Disney Skyliner - Gondola Transportation System

[JoeCamel]

It would be just as easy to apply to the windows.



If they're being loaded at Riviera, they have to be detached from the line. If they're detached from the line, it's possibly to loop them to the other side.

You can see the layout in this photo from Bioreconstruct. There is no provision to have the cabins come round to the other side of the bullwheels.


ETA: Sorry y'all, I posted a pic of the turn station not the Riv station. I'll see if I can find that but it is the same setup where the drive rails run you through the station without being able to cross to the other side.

 

[Teebin]

So, how these work is that they clamp-on and clamp-off the cable at various points? I am thinking that they line up closer together in the stations and therefore must be somewhat un-clamped.

 

[natespf]

They detach from the cable at stations and are then on a metal track. Though it would be physically possible to have track switches in the stations, this really wouldn't increase capacity and actually would have the potential of decreasing it.

Picture it this way, when a car is coming in a direction that is not needed there is also already another car coming in the opposite direction that is needed. Just send the empty cars around the loop and it'll work out. It'd just bog down the system to try to switch them around because they can't send out more cars at a given time.

 

[JoeCamel]

So, how these work is that they clamp-on and clamp-off the cable at various points? I am thinking that they line up closer together in the stations and therefore must be somewhat un-clamped.

Yes, as the cabins enter the station the grip is unclamped by a lever then the car runs up a rail propelled by the drive tires. The tires are computer controlled to space the cabins for loading/unloading then it runs around the end turn to be mated to the rope again and off they go.

 

[Doug A.]

I knew how it worked but never fully understood the mechanics of it, thanks for sharing that @JoeCamel. Fascinating for sure, I would agree with some points made earlier that you can’t take a gondola from one side and switch to the other. You would actually have to spin it 180 degrees to face the correct direction while transferring to other side.

 

[Scott W.]

I knew how it worked but never fully understood the mechanics of it, thanks for sharing that @JoeCamel. Fascinating for sure, I would agree with some points made earlier that you can’t take a gondola from one side and switch to the other. You would actually have to spin it 180 degrees to face the correct direction while transferring to other side.

This is how i imagined it. The red lines are the track that the gondolas ride on when in the station.



The only purpose for this would be for the Riviera station. If cabins were heading in the opposite direction, they could spin it around in the station instead of waiting for an empty one to appear from the current flow.

As @JoeCamel pointed out above, this obviously isn't happening.

The general idea was to speed things up and not allow for people to get pissy when it's busy and wonder why empty cabins were being sent out.

The empty cabin idea doesn't really work as I forgot about the hotels at Epcot and it will only ever be an issue in the morning. There's never going to be an empty stream of cabins when it's busy. In the morning, the Riviera station will be passed by with people from CBBR/Pop/Art heading to Epcot or the Epcot hotels heading to DHS. At night, the Riviera guests will board like everybody else.

 

[Nick]

With SWGE announced to open on August 29th, I would think that gives us a good indication that the opening date for the Skyliner has moved up from Fall to sometime in August. They're almost certainly going to want this system open for the land. Hell, it was built because of the larger amount of guest flow that will be going to DHS now (and to give certain hotels a mode of transportation)

 

[natespf]

This is how i imagined it. The red lines are the track that the gondolas ride on when in the station.

View attachment 9072

The only purpose for this would be for the Riviera station. If cabins were heading in the opposite direction, they could spin it around in the station instead of waiting for an empty one to appear from the current flow.

As @JoeCamel pointed out above, this obviously isn't happening.

The general idea was to speed things up and not allow for people to get pissy when it's busy and wonder why empty cabins were being sent out.

The empty cabin idea doesn't really work as I forgot about the hotels at Epcot and it will only ever be an issue in the morning. There's never going to be an empty stream of cabins when it's busy. In the morning, the Riviera station will be passed by with people from CBBR/Pop/Art heading to Epcot or the Epcot hotels heading to DHS. At night, the Riviera guests will board like everybody else.

Like I said it wouldn't be difficult to engineer a crossover track, the thing is it wouldn't really be a benefit. I mean guests will find something to complain about no matter what. But there will constantly be cars coming and leaving in both directions, with a bank of cabs at each station. For one to crossover it'd be taking the spot of one incoming in that direction anyway. So the previous station would need to skip intervals to account for them, it's the exact same thing as sending out empty cars but this way has less chance for problems. Then you also run into gridlock where there's not enough room, you gotta send the empty carts around the loop and let them queue up anyway.

 

[GAcoaster]

I know there is a huge number of CMs being pulled to do the Skyliner test & adjust beginning next week. Apparently they are being scheduled 5 days a week from 6am-6pm for testing, so expect to see a lot of testing happening starting next week.

 

[Nick]

I know there is a huge number of CMs being pulled to do the Skyliner test & adjust beginning next week. Apparently they are being scheduled 5 days a week from 6am-6pm for testing, so expect to see a lot of testing happening starting next week.

Like a handover to ops type of thing? If so, that would lead me to believe it could be open by early Summer.

 

[GAcoaster]

Still Test & Adjust, not a full handoff as far as I know.

 

[OLSinFLA]

Still Test & Adjust, not a full handoff as far as I know.

One of my friends just got hired there for Test & Adjust so no full timers hired yet

 

[fryoj]

Like I said it wouldn't be difficult to engineer a crossover track, the thing is it wouldn't really be a benefit. I mean guests will find something to complain about no matter what. But there will constantly be cars coming and leaving in both directions, with a bank of cabs at each station. For one to crossover it'd be taking the spot of one incoming in that direction anyway. So the previous station would need to skip intervals to account for them, it's the exact same thing as sending out empty cars but this way has less chance for problems. Then you also run into gridlock where there's not enough room, you gotta send the empty carts around the loop and let them queue up anyway.

Yeah, I think theres some confusion about how these things will work. The cabins will be moving all the time. They won't just stack them at a station waiting for guests to show up. Barring problems from guests holding them up or breakdowns, a cabin will leave every station at a set interval even if its empty. That means cabins are also arriving at the stations at the same set intervals. If that interval is 10 seconds, they can't just add cabins and make the intervals 5 seconds. They can reduce cabins and make the intervals longer if they have dead periods, but that would likely be an all day decision and not something they'd do on the fly. But if it's running at max capacity for busy periods, there won't be any adding cabins or doing bypasses.

 

[JoeCamel]

Yeah, I think theres some confusion about how these things will work. The cabins will be moving all the time. They won't just stack them at a station waiting for guests to show up. Barring problems from guests holding them up or breakdowns, a cabin will leave every station at a set interval even if its empty. That means cabins are also arriving at the stations at the same set intervals. If that interval is 10 seconds, they can't just add cabins and make the intervals 5 seconds. They can reduce cabins and make the intervals longer if they have dead periods, but that would likely be an all day decision and not something they'd do on the fly. But if it's running at max capacity for busy periods, there won't be any adding cabins or doing bypasses.

One exception to that is the double turn areas. Those were added to be able to hold a cabin stationary for disabled boarding/ disembarking.

 

[fryoj]

One exception to that is the double turn areas. Those were added to be able to hold a cabin stationary for disabled boarding/ disembarking.

Yeah, I'm sure there are drop out areas for problems at any transfer station, so they don't have to stop the whole line. But that won't change the overall flow in and out of the station.

 

[natespf]

If I had better skillz this would be animated, but hopefully it'd help others visualize all the moving parts.

Yellow is queuing to go out in the order they came in.
Green is leaving the station.
Orange is arriving at the station.
Blue is out on the lines.

Oh, and I swapped the directions because this is America!

 

[Scott W.]

If they do expand to Coronado, I hope they take it a step further and go to Blizzard Beach and AK.

 

[JoeCamel]

If they do expand to Coronado, I hope they take it a step further and go to Blizzard Beach and AK.

I would not expect expansion of this system anytime soon. Other than "consider the source" @Marni1971 was posting about the plans for inclement weather. Seems they are going to try bussing people to their destinations because the gondola will close when lightning is in the area. They did not budget for this so it is now a different calculation about the ROI.

 

[JoeCamel]

View attachment 9076

If I had better skillz this would be animated, but hopefully it'd help others visualize all the moving parts.

Yellow is queuing to go out in the order they came in.
Green is leaving the station.
Orange is arriving at the station.
Blue is out on the lines.

Oh, and I swapped the directions because this is America!

Add another round at each end where the cabins can stand still and you have it.
And we drive in the "right" side of the road here in Amerika :usa::tease:

Ooops, didn't mean to double post

 

[Nick]

Martin has said other forms of transportation are being looked at (such as PRT) for the DAK area. A gondola expansion is not in the works.