News New Gondola Transportation - Disney Skyliner -

DHSCM

Well-Known Member
Also im about to start proactively covering Disney photography and video wise so heres my first session of hour glass lake, taken yesterday 6/12/19 right before it stormed.
 

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Lift Blog

Well-Known Member
Portland's Aerial Tramway system, in one of the mildest climates in the nation, has cabins that are enclosed and fully air conditioned. :D
There is no air conditioning on the Portland Aerial Tram.

My only experience with enclosed skyway cabins is at Whistler and Blackcomb in winter where ventilation is not an issue, or the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway which has onboard air conditioning.
There is no air conditioning on the Palm Springs Aerial Tram.
 

TP2000

Well-Known Member
There is no air conditioning on the Portland Aerial Tram.


There is no air conditioning on the Palm Springs Aerial Tram.

I trust you, as anyone would when they see your name and avatar, but do they really??? I could have sworn it was cooled. :oops:

The Palm Springs Tram revolves as it heads up the mountain, so obviously it has electrical power to the cabins. And I've been in September and it was hot as heck at the valley station before we could get up the mountain, but I don't remember being hot in the cabin.

The Portland Aerial Tram, again I trust you and it's been years since I rode that when in Portland, but those cabins are sealed up tight. Just sealed silver pods floating above the city, with big glazed windows that don't open. How do they get air into them?

p1000954_2.jpg
 

Lift Blog

Well-Known Member
I trust you, as anyone would when they see your name and avatar, but do they really??? I could have sworn it was cooled. :oops:

The Palm Springs Tram revolves as it heads up the mountain, so obviously it has electrical power to the cabins. And I've been in September and it was hot as heck at the valley station before we could get up the mountain, but I don't remember being hot in the cabin.

The Portland Aerial Tram, again I trust you and it's been years since I rode that when in Portland, but those cabins are sealed up tight. Just sealed silver pods floating above the city, with big glazed windows that don't open. How do they get air into them?

p1000954_2.jpg

Just fans and windows that can be opened when needed. Electrical power and enough electrical power to run a rooftop air conditioner are two different things.
 

FerretAfros

Well-Known Member
I've been following this Skyliner story to see if WDI makes the same mistake with the Skyliner cabins as they did with the Mark VII monorails.

Allegedly the lead Imagineer for the Mark VII design, Scott Drake, told Bob Gurr he didn't need Gurr's help and old-timey ways. The original Mark I through Mark V Disneyland monorails that Gurr designed had full roll-down windows to let in plenty of air on hot days.

monorail_station1959cl.jpg


But when Scott Drake designed the Mark VII monorails, he went for form over function instead of form follows function. The Mark VII monorails only have two windows per car that only open a small bit, making the cars steel hotboxes in the summer sun.

monorail-above-nemo-subs.jpg


From July through September, Anaheim's hottest months, it's not unusual for the Disneyland Monorail to have to close for most of the afternoon due to unbearable heat inside the cabins. Imagineer Scott Drake was promoted at WDI after the Disneyland Monorail mess, and he is currently leading the team that is designing Marvel Land at Disney California Adventure.

I'm interested to see if WDI learned any lessons from that Monorail mess with the Skyliner and its cabin ventilation.

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It's also worth point out that the current windows on DL's Mark VII Monorails are actually a retrofit to improve the somehow-even-worse configuration they were originally designed with. Originally, the windows only popped open a couple inches along the bottom edge, like the windows in the back of a minivan. Even on the early spring days that they were originally tested on, it was readily apparent that the ventilation was woefully inadequate.
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Air scoops in the roofs were hastily installed to get some more circulation (and making the ride quite soggy on rainy days). After all of the new trains were delivered to DL, they rotated them offline to replace some of the windows with ones that open further, but still leave the cabins quite stuffy on pleasant days. For an attraction that's supposed to be sleek and futuristic, the end product leaves a noticeably low-tech impression.

MVII25k.jpg


The Mark VII's are a prime example of design by committee gone wrong. Allegedly the window configuration was requested by the lawyers, who didn't trust guests with fully open windows. The outward-facing seats were intended to highlight the views, but reduced the capacity of each car (not to mention how they bring focus to unsightly backstage areas along the route). And for some reason that never been fully explained, the reverse engineering process to design them required reducing the fleet from 4 trains to 3, reducing it from a viable resort transportation option to a mere novelty. They look nice from a distance, but beyond that they have few redeeming qualities.

By all accounts, these problems are unique to DL's Mark VII and won't be repeated with WDW's Skyliner. Heck, the new body of the train was designed with the wrong clearance and crashed into the Tomorrowland loading platform on its first test run, so the gondolas already have a leg up on it! The gondolas were designed by competent engineers who are very familiar with that type of system; if only Disney employed those sorts of people on a consistent basis...
 

Disorbust

Well-Known Member
Yes but the Oregon tram is 3 minutes long and the palm springs tram according to their website is 30 degrees cooler then being on the "dessert floor". I really was stunned when I heard about the DL monorail , what an epic fail.

Riding the Friendship boats in summer can be very miserable, plus the waiting for the boat in the Florida heat/sun at YBC has made it a no go for our family at times.
 

cosmicgirl

Well-Known Member
Yes but the Oregon tram is 3 minutes long and the palm springs tram according to their website is 30 degrees cooler then being on the "dessert floor". I really was stunned when I heard about the DL monorail , what an epic fail.

Riding the Friendship boats in summer can be very miserable, plus the waiting for the boat in the Florida heat/sun at YBC has made it a no go for our family at times.
The dessert floor? That sounds yummy... 🤤

Gondola dessert party: confirmed? "Make magical family memories as you soar through Walt Disney World during Illuminations: Reflections of Earth (limited edition!) and Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular. Hop aboard the Disney Skyliner and make your way to Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort where a delightful spread of desserts will be available. Grab what you can before the Skyliner doors close and have a blast with a family dessert eating competition! Who can eat the most desserts before they melt? Only $99 per adult and $98.99 for children ages 3-9"
 

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