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

[scrappinginontario]

I'm sure the handling of gondolas going onto the secondary track will be automated somehow. All of the gondolas are numbered so it may be as easy as keying in a number or, possibly even an automated scan that takes place as a gondola moves out of the secondary section of the station. Again, all unknowns that will become clear once the system is operational. Disney is well familiar with guests in ECVs so I have great faith this has been well thought out and planned.

 

[Iowamomof4]

The doors would have to be closed again. When designing any equipment or system you have to assume the users will do the dumbest things possible, like rolling out a moving gondola.

Because capacity of the secondary load area is limited. There needs to be space for the arriving cabin to enter it. Conversely, a hole needs to be opened up on the mainline for a cabin to exit the secondary loop. That's why I think this all has to be tracked and managed by computer. I've seen images of a screen that shows the location of each cabin by its number. CM interaction may be limited to pushing a button saying, "OK, we have a cabin loaded and ready to go online," which would then allow the software to make sure there is space and switch the cabin into the secondary loop when it arrives at the far terminal.

Okay, thanks.

 

[joelkfla]

I'm sure the handling of gondolas going onto the secondary track will be automated somehow. All of the gondolas are numbered so it may be as easy as keying in a number or, possibly even an automated scan that takes place as a gondola moves out of the secondary section of the station. Again, all unknowns that will become clear once the system is operational. Disney is well familiar with guests in ECVs so I have great faith this has been well thought out and planned.

Shouldn't even be necessary. The cabin numbers will be scanned or keyed in when they're first put online, or maybe when the system starts up in the a.m. From then on, the system should be able to track the location of each cabin.

 

[SgtTibbs]

It's going to be a lot of fun after the Skyliner has been up and running for a few months and we know how everything works to come back an re-read large sections of this thread.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

It's going to be a lot of fun after the Skyliner has been up and running for a few months and we know how everything works to come back an re-read large sections of this thread.

Especially when it turns out the DO have A/C!!!

*ducking*

Kidding, kidding

 

[DanBoris]

So this will be at every station, correct?

Yes

We still don't know how Riviera will work. Since it's in the middle of a line it does not have the extra loops like the other stations.

 

[DanBoris]

Thank you both. It's a bit miss-leading when you playing around with reservations as it does list it as a transportation method..good think I checked on here

Yeah, it lists the skyliner even if you book dates for next week, and it clearly won't be open then.

 

[NotUrsula]

Based on an image I found from a technical document, double-platform stations have been built before, but because the drawing shows stairs everywhere, it appears that the original reason was for load speed capacity, so that more cars can go through the loading process at one time. (That's a guess; I'm not certain about it. It also could have been mandated by the terrain it was built on.) I'm going to upload a copy of the image here, but I cannot get the source document to open; it's firewalled.

Anyway, in this example the "inside" load platform is accessed by entering from underneath the "outside" one, and the load platforms are on curved sections. In Disney's case the "outside" loop is the stoppable one, presumably because the station is built all on one level. The stopped cars are parked on the curved part of the platform for loading, and the continuously moving cars are loaded (outgoing) and unloaded (incoming) via the straight sides of the platform. (Again, guessing, but it looks to me like the Skyliner platforms are a longer, narrower shape than this one is. Station designs vary; this is just one example of a type of station that has a double-looped platform setup.)

 

[SgtTibbs]

While the devil is in the details, the concept seems fairly straight forward. You have a couple of cars in the hold area. When one is ready to leave you pull an empty returning car into the hold area and slot the filled one into it's place, rinse and repeat as needed.

 

[OSUZorba]

I just watched a video posted yesterday of the cabins coming into the station. They come in fast then slow way down. The next cabin comes in fast then slows down and comes within a foot or so of the previous cabin. All the cabins are close together while they are in the station. Also, I didn't see anywhere they could pull a cabin off the line.

Finally a decent video with a closer to full house. Looks like they are still at a launch time of 12 seconds, which is only 3000 pph. The spacing in the station is closer than it was with just the three test cabins though, and looks like what I was originally expecting.

 

[OSUZorba]

Has there been any info on whether the character wraps are factory installed or done at WDW.
On a related note, has there been any info on how the gondala's will be identified as a ECV unit when coming into a station ? Will the ones without characters be the ones...if so that would be a shame.

My guess is when a seat is folded up (which will be necessary for an ECV) the people working at the station will know it has an ECV in it by what that folded up seat triggers (a light, transponder, something that lets them know from just looking at the incoming cars, or it will automatically trigger the car to go to the secondary loading station itself) Perhaps the seat being up overrides the door opening which sends it to the secondary load?

A couple of guesses. The easiest would be every X gondola is pulled off. This makes sure there is one always ready to go out when one comes in.

Otherwise, the computer system should be able to easily track which cabin was launched from the side line and know when it comes into the next station. This could be easily implemented with just cabin counting without even requiring specific cabin number tracking.

As for the doors, they are connected to a push pull cable that interacts with a fixed rail in the station. So unless they have made that rail moveable or can flip the roller into a different position when leaving the side load area I think the doors will open normally when the car enters the station.

Or what Iowamom said.

RE: How will a gondola containing an ecv be identified so they know it needs to go to the stationary part of the station?

Hmm... isn't it possible that it's as simple as this?
Gondola comes into the unload area of the station and the door automatically opens, station attendant sees a person on an ECV and instructs the occupants to remain where they are, attendant directs the gondola to the secondary load/unload zone, ECV and other occupants are then able to exit from a stationary gondola.

Why wouldn't that work?

 

[OSUZorba]

It's going to be a lot of fun after the Skyliner has been up and running for a few months and we know how everything works to come back an re-read large sections of this thread.

Not to pat myself on the back, but I did call out the second loading loop option 2 years ago before any construction started .

I still think there is a very good chance they will use the unsync method at Rivera.

it would be best to have a separate rail that would allow for full stopping of the gondola (can see something similar a little later in that video for the maintenance rail). Or at least the ability to unsync the gondolas in the house to allow stopping of one gondola (and those behind it it) without preventing the capture and release of the ones behind and forward of it.

These are problems that have solutions, being worked by people that do this for a living. They aren't going to have wheelchairs and ECVs dragged along by a gondola, and I seriously doubt (hope) that they are going to install a system that requires the whole cable to be stopped every time they do an ECV or wheelchair load/unload.

I did re-read some of other posts from back then and I'll say I've learn somethings since then.

Whats really funny is I brought up vandalism as a concern back then and everyone acted like I was nuts ("there is no vandalism at Disney!"), but I've seen that discussed some lately.

 

[dina444444]

Finally a decent video with a closer to full house. Looks like they are still at a launch time of 12 seconds, which is only 3000 pph. The spacing in the station is closer than it was with just the three test cabins though, and looks like what I was originally expecting.

In the videos I saw on twitter today they are down to about a 7/8 second launch time.

 

[OSUZorba]

In the videos I saw on twitter today they are down to about a 7/8 second launch time.

Nice, 8 is what they need for the 4500 pphpd. Do you have a link?

 

[dina444444]

Nice, 8 is what they need for the 4500 pphpd. Do you have a link?

https://twitter.com/androckb/status/1100825834175320066?s=21

 

[Spaceguy55]

Whats really funny is I brought up vandalism as a concern back then and everyone acted like I was nuts ("there is no vandalism at Disney!"), but I've seen that discussed some lately.[/QUOTE]


Here is the security system for that,

 

[OSUZorba]

https://twitter.com/androckb/status/1100825834175320066?s=21

Thanks, looks like 10 seconds to me, which would be 3600 pph.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Thanks, looks like 10 seconds to me, which would be 3600 pph.

I got 10 seconds too using the counter on the video.

 

[FindingTheMouse]

I've been following this thread for a while now and not commented. I'm very curious to see and experience the skyliner system when it is finished and running. I haven't read all of the posts in this nearly 300 page thread, so sorry if this was asked before. Has there been any discussion on bag checks/security? Will they set up the stations at the resorts similar to the monorail system now where people are checked prior to boarding and avoiding the bag check at the parks? I have not seen any mention of this elsewhere online either.

 

[Iowamomof4]

I've been following this thread for a while now and not commented. I'm very curious to see and experience the skyliner system when it is finished and running. I haven't read all of the posts in this nearly 300 page thread, so sorry if this was asked before. Has there been any discussion on bag checks/security? Will they set up the stations at the resorts similar to the monorail system now where people are checked prior to boarding and avoiding the bag check at the parks? I have not seen any mention of this elsewhere online either.

As of now, it would appear the gondolas will operate OUTSIDE security. So you'll go through bag check and everything at the park entrance the same as you do now.