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

[joelkfla]

If you wanted to get on at IG at Epcot, and ride all the way to HS, how is that handled at each of the resort stops? Do you have to get off and get in line for each leg? Or is there a way to stay on your gondola and ride through?

You remain on thru Riviera, but everyone has to get off and line up to transfer at CBR.

 

[Searc]

You remain on thru Riviera, but everyone has to get off and line up to transfer at CBR.

Will that change once Riviera is open?

 

[Moliphino]

Will that change once Riviera is open?

Nope. And the Riviera station is already open.

 

[rteetz]

Yeah, like I said, they were strongly discouraging ecv's from getting off there.

I am sure that will change when Riviera opens as they will have to let people on ECVs off there.

 

[Searc]

Nope. And the Riviera station is already open.

I meant the resort, not the station.

 

[Mikey15]

I meant the resort, not the station.

They answered your question
As the station is already open, nothing changes Dec 16th when Riviera resort opens, aside from volume of guests.

 

[joelkfla]

I am sure that will change when Riviera opens as they will have to let people on ECVs off there.

Absolutely. It may change within a week. I think they were mainly trying to minimize the effect on the crowds yesterday.

 

[Searc]

They answered your question
As the station is already open, nothing changes Dec 16th when Riviera resort opens, aside from volume of guests.

Really? So you're telling me once Riviera Resort opens, no one will be allowed to disembark there? I don't think so.

 

[joelkfla]

Really? So you're telling me once Riviera Resort opens, no one will be allowed to disembark there? I don't think so.

Crossed conversations here. The "no change" comment was about not having to get off at Riviera when traveling between Epcot & CBR.

 

[CouponGirl]

So from what we can tell so far, are double strollers NOT being allowed to be rolled onto the skyliner?

 

[FinnsMom7]

Not sure if anyone else saw, or is there, but someone I follow online just posted its been almost 2 hours, Skyliner is down for maintenance with no updates given (but free bottles of water were)

 

[mom2aandj]

You remain on thru Riviera, but everyone has to get off and line up to transfer at CBR.

Thanks!!

 

[ozliz]

Well not a good start. Only day 2 and the line from Carribean Beach to Pop/AOA is down for maintenance with buses as a replacement and no advice as to when it will be back up and running.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

DIS put out a FAQ for the Skyliner ... obviously a bit limited to what they have personally experienced as far as wait times, etc. but thought it was a fairly good summary:

https://www.wdwinfo.com/walt-disney...out-the-disney-skyliner-at-walt-disney-world/

 

[wareagle57]

I probably wouldn't ride if I couldn't get a gondola for just me and my companions. Being stuck in a small box for a long time with a bunch of strangers is a no-go for me. I'll take the bus if they don't let you get a gondola for just you and your group.

Yeah, same. It's not the same as being in a cramped bus for whatever reason. It's a weird distinction and hard to explain to people who don't struggle with it, but it feels much more like sharing a table with someone at a quiet restaurant. I just felt very uncomfortable, like I couldn't talk and was subjected to listening to the other people's conversations. I get that's an irrational fear, but I don't think I'm alone. That by itself wouldn't be so bad. It's more when you combine the claustrophobia, no cross breeze, ect. So if you deal with those things, some rides may be fine, others might be a struggle to get through. But at the end of the day it's just a mode of transportation. My only real disappointment with it is the efficiency with all the stops. It's still faster to walk to Epcot from DHS, which is a bummer. And it may even be faster to take the friendship boats.

 

[sommergirl25]

At 2:42 the Pop/AOA line was down. They had us get on a bus to take us there. Only waited a few minutes.

 

[Bing Showei]

Were there any stoppages? This just isn't as fast as I had hoped it would be. Unless the timing is really bad, busses from pop would get you to Epcot under 25 minutes easily. I agree that if you have your own gondola and have a breeze going it's much nicer than riding in the busses. But for me, at times it was also much worse if we had to share a ride or it stopped. I love the views.

Staying at Pop, and potentially comparable bus times not withstanding, you're already paying for the Skyliner. Might as well enjoy it.

 

[sommergirl25]

Were there any stoppages? This just isn't as fast as I had hoped it would be. Unless the timing is really bad, busses from pop would get you to Epcot under 25 minutes easily. I agree that if you have your own gondola and have a breeze going it's much nicer than riding in the busses. But for me, at times it was also much worse if we had to share a ride or it stopped. I love the views.

It only stopped for a few minutes when we were in line, not when we were actually in the Gondola.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

I hate to be the one to say "we told you so", but we told you so. Disney guests are the original clueless-and-I-don't-have-to-make-any-effort-because-I'm-on-vacation-wonders. Load patterns at ski mountains (even WITH the equipment to stash in the outside cradles) are a wholly different animal than this population, and knowledge of the former won't help much with managing the latter.


Yep. These are the folks who just expect that because the place is very expensive (or has very visible security), that the people who work there will magically and automatically compensate for guest carelessness. Sort of, "I pay, therefore I needn't think."

RE a stationary load area at Riviera: Obviously, using a loop at a pass-through station wouldn't be feasible, but it seems to me that they might have done a ramped parallel "track" such as trains use to take cars off the main track for loading. (Actually, I was surprised to see that the Riviera station appears to be at ground level; somehow I had gotten the impression from the renderings that it was elevated up to be level with an elevated hotel plaza on that side of the building.)

I am waiting for the first report of a child getting on door closes and then parent realizes child is on and they are not with their child. not the same but sky ride CM at the small park I work at had a parent complaint because she could not reverse ride and get her child off as child had gone thru line got on ride and left station before mother looked up from phone to see child go by. hope parents read this and think as they stand in line

 

[sommergirl25]

Well, there was certainly a multi-page discussion on this exact issue a few months back. There were those of us who were guessing the skyliner would be more like an omnimover ride in terms of wait times (sometimes a walk-on, but a lot of the time a 20-30 minute wait). And then there were others who were certain that it was impossible for a line to build up and that it would always be a walk on.

Since the amount of stopping the line was not mechanical and was strictly due to guest error, I'm going to venture a guess that these stoppages will be a regular occurance even after the CM's are used to it.

As to the lines simply being from opening day excitement, I'm not so sure. We have to keep in mind that the crowds at Disney right now are incredibly low. I would guess that the skyliner waits are going to be just as crazy as opening day (if not more so) once the crowds pick up again. Can't even imagine what Christmas or Spring Break will be like...

Crowds this week are definitely NOT incredibly low. Yes, the first few weeks of September were but these crowds are VERY heavy.