News New Gondola Transportation - Disney Skyliner -

[plkkak]

What many people fail to realize about why the gondola is so economic and efficient is that for ~80% of its run, it has essentially no physical footprint. Wishing for the WEDWay is silly. It’s not even a competitor to the gondola in terms of efficiency of transportation for the dollar.

 

[lawdogNOLA]

I can see someone making an argument against total elimination of buses, but when you look at the capacity of this system, it's hard to logically believe they would run buses with the same frequency. Of course I realize logic rare comes up in these type of arguments.

There will almost certainly always be a bus service, simply to prevent an ADA lawsuit on behalf of those with a fear of heights. It will be drastically reduced, during normal operations, but have to spring into action for closures, again, something that, I think, remains a mystery at this point, as to how often such closures will take place.

 

[flynnibus]

There will almost certainly always be a bus service, simply to prevent an ADA lawsuit on behalf of those with a fear of heights.

There is no such protection under the ADA.... *rolleyes*

 

[networkpro]

There will almost certainly always be a bus service, simply to prevent an ADA lawsuit on behalf of those with a fear of heights. It will be drastically reduced, during normal operations, but have to spring into action for closures, again, something that, I think, remains a mystery at this point, as to how often such closures will take place.

Funny I thought that under title 1 of the Ada phobias were not covered only if it is a mental impairment that sub- stantially limits one's major life activities. An amusement park 8 not a major life activity.

 

[Amused to Death]

an ADA lawsuit on behalf of those with a fear of heights.

Are these people suing for having to ride the monorail? 65 feet at its highest point. Will the gondolas be that high off the ground anywhere?

 

[GoofGoof]

Are these people suing for having to ride the monorail? 65 feet at its highest point. Will the gondolas be that high off the ground anywhere?

No. I feel like we had this conversation many pages back but it was verified by the experts that the gondola at its peak height will not be as high as the monorail’s peak height.

 

[peter11435]

There will almost certainly always be a bus service, simply to prevent an ADA lawsuit on behalf of those with a fear of heights. It will be drastically reduced, during normal operations, but have to spring into action for closures, again, something that, I think, remains a mystery at this point, as to how often such closures will take place.

There will not be bus service except in the case of closures. Any such lawsuit will be dismissed as there is nothing in the ADA that this would violate.

 

[GoofGoof]

There will almost certainly always be a bus service, simply to prevent an ADA lawsuit on behalf of those with a fear of heights. It will be drastically reduced, during normal operations, but have to spring into action for closures, again, something that, I think, remains a mystery at this point, as to how often such closures will take place.

There will be no ADA lawsuits.

I’m sure they will get complaints from some guests. They will likely either offer to transfer them to another resort not on the monorail (of equal or lesser value) or simply buy them off with extra fast passes. This is pretty much standard practice. If someone really raises a stink they might foot the bill for a Minnie Uber but that likely will only be a last resort and not the standard practice. Imagine if word got out that they were offering free Minnie Ubers to anyone who complains. The line for people to complain will be longer than Splash Mountain on a 95 degree summer day.

I’m not sure why they would need busses to spring into action at park close. The capacity should be plenty to accommodate the opening and closing crowds. They will use busses if the gondola is down. Just like the boats and monorails today.

 

[Rteetz]

There will almost certainly always be a bus service, simply to prevent an ADA lawsuit on behalf of those with a fear of heights. It will be drastically reduced, during normal operations, but have to spring into action for closures, again, something that, I think, remains a mystery at this point, as to how often such closures will take place.

Um, have you ever stayed at a monorail resort?

 

[doctornick]

Do you think anyone will ever develop a sentimental attachment to the gondola versus the first time they rode on a Monorail? Or got on the WDWRR?

Um, actually, I do. The vast majority of people in the world have never ridden gondolas or certainly not ones similar to this. I expect it to have a very similar romantic impact as the monorail and strong association with Disney once many people experience it. It actually seems quite cynical to expect guests to not be fascinated by this offering.

 

[mikejs78]

So what will the travel time be from Epcot to DHS? I know it goes back to CBR and then you have to transfer, but would that be faster than walking/taking the Friendship boats? If so, that could be a boon for those staying at at least the Beach Club....

 

[GoofGoof]

Um, actually, I do. The vast majority of people in the world have never ridden gondolas or certainly not ones similar to this. I expect it to have a very similar romantic impact as the monorail and strong association with Disney once many people experience it. It actually seems quite cynical to expect guests to not be fascinated by this offering.

I think this is a valid point. People probably think of skiing when they picture a gondola. Not a lot of Americans think of a dry, flat land version.

I feel like any kind of transportation that feels more like a “ride” than transportation will be popular and memorable. The buses don’t cut it, but monorails, boats and now gondolas all qualify in mind. So could things like a Peoplemover system or even autonomous pods.

 

[danlb_2000]

So what will the travel time be from Epcot to DHS? I know it goes back to CBR and then you have to transfer, but would that be faster than walking/taking the Friendship boats? If so, that could be a boon for those staying at at least the Beach Club....

Maybe 15 minutes depending on transfer time at CBR.

 

[doctornick]

There will almost certainly always be a bus service, simply to prevent an ADA lawsuit on behalf of those with a fear of heights. It will be drastically reduced, during normal operations, but have to spring into action for closures, again, something that, I think, remains a mystery at this point, as to how often such closures will take place.

Is something preventing said people from taking a bus to DAK and then taking another bus to DHS/Epcot?

There will not be regular bus service from the Skyliner resorts to either DHS or Epcot. Period. The only time such bus service will occur is if Skyliner goes down.

 

[danlb_2000]

There will almost certainly always be a bus service, simply to prevent an ADA lawsuit on behalf of those with a fear of heights. It will be drastically reduced, during normal operations, but have to spring into action for closures, again, something that, I think, remains a mystery at this point, as to how often such closures will take place.

Reliable sources have said that Disney's goal is no bus service, whether they follow through with this or not, it's still their intention. As other have pointed out, there is no basis for an ADA lawsuit. As for closures, they aren't going to have full compliment of buses and drivers just waiting for this to happen. For short shut downs they will probably just wait it out. For longer they will probably redirect buses from other routes.

 

[Kamikaze]

So what will the travel time be from Epcot to DHS? I know it goes back to CBR and then you have to transfer, but would that be faster than walking/taking the Friendship boats? If so, that could be a boon for those staying at at least the Beach Club....

It will absolutely be faster than the Friendship boats. The boats are slower than walking. Probably about a 10 minute trip.

 

[Kamikaze]

There will almost certainly always be a bus service, simply to prevent an ADA lawsuit on behalf of those with a fear of heights. It will be drastically reduced, during normal operations, but have to spring into action for closures, again, something that, I think, remains a mystery at this point, as to how often such closures will take place.

You need to back to school, 'lawdog'.

 

[GoofGoof]

So what will the travel time be from Epcot to DHS? I know it goes back to CBR and then you have to transfer, but would that be faster than walking/taking the Friendship boats? If so, that could be a boon for those staying at at least the Beach Club....

If these things really run at 7 m/s (I'm skeptical) the longest single stretch would be 7 minutes from Epcot to the hub. DHS line would take just 3 minutes and the lake 2.5 minutes. 1,378 feet a minute is FAST!

So depending on how fast they really travel and how long it takes to transfer at CBR you are looking at 10-15 minutes. If you take the friendship boats from EPCOT to DHS they make 3 stops which takes some time plus the travel time. It’s probably going to be a lot faster to take the gondolas.

Some of the insiders said earlier in the thread that Disney will still advertise the friendship boats as the official preferred transport from EPCOT to DHS, but it will be possible and likely poplar to use the gondolas.

 

[wishiwere@wdw]

I wonder if Disney paid a little extra for manufacturing priority...

While I totally get your point, I personally suspect quite the opposite. As in, let’s give Disney a break because they don’t need/expect this thing online until summer/fall if 2019 lol

 

[Phil12]

I’m very familiar with it.

Along with the three WEDWay lines built outside of WDW. Which you’d know about if you’d bothered to research it.

You're completely wrong. WED Transportation Systems only built four WEDway systems. One for the 1964 World,s Fair, the second at Disneyland in 1967, the third at WDW in 1975 and the forth one was built for George Bush International Airport. After WED Transportation Systems built the WEDway people mover for George Bush International Airport in 1981, they got out of the transportation business. They sold all their patents for the WEDway system and monorail to Bombardier. TWDC got out of the transportation business because their products were terrible. The WEDway has always been very under-powered and a maintenance nightmare.

Bombardier built the other systems of which you speak and they are significantly better than the old WEDway design. I'm glad I had this opportunity to help you increase your knowledge.