I've attached a pic of the Breck gondola. The door looks a little narrow to accommodate a wheelchair or stroller, but there probably isn't much of a demand for that type of accomodation on a ski slope. Ensuring that the doors on Disney's system are wide enough shouldn't be an issue. It also shows how the gondolas line up at the station, but they are still constantly, slowly moving while riders get on/off.

 

[devoy1701]

The routing seems odd to me as well, that's why I suspect there are more loading stations than we've figured out to date. There has to be more than one line, and I suspect several.
My gut tells me that you have to connect Disney springs as well as the water park between cbr and the springs. The buena vista corridor is a huge opportunity.

Yes, this. I get using CBR and AoA as a test bed. Even if the execution isn't what they hope, those are still 2 of the largest resorts by capacity on property, so they will appreciate and can use the direct connection to a few of the parks. Not to mention that this could take quite a few buses off the road on those routes. But the lack of connection to areas like Disney Springs/Saratoga/OKW/AK/AKL/All-Stars becomes more glaring. I do hope that this is part of a multi-phase, long-term transportation strategy for WDW using multiple methods of transportation.

 

[wdwmagic]

Well never have I seen such universally positive excitement on the forums over a WDW project since... ??? Good times

 

[peter11435]

For those discussing a futre connection to Disney Springs from the new T&TC2 at CBR..
View attachment 189822
This is how I could see it going. This path is almost the shortest path possible, and features a great view of TL. The only question is (and I know this aerial from Bing is old) where will the DS station go? I've left that off for now..

Here is a blank if anyone else wants to have a go at this section of the sky way gondola:

That would take it over property not owned by Disney.

 

[SteveAZee]

There is already good alternate transport from Epcot to the Studios, so this would be more about getting people from CBR to Epcot or DHS.

Do you mean the boat? I've used that a few times, but with the various stops it feels like a lot of time wasted.

 

[articos]

I'd very very surprised if guests could choose their destination once aboard.

Not happening. You're right.

 

[Slowjack]

@danlb_2000 , you've done great work, as always, ferreting out useful permits. I was wondering, if, as the original thread creator, you would add back the missing t in the thread title? Given how many sites are coming here to crib the scoops, we're likely to see mention of "transporation" systems throughout cyberspace otherwise.

 

[peter11435]

To further the discussion, with the evidence we have now, I believe there are 2 lines. One line from trinidad south to DHS. One line from trinidad south, to the new cbr tower section, to boardwalk lot, to IG.

The IG line would need to extend down to Pop/Art

 

[matt9112]

See, I don't even see that WDW has "travel woes" that need fixing. I've been down for four full-week trips in the last two years, once at Saratoga Springs, once at the Ft. Wilderness Cabins and twice at Animal Kingdom Lodge, which is supposedly the worst place to be in terms of transportation. In those four trips, we've rented a car twice and relied on Disney transportation twice. The Disney transportation was absolutely fine. I have no problem with a ten minute wait for fifteen minute bus ride to get to a park that's fifteen minutes away. That seems perfectly reasonable to me.

stay at a cheaper resort loaded with twice as many guests....and to be clear the "woes" are not 24/7 really just at park open and close...specifically with the MK.

 

[TimeTrip]

T
I've attached a pic of the Breck gondola. The door looks a little narrow to accommodate a wheelchair or stroller, but there probably isn't much of a demand for that type of accomodation on a ski slope. Ensuring that the doors on Disney's system are wide enough shouldn't be an issue. It also shows how the gondolas line up at the station, but they are still constantly, slowly moving while riders get on/off.

Found a video demo'ing a wheelchair getting in @4:54

 

[P_Radden]

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/os-bz-disney-world-cable-car-gondola-20170215-story.html

 

[MiddKid]

For anyone concerned about loading/unloading a gondola just take a moment to watch your typical morning rush at a ski resort when you have an instructor with six 4-year olds who can barely walk in their plastic ski boots on the wet concrete floor trying to carry their skis (and inevitably dropping them) while their goggles are fogged up...yet somehow they all get on the gondola and off they go without it having to stop. Folding up a stroller and/or transferring from a wheelchair will not interrupt the smooth operation of a system like this.

 

[Jo DeVil]

I don't like this idea at all, well not the route anyway, Our home resort is the BWV and I don't fancy having them going past and spoiling the view (even the car park there is nice looking). The monorail is different as it services the resorts that it passes by. We also bought at this resort because of things like the International gateway which is where it looks like it ends! So a perk of being at a deluxe resort, with the International Gateway really only services the deluxe resorts of Crescent Lake and those traveling from DHS to EPCOT it will now get busy and available to all and sundry! Sorry I know I will get flamed for being an elitist, but I pay for Deluxe, if you want to be closer to the Parks with Direct access you pay for deluxe not value and Moderate. I am sure the Grand Floridian wouldn't want the All Stars turning up direct to there door step!

 

[xdan0920]

Well never have I seen such universally positive excitement on the forums over a WDW project since... ??? Good times

It's because this is kewl. As @George said, old school Disney. I never stay at CBR or POP and I'm still excited about it.

 

[Kamikaze]

Well never have I seen such universally positive excitement on the forums over a WDW project since... ??? Good times

The same isn't true for the redditz. Unfortunately.

 

[hopemax]

But I agree with your points, and I admit I honestly did not know much about gondolas before this week.

I would love to see the analytics for people who visit WDW websites who are, today, busy googling Gondola systems.