Disney Skyliner - Gondola Transportation System

[GAcoaster]

Because monorails are a rarity, they are expensive since everything needs to be custom built. Had they caught on, it would be a different story.

Also, monorails are fairly labor intensive for Disney. Labor is their biggest cost and the biggest opportunity for saving money for the parks.

 

[IAmFloridaBorn]

Yeah I don't disagree Monorail's are more expensive to build, however it's worth pointing out they're one of the cheapest ways to build elevated transportation. This is why they're so popular in Japan and other areas where they are building elevated transportation. The idea that monorails cost more to maintain is simply ridiculous, you won't find any evidence to back that up.

Getting back on subject, gondolas are probably one of the few elevated transit systems that cost less than monorails so it does make sense for Disney to go for that option.

Oh yeah Initial built monorail is on top easily. You can say it's ridiculous that monorails cost more to maintain as much as you want but you're not providing anything that says otherwise for companies, or municipalities with smaller budgets opting for other forms of transit.

But I'm done.

:topic: for me as well.

 

[s8film40]

Oh yeah Initial built monorail is on top easily. You can say it's ridiculous that monorails cost more to maintain as much as you want but you're not providing anything that says otherwise for companies, or municipalities with smaller budgets opting for other forms of transit.

But I'm done.

:topic: for me as well.

Well I could go and quote all the various studies or the many systems operating worldwide that have claimed to have very low costs, but it's probably not a good idea to drag this topic that far off when anyone interested can simply google it. I'm not saying monorails are perfect and don't have their flaws. Obviously in certain situations they serve a purpose like this one where Disney has opted for gondala instead of monorail. I just think it's not such a great thing to spread blatant misinformation in an absolute manner like you did.

 

[IAmFloridaBorn]

Well I could go and quote all the various studies or the many systems operating worldwide that have claimed to have very low costs, but it's probably not a good idea to drag this topic that far off when anyone interested can simply google it. I'm not saying monorails are perfect and don't have their flaws. Obviously in certain situations they serve a purpose like this one where Disney has opted for gondala instead of monorail. I just think it's not such a great thing to spread blatant misinformation in an absolute manner like you did.

Whatever my dude, don't like what I said and dont agree cool. The ignore button can be your best friend. Obviously if you felt that strongly about it you would have these "facts" but you try nothing but to point bad mouth about my post. Typical though. Dont worry I won't be a bother to your responses much more.

 

[SkiBum]

As far as monorails go, I find the inverted monorail pretty darn cool. The Wuppertaler Schwebeban is awesome.

However, if Disney builds gondolas to EPCOT and DHS from the EPCOT resorts (moderates or whatever), that would be a great way to get to/from the parks. Dependable transportation running on schedule is really what people like. That and being able to move masses. What are the chief complaints with the buses? Crowded or they don't run timely. Plus, gondolas would take some of the bus traffic off of the roads which is another win.

 

[WAJAS]

As far as monorails go, I find the inverted monorail pretty darn cool. The Wuppertaler Schwebeban is awesome.

However, if Disney builds gondolas to EPCOT and DHS from the EPCOT resorts (moderates or whatever), that would be a great way to get to/from the parks. Dependable transportation running on schedule is really what people like. That and being able to move masses. What are the chief complaints with the buses? Crowded or they don't run timely. Plus, gondolas would take some of the bus traffic off of the roads which is another win.

Chief complaint I've heard is it takes to long to get from place to place. The roads weren't built to make bus transport efficient.

 

[Mad Dog]

Chief complaint I've heard is it takes to long to get from place to place. The roads weren't built to make bus transport efficient.

WDW's blessing in size is a curse in transport time.

 

[Nick]

I'd expect similar queues to what happens with Friendship Boats.

The Gondolas/Cable cars across the River Thames always have a queue, and they don't really go between anywhere that interesting, and also cost £6gbp per person, each way.

Well these aren't being built to be interesting. These are being built to provide an alternate mode of transport for roughly 8-9,000 onsite guests before Star Wars Land opens.

It's to keep the roads as manageable as possible.

 

[Jon84]

Well these aren't being built to be interesting. These are being built to provide an alternate mode of transport for roughly 8-9,000 onsite guests before Star Wars Land opens.

It's to keep the roads as manageable as possible.

My point is that the one in London doesn't go anywhere interesting, and always has a queue. The queues for these will be long, because they are going to places where people want to go, aka somewhere interesting .

I didn't mean at all about it being an experience. It is deffo functional, and people will use them, a lot. The loading and unloading will be a ops nightmare, people won't be ready to jump on the moving gondola, and they'll be backed up regularly waiting for people who havent folder a buggy etc.

 

[Nick]

My point is that the one in London doesn't go anywhere interesting, and always has a queue. The queues for these will be long, because they are going to places where people want to go, aka somewhere interesting .

I didn't mean at all about it being an experience. It is deffo functional, and people will use them, a lot. The loading and unloading will be a ops nightmare, people won't be ready to jump on the moving gondola, and they'll be backed up regularly waiting for people who havent folder a buggy etc.

How much you wanna bet it'll still be faster than using a bus though?

 

[Jon84]

How much you wanna bet it'll still be faster than using a bus though?

True! I guess it depends where you are going, I've never really had any issues with buses when staying on site, and I've done a few now.

Granted we've been staying off season, this June/July should be fun!!

 

[epcyclopedia]

If you had any doubts, permit filed yesterday is for "ITJ Utility Relocation and Prep" and covers the following addresses:

LOCATION "l"- 251 E.Buena VistaDr.,Bay Lake,FL
LOCATION "2"- 785 StudioDr.,Bay Lake,FL
LOCATION "3"- 1874Avenue oftheStars,Bay Lake,FL
LOCATION "4"- 1910AnimationWay, Bay Lake,FL
LOCATION "5"- 1051Sea BreezeDr.,Bay Lake,FL
LOCATION "6"- 1074SeaBreezeDr.,#C, Bay Lake,FL

That's the station locations.

I think it's also the first piece of paperwork that confirms Epcot (Avenue of the Stars) and Pop/AOA (Animation Way) are part of the same project

 

[SkiBum]

Chief complaint I've heard is it takes to long to get from place to place. The roads weren't built to make bus transport efficient.

That is also a valid complaint. On other forums, people ask about this resort or that one and busing appears to be one of the primary dislikes. For myself, I used the Magical Express and still rented a car from the onsite rentals on my past trip. I had found that, after walking around the parks and getting tired, I just didn't have the patience to wait on the next bus for my resort. With no posted arrival times, I preferred knowing that I could easily jump in the car and go.

If the gondolas had fairly routine schedules, I would use them. Of course, I typically stay at POR or WL and thus will experience no major benefit.

 

[fryoj]

My point is that the one in London doesn't go anywhere interesting, and always has a queue. The queues for these will be long, because they are going to places where people want to go, aka somewhere interesting .

I didn't mean at all about it being an experience. It is deffo functional, and people will use them, a lot. The loading and unloading will be a ops nightmare, people won't be ready to jump on the moving gondola, and they'll be backed up regularly waiting for people who havent folder a buggy etc.

I can't see them using a system where the gondolas don't stop. It only makes sense to have a system where the cars can uncouple from the cable for loading and unloading. Then when ready, it grabs the cable and off it goes. That way they can account for handicap or older riders. They can also add additional cars wherever they want as long as the system can handle it.

 

[GAcoaster]

I just wonder how they power air conditioning that will be strong enough to keep those little greenhouses cool in the summer sun.

 

[fryoj]

I just wonder how they power air conditioning that will be strong enough to keep those little greenhouses cool in the summer sun.

It would either have to be some sort of combination of solar, in station rapid charging, or some sort of additional wire that runs along the route and the car pulls power from it.

 

[Jon84]

I can't see them using a system where the gondolas don't stop. It only makes sense to have a system where the cars can uncouple from the cable for loading and unloading. Then when ready, it grabs the cable and off it goes. That way they can account for handicap or older riders. They can also add additional cars wherever they want as long as the system can handle it.

The systems I've seen can do both, the cars can stop, but to keep capacity up they need to keep it going as much as possible. There has to be a certain number of cars on the loop at any one time to keep it balanced.

It would cause frustration, but I could imagine Chair and Scooter users being asked to use the bus transport.

 

[Mad Dog]

The systems I've seen can do both, the cars can stop, but to keep capacity up they need to keep it going as much as possible. There has to be a certain number of cars on the loop at any one time to keep it balanced.

It would cause frustration, but I could imagine Chair and Scooter users being asked to use the bus transport.

Imagine a gondola filled with those supersized Scooter people. The cables would sag and drag along the ground.

 

[fryoj]

The systems I've seen can do both, the cars can stop, but to keep capacity up they need to keep it going as much as possible. There has to be a certain number of cars on the loop at any one time to keep it balanced.

It would cause frustration, but I could imagine Chair and Scooter users being asked to use the bus transport.

Yeah, thats going to be interesting how they engineer it. Where are they going to draw the line between over-engineering the system to handle anything and making it practical to build and pay for. They could build it to handle all of the cars on one side of the system, but the posts and footers would probably have to be massive and really expensive. So you assume they will do some sort of balancing, to allow the cars counterweight each other. But if you go too far with that, you reduce capacity as cars would have to wait till all cars are ready to go before any of them can move. Ultimately, I think it will be something like the pic below, just on a much more elaborate scale.

 

[GAcoaster]

I'm hearing that the gondola system will be operated by Reedy Creek (just like the DS parking garages). I just wonder when Reedy Creek will take over all of the Disney Transportation system...