Tomorrowland Skyway station now partially demolished (WARNING graphic photos)

EPCOT Explorer

EPCOT Explorer

New Member
edwardtc said:
It really was Bad Show. I mean, I personally loved it because I've always been interested in how stuff works and "behind the scenes".

From the Skyway, there were no secrets. You saw beyond 20k at times. You could see outside the TL berm. And worst of all, you were looking down on the top of a bunch of warehouses.

As cool as it was, it completely ruined the magic of the Magic Kingdom. Instead of medieval facades on the fantasyland buildings, you saw metal roofs and air conditioners. Instead of the 20k lagoon and cave entrances, you saw a giant warehouse with parking lots behind it.

But, after seeing Martin's photos, it doesn't surprise me that they thought the Skyway was "OK" back when they built it. They weren't too concerned with guests seeing pick-up truck, or seeing outside the FL berm - so I guess they thought the novelty of a cable-car ride would outweigh Walt's specific intent to preserve the magic at WDW.

I'm just shocked it lasted as long as it did. I REALLY doubt that maintenance and upkeep was the primary reason for getting rid of it. Like you said, there are many ski lifts and other cable-driven systems around the world, with operating budgets of much less than WDW's.
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Yep. And it's not even a remotely "Disney" thing, either. All Amusement Parks/Fairs have one.

unkadug said:
I believe that Disney simply was waiting for a good time to tear down this structure with minimal guest impact. What better time than while Space Mountain is already sectioned off from public access?

More than likely we will NOT see anything else going in this space for a while. Just the removal of an eyesore in the eyes of TDO.
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I do think that SM's queue might be in that spot now. We shall see.:shrug:
 
FigmentPrincess

FigmentPrincess

Member
EPCOT Explorer said:
I do think that SM's queue might be in that spot now. We shall see.:shrug:
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Me too. Or at least somewhere to sit or a bigger store (and close one of the others). I hate how the queue overloads out of the entrance. From the pictures I've seen however, (not sure if it was in this thread or another) it has been overflowing past the entrance for year.

Maybe that's just me. :hammer:
 
EPCOTPluto

EPCOTPluto

Well-Known Member
EPCOT Explorer said:
I do think that SM's queue might be in that spot now. We shall see.:shrug:
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FigmentPrincess said:
Me too. Or at least somewhere to sit or a bigger store (and close one of the others). I hate how the queue overloads out of the entrance. From the pictures I've seen however, (not sure if it was in this thread or another) it has been overflowing past the entrance for year.
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It might happen... Well, I would hope it happens.

Considering that they just demolished half of the Skyway, and probably more soon, a enclosed and interesting queue could be possible.

I hate to stand out in the overflowed queue as well. :o
 
Rob562

Rob562

Well-Known Member
FigmentPrincess said:
Me too. Or at least somewhere to sit or a bigger store (and close one of the others). I hate how the queue overloads out of the entrance. From the pictures I've seen however, (not sure if it was in this thread or another) it has been overflowing past the entrance for year.

Maybe that's just me. :hammer:
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It's been overflowing out of the building since the introduction of Fastpass to Space Mountain. With FP, they can't use the full interior queue near the boarding areas. Those back-and-forth sections can easily hold as many people as the corridor does, so when they stopped using them, they essentially halved the length of the indoor queue. With the need to merge the FP guests with the regular guests while keeping a minimal wait for the FP guests, they couldn't use those parts of the queue.

It's hoped that this refurb will address that major flaw in the queue crowd control, and they'll redesign the standby and FP queues to keep Standby entirely *inside* on all but the busiest days.

-Rob
 
RSoxNo1

RSoxNo1

Well-Known Member
Rob562 said:
It's been overflowing out of the building since the introduction of Fastpass to Space Mountain. With FP, they can't use the full interior queue near the boarding areas. Those back-and-forth sections can easily hold as many people as the corridor does, so when they stopped using them, they essentially halved the length of the indoor queue. With the need to merge the FP guests with the regular guests while keeping a minimal wait for the FP guests, they couldn't use those parts of the queue.

It's hoped that this refurb will address that major flaw in the queue crowd control, and they'll redesign the standby and FP queues to keep Standby entirely *inside* on all but the busiest days.

-Rob
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Previously I've posted a schematic about how to handle fastpass/standby in Space Mountain. Unfortunately that plan (As well as any others I've heard) required the use of two cast members for crowd control. I think this can be alleviated if they move the fastpass/standby merge area so that it's after the control tower.

One person can send people to the left or right fastpass queues (which will go around the perimeter of the two switchback sections) or the left or right standby queues.
 
FigmentPrincess

FigmentPrincess

Member
Rob562 said:
It's been overflowing out of the building since the introduction of Fastpass to Space Mountain. With FP, they can't use the full interior queue near the boarding areas. Those back-and-forth sections can easily hold as many people as the corridor does, so when they stopped using them, they essentially halved the length of the indoor queue. With the need to merge the FP guests with the regular guests while keeping a minimal wait for the FP guests, they couldn't use those parts of the queue.

It's hoped that this refurb will address that major flaw in the queue crowd control, and they'll redesign the standby and FP queues to keep Standby entirely *inside* on all but the busiest days.

-Rob
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Thanks for the explanation Rob.

I never actually thought about the reason they couldn't use those parts of the queue. I just only remember them being used when I was little and riding the TTA.
 
Rob562

Rob562

Well-Known Member
RSoxNo1 said:
Previously I've posted a schematic about how to handle fastpass/standby in Space Mountain. Unfortunately that plan (As well as any others I've heard) required the use of two cast members for crowd control. I think this can be alleviated if they move the fastpass/standby merge area so that it's after the control tower.

One person can send people to the left or right fastpass queues (which will go around the perimeter of the two switchback sections) or the left or right standby queues.
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Yeah, every version I could come up with that uses the queues as currently designed was more labor-intensive than it is now, with one CM acting solely as a "traffic cop" at the far side of the control tower.

I did just have the germ of an idea that would require totally ripping out the queues and having lop-sided queues wrapping around each other and going in the opposite direction of how they used to be used. But it'll take some thinking out. I'll have to try and see if I can come up with some kind of diagram. It also might make for odd access to the Control Tower, as it would have a Standby queue crossing from one side to the other right behind it. Does anyone have an acurate diagram of that queue now, and now many back-and-forths there are?

And I don't think anything could be as round-about as the way that the JC and BTMRR FastPass queues wrap around the Standby queues...

-Rob
 
EPCOT Explorer

EPCOT Explorer

New Member
FigmentPrincess said:
Me too. Or at least somewhere to sit or a bigger store (and close one of the others). I hate how the queue overloads out of the entrance. From the pictures I've seen however, (not sure if it was in this thread or another) it has been overflowing past the entrance for year.

Maybe that's just me. :hammer:
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True.


If they keep it outside, though...I wonder how long it would take to put up a structure to house that?
 

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