News New Gondola Transportation - Disney Skyliner -

kurtk

Well-Known Member

joelkfla

Well-Known Member
I got a tour of the new D-Line lift at Big Sky today (opening day.) Wow it is impressive. Disney bought the best lifts money can buy.

https://liftblog.com/2018/12/15/big-sky-doppelmayr-christen-ramcharger-8/
Sounds like the direct-drive motors are one of the major advances. Do you know whether Disney chose that option?

And do the "charging rails" charge a battery for the seat heaters, or are the heaters activated only while the chair is in contact with the rails? Would they be able to charge batteries on Skyliner for audio announcers and in-cabin lighting?
 

Flalex72

Well-Known Member
Sounds like the direct-drive motors are one of the major advances. Do you know whether Disney chose that option?

And do the "charging rails" charge a battery for the seat heaters, or are the heaters activated only while the chair is in contact with the rails? Would they be able to charge batteries on Skyliner for audio announcers and in-cabin lighting?

The modern heated chairlift I've ridden only heated the seats in the station - you felt it through your snow pants a few moments after the chair started up the hill, but then it faded off.

Gondolas with interior lighting often have a solar panel on the roof and a couple of LEDs inside.
 

Flalex72

Well-Known Member

Lift Blog

Well-Known Member
Sounds like the direct-drive motors are one of the major advances. Do you know whether Disney chose that option?

And do the "charging rails" charge a battery for the seat heaters, or are the heaters activated only while the chair is in contact with the rails? Would they be able to charge batteries on Skyliner for audio announcers and in-cabin lighting?

Tough to tell from bioreconstruct's photos whether the Skyliner lines have direct drives. D-Line and Doppelmayr Direct Drive do not always go together.

The rails charge batteries for any in cabin electrical needs. Heating, lighting, audio, infotainment, etc.

Who made the chairlift at bb
VonRoll, which was purchased by Doppelmayr a year after the Blizzard Beach lift was built.

I enjoyed the article you linked to. Just wondering if you have a slowed down version of the video showing the D-Line grip detach or maybe just an explanation of it? It went by so fast I couldn't follow exactly how it works.

Thanks.

It is quick but Disney's gondolas might go even faster. Look closely and you'll see as the grip is pressed open, the cable is guided down and in. Now free from the cable, the grip and chair continue straight to the unloading area. On D-Line lifts, the grip stays open all the way until the other side of the terminal when it is reattached to the cable.
 
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WDWtraveler

Well-Known Member
Photo update as of Sunday, December 16, 2018. Some larger photos and details. The walkway from Hollywood Studios entrance plaza to the new bus terminals is mostly open now, with closer views of the Skyliner station. Please see other photos of this expanded area posted in the Hollywood Studios parking lot expansion.

IMG_0949.JPG


At the back side of the Skyliner station, facing the Hollywood Studios entrance plaza, new landscaping (palm and other trees) have recently been installed.

IMG_0951.JPG
 

flynnibus

Premium Member
I got a tour of the new D-Line lift at Big Sky today (opening day.) Wow it is impressive. Disney bought the best lifts money can buy.

https://liftblog.com/2018/12/15/big-sky-doppelmayr-christen-ramcharger-8/

It would be interesting to see how they stage, load, and unload 8 people at once for such a chair lift. Normally you'd expect every additional person added to a simultaneous load situation to multiply your risks. Would love to see how they try to mitigate that.
 

SLUSHIE

Well-Known Member
It would be interesting to see how they stage, load, and unload 8 people at once for such a chair lift. Normally you'd expect every additional person added to a simultaneous load situation to multiply your risks. Would love to see how they try to mitigate that.

I would be curious to know how they help form groups of 8 as well. Sometimes a 6 person chair will have a 'gate' earlier in the line to help form the groups, but if that is too early in the line then people just break back up into smaller groups again.

We have a 6 person chair where the line comes from two sides and without a maze master it can be a nightmare. Coming from the singles line its hard to count and tell exactly who is in the same group, and when you think you figured it out another group or another single could swoop in from the other side taking your spot.

I really don't think I would be a fan of an 8 person chair.
 

DisneyCane

Well-Known Member
It would be interesting to see how they stage, load, and unload 8 people at once for such a chair lift. Normally you'd expect every additional person added to a simultaneous load situation to multiply your risks. Would love to see how they try to mitigate that.
Loading isn't my concern. Forming the groups of 8 might take some signage or help from employees. The actual getting on the chair will be gate and conveyor controlled. My concern is how 8 people get off without crashing into each other. The 6 person chairs I've ridden are stressful enough!
 

Kamikaze

Well-Known Member
Loading isn't my concern. Forming the groups of 8 might take some signage or help from employees. The actual getting on the chair will be gate and conveyor controlled. My concern is how 8 people get off without crashing into each other. The 6 person chairs I've ridden are stressful enough!

You don't need exact groups of 8, and they won't worry about every cabin being full. You will just board with your group during most periods. If its extremely busy you might ride with another group (say 1 group of 3 and 1 group of 4), but during most periods they'll just give each group its own cabin. If there is a new cabin every 10 seconds it doesn't matter if they are all at capacity.
 

Nubs70

Well-Known Member
Loading isn't my concern. Forming the groups of 8 might take some signage or help from employees. The actual getting on the chair will be gate and conveyor controlled. My concern is how 8 people get off without crashing into each other. The 6 person chairs I've ridden are stressful enough!
At ski resorts, much of the time, patrons themselves will take initiative to form into full groups by the main group calling out "single", the single rider responds in kind, those in line step aside to allow single rider to get to group. Would this work at WDW? Kind of doubt it.
 

mikejs78

Premium Member
In recent memory, monorails collided and KILLED someone... yet monorails are still in use and the public doesn't blink an eye. And you keep beating this drum about bad PR about a simple EVAC possibility?

How much PR flak do you really think is gonna come from 'guests were safely evacuated from the gondola'?
Oh noes. <Insert mode of transportation here> has had accidents somewhere in the world! I'll never (fly/drive/ride a bus/take a boat) again!
 

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