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

[rteetz]

based solely on distance, towers aren't necessary. I read about a rough limit of 1km between points depending on factors. The distance here is less than 700m.

If you want to gain elevation, though, at least one tower would be necessary, probably two (but likely not three). The plans don't show the height of the proposed gondola buildings, but I presume that loading/unloading would be close to ground level thus requiring a tower(s) to gain some elevation.

But it would just be Disney's style to raze Jamaica and Aruba, build more DVC and have the gondola go through those buildings:

View attachment 223532 .

I don't think they would put DVC towers right there. If they would we are looking at something very long term so it's not worth speculating about more DVC towers at CBR at this moment when the first hasn't even been built yet.

 

[rteetz]

Also wondering, I know this is PURE speculation and just thinking of cool stuff disney likely wont do. But depending on the height of these things ... and a rumor I read somewhere recently that CBR is going to be 10 stories high ... couldn't these things potentially run right through the building ? or Stop on top of if or something as a loading/unloading station ? Ala monorail at contemporary ?

Would be neat, no idea if thats even possible though

The new tower they are building is said to be somewhere between 7-13 stories. While it couldn't go through a building I don't see why it would right now.

 

[sachilles]

Just a guess. I'm thinking they need to have the beds online in the new tower, they can then remove the section under the gondola path. This will allow them to get the quantity of beds online so they don't lose capacity. They can install and run over the buildings for a limited time(or extended time). I think the area is well suited for a phased approach, depending upon whatever economics are in play.
It could stall with after only one tower being added to the bed inventory. If it proves popular, you can bulldoze another section and add a new tower.

I'm thinking CBR can be a good location to start of new style of resort that is tower based, in that each tower can be a sell contained guest service unit. The sprawling nature of CBR really doesn't lend itself to the efficient use of labor resources etc.

 

[PACVII]

I am not so excited about this option overall. They need to expand transportation I and just not thinking I will like this option. I hate the bus but I really do not like the feeling you get from an overhead cable system. I been on many and some very large systems. I do not like the feeling of the sway or bouncing you get. If I did have to ride this muiltiple times a day going to and from parks and resort not so sure I would be able to enjoy it. Also I have concern with speed. It could take longer then people think to get around as they are by no means high speed systems. I know it sounds great and hope they for sure build out more transportation options. I just never thought I would say I may like the bus better.

 

[rteetz]

Permit was filed for an overlook at hourglass lake at AoA/Pop. Thanks to @DanBoris for finding this as always.

 

[jknezek]

I suppose I could stroke my chin and say "hmm, interesting" and pretend to be wise, but I think I'm just better off asking. What am I looking at here? I know what a turbidity barrier is, but I'm assuming the footprint by the bridge is the interesting thing, and I'm not remotely sure why?

 

[rteetz]

I suppose I could stroke my chin and say "hmm, interesting" and pretend to be wise, but I think I'm just better off asking. What am I looking at here? I know what a turbidity barrier is, but I'm assuming the footprint by the bridge is the interesting thing, and I'm not remotely sure why?

The purple structure is what is interesting. It points towards the direction of the proposed gondola service and is essentially an expansion of the bridge to possibly house a gondola station.

 

[jknezek]

Ah. I see. Putting it on the bridge and running cable cars across half the lake seems convenient, but possibly kind of ugly. Then again, the monorail track isn't exactly picturesque so I guess it doesn't matter. And you definitely put up with possibly ugly at AoA and POP if you get special transportation. Somehow I figured if they did build the spur, it would have ended before the lake, but those are huge sprawling resorts so I guess it makes sense to centralize it.

 

[rteetz]

 

[sachilles]

Another piece of the puzzle.

I sure the boat ramp is for construction purposes, but later on for emergency access below the haul rope.

 

[jknezek]

So I see measurements lining up this way based on that map: 8000 feet roughly to go from AoA/POP to CBR. Then 5600 feet to go to DHS. Assuming this completely separate EPCOT run, that would be the winner at closer to 9500 to 10,000 feet if it was to come in at the International Gateway. Yeah, I used Google maps, a ruler, and approximations for the tower positions to calculate the numbers, so there is certainly a significant margin for error.

I wonder what speeds we are talking about here. 1.5 miles from AoA/POP, at 15 miles an hour, is a 6 minute traverse. Then unload, move to DHS boarding, wait in line, get on a new Gondola, probably a 4 minute traverse to DHS. Going from CBR to EPCOT I'm assuming at least 8 minutes of travel time with the corners at 15mph. You can multiply all times by 1.5 if you think it tops out at 10mph.

What's the point of this? From AoA/POP to EPCOT it's 14 or 15 minutes on the Gondolas, plus wait lines and load and unload at CBR. How long does it take the bus to get you from AoA/POP to EPCOT? Google cites 21 to 26 minutes depending on where you are picked up (and avoiding those pesky things like loading ECVs). So assuming your transfer and wait time at CBR is less than 5 minutes, and the wait for the first bus and the first gondola, and travel to the bus top and the gondola stop is essentially a wash, I guess this would save you a bit of time. Certainly would be more fun though, and I suppose that's the real point.

Before people start picking at my numbers, and feel free to do so, I'm not defending them. They are estimates on distance, WAGs on speeds, and unofficial data for buses. But it was a slow last few minutes for work and I was curious what I'd come up with.

 

[rteetz]

So I see measurements lining up this way based on that map: 8000 feet roughly to go from AoA/POP to CBR. Then 5600 feet to go to DHS. Assuming this completely separate EPCOT run, that would be the winner at closer to 9500 to 10,000 feet if it was to come in at the International Gateway. Yeah, I used Google maps, a ruler, and approximations for the tower positions to calculate the numbers, so there is certainly a significant margin for error.

I wonder what speeds we are talking about here. 1.5 miles from AoA/POP, at 15 miles an hour, is a 6 minute traverse. Then unload, move to DHS boarding, wait in line, get on a new Gondola, probably a 4 minute traverse to DHS. Going from CBR to EPCOT I'm assuming at least 8 minutes of travel time with the corners at 15mph. You can multiply all times by 1.5 if you think it tops out at 10mph.

What's the point of this? From AoA/POP to EPCOT it's 14 or 15 minutes on the Gondolas, plus wait lines and load and unload at CBR. How long does it take the bus to get you from AoA/POP to EPCOT? Google cites 21 to 26 minutes depending on where you are picked up (and avoiding those pesky things like loading ECVs). So assuming your transfer and wait time at CBR is less than 5 minutes, and the wait for the first bus and the first gondola, and travel to the bus top and the gondola stop is essentially a wash, I guess this would save you a bit of time. Certainly would be more fun though, and I suppose that's the real point.

Before people start picking at my numbers, and feel free to do so, I'm not defending them. They are estimates on distance, WAGs on speeds, and unofficial data for buses. But it was a slow last few minutes for work and I was curious what I'd come up with.

Ride time can be shorter than that. Gondolas vary in speed.

 

[Planogirl]

People often comment that the monorails aren't attractive and don't fit the theming of two of the MK resorts. This is certainly true BUT the monorails are kind of hidden on only one side of the two resorts. A gondola line cutting through the middle of CSR seems way more "in your face" and hard to picture. Not to mention possible towers - I dunno...

 

[ckelly14]

What's the point of this?

You wouldn't want a cool gondola ride instead of a bus? I hate taking buses...

 

[jknezek]

You wouldn't want a cool gondola ride instead of a bus? I hate taking buses...

Eh. Sorry my asking what is the point was in reference to my post, not to the gondola concept wasn't very clear now that I read it again

 

[beer dave]

View attachment 223873

The only thing that may be different from this is the location of the boarding building outside epcot-- It seems the building in the BW parking lot points to the vacant wooded lot between BC and the IG. Not much of a difference, but one none the less. Although then it would go over the convention building...

In retrospect, the gondola is the thing I wish I brought up with Joe......would have been interesting to see how he didn't answer.....

 

[skier_pete]

I suppose I could stroke my chin and say "hmm, interesting" and pretend to be wise, but I think I'm just better off asking. What am I looking at here? I know what a turbidity barrier is, but I'm assuming the footprint by the bridge is the interesting thing, and I'm not remotely sure why?

What's interesting about it is it would put the gondola station VERY central to BOTH AOA and Pop. There 4000 rooms between those two resorts, and if it means they feel they can increase room rates even $10 a night by adding gondola access - that's $400,000 a day, or $146 MILLION A YEAR.

Originally I dismissed the idea of them adding these values into the mix, but when I ran the capacity numbers, the capacity of the gondola system is way too high for just the number of patrons at CBR. Comined CBR, AOA, and Pop and you have a lot better situation. (There's going to be issues at Park Closing though!)

 

[nkosiek]

What's interesting about it is it would put the gondola station VERY central to BOTH AOA and Pop. There 4000 rooms between those two resorts, and if it means they feel they can increase room rates even $10 a night by adding gondola access - that's $400,000 a day, or $146 MILLION A YEAR.

Originally I dismissed the idea of them adding these values into the mix, but when I ran the capacity numbers, the capacity of the gondola system is way too high for just the number of patrons at CBR. Comined CBR, AOA, and Pop and you have a lot better situation. (There's going to be issues at Park Closing though!)

I think another question is whether or not they will discontinue buses to those resorts from these two parks. If you think about it, none of the monorail resorts have bus access to MK unless it is down, so I wonder if this will eliminate buses from these 3 resorts to these two parks.

 

[jknezek]

It's not just the monorail resorts. Any resort with non-bus transportation to a park does not have buses I believe. No bus from FW to MK, though there might be both buses and boats from WL to MK. Can't remember. No buses from YC or BC to EPCOT or DHS. But Pop and AoA are huge resorts. I know we keep speculating about gondola capacity, but it would need to be a lot of capacity from those resorts to EPCOT and DHS to eliminate buses.

 

[dlavender]

I think another question is whether or not they will discontinue buses to those resorts from these two parks. If you think about it, none of the monorail resorts have bus access to MK unless it is down, so I wonder if this will eliminate buses from these 3 resorts to these two parks.

I wouldn't think that they would eliminate them.

I'm sure that they will be able to cut down the amount of buses, however.

I'd have to imagine that they'd want to accommodate any guests that would have an aversion to a sky way system.