Disney Skyliner (Gondola Transportation System) Read Post 1 Now Open!

[rteetz]

FWIW, i've lived in Alabama for 40 years now and have been to Orlando in the summer. There's no way I would get in any enclosed vehicle or structure without air conditioning when its over 70 degrees! Its misery here to get in a vehicle in the summer time until the air conditioner kicks in, or when your power goes out in the summer. The heat and humidity can be brutal.

And as for non A/C ventilation, all you are doing is moving hot air inside.

I don't find it silly at all, and I keep wondering what Disney was thinking to not include air conditioning.

Well it won’t have A/C.

I honestly don’t think it’s that big of a deal.

 

[lugnut33]

A look at unwrapped cabin 251

http://blogmickey.com/2019/03/break...gondola-spotted-testing-at-walt-disney-world/

Cool, thanks for posting.

I was one who was skeptical about how hot they would be in the summer, but those windows being open should be totally fine. Yeah, it may hot, but no hotter than outside.

 

[beer dave]

Esp since it's in Walts model/vision from 40 years ago for EPCOT anyway.

I've seen this photo brought up several times, but all I can see in it is a double Ferris wheel with one side unlit and some sort of parachute ride...

 

[Weedy]

See the loading/unloading at 1:17 in video. The Skyliner should be similar

 

[Doberge]

I don't find it silly at all, and I keep wondering what Disney was thinking to not include air conditioning.

It's probably partially the cost and partially the added weight (adding needed equipment to every car adds up over whole line), but mostly the money.

I think they'll feel somewhat shaded so feeling at top speed will be closer to a feeling of riding a golf cart in the shade. But unless the stations themselves are somewhat cooled it's going to feel pretty warm in time moving slowly in station between lock in/out and exiting/enterring station itself.

 

[NotUrsula]

Based on the photo of the unwrapped car in line with other cars, it looks like the wrap was removed to facilitate opening the windows, which could be a test of window mechanism, or an ambient temperature test.

As to what Disney was thinking, they were thinking that installing A/C would more than double the cost of the system (and has historically been unreliable when tried), and thus decided to believe Doppelmayr's assertions that the passive vent system coupled with speed of movement will be sufficient to keep the cars "comfortable" -- whatever one's definition of that may be. Personally, I'm still somewhat skeptical. I really WANT this system to be a success, but I have doubts about summer season ridership numbers once the Skyliner ceases to be a novelty. I think that most foreign visitors will definitely be willing to suck it up and ride anyway even if it's hot, but Americans ... not so much.

 

[rteetz]

Based on the photo of the unwrapped car in line with other cars, it looks like the wrap was removed to facilitate opening the windows, which could be a test of window mechanism, or an ambient temperature test.

As to what Disney was thinking, they were thinking that installing A/C would more than double the cost of the system (and has historically been unreliable when tried), and thus decided to believe Doppelmayr's assertions that the passive vent system coupled with speed of movement will be sufficient to keep the cars "comfortable" -- whatever one's definition of that may be. Personally, I'm still somewhat skeptical. I really WANT this system to be a success, but I have doubts about summer season ridership numbers once the Skyliner ceases to be a novelty. I think that most foreign visitors will definitely be willing to suck it up and ride anyway even if it's hot, but Americans ... not so much.

I don’t think people will have much of a choice.

 

[NotUrsula]

I don’t think people will have much of a choice.

Sure they will have a choice. They can drive or take other transit such as Minnie-Vans, or just make it a point not to book those resorts during summertime. It really won't be all that difficult to avoid riding the Skyliner if you really don't want to, for whatever reason.
We won't know this year, but if there are generous summer room discounts on the Skyliner resorts in summer 2020, that will be a fairly solid clue that folks are underutilizing the Skyliner during the worst of the heat.

BTW, as to the "rocking" issue, the wheel now known as Pixar-Pal-Around was the WORST experience that I have ever had in that respect. Three in our party (me, DH, and our then 4 yo), sharing a car with 3 teenage girls. When DH (politely) asked them to stop rocking the car because it was making me dizzy, they climbed up and grabbed the roof panels in order to rock it harder. The ride shutdown caused by having to call in EMTs lasted about an hour. (And before someone tells me that we should have been on a non-sliding car, we were. Those cars still can rock.)

 

[BorderTenny]

I don’t think people will have much of a choice.

If the bus choice is still available, you'd still be potentially standing in the heat on concrete for up to 20 minutes (or more) waiting for one. Or you could be sitting in the Skyliner at close to the same temperature and arrive at your resort in that same time frame.

 

[rteetz]

Sure they will have a choice. They can drive or take other transit such as Minnie-Vans, or just make it a point not to book those resorts during summertime. It really won't be all that difficult to avoid riding the Skyliner if you really don't want to, for whatever reason.
We won't know this year, but if there are generous summer room discounts on the Skyliner resorts in summer 2020, that will be a fairly solid clue that folks are underutilizing the Skyliner during the worst of the heat.

BTW, as to the "rocking" issue, the wheel now known as Pixar-Pal-Around was the WORST experience that I have ever had in that respect. Three in our party (me, DH, and our then 4 yo), sharing a car with 3 teenage girls. When DH (politely) asked them to stop rocking the car because it was making me dizzy, they climbed up and grabbed the roof panels in order to rock it harder. The ride shutdown caused by having to call in EMTs lasted about an hour. (And before someone tells me that we should have been on a non-sliding car, we were. Those cars still can rock.)

People like “free” transportation options. That’s why they book at Disney hotels. They aren’t going to pay for a Minnie van or Uber every time they want to go to Epcot or DHS. Disney only has so much availability elsewhere and pop century and AoA are two of the most popular resorts on property.

You’re assuming people research everything before their trips too. That’s not the case.

You’re also blowing the swinging part out of proportion. This isn’t a Ferris wheel.

 

[rteetz]

If the bus choice is still available, you'd still be potentially standing in the heat on concrete for up to 20 minutes (or more) waiting for one. Or you could be sitting in the Skyliner at close to the same temperature and arrive at your resort in that same time frame.

Or less. These won’t be very long rides.

 

[NotUrsula]

People like “free” transportation options. That’s why they book at Disney hotels. They aren’t going to pay for a Minnie van or Uber every time they want to go to Epcot or DHS. Disney only has so much availability elsewhere and pop century and AoA are two of the most popular resorts on property.

You’re assuming people research everything before their trips too. That’s not the case.

You’re also blowing the swinging part out of proportion. This isn’t a Ferris wheel.

Yes, people do like free transportation options, but don't ever underestimate fear as a motivator. If they are scared of the transit method for whatever reason, the influence of cost goes way down. I don't think people research everything before trips -- far from it, actually. However, I do think that some people can and will decide "never again" if they don't like a particular experience. DH is very much like that: he flatly refuses to ever again stay at any of the All-Stars Resorts because of a bad experience with noisy cheerleaders 15 years ago. He's pretty frugal, but you could offer him a room at ASM for free, and he'd refuse it.

As to the rocking thing, that's just me and I know it's unusual. I only told the DLR story to illustrate that Disney does routinely combine small parties to fill cars. (I suppose I could have asked them not to, but I try not to make requests that delay other guests' getting onto rides. I try to err on the side of staying off myself, if I can, rather than make others wait when they wouldn't have to if it were not for my illness. That day I mistakenly assumed that a "fixed" car wouldn't be a problem for me. Never again.)

 

[rteetz]

However, I do think that some people can and will decide "never again" if they don't like a particular experience.

I don’t think that will be common.

 

[NotUrsula]

I don’t think that will be common.

And I actually hope that you're right, but I think that only time and experience will really tell.

 

[jade1]

I've seen this photo brought up several times, but all I can see in it is a double Ferris wheel with one side unlit and some sort of parachute ride...

It's a tough pic to take/get.

Best is to just look at it on the MK People Mover.

Here is a crop, gets very blurry though.

 

[disneygirlsng]

I've seen this photo brought up several times, but all I can see in it is a double Ferris wheel with one side unlit and some sort of parachute ride...

Those yellowish squares close to the ground that start rising up, between the ferris wheel and parachute thing or whatever are gondolas.

 

[OSUZorba]

I'm still seeing 10 seconds separation. It's impossible to time exactly how long a cabin is in the load zone because of the cut in the middle of the video, but it's at least 20 seconds.

To me it looks like about 3-3.5 gondolas are in the load area at a time, with a launch every 10 seconds that is about 30 to 35 seconds of loading time.

 

[OSUZorba]

there is a good chance you will have a car for just your family and if you do not you could simply ask the CM to have your own due to a disability/ medical problem not sure if someone in another car was rocking it if it would make others ( I think this one is too big for that )

The good thing with the spacing on these, at most there will be two per pole and only for a few seconds. So bouncing from other cars shouldn't happen much. It happens on slow moving car lifts because there are more cars per pole, and they are slower moving so you can get a good bounce going before you get to the next pole.

I used to bounce the chairlift at my local amusement park a lot when I was kid. Even on a slow chairlift it can be hard to get a bounce going while in motion, much easier when stopped.

 

[OSUZorba]

A look at unwrapped cabin 251

http://blogmickey.com/2019/03/break...gondola-spotted-testing-at-walt-disney-world/

Since there is only one unwrapped I kind of wonder if they are testing the temperature in them.

I don't think it'll be a problem at all. These will be moving around 20.5 ft/s, they are roughly 10 feet long, so they will move their length twice in a second. The ventilation openings are around 1/4 of the frontal area. So every second they will replace about half the air volume inside, or a full exchange every 2 seconds. There won't any time for the air to heat up in there. (Of course, this is simplified, but close enough). There will likely also be a bit of a windchill effect.

Being in these will be just like standing in the shade outside with a little bit of wind.

 

[Jimmy Mouse]

There are so many complaining post about "No Air Conditioning" and no one knows if they will actually be hot. I install window film for a living and have done so for 30+ years. I can tell you that I have Nano-Ceramic window tint on my truck and on the hottest day, when I get into my truck it feels better than being in direct sunlight and I'm taking about a closed up vehicle that's sitting in the sun all day. These will be moving and if the glass is Nano-Ceramic coated (which it probably is) then they will not heat up from the sun. They should be at least 10 degrees cooler than outside while moving. Nano-Ceramic coating not only blocks UV rays which heat up the interior of homes and vehicles but it also blocks I.R. which means the glass its self wont heat up. I would bet that the gondolas will not be uncomfortable to ride at all. They should be a welcome break to get out of the heat, not a hot box like people are assuming they will be.