Quantcast First Look Inside Disney Skyliner
 
INTERCOT: Walt Disney World Vacation Planning Guide Walt Disney World Disney Cruise Line Mousehut Mail WebDisney News INTERCOT: Walt Disney World Vacation Guide
News Discussion Theme Parks Resorts Info Central Shop Interactive Podcast INTERCOT Navigtion
Site Sponsors
  magical journeys travel agency
  INTERCOT shop

INTERCOT Affiliates
  disney magicbands & accessories
  disneystore.com
  disney fathead
  disney check designs
  amazon.com
  priceline.com

News
  site search
  headlines
  past updates
  discussion boards
  email update

INTERCOT Other
  advertising
  sponsors
  link to us
  contact us
     

INTERCOT Ads
 

 
 

Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 20 of 29
  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2001
    Location
    Imaginoppolis, Imagination Island
    Posts
    14,530
    Post Thanks / Like

    Exclamation First Look Inside Disney Skyliner

    The Walt Disney World resort gave a first look inside the Disney Skyliner Gondolas today to local Florida media:

    Quote Originally Posted by Gabrielle Russon |Orlando Sentinel

    Name:  2.jpg
Views: 1986
Size:  95.2 KB

    ... Soon the Disney Skyliner system of 300 gondolas, opening to the public later this fall, will carry enough Disney-goers to roughly match the capacity of its monorail trains, company officials said.

    “Our vision is, this is the most magical flight on Earth,” said Dean Huspen, a principal architect with Walt Disney Imagineering.

    Disney leaders gave a construction update Tuesday on the gondolas, which are in testing. All but one was covered in plastic, protecting them like a new car. They will gradually be unveiled starting around May to show off the eight bright colors and 22 Disney characters themes.

    Name:  1.jpg
Views: 1979
Size:  92.7 KB

    By August, Disney employees could be among the first passengers during the testing process that will run for months around-the-clock.

    Running on more than six miles of cable, the gondolas will travel about 11 mph, giving passengers a bird’s eye view of Walt Disney World Resort’s lakes, roads, woods and into Epcot and Hollywood Studios. The typical ride will last between five to 15 minutes as gondolas fly from 15 feet up to about 60 feet in the air.

    Name:  3.jpg
Views: 1951
Size:  88.1 KB

    “They are fabulous views,” said Thomas Mazloum, a Disney senior vice president who oversees transportation and resorts, who said the ride will feel much faster than 11 mph.

    Inside a gondola, twin wooden benches can carry up to 10 people.

    ...

    Name:  os-1555434798-ckc5l7bg60-snap-image.jpg
Views: 1945
Size:  54.0 KB

    “We have specifically designed them with the Florida climate in mind,” Mazloum said, pointing to reflective windows that block out the sunlight and the mesh screens on both sides to bring in a breeze. {INTERCOT Note:Apparent Vents Highlighted in Yellow}

    At the stations, gondolas will pull in, constantly moving, for guests to climb on. Disney will have the capacity to pause the gondolas for people in wheelchairs and those who need extra time to board.
    Figment! aka Jason ºoº
    INTERCOT STAFF
    News, Rumours & Imagineering
    Dining
    Vacations Beyond Disney

    ~It’s what us storytellers do; we restore order with imagination, we instill hope again and again~

    ~We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things~

  2. Thanks PopPhan, Jeff, magicofdisney, TheVBs thanked for this post
    Likes PopPhan, TheVBs liked this post
  3.     Please Support INTERCOT's Sponsors:
  4. #2
    Join Date
    May 2000
    Location
    Houston, TX
    Posts
    14,528
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    Very cute, but still doubting the "natural ventilation" aspect. In theory it sounds adequate, but in the middle of a humid Florida summer afternoon, I think it will be more than a mite uncomfortable!
    Beth
    INTERCOT Staff--
    Theme Parks and Accommodations



    Take a look at what INTERCOT's wonderful sponsors have to offer!

  5. Likes Jeff, waymickey liked this post
  6. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    Ann Arbor, MI
    Posts
    1,130
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    I still want to know how they're going to handle a "stall" or evacuation. 60 feet in the air with no ventilation, in a swaying gondola? I'm gonna flip out inside of two minutes! How are they going to get people out of there if needed? Any communication capabilities between operators & gondolas? Or are you just left hanging there with no info on why? While I like the idea, there are still too many "What If's" for me to be comfortable with it. I'll stick with the busses for now. At least if they break down I can get out & walk.
    First trip, Christmas 1971.
    Last Trip, Oct. 2017 - ICOT20!
    Next Trip: Planning...Always Planning

  7. Likes waymickey, Laurenpetro liked this post
  8. #4
    Join Date
    Oct 1997
    Location
    INTERCOT, SC
    Posts
    10,997
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    Nothing says comfort like Cross Ventilation and Wooden Bench Seats

    I'm with Brad - the thought of being stuck in the air - in 90 degree heat for 5-10 minutes doesn't sound appealing.

    That said - I'll ride and give it a chance.
    John - aka. The Master Control Program
    Owner, Chairman & Chief Imagination Officer - INTERCOT

  9. Likes PopPhan, baldburke liked this post
  10. #5
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    northeast USA
    Posts
    865
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    Will someone be helping people board the gondolas to ensure they are not over crowded or over weighted?
    I think they are neat but I don't think I will be comfortable riding during the hot months, and I wonder what happens during a stall or breakdown. I will flip out being stuck for a long period of time with no information or parachute
    Disney Cruise 2017
    AKL 2016
    PORR 2015
    Beach Club 2013
    POP Century August 2011
    Disney Cruise Dream 2011
    Cruise Disney Wonder 2006
    Wilderness Lodge, 04, 06, 08, 10
    Allstar Movies 02
    Allstar Sports 96. 98, 00
    Offsite 2015 x2, 90,89, 85

  11. #6
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    Huntsville, Alabama
    Posts
    1,374
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    I have been thinking the same thing and now I see the wooden benches. I will give it a shot too. I would assume they did a lot of design and testing work on the cross ventilation. Maybe the way it is designed provides a pretty good breeze through the cabin but like others have mentioned, what if it stops? I can't imagine sitting in that thing for more than a minute in the summer if it isn't moving to keep air coming through.

  12. Likes baldburke liked this post
  13. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Location
    York, PA
    Posts
    3,128
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    Not meaning to be a contrarian here, but how are these all that much different than the monorail when it goes down?

    True, there are A/C units on the monorail cars, but with a power outage, how do they function? When the monorail cars are not in a station, how are people evacuated?

    I understand everyone's concerns, but almost all the concerns with the SkyLiner could also be said for the monorails.
    -Bud

    Walt Disney World:
    9/03 - CBR
    1/09 - BWV
    9/05; 2/07; 12/07; 9/08; 9/09; 9/10; 9/11; 12/13; 12/17; 4/18; 10/18, 4/23 - PC
    5/15 - POR
    1/22 - ASMO
    10/22 - ASMU

    Disneyland: 12/15 - Paradise Pier Hotel

    Next up: ???

  14. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2000
    Location
    St. Peters, MO
    Posts
    4,013
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by PopPhan View Post
    I understand everyone's concerns, but almost all the concerns with the SkyLiner could also be said for the monorails.
    The monorail system has the tow unit that can come pull the monorail back to a station.
    Dave aka: Altair
    "Even though they're graceful when swimmin', it's hard to believe sailors thought they were women" - Manatee area, the Living Seas

  15. #9
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Location
    York, PA
    Posts
    3,128
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Altair View Post
    The monorail system has the tow unit that can come pull the monorail back to a station.
    And you don't believe they will (or do) have something like that for the SkyLiner gondolas? Gotta believe they are smarter than that....
    -Bud

    Walt Disney World:
    9/03 - CBR
    1/09 - BWV
    9/05; 2/07; 12/07; 9/08; 9/09; 9/10; 9/11; 12/13; 12/17; 4/18; 10/18, 4/23 - PC
    5/15 - POR
    1/22 - ASMO
    10/22 - ASMU

    Disneyland: 12/15 - Paradise Pier Hotel

    Next up: ???

  16. Likes baldburke liked this post
  17. #10
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Wilmington DE
    Posts
    1,617
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    I for one am looking forward to it. As was mentioned before, you've got to figure that they've tested it for comfort and safety in Florida extremes. Heck, if it works well then maybe it's a gateway for future expansion to perhaps AKL and other WDW resorts.
    Beth & David

    09/82 Treehouse Villas, 06/86 BVP, 10/95 CBR, 10/99 DI, 08/03 PORS, 10/05 POP, 11/06 AKL, 09/09 POLY, 10/10 Wonder, 05/11 Dream/PORS, 08/13 POLY, 11/13 GF, 04/15 POLY, 11/15 BLT, 11/16 Aulani, 03/17 BLT, 08/18 BLT, 07/19 AKL, 06/21 BLT

  18. #11
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    Arizona
    Posts
    8,024
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by PopPhan View Post
    Not meaning to be a contrarian here, but how are these all that much different than the monorail when it goes down?

    True, there are A/C units on the monorail cars, but with a power outage, how do they function? When the monorail cars are not in a station, how are people evacuated?

    I understand everyone's concerns, but almost all the concerns with the SkyLiner could also be said for the monorails.
    The monorail has concrete below it. I don't want to be stuck dangling in the air for an unknown amount of time with or without air flow. I will try it once to say I did it. That is what I make myself do with things that make me uncomfortable. After that, I'll pass.
    I'll meet you at the Rainbow Bridge.

  19. #12
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    Huntsville, Alabama
    Posts
    1,374
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Cinderelley View Post
    The monorail has concrete below it. I don't want to be stuck dangling in the air for an unknown amount of time with or without air flow. I will try it once to say I did it. That is what I make myself do with things that make me uncomfortable. After that, I'll pass.
    Maybe it is just the engineer in me but I am scratching my head on this comment. Whether you are in a train sitting on a narrow strip of concrete or in a gondola hanging from a large high strength steel cable, what is really the difference? If you opened the doors on either, you are looking at nothing but a 30 to 60 foot drop in most places. You can't step out of either and walk or climb down.

  20. Thanks PopPhan thanked for this post
    Likes PopPhan, Speedy1998 liked this post
  21. #13
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    Northeast USA
    Posts
    412
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by brad192 View Post
    I still want to know how they're going to handle a "stall" or evacuation. 60 feet in the air with no ventilation, in a swaying gondola? I'm gonna flip out inside of two minutes! How are they going to get people out of there if needed? Any communication capabilities between operators & gondolas? Or are you just left hanging there with no info on why? While I like the idea, there are still too many "What If's" for me to be comfortable with it. I'll stick with the busses for now. At least if they break down I can get out & walk.
    I had a long career in the snowsports industry at the on-hill management level. I'm heavily trained in lift evac. and have done it from both ends of the deal in both training and 'for real'. I know how detach lifts work...and how evac works.

    There are certain faults that prevent running the haul rope (high-speed cable that the cabins clamp onto). when that situation happens (and it is when not if).... it is a manual, cabin by cabin evacuation routine. That is slow going work that you can't rush for safety reasons. Multiple teams, going cabin to cabin, lowering people out who strap themselves into a web harness in the cabin, and than have to go "out the door" to be lowered to the ground (and over water... to the boat) on a rope. One of the things that slows it all down is the art of coaxing people who do not want to do it that they HAVE to do it.

    For most people... it is a scary "trust" adventure. (Like the old .... just fall over straight backward and these people you don't know will catch you.)

    One thing that is a driving issue in the case of lift evac is the weather. In the mountains, we are always dealing with the issue of hypothermia and frostbite potentially being a real concern on a particularly cold day. In Florida in the summer... it will be the opposite factor driving the concerns.

    Personally, not a big fan of this method of transport except maybe in January.

    best,

    ..............john

    PS: I'm guessing here for SURE ... but I'd bet that an evac there is going to take at least 2 hours to get that last people out of the last cabin. And that is if all goes pretty smoothly.

    DVC Member 2016 AKL
    After: October 2019 F+W Fest <Jambo>
    Next: March 2019 Flower and Garden Fest <Jambo>
    Last: August 2018 <Kidani>
    October 2017 F+W Fest <Kidani>
    Also: 1988, 1990, 1992, 1997, 2010, 2012, 2015, 2016
    Disneyland - 1972

  22. Thanks Figment! thanked for this post
  23. #14
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    Northeast USA
    Posts
    412
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by PopPhan View Post
    And you don't believe they will (or do) have something like that for the SkyLiner gondolas? Gotta believe they are smarter than that....
    Can't be done for certain faults when you can't run the haul rope.

    If the fault is not that type, they can run the cable at slow speed and eventually offload all the cabins.

    Faults where they CAN run the haul rope are the more common issues on detach lifts. Luckily.

    best,

    ............john

    DVC Member 2016 AKL
    After: October 2019 F+W Fest <Jambo>
    Next: March 2019 Flower and Garden Fest <Jambo>
    Last: August 2018 <Kidani>
    October 2017 F+W Fest <Kidani>
    Also: 1988, 1990, 1992, 1997, 2010, 2012, 2015, 2016
    Disneyland - 1972

  24. #15
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    Arizona
    Posts
    8,024
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by 1DisneyNut View Post
    Maybe it is just the engineer in me but I am scratching my head on this comment. Whether you are in a train sitting on a narrow strip of concrete or in a gondola hanging from a large high strength steel cable, what is really the difference? If you opened the doors on either, you are looking at nothing but a 30 to 60 foot drop in most places. You can't step out of either and walk or climb down.
    If the cable for the gondola breaks, I'm just going to free fall with not much around me to break my fall. Yes, I'm afraid of heights.
    I'll meet you at the Rainbow Bridge.

  25. #16
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    Northeast USA
    Posts
    412
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Cinderelley View Post
    If the cable for the gondola breaks, I'm just going to free fall with not much around me to break my fall. Yes, I'm afraid of heights.
    The odds of THAT kind of failure are almost non-existent. So if that is a concern..... not an issue.

    best,

    ..............john

    DVC Member 2016 AKL
    After: October 2019 F+W Fest <Jambo>
    Next: March 2019 Flower and Garden Fest <Jambo>
    Last: August 2018 <Kidani>
    October 2017 F+W Fest <Kidani>
    Also: 1988, 1990, 1992, 1997, 2010, 2012, 2015, 2016
    Disneyland - 1972

  26. #17
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    San Francisco Bay Area
    Posts
    1,012
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    I was in a gondola in the spring in Colorado once. There were really high winds. They probably shouldn’t have been operating. Our gondola was blowing back and forth to an almost ninety degree angle and once you’re on there’s nothing to really do except continue forward. That’s what I picture when I think of these things. I don’t know if I’d be using them.

  27. #18
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    Houston
    Posts
    2,343
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Cinderelley View Post
    If the cable for the gondola breaks, I'm just going to free fall with not much around me to break my fall. Yes, I'm afraid of heights.
    And when the nearly 50 year old concrete cracks and breaks you won’t have much to break your fall either. Point is neither scenario is very likely.
    "Welcome, Foolish Mortals..."

  28. #19
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    Houston
    Posts
    2,343
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    I’m probably in the minority here, but how is the “natural” ventilation different than any of the outdoor attraction at Parks. And for that matter how are wooden benches worse than the hard plastic seats on the buses?

    Actually come to think of it most of current attractions at DHS have outdoor queues and it has three outdoor shows (with hard metal benches). You folks are complaining about a 5 to 15 minute ride in the gondola, how many times have you waited longer than that for Fantasmic, Beauty and the Beast or Indiana Jones stunt spectacular. Or up till a few years ago Lights, Motor, Action. All are/were outside with hard metal benches.
    "Welcome, Foolish Mortals..."

  29. #20
    Join Date
    May 2000
    Location
    Houston, TX
    Posts
    14,528
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Speedy1998 View Post
    I’m probably in the minority here, but how is the “natural” ventilation different than any of the outdoor attraction at Parks. And for that matter how are wooden benches worse than the hard plastic seats on the buses?

    Actually come to think of it most of current attractions at DHS have outdoor queues and it has three outdoor shows (with hard metal benches). You folks are complaining about a 5 to 15 minute ride in the gondola, how many times have you waited longer than that for Fantasmic, Beauty and the Beast or Indiana Jones stunt spectacular. Or up till a few years ago Lights, Motor, Action. All are/were outside with hard metal benches.
    Yes, but all of the scenarios you mention are actually pretty uncomfortable in hot and humid weather (and I've lived in Florida and now Houston-like you-for 30 years, so I know hot and humid weather). Skepticism aside, I will definitely try the Gondolas the next I get to WDW. I always like experiencing new things.
    Beth
    INTERCOT Staff--
    Theme Parks and Accommodations



    Take a look at what INTERCOT's wonderful sponsors have to offer!

Share This Thread On Social Media:

Share This Thread On Social Media:

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  

 
Company
Advertising
Guest Relations
Community
Discussion Boards
Podcast
Newsletter
Shop
Social
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
YouTube
Pinterest
Subscribe to our Newsletter
Enter your email address below to receive our newsletter:
INTERCOT Logo PRIVACY STATEMENT / DISCLAIMER | DISCUSSION BOARD RULES
© Since 1997 INTERCOT - a Levelbest Communications Website. This is not an official Disney website.
> Levelbest Network Site