Skyliner Gondolas Announced for Disney World!
The new gondola system at Walt Disney World connecting Art of Animation, Pop Century, Caribbean Beach, and Riviera Resorts with Disney’s Hollywood Studios and the International Gateway at Epcot was Disney’s worst kept secret…and it’s now official!
Bob Chapek, Chairman of Walt Disney Parks & Resorts announced that this gondola network will be called Disney Skyliner, and will soon give guests a bird’s-eye view of Walt Disney World. The gondolas will feature retro-inspired designs, and feature favorite Disney characters on the exterior.
In addition to the Skyliner gondola system, Walt Disney World announced a point-to-point transportation service in the style of Uber or Lyft called “Minnie Vans.” These vans will feature Minnie Mouse stylization and are expected to have a flat-rate fee per trip.
Let’s dig a little deeper into both of these transportation announcements for Walt Disney World…
My Reaction
Let’s start with the Minnie Vans, which has been rumored recently, but without much concrete info. This is interesting. The rumored flat rate fee of $20 per use would make it competitive with taxis, and about double the cost of an average Uber or Lyft fare.
In both cases, that’s probably “close enough” that a lot of guests will opt for the Minnie Van rather than a taxi or ride-sharing service. Even though Uber and Lyft have significant market penetration, a lot of people are still unfamiliar or uncomfortable with the service (when I go home to my small hometown in Michigan, Uber is not even an option because there are no drivers). Some comments on our Tips for Using Uber at Walt Disney World post demonstrate skepticism about the safety of the services, too.
I suspect for a lot of these people, Minnie Vans will present a much more appealing alternative. That is, if Walt Disney World doesn’t just squash Uber and Lyft completely by banning them from property or charging them fees akin to what we’ve seen at airports. There’s nothing requiring Walt Disney World to allow those third party services, so how they treat them going forward will be interesting.
It’ll also be fascinating to watch how much traction the Minnie Vans gain. One of the reasons the gondola system is being built is because Walt Disney World’s transportation infrastructure (read: the roads) is overburdened, and a service like the Minnie Vans only has the potential to exacerbate that. (Eliminating Uber and Lyft could help offset that.)
Perhaps Walt Disney World will test the waters for the Minnie Vans with a slow, under the radar roll out without much in the way of public announcements or marketing. One of those, “it’s there for people who know about it, but we aren’t going to market it heavily” kind of things.
With regard to the gondolas, I don’t think there’s any real new information here, aside from the name. Rather than just regurgitating everything I’ve already posted about gondola capacity, the manufacturers, efficiency, etc., I’d encourage you to read our previous post about gondolas at Walt Disney World. Just scroll past the portion concerning the rumors.
Overall, I’m excited about the gondolas and indifferent to the Minnie Vans. We enjoy using Uber and Lyft as an alternative to the bus system when the waits are too long, but would prefer for Walt Disney World’s transportation system to be more efficient so we can just use that. The gondola system is a step in the right direction in that regard, and even the buses have been getting better in recent years (the wait time boards are great–now please add that feature to the My Disney Experience app!).
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Your Thoughts
What do you think about this Disney Skyliner gondola system? Any sightline or other concerns this project raises? Does it make you more excited to stay in the Skyliner Resorts? Are you concerned that this will cause prices to increase at the hotels along the Skyliner? Thoughts on the Minnie Vans? Share any questions or additional thoughts you have in the comments!
I know this is over a year after your original post, but I recently used the Minnie Vans while there and found them expensive, but well worth it. They work thru the Lyft app, but are not otherwise Lyft vehicles. The vehicles are maintained by Disney and the drivers are Disney employees. It was a great Disney experience and super helpful and easy to use.
I think we are driving in and have to pay to park at the resort. So we can drive our vehicle and not pay for parking at the park, we can come and go as we want. We have 15 in our family and are paying a mint to vacation at Disney World. So much for free transportation. Why not put more buses so there is less of a wait
What excites me about the Minnie vans is that they have good, safe car seats and know how to install them. As a parent of small children that makes a huge difference and means that I can use them to safely get my kid around on something other than busses or monorail.
My husband refuses to use Uber, so for our family, these Minnie Vans might make sense, though I think $20 a pop is pretty expensive. But I don’t really know how Uber works, so I am wondering how could they eliminate Uber from operating at Disney? My understanding is that they are just people who have a car and sign up to be a driver. So if the Uber driver has an annual pass, how can they keep them off the property? How can they tell an uber driver from a rented car?
The gondolas…will there still be bus service, or will transportation from CBR, AoA, and PopC be exclusively Gondolas when going to HS or Epcot? I’m terrified of heights…the chances of getting me on one of these death contraptions is slim to none. Will I have to take a bus to DS or MK and then transfer? I hope there are alternatives!
Bus wait times on the App would be unreal!
We have to think about car seats for the foreseeable future so we can’t take advantage of Uber, Lyft, or these new Minnie Vans.
The carseat issue is actually why I am so excited for the Minnie Vans – they are supposed to have 2 car seats for use. We used Uber this past March for our family of 5 (one in a carseat) when the bus wait was too long, and had to use UberXL+ carseat – it was the best $37 we ever spent, but $20 would be a no brainer especially with young kids.
Good to know! Thank you.
I thought about Mears like Kevin mentioned. I’ve used them in the past rather than Uber (though I’ve been an Uber driver in the past) because I was in an ECV which they equipped to handle.
I predict that Disney will eventually use the Minnie Vans to test the waters of driverless vehicles.
My first visit to WDW was in 1980 as a four year old, and the monorails will always be near and dear to my heart (my wife still doesn’t get my infatuation with riding THROUGH the Contemporary!). The gondolas are a cool idea and proven around the world as safe efficient transportation. One thought is that I wonder if they’ll have a sponsor? Seems like a perfect fit for an airline to sponsor the “Skyliner.” Wouldn’t be surprised if it becomes the Southwest Airlines Skyliner, then they could play “If You had Wings” in the gondola, that would be awesome.! (And yes I know Eastern Airlines was the sponsor then but they’d be tough to get onboard again…)
good news,
the price of AoA, POP, and Caribbean will be going up about $25-$50 a night.
its sad the prices have to go up when you are paying additional for the van and gondola….its not like they are some great bonus you get in your stay package….I LOVE DISNEY but I have a sad feeling it is going to price itself out of orbit…the middle class will not be able to go much longer..it truly is going to be the every 5-8 year vacation
I’m curious how the Minnie Vans will impact Disney’s relation to Mears, which has always seemed pretty strong. At $20/trip, that seems to be the business they will be cutting into.
Overall, I’m indifferent to the vans. I’ve used it to go off-site, but have taken the busses on-site (even times when Uber probably would have made sense – like trying to get to an early AM ADR and walking up literally 5 seconds too late to get on the bus. Then waiting 20-25 minutes for the next bus.)
I’m really excited for the gondolas (but probably not excited as to what it will do to the room price at Pop!). My early childhood memories of WDW are limited, but I remember just how cool riding the monorail was. I think the gondola could be a similar experience.
For DVC tours they picked us up in the van’s and had super nice kids car seats which our 4 year old sat in, so I’d imagine they would have them for these as well.
Did they give any hint at anticipated completion date for the Skyliner gondolas?
I’ve read on other boards that the plan/hope is in time for the opening of the Star Wars land.
If they do provide car seats I would guess it would be with similar limitations as Uber, minimum 12 Mo. And 22lbs And 31″.
They are Graco4evers, so newborn to high back booster, the perfect seat for this. And there are two.
https://csftl.org/skinny-minnie-vans/
I’m curious to know if the Minnie Vans will have car seats available. On our last trip to Disney World, we had an 8 month old with us and decided to rent a car because of the need for a car seat. But we also stayed at an on-property, but non-Disney owned hotel. So maybe the Minnie Vans wouldn’t have helped us anyway…