News New Gondola Transportation - Disney Skyliner -

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Flalex72

Well-Known Member
monothingie said:
If Disney decides not to have them air-conditioned, no one will use them. That means they will be open to the elements and as such not run in inclement weather making them a non-practical transportation system. (Not that I would be surprised by them doing this BTW). Also super capacitors are great but tremendously expensive. Unlike London a system in Florida would need a significantly higher capacity power unit to deliver the cooling power required. Consider a 12000 BTU AC unit (and even this may not be enough cooling capacity) consumes 4-5 kWH of energy, super capacitors cost between $2400-$6000 per kWH of storage. Split the difference and say $20,000 per car in power storage alone times the number of cars they have + the actual cost of the car itself, and it adds up very very quickly.
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I agree with you that A/C is a challenge, especially the weight, however it has been done before. As it has been mentioned, the Emirates Air Line in London has air conditioning. That system has the benefit of not being in the Florida sun, but other mitigation measures keep this within the realm of possibility.

kWh measures a quantity of electricity over a period of time. If an air conditioner needs so many kW per hour, the capacitor only needs to be big enough to power it for a few minutes, and wouldn't need to be as large as you propose.

Other mitigating factors include white roofs, tinted glass and well air-conditioned stations to make guests comfortable. The brochure from CWA constructions, the leading gondola cabin manufacturer, shows a wide range of vents, some specific to cabins that will be used in rainy areas.

Maeryk said:
if they can put lights and electrically actuated doors in them, they can put climate control in them.
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There's a big difference between what is effectively an LED flashlight in the ceiling with a solar panel and a small battery, and a powerful A/C unit. The doors are mechanical, they are actuated by an arm when the cabin enters and leaves the station.
 
P_Radden

P_Radden

Well-Known Member
rushtest4echo said:
If you want me to take something seriously, you can begin by not using that particular source of information. ;)

Disney, like all companies, times their patent/permit/copyright applications in line with a schedule of a project. That often means a dump right before an official announcement. It's how almost all big industry works. Of course it's meant to provide a bit of cover and try to keep the press away from digging- but it's standard practice. As far as this particular announcement- Spirit is free to waltz in and claim he was privy to information (of course, without disclosing it before it was announced), but as usual- he's spinning. It's a formula, you can see it in nearly everything he posts. It's not some expose or scandal that somebody found permits for a gondola or a hotel renovation/expansion. Dan should be commended for the work he does- he's got more relevant information that Spirit ever will (from real sources, even if they're just filings and such). I'm surprised he's not working for OBJ! I I'm very glad to see people doing their diligence and finding out what Disney's doing next. I enjoy the conversation, and I like to be a part of it. But to think that Disney cares about this conversation is silly.


That's not what I was referring to. I was discussing WDI and Parks & Resorts in general, and the current (long running) attitude that the company has had. Lax disclosure policies, lax filings of paperwork, lax job postings that reveal future projects, lax 3rd party non-disclosure agreements and so on. This dates back to before Disney/MGM Studios. Obviously, the Florida Project was a "cat out of the bag" moment, but that was 50 years ago (and consequently, only a few years after Imagineering was even a thing). For decades, there haven't been many things that Disney has played close to the vest- if any.
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I understand what you mean now. Very well said, thanks!
 
Kamikaze

Kamikaze

Well-Known Member
zakattack99 said:
Not disagreeing with you regarding the announcement, however it was my understanding that the announcement was planned soon but pushed up to stop the gondola talk. The other reason I find it hard to belive that the discovery of the gondola did not ruffle feathers is that they dumped 40+ permits the next day. Poor Dan had to wade threw all of that nonsense. It just seems odd. I could be wrong and TDO just brushed it off, however their actions the hours and days that followed don't necessarily support that.
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I'm just going off two things:

1) Disney PR is in CA.
2) Len Testa knew the announcement was coming and tweeted about it happening. The timing of his tweet was around noon EST, which would be 9 am PST, which would be when Disney PR would just be getting in - too early for them to 'rush' the announcement and have it ready by that point.

I've also said this in either this thread or another one, but 'stopping/distracting' things like this forum is impossible and Disney would know that. This isn't national news, where the new story would push the old one and you'd get that reaction. Fan sites, reddit, twitter, YouTube don't work like that. You can very easily discuss everything going on at the same time. Just like this doesn't distract the people that want to talk about Avatar from discussing that.

danlb_2000 said:
Although I did make a joke about the permits, that was a coincidence. The large batch of permits hit on the 14th, and they were signed on the 12th, but the gondola story really didn't grow legs until the 15th.
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And this disproves the 'dumping' completely.
 
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marni1971

marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
Progress.City said:
The thing that strikes me odd about this project is it the apparent lack of direct link between EPCOT and the Studios. Granted, it's designed as a transportation link for resort guests, but it doesn't even do that efficiently ("L" and "T" curves). I'm not convinced that there would be enough capacity and that it would be fast enough to be convenient.
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This isn't primarily a direct link between Epcot and DHS.

Not this system anyway.
 
P_Radden

P_Radden

Well-Known Member
Back on topic. Regarding the Epcot station, are we to assume it would be similar in footprint to the one at DHS? If so, I could see it being placed like this:
EpcotStation.png

EpcotStation2.png
 
Grimley1968

Grimley1968

Well-Known Member
Curious: is there any point on the monorail line to EPCOT that you would be able to see the gondolas on their lines? Or vice versa? I realize the existing plans don't call for them to be very close to each other, but I was curious if line of sight would exist between the two systems from a distance.
 
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rushtest4echo

Well-Known Member
P_Radden said:
Friendship boats and sidewalk :)
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Between the two, I'm not sure why anyone would ever think another link is needed.Europeans and Asians must die laughing when they see a gondola route that's going to run for less than 2 miles across flat terrain (and in reality, run less than a mile between destinations). I'd bet most of them walk that far to the market every day. ;) The walk from the value resorts or Val d'Europe at DL Paris is around a mile too, as is the walk from Hollywood in Hong Kong. All 3 are super nice walks, and although they have alternative transport- walking is the way to go. I'm all for the gondolas and such, but it's a really pleasant 15-20 minute walk of about a mile or so between EPCOT and DHS, so I'm glad that's not the real reason this system is being considered.
 
Magic Feather

Magic Feather

Well-Known Member
Kamikaze said:
The heck? The whole basis for this thread is the permits. Did you even read the first post?



The higher-ups undoubtedly do not know that its been 'found out' nor would they care. I'm sure some with a little bit of influence know, but they most likely wouldn't pass it upward.
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Actually, higher-ups do know, at least as far up as George. Not sure, but I assume Chapek and Iger too. This was originally going to be (and probably still) a BLT situation, where CMs will try to use the Jedi Mind Trick. A surprising amount of things have been accounted for. Expect this system to move faster that the Alton Towers System. A Video of the BGW one might be best, or better, BGT, where you imagine there is a station at the bend.
 
Ismael Flores

Ismael Flores

Well-Known Member
rushtest4echo said:
Between the two, I'm not sure why anyone would ever think another link is needed.Europeans and Asians must die laughing when they see a gondola route that's going to run for less than 2 miles across flat terrain (and in reality, run less than a mile between destinations). I'd bet most of them walk that far to the market every day. ;) The walk from the value resorts or Val d'Europe at DL Paris is around a mile too, as is the walk from Hollywood in Hong Kong. All 3 are super nice walks, and although they have alternative transport- walking is the way to go. I'm all for the gondolas and such, but it's a really pleasant 15-20 minute walk of about a mile or so between EPCOT and DHS, so I'm glad that's not the real reason this system is being considered.
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Have you seen some of the posts in the site that should not be named? :)
People are complaining that the new parking structure and eastern gateway in Anaheim will add a few hundred more feet of walking.
I'm like you i would rather walk instead of waiting in line for a something that will be so short in length but I think people are just getting more lazy.

I'm actually surprised that they didn't add this to Animal kingdom to begin with. That is the one park that doesn't have any direct connection to other resorts or theme park gates. It might have even been cool if it went over part of the parks savanas
 

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