News New Gondola Transportation - Disney Skyliner -

doctornick

Well-Known Member
So here's what's going to happen. At the locations serviced by the gondolas to the parks, Disney will reduce the number of buses running that route. To be sure, they will still keep one or two on, but the wait for a bus will go up.

While do people continue to bring up the idea that buses will still service the relevant resorts to relevant parks? Disney isn't spending all the money to develop the skyliner system just to use buses anyway. The only time these resorts will have buses to Epcot or DHS is in the rare/unlikely situation of the skyliner going down. Don't like it? Don't stay at the resort.
 

TiggerDad

Well-Known Member
While do people continue to bring up the idea that buses will still service the relevant resorts to relevant parks? Disney isn't spending all the money to develop the skyliner system just to use buses anyway. The only time these resorts will have buses to Epcot or DHS is in the rare/unlikely situation of the skyliner going down. Don't like it? Don't stay at the resort.
They're thinking of the bus they take from the Contemporary to the MK.
 

HiJe

Well-Known Member
Since they are already going to bake people alive in the summer heat, do you think there is a discussion about "plus"-ing the possible torture by adding a DVC cast member to each car who will try to sell you on buying in before you pass out? Also, if you pass out, do they get to automatically run your credit card and buy you into a nice BLT room?
 

danlb_2000

Premium Member
Original Poster
While do people continue to bring up the idea that buses will still service the relevant resorts to relevant parks? Disney isn't spending all the money to develop the skyliner system just to use buses anyway. The only time these resorts will have buses to Epcot or DHS is in the rare/unlikely situation of the skyliner going down. Don't like it? Don't stay at the resort.

Because people believe what they want to believe.
 

SLUSHIE

Well-Known Member
Since they are already going to bake people alive in the summer heat, do you think there is a discussion about "plus"-ing the possible torture by adding a DVC cast member to each car who will try to sell you on buying in before you pass out? Also, if you pass out, do they get to automatically run your credit card and buy you into a nice BLT room?

Some ski resorts actually have people that get on the gondola with you to conduct surveys, so unfortunately this isn't really that far fetched.
 
While do people continue to bring up the idea that buses will still service the relevant resorts to relevant parks? Disney isn't spending all the money to develop the skyliner system just to use buses anyway. The only time these resorts will have buses to Epcot or DHS is in the rare/unlikely situation of the skyliner going down. Don't like it? Don't stay at the resort.
Perhaps they hadn't heard the announcement that bus service would be completely removed from the Skyliner resorts, and wrongly assumed that some nominal level of bus service would remain since the Skyliner is unlikely to be operational during certain periods of inclement weather, and/or Disney might want to provide an alternative for guests with conditions such as acrophobia or claustrophobia who simply refuse to ride in gondolas. (I'm not implying that either of those reasons has any merit, just speculating on why a person might bring up the aforementioned idea.)
 

note2001

Well-Known Member
While do people continue to bring up the idea that buses will still service the relevant resorts to relevant parks? Disney isn't spending all the money to develop the skyliner system just to use buses anyway. The only time these resorts will have buses to Epcot or DHS is in the rare/unlikely situation of the skyliner going down. Don't like it? Don't stay at the resort.
Hm. I don't know. Winds, storms, other factors will all drive the need for buses. You can bet your bibbidi bobbidi boo that there will be enough demand for climate controlled transport that the buses will not vanish, they'll just be reduced, significantly so.
 

wdwjmp239

Well-Known Member
Hm. I don't know. Winds, storms, other factors will all drive the need for buses. You can bet your bibbidi bobbidi boo that there will be enough demand for climate controlled transport that the buses will not vanish, they'll just be reduced, significantly so.

I don't think the fleet of buses will be reduced that much when the Skyliner is operational. I would imagine that they'd have to keep the buses in the event the Skyliner is shut down for maintenance or inclement weather. Florida, as you may or may not know, is known for thunderstorms that produce heavy downpours and frequent cloud to ground lightning. I would seriously be scared <insert your own words here> to be in the Skyliner during a thunderstorm down here. You're just an open-air target for a few million volts. I'm sure Disney has already addressed this concern. ;)
 

mikejs78

Premium Member
Hm. I don't know. Winds, storms, other factors will all drive the need for buses. You can bet your bibbidi bobbidi boo that there will be enough demand for climate controlled transport that the buses will not vanish, they'll just be reduced, significantly so.
Maybe, we will see - but the current plan is no busses to DHS and Epcot from Skyliner resorts except in the case where the Skyliner is not operating.
 

MisterPenguin

President of Animal Kingdom
Premium Member
Hm. I don't know. Winds, storms, other factors will all drive the need for buses. You can bet your bibbidi bobbidi boo that there will be enough demand for climate controlled transport that the buses will not vanish, they'll just be reduced, significantly so.

Is this a supposition on your part, or, have you heard from a Disney source that they will continue regular, albeit reduced, bus service?
 

note2001

Well-Known Member
Is this a supposition on your part, or, have you heard from a Disney source that they will continue regular, albeit reduced, bus service?
I do not have an insider resource, so it is my educated guess. However, I was told by a boat skipper (insert obligatory laughter here), who had been with Disney since the 80s, that when Wilderness Lodge added the DVC villas they bought a new, large boat to the MK to handle the extra traffic. Back when they did so the idea was to stop bus service to the MK from WL all together. As we all know, MK is the first covered bus stop as you get to at the WL stops, so we can see how well that worked out.
 

peter11435

Well-Known Member
I do not have an insider resource, so it is my educated guess. However, I was told by a boat skipper (insert obligatory laughter here), who had been with Disney since the 80s, that when Wilderness Lodge added the DVC villas they bought a new, large boat to the MK to handle the extra traffic. Back when they did so the idea was to stop bus service to the MK from WL all together. As we all know, MK is the first covered bus stop as you get to at the WL stops, so we can see how well that worked out.
There were no boats added to the fleet when DVC was added to WL.
 

DrewmanS

Well-Known Member
Is this a supposition on your part, or, have you heard from a Disney source that they will continue regular, albeit reduced, bus service?

I would guess there will still be bus service, just not direct bus service between locations served by the Skyliner. Disney would not add the Skyliner without either being able to reduce busses or increase overall capacity.

When one form of transportation goes down, busses provide ability to reallocate resources to compensate. The busses provide flexibility in the system, not redundancy.
 

joelkfla

Well-Known Member
I do not have an insider resource, so it is my educated guess. However, I was told by a boat skipper (insert obligatory laughter here), who had been with Disney since the 80s, that when Wilderness Lodge added the DVC villas they bought a new, large boat to the MK to handle the extra traffic. Back when they did so the idea was to stop bus service to the MK from WL all together. As we all know, MK is the first covered bus stop as you get to at the WL stops, so we can see how well that worked out.
The stop is shared by MK & FtW.

Actually, direct bus service from WL to MK has been discontinued in the evening. The departures board says "Use Watercraft". There is a bus that goes from WL to FtW Settlement, and then to MK after sitting a few minutes at FtW, but the bus' marquee does not say MK when it pulls into WL, and it is not shown on the departures board. You would only know it was eventually going to MK by asking the driver.

I think the direct WL-MK bus stops running at either 3pm or 4pm; the driver on the bus was not sure.
 

HauntedPirate

Park nostalgist
Premium Member
Why would Disney continue to run buses to Epcot and DHS from Pop, AoA, CBR, etc. once the gondola is up and running? With the likely exception of a shutdown due to inclement weather, your transportation options to those parks from those resorts will be - Skyliner, Minnie Van, or private vehicle.
 

doctornick

Well-Known Member
I would guess there will still be bus service, just not direct bus service between locations served by the Skyliner. Disney would not add the Skyliner without either being able to reduce busses or increase overall capacity.

When one form of transportation goes down, busses provide ability to reallocate resources to compensate. The busses provide flexibility in the system, not redundancy.

Um, yes, of course. If someone staying at CBR (once Skyliner is operating) wants to take a bus to Epcot or DHS, that person would be welcome to do so -- by taking a bus to MK or DAK and then taking a second bus to Epcot or DHS. But they aren't going to have direct buses from the Skyliner resorts to DHS or Epcot; it defeats the entire purpose of having the gondolas.

And certainly if the Skyliner goes down at some point, they with then use buses to fill in the service while it is not operational. That's just a backup though and won't be a regular offering.
 
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GoofGoof

Premium Member
Why would Disney continue to run buses to Epcot and DHS from Pop, AoA, CBR, etc. once the gondola is up and running? With the likely exception of a shutdown due to inclement weather, your transportation options to those parks from those resorts will be - Skyliner, Minnie Van, or private vehicle.
There has been no indication that regular bus service would continue to those parks from those resorts. Any talk of that is just wild speculation or in some cases maybe wishful thinking. What would be the point of adding the gondolas if they didn’t take the place of the buses?
 

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