News New Gondola Transportation - Disney Skyliner -

[Gatorboy]

Is it me or is this thread getting more ridiculous, yet somehow I'm drawn right back to read it

 

[TeriofTerror]

Gondolas are an attempt to reduce attendance; either you won't go because you don't want to ride in one or you do go and you are trimmed from the count by the constant lightning strikes.

I'm sorry; what?

 

[NormC]

It was a joke.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Leaving DHS last week to go back to the Swolphin a nearby storm kept the Ferries from running, and lo and behold, there were buses from DHS to the Crescent Lake resorts that suddenly appeared.

 

[Grimley1968]

Any other recent photos of gondola station work being done?

 

[jt04]

Leaving DHS last week to go back to the Swolphin a nearby storm kept the Ferries from running, and lo and behold, there were buses from DHS to the Crescent Lake resorts that suddenly appeared.

That is the way they roll.

 

[Rteetz]

Any other recent photos of gondola station work being done?

Well considering the hurricane stopped construction for a couple days I am sure not too much has changed since the last update.

 

[raymusiccity]

Also remember that the Epcot bus depot is nowhere near the Epcot Gondola station. I would say it would be at least a 15 minute walk. It would be easier if they ran busses from the Beach Club to Riviera/CBR and POP/AOA.

'Oh, the humanity!' ....a 15 minute walk ..... Guests pay a premium to be a 15 minute walk to the Magic Kingdom.

 

[Grimley1968]

Well considering the hurricane stopped construction for a couple days I am sure not too much has changed since the last update.

I would consider anything taken within the last couple of weeks as "recent", not counting what has already been posted on here.

 

[DisneyJeff]

'Oh, the humanity!' ....a 15 minute walk ..... Guests pay a premium to be a 15 minute walk to the Magic Kingdom.

I was only stating the time/distance as part of a discussion regarding the shutdown of the gondola system. (Which will hardly ever happen.)

If a family gets of Spaceship Earth and decide they want to head back to Pop Century, their only option would be to take the gondola. So they have to walk through all of FW and dodge all the drunks in WS to get to the International Gateway. If they are then told that the gondola is closed and that they will have to take a bus from the front of Epcot, they are going to be pretty upset.

 

[Just4Pics]

1) park cabins indoors
2) close weather doors (these cover the openings where the cable/grips enter the terminals) plus any other doors to the stations.
3) Put grounding clamps on.
4) Turn system off.
This only takes about 45 minutes. With the cabins off, the rope has basically no surface area to get blown around. The towers aren't going anywhere.

I'm sorry @Lift Blog that was too rational an answer. We were looking for "The towers will definitely collapse and thousands of people will die...unless they add air conditioning to the cars, then everything will be fine."

 

[GCTales]

I was only stating the time/distance as part of a discussion regarding the shutdown of the gondola system. (Which will hardly ever happen.)

If a family gets of Spaceship Earth and decide they want to head back to Pop Century, their only option would be to take the gondola. So they have to walk through all of FW and dodge all the drunks in WS to get to the International Gateway. If they are then told that the gondola is closed and that they will have to take a bus from the front of Epcot, they are going to be pretty upset.

If they are at spaceship earth and want to go to the IG they only have to pass Canada and UK, not walk past the entire showcase and around the entire lagoon, unless they choose the 15 min walk around it....

 

[allgiggles]

If they are at spaceship earth and want to go to the IG they only have to pass Canada and UK, not walk past the entire showcase and around the entire lagoon, unless they choose the 15 min walk around it....

The direct route is still about a half mile walk from Spaceship Earth to the IG...so about a 15 minute walk for most people (at least those who are walking at a leisurely pace). Then to find out that the Gondola's aren't running means backtracking to the front of the park and getting to the bus stops --- so about 1.25 miles for the total trip. I wouldn't be happy if it happened to me. But I'd also probably just grab a boat from the IG to DHS and take a bus back to my resort from there as that would require far less walking.

I'll wait to see how often the gondola has to stop running for bad weather before I get worried about it. I just don't see it happening very often and when it does, it will be for such a short amount of time that it will be easier/faster to just wait out the storm and use the gondola when it starts running again than to walk to a bus stop and wait for a bus. Maybe Disney will add something to MDE that lets you know that the Gondola isn't running and bus service is available...though I have little faith in that happening.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I'm sorry @Lift Blog that was too rational an answer. We were looking for "The towers will definitely collapse and thousands of people will die...unless they add air conditioning to the cars, then everything will be fine."

Everyone said I was daft to build a gondola in a swamp, but I built in all the same, just to show them. It sank into the swamp. So I built a second one. That sank into the swamp. So I built a third. That burned down, fell over, then sank into the swamp. But the fourth one stayed up.

 

[bclane]

Everyone said I was daft to build a gondola in a swamp, but I built in all the same, just to show them. It sank into the swamp. So I built a second one. That sank into the swamp. So I built a third. That burned down, fell over, then sank into the swamp. But the fourth one stayed up.

And that's what you're going to get, Lad, the strongest gondola in all of England.

 

[CanadianGordon]

I'm looking forward to seeing some construction photos. One of these days.....

 

[larryz]

Everyone said I was daft to build a gondola in a swamp, but I built in all the same, just to show them. It sank into the swamp. So I built a second one. That sank into the swamp. So I built a third. That burned down, fell over, then sank into the swamp. But the fourth one stayed up.

And that's what you're going to get, Lad, the strongest gondola in all of England.

And someday, it will all be ours, as long as we don't start singing about it.

 

[DisneyCane]

I would anticipate that if the gondolas were expected to be down for more than... Say 30 minutes or more, they would start to divert busses....

If it is only down for 20 minutes, it would be less than the walk to the front of EPCOT an a normal bus wait. Similar situation for DHS.

With how fast the afternoon storms pass, I don't see the gondolas being down for an hour or longer.

I see maybe 15 minutes.. Then back open.


Then again, I am not looking for excuses why this will not work.

What is all this worry about the gondolas being down? The only reason for them to be down is very high winds but how often does that condition exist for more than a couple of minutes in a severe thunderstorm? As far as lightning, I don't see the issue. Planes are designed to be struck by lightening, I'm sure gondolas can be also just by making them out of metal. Lightning that strikes the ground looks for the shortest route to the ground. It will strike the towers or the cable and go to the ground. It won't go into the cabs and fry the passengers. Maybe I missed it but I don't think I've ever heard of lightning killing somebody in a monorail. There won't be much difference from a physics standpoint with the gondolas.

 

[TylerFromMI]

What is all this worry about the gondolas being down? The only reason for them to be down is very high winds but how often does that condition exist for more than a couple of minutes in a severe thunderstorm? As far as lightning, I don't see the issue. Planes are designed to be struck by lightening, I'm sure gondolas can be also just by making them out of metal. Lightning that strikes the ground looks for the shortest route to the ground. It will strike the towers or the cable and go to the ground. It won't go into the cabs and fry the passengers. Maybe I missed it but I don't think I've ever heard of lightning killing somebody in a monorail. There won't be much difference from a physics standpoint with the gondolas.

It seems like the down time of the gondola will be similar to the downtime of the boats. Boats are down for lightning and high winds, seems to be the same for the gondolas.

 

[Creathir]

What is all this worry about the gondolas being down? The only reason for them to be down is very high winds but how often does that condition exist for more than a couple of minutes in a severe thunderstorm? As far as lightning, I don't see the issue. Planes are designed to be struck by lightening, I'm sure gondolas can be also just by making them out of metal. Lightning that strikes the ground looks for the shortest route to the ground. It will strike the towers or the cable and go to the ground. It won't go into the cabs and fry the passengers. Maybe I missed it but I don't think I've ever heard of lightning killing somebody in a monorail. There won't be much difference from a physics standpoint with the gondolas.

The difference between the gondolas and airplanes are is that gondolas are grounded all the time, airplanes are not.