News New Gondola Transportation - Disney Skyliner -

SLUSHIE

Well-Known Member
Yesterday I rode the two new direct drive lifts at Copper, the American Eagle and American Flyer. The American Eagle is the one where the gondola fell off late last year.

American Flyer just opened this month because of 'software issues' but I think it might actually have some flaws in the design itself. This lift seems to have way too much weight on the line. Apparently an issue with direct drive is that it causes 'more movement' when the lift is stopped. When the lift was stopped, near the bottom terminal chairs were rolling backwards and forwards a good 10-20 feet. At higher portions of the lift between longer tower spans, when the lift stopped the line would sag and chair would drop 10-20 feet, rebound upwards a good 10 feet and then again fall 20-30 feet, and continue to do this a few times. This happened to me twice on the chair though I was never in the middle of the towers where it was the worst. It was definitely the topic of discussion everytime I rode the chair. Someone said there was places where you could see that chairs had hit the ground, but I don't think that was true, though there was one area where the area under the chair was roped off even though we were quite a ways off the ground.

The American Eagle lift didn't seem to have this problem.
 

larryz

I'm Just A Tourist!
Premium Member
Yesterday I rode the two new direct drive lifts at Copper, the American Eagle and American Flyer. The American Eagle is the one where the gondola fell off late last year.

American Flyer just opened this month because of 'software issues' but I think it might actually have some flaws in the design itself. This lift seems to have way too much weight on the line. Apparently an issue with direct drive is that it causes 'more movement' when the lift is stopped. When the lift was stopped, near the bottom terminal chairs were rolling backwards and forwards a good 10-20 feet. At higher portions of the lift between longer tower spans, when the lift stopped the line would sag and chair would drop 10-20 feet, rebound upwards a good 10 feet and then again fall 20-30 feet, and continue to do this a few times. This happened to me twice on the chair though I was never in the middle of the towers where it was the worst. It was definitely the topic of discussion everytime I rode the chair. Someone said there was places where you could see that chairs had hit the ground, but I don't think that was true, though there was one area where the area under the chair was roped off even though we were quite a ways off the ground.

The American Eagle lift didn't seem to have this problem.
Well, the only thing saving us is that WDW is probably too cheap to buy enough cable to let the gondolas hit the ground.
 

Incomudro

Well-Known Member
Well, the only thing saving us is that WDW is probably too cheap to buy enough cable to let the gondolas hit the ground.

The WDW application is also one of the simplest of gondola applications.
The only real incline is the liftoff angle at the stations to reach tower height - which isn't really that high.
After that, they travel over essentially a flat landscape.
 

peter11435

Well-Known Member
I watched this on Twitter a few times earlier this morning. Is it me (or my tiny phone screen 😂), but do the guests seem totally disinterested/oblivious to you?

I totally geeked out, and nudged Hubby awake to make him watch.
Most guests won’t care/notice.

Just like most guests will be oblivious even after its opened. People often swear they took a monorail to animal kingdom at the end of the day when trying to find transportation back to their resort.
 

cosmicgirl

Well-Known Member
I watched this on Twitter a few times earlier this morning. Is it me (or my tiny phone screen 😂), but do the guests seem totally disinterested/oblivious to you?

I totally geeked out, and nudged Hubby awake to make him watch.
It's not just you, I was thinking the same thing when I watched it. I kept thinking "look right, you idiots!". But of course the closer they are to the construction wall, the less they see, so that may be a factor.

ETA: I was also amazed by the 5000+ views just 50 minutes after the video was posted even though the OP doesn't have much of a following. Fifty geeks like us who watched it a hundred times?
 

SLUSHIE

Well-Known Member
The WDW application is also one of the simplest of gondola applications.
The only real incline is the liftoff angle at the stations to reach tower height - which isn't really that high.
After that, they travel over essentially a flat landscape.

Yes I think the incline and all that weight downhill was the problem. The brake was at the top, so when it stopped all of that weight downhill slingshotted all the chairs closer to the top.
 

JoeCamel

Well-Known Member
Don't get to excited, that may just be the test car that has been seen in a few stations. If they were loading the actual cars I would expect to happen at CBR.
I would expect a facility to lift them on and off the guide rail at the storage area so they would load it then shuttle them over to the load area and onto the rope. Doubt they will use a forklift to hang them all on the lines.
 

DougK

Well-Known Member
It's not just you, I was thinking the same thing when I watched it. I kept thinking "look right, you idiots!". But of course the closer they are to the construction wall, the less they see, so that may be a factor.

ETA: I was also amazed by the 5000+ views just 50 minutes after the video was posted even though the OP doesn't have much of a following. Fifty geeks like us who watched it a hundred times?

No, I watched it 4,999 times.
 

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