News New Gondola Transportation - Disney Skyliner -

[DarleneBurrows]

Saw them today - whilst no doubt they will provide a nice experience for guests once finished, they aren't half ugly looking and an eye sore.

 

[Lift Blog]

10 people 1,850 pounds? LOL. At Disney? LOL. That's only 185 pounds a person. I'm 190 and I look skinny compared to 50% of the Disney crowd. If you don't count the foreign tourist it's an even higher percentage.

Like I said 11,500 posts ago the ski industry is not used to the size of the usual Disney guest. Again the ski crowd is better looking and in better shape being much lighter. I'm betting weight per gondola can't be changed on this system because the cables, towers etc. can only hold so much weight. Disney going to have scales before you get on? Serious question. I don't want an 18year CM guessing if the gondola is at 1800 pounds or 2800 pounds. I can see 10 people with a total average of 230 pounds easily. That's 2300 for ten people but I doubt they can actually fit in the gondola which will probably be the limiting factor. You can't run operations like this overweight on the system for years at a time. Something bad will happen.

Add that to the Skyway of death for things that could go wrong. 100 degree day with the cables stretching do to heat but within operational range then having over weighted gondolas on that cable add to that motors and wheels handling out of spec numbers. Could get crazy.

Just a thought.

The FAA standard for weight and balance is 174 lbs. per passenger in the summer and 181 lbs. in winter. We generally don't have planes falling out of the sky and we won't have gondolas doing so either. These things are way over-engineered and Disney's are even burlier than most.

 

[Lift Blog]

LOL.

Before anyone sets foot on the thing, it will be loaded 20 percent over its design capacity and run through all sorts of tests to ensure it can properly handle the load.

 

[nace888]

Before anyone sets foot on the thing, it will be loaded 20 percent over its design capacity and run through all sorts of tests to ensure it can properly handle the load.

Sandbags would work wonders, lol

 

[Lift Blog]

Think about the new gondola Doppelmayr is building right now at Blackcomb, Canada. On a busy morning, 90 cabins will be completely full headed up a grade of 31% for over 2.5 miles. That's around 165,000 lbs. of people and gear in the up direction that are not being counterbalanced by anyone in the 90 cabins going down. The lift also has to be able to run with the same 165,000 lbs. of people headed down with no one coming up. And there are an almost infinite number of loading scenarios in between these two. Makes flat Florida look pretty simple.

 

[monothingie]

Think about the new gondola Doppelmayr is building right now at Blackcomb, Canada. On a busy morning, 90 cabins will be completely full headed up a grade of 31% for over 2.5 miles. That's around 165,000 lbs. of people and gear in the up direction that are not being counterbalanced by anyone in the 90 cabins going down. The lift also has to be able to run with the same 165,000 lbs. of people headed down with no one coming up. And there are an almost infinite number of loading scenarios in between these two. Makes flat Florida look pretty simple.

Yeah but they don't have to worry about Air Conditioning, and giant drains in the bottom of each of these box ovens for the sweat to drip through down onto the ground.

 

[Jambo Joe]

AKL only has buses.

 

[flynnibus]

Looking at the stations now getting into full form... I am curious if the queue area is going to be tight... especially at the park stations. The systems should chew through guests... but with the waves of people, they can stack up. Will be interesting to watch that once live

 

[MiddKid]

Think about the new gondola Doppelmayr is building right now at Blackcomb, Canada. On a busy morning, 90 cabins will be completely full headed up a grade of 31% for over 2.5 miles. That's around 165,000 lbs. of people and gear in the up direction that are not being counterbalanced by anyone in the 90 cabins going down. The lift also has to be able to run with the same 165,000 lbs. of people headed down with no one coming up. And there are an almost infinite number of loading scenarios in between these two. Makes flat Florida look pretty simple.

I’ve waited in those crazy Whistler Gondola lines on a powder morning and the one-time crush of people dwarfs most bursts of crowds at WDW (and I used to be a CM doing rope drop). Add in wet/icy/slippery ground, people wearing hard plastic boots that make them walk funny, carrying skis or a board that not only weigh a few pounds but also have sharp edges that can slice open skin, and my kids trying to carry their own skis, dropping them, stabbing the guy behind them with their poles while picking them up, while they can only see out of 40% of their goggles because they’re so fogged up...the Doppelmayr gondola will simply laugh at WDW. Cake walk.

I’m staying at the base of Blackcomb in February. Can’t wait to ride the new gondy. Should be a significant improvement over the old Wizard/Solar Coaster combo but I wish they had kept Solar Coaster for mid-mountain laps!

 

[Goofyernmost]

10 people 1,850 pounds? LOL. At Disney? LOL. That's only 185 pounds a person. I'm 190 and I look skinny compared to 50% of the Disney crowd. If you don't count the foreign tourist it's an even higher percentage.

Like I said 11,500 posts ago the ski industry is not used to the size of the usual Disney guest. Again the ski crowd is better looking and in better shape being much lighter. I'm betting weight per gondola can't be changed on this system because the cables, towers etc. can only hold so much weight. Disney going to have scales before you get on? Serious question. I don't want an 18year CM guessing if the gondola is at 1800 pounds or 2800 pounds. I can see 10 people with a total average of 230 pounds easily. That's 2300 for ten people but I doubt they can actually fit in the gondola which will probably be the limiting factor. You can't run operations like this overweight on the system for years at a time. Something bad will happen.

Add that to the Skyway of death for things that could go wrong. 100 degree day with the cables stretching do to heat but within operational range then having over weighted gondolas on that cable add to that motors and wheels handling out of spec numbers. Could get crazy.

Just a thought.

I think everyone can stop panicking about it. I'd bet my left arm that the only time you will see those seats raised will be to accommodate a wheelchair. They have no reason to squeeze that many people in them. Or is that just another reason to shame overweight people into striving for someones opinion of perfection. My guess is that there will actually average less then eight per gondola.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Think about the new gondola Doppelmayr is building right now at Blackcomb, Canada. On a busy morning, 90 cabins will be completely full headed up a grade of 31% for over 2.5 miles. That's around 165,000 lbs. of people and gear in the up direction that are not being counterbalanced by anyone in the 90 cabins going down. The lift also has to be able to run with the same 165,000 lbs. of people headed down with no one coming up. And there are an almost infinite number of loading scenarios in between these two. Makes flat Florida look pretty simple.

It not only looks simple, it is indeed not even a challenge.

 

[larryz]

At 16 people, that would assume the average WDW guest is only 115 pounds.

Yeah... that'll work.

Heck, my CARGO SHORTS weigh 115 pounds...

 

[larryz]

I listened to Jim too (yes I know that is bad) and am still trying to figure out how you would do real A/C in this kind of vehicle. I am an electrical engineer so I keep trying to imagine the power delivery to each car. Would you string power cables to each car and how to you get power onto a moving cable? Then he talks about the cars going slower during the load/unload portion which might make sense but not when you have a power cable attached. What do you do about the power connection when you slow the gondola????
The expansion of the system may make sense but I doubt it would reach Disney Springs because why pay for parking when you could park there for free?
I am purely guessing to but I hope his sources are actually knowledgeable and not someone making up a wish list.

You have to think out of the gondola on this one: Disney is planning on using a Tesla-tower-based electricity delivery system to power the cabins.

 

[TiggerDad]

I think everyone can stop panicking about it. I'd bet my left arm that the only time you will see those seats raised will be to accommodate a wheelchair. They have no reason to squeeze that many people in them. Or is that just another reason to shame overweight people into striving for someones opinion of perfection. My guess is that there will actually average less then eight per gondola.

They are unlikely to average anywhere near 8 per gondola, even at peak times. I expect these to run one family per gondola, except for single riders. During slow times, most will be empty.

 

[Goofyernmost]

You have to think out of the gondola on this one: Disney is planning on using a Tesla-tower-based electricity delivery system to power the cabins.

Now that could work, but, I'm afraid that it would cut far to deeply into Iger's Christmas bonus to ever become useful. Heck they could even use the Tesla tower to charge everyone's cell phone as they walk along. Over time it might cause some major problems with unknown Embryo's, but, hey, AC for that 4 minute trip is far more important then that.

I sometimes wonder if all that electricity in the air is somewhat responsible for the insane world we live in today.

 

[Goofyernmost]

They are unlikely to average anywhere near 8 per gondola, even at peak times. I expect these to run one family per gondola, except for single riders. During slow times, most will be empty.

I agree, but, was hedging my bets. The good side is that cut's down drastically on the constant fatality numbers, Gondola wise!

 

[michmousefan]

At 16 people, that would assume the average WDW guest is only 115 pounds.

Yeah... that'll work.

Sure, it'll fit 16 Jawas... no problem!

 

[Thebolt]

AKL only has buses.

Is it too early to speculate how soon and by what route phase 2 of Skyliner would address that anomaly?
is it plausible that they would start building another line whilst they already have the skills on site; or is it fair to assume the infrastructure wallet is pretty much empy at this point?

 

[danlb_2000]

Is it too early to speculate how soon and by what route phase 2 of Skyliner would address that anomaly?
is it plausible that they would start building another line whilst they already have the skills on site; or is it fair to assume the infrastructure wallet is pretty much empy at this point?

Insiders on this site have said that a second phase wasn't going to be considered until they see how well things work with the first phase.

 

[Kamikaze]

He also stated that the cars will load from one side and unload from the other which I don't think is possible, although he could be mis-interpreting "load from one side of the station and unload from the other". He also stated that this is "only the start" of the system and will eventually include AK and Disney Springs.

Which directly contradicts Martin repeatedly stating there are no current plans for Skyliner expansion. Lets think about which one of them are more reliable.