Disney Skyliner Gondolas Close for Refurbishment in 2024 (EARLY REOPENING!)
Walt Disney World is closing the Skyliner gondola system for maintenance in early 2024. This post covers refurbishment dates and details, why we wouldn’t book an impacted hotel, recommended resort alternatives–plus, news about the surprise reopening. (Updated January 26, 2024.)
This routine downtime of the “Most Magical Flight on Earth” affects all of the Skyliner routes and resorts. These gondolas service two Walt Disney World theme parks (Hollywood Studios and Epcot) plus four resorts (Art of Animation & Pop Century, Caribbean Beach, plus Riviera Resort & Caribbean Beach again) via 5 stations.
The Skyliner gets annual preventative maintenance at about the same time this year, the duration of which and approach (all lines at once or in phases) has varied from year to year. The 2024 closure is the longest downtime that Disney and Doppelmayr have done since the Skyliner gondolas opened.
January 26, 2024 UPDATE: Walt Disney World’s Skyliner has made a surprise early reopening from refurbishment! The gondola system has been closed for the last couple of weeks, and was set to officially reopen on January 28, 2024.
However, it started operating this morning, ahead of schedule–as the refurbishment is now completed. The Skyliner will resume its regular hours of operation, opening ahead of Early Entry and closing after both EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
This is great to see, especially as winter crowds have been elevated at Walt Disney World. We’ve become Skyliner ‘power users’ in the last few years, and it was honestly a bit eerie to have the gondolas down. Though the system is relatively new in the grand scheme of Walt Disney World’s 50+ year existence, it already feels like it’s always been there (at least to us!)–and we already kind of take it for granted. I really missed having the Skyliner for Park Hopping between the EPCOT Festival of the Arts and Disney’s Hollywood Studios last week!
Anyway, below are the details about the Skyliner refurbishment, preserved for the sake of posterity (especially since history will likely repeat itself in January 2025–this is an annual refurbishment).
During the Skyliner refurbishment, Walt Disney World will offer bus service between the impacted hotels and the parks. Hopefully, this means increased frequency, as our past experience using and testing bus routes between the Skyliner resorts and parks left a lot to be desired. Let’s start with the details of the Skyliner refurbishment, per the correspondence sent out by Walt Disney World.
In order to maintain the highest quality standards, Walt Disney World must conduct refurbishments from time to time. To help guests plan for vacations early next year, Disney is sharing that Disney Skyliner will be closed for routine maintenance in January 2024 for the below date ranges:
January 16-21, 2024
- The Skyliner gondolas line between Disney’s Pop Century Resort, Disney’s Art of Animation, and Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort will be closed.
- The Skyliner gondolas line between Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort and Disney’s Hollywood Studios will be closed.
January 16-27, 2024
- The Skyliner gondolas line between Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort, Disney’s Riviera Resort, and the International Gateway at EPCOT will be closed.
If it helps to visualize, here’s how those stations look on a map:
There’s only one line to Disney’s Hollywood Studios and EPCOT, so park access is unavailable via Skyliner when those lines are down for maintenance. Bus transportation will be available at all Disney Skyliner Resorts throughout the planned closure so guests can reach their desired destinations across Walt Disney World.
Despite Walt Disney World indicated that this is to help guests plan in advance, these dates are actually being released over two months later than last year. I’m guessing that many/most guests traveling to Walt Disney World in late January 2024 already booked trips given that special offers started coming out over a month ago. Kinda disappointing that Disney waited so long to release these dates, especially given that they’re relatively consistent from year to year.
Looking forward to early 2025, we’d expect a similar Skyliner closure during roughly the same date range.
This year, the Skyliner was closed for routine maintenance from January 22 until January 29. Last year, the closure was January 23-28. In 2021, there were a series of single-day downtime for individual routes between January 24 and 28. There was no closure in 2020 (well, unless you count the multi-month one when all of Walt Disney World was ‘temporarily unavailable’), but the Skyliner was also brand new, then.
Suffice to say, it seems safe to assume history will repeat itself and this will be an annual thing for some or all routes during the last full week of January 2025, 2026, etc. That week tends to be a slow time at Walt Disney World, so plan accordingly.
To each their own, but our recommendation would be to not stay in a Skyliner resort during the refurbishment. The reason for this is quite simple: all of the Skyliner resorts have a significant pricing premium due to the gondola service.
While you might think it’s impossible to quantify what each amenity actually contributes to the rack rates at each resort, this is not simply conjecture on our part. With the exception of Riviera, all of the other hotels pre-date the Skyliner, so it’s entirely possible to track their pricing both before and after the Skyliner.
Every single hotel has gone up in price since 2019. This is true both in terms of rack rates and when it comes to effective pricing after discounts. However, not all resorts have gone up by equal increments.
Two of the biggest ‘offenders’ in all of Walt Disney World in terms of percentage cost increases are Pop Century and Caribbean Beach. This is particularly pronounced at Caribbean Beach, which went from being one of Walt Disney World’s more aggressively discounted resorts to one that is frequently excluded from special offers or in one of the lower-tiers of savings.
It’s possible that this is not entirely attributable to the Skyliner. Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort also had a massive reimagining prior to the Skyliner’s debut, which likely was not fully reflected in its pricing by late 2019. Maybe the low menu prices for that glorious family-style feast at Sebastian’s Bistro are subsidized by higher room rates!
Moreover, the addition of Disney’s Riviera Resort–while arguably adding visual blight and reducing the seclusion and ambiance at Caribbean Beach–expanded the slate of Barefoot Bay amenities and added both Signature and character dining within walking distance.
Suffice to say, if you’re visiting Walt Disney World during the Skyliner closure, we recommend staying elsewhere. The obvious alternative is Coronado Springs, which itself saw a similar reimagining and expansion a few years ago. That Moderate Resort added the Deluxe-caliber Gran Destino Tower to its grounds, bringing many of the same improved amenities that Caribbean Beach saw added with Riviera Resort.
The biggest downside of Coronado Springs is the all-bus transportation, and one of the few reasons we hesitate to recommend that Moderate Resort to those reliant upon Disney to get around. (Those with their own vehicle, rental cars, or who will use Uber or Lyft should strongly consider it.) That disadvantage obviously still exists, but during that timeframe it’ll exist at Caribbean Beach, too.
In most other regards, Coronado Springs surpasses Caribbean Beach at this point. Where it really matters for most guests looking at the Moderate Resort tier–pricing–Coronado usually wins handily thanks to better discount availability. Not only that, but one of our biggest complaints about Coronado Springs normally is that its buses and pool are overcrowded–two things that are unlikely to be true during the last week of January when occupancy tends to be low, and temperatures too!
When it comes to other Value Resorts, the obvious alternatives are the All Stars. Music would probably be our go-to no matter what you’re considering at Pop Century or Art of Animation, as it’s the most recently updated and has family suites. Again, this is all bus transportation, but that’ll be the case with Pop and AoA that week, too.
The other reason we’re picking All Star Music is because late January might have some group bookings for ESPN Wide World of Sports youth events. Currently, the 2024 Sand Dollar Invitational, Youth Flag Football Championships, and 2024 USA Field Hockey Sunshine Showcase are on the calendar. I have no clue how large any of those events are, but they’re almost certainly not as big/bad as all the cheer and dance summits that normally occur in the first few months of the year.
But that’s not the point. The point is that All Star Music is less likely to host those groups than All Star Sports, so staying at Music is a good hedge against youth events. Another option is upgrading to one of the Moderate Resorts. Discounted rates at one of the Port Orleans Resorts or Coronado Springs often aren’t much more expensive than the Little Mermaid rooms or Pop Century.
Ultimately, we still absolutely love the gondolas and would choose one of the Skyliner resorts over their counterparts just about any time of year…except when it’s down for refurbishment or more likely to be impacted by storm season. Even the latter doesn’t make it a non-starter (the monorail also isn’t 100% reliable!), it just makes awareness of the weather more important.
For those who visit Walt Disney World regularly throughout or during different months of the year, our ideal times to stay at Skyliner resorts are November through May. Obviously, minus that 1-2 week stretch in January. As a matter of personal preference, we’d probably also remove the holiday season. Not because there’s any issue with the Skyliner then–to the contrary, that crisp breeze feels even nicer–but because none of the Skyliner resorts get decked out for Christmas all that impressively.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Would you pay premium pricing to stay at Caribbean Beach, Pop Century, Art of Animation, or Riviera Resort while the Skyline is closed for refurbishment? Are you a fan of the gondolas, or do you prefer a different ‘type’ of resort? Have you used the Skyliners at Walt Disney World recently? What has been the good, bad, or ugly for you? Any issues with Skyliner downtime during storm season? What about buses as alternatives from those resorts? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Other thoughts or concerns? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Just got home from a week at Art of Animation. We stay there mainly because my daughter LOVES the Little Mermaid rooms but haven’t been since 2019 when they were still building the Skyliner. We absolutely loved it this trip and would hesitate to stay anywhere without it in the future! So fun and convenient! Even when lines looked super long they really move people along. Very impressed! Thank you for all of your enjoyable and helpful posts and congratulations on your new addition!
We just got back from our stay at Pop Century. Absolutely love the Skyliner! Absolute best way to get to the 2 parks. I would love to see it expand and yes would pay a bit more. Have stayed at Coronado Springs and the buses are very crowded with no other option. I do like the resort though
Good day,
Thanks for this Tom, much appreciated. We’re scheduled to stay at Pop right during that January 20-29 period and I’m reading conflicting info as to whether I can still walk from HS to Epcot to the back entrance where the Gondola normally lets you off. Will that entrance still be open and if so, is my recollection correct that it’s about a 20 minute walk?
It’s a bummer for those who booked this week to take advantage of needing one less vacation day due to MLK day on the 15th. Good point about it may be out of Disney’s hands to dictate the date.
Hi there, so it’s our first time dealing with this and all the information has got me confused.
We booked Pop Century from January 18th untill the 27th. Will we be able to use the skyliner anywhere or will that not be possible at all? If you have the time, would you explain how our trip would work out with these skyliner closures and our booking dates? And do you know if we can still cancel and then book another resort if need be? Thank you in advance!
It seems like you will be able to use the skyliner to get to Caribbean Beach and Hollywood Studios from 1/22-1/27 but not for the first few days of your trip. you will not be able to use the skyliner to reach epcot for any of your trip.
One thing to consider with the timing both of the announcement and the refurbishment is that there are two parties to this: Disney and Doppelmayr.
Not absolving Disney from blame for the late release of these dates, but it is possible they didn’t know until now. Or that the dates are dictated by Doppelmayr to some degree, etc.
That is a good point Tom regarding Doppelmayr. Thanks for the tip to try calling back too! Good insights as always. Oh, belated Congrats on Megatron, may she lay waste to numerous Disney snacks in the future!
It is frustrating that Disney did not provide more advanced notice, especially for a Skyliner nerd like me. CBR’s main pool will be under construction during this time as well so now you have no main pool, construction noise, and no or limited Skyliner access. When I called Disney about it, I received a very curt “There will be no consideration” since free alternative travel via buses is provided. I kind of used Tom’s logic of saying that Disney has significantly reduced the value proposition of CBR due to these combined maintenance periods without a corresponding cost reduction. Crickets…. My dilemma is that I booked CBR using a bounceback and am staying for an average nightly rate of $170 sooooo I can’t complain or move without paying through the nose for an upgrade. Bottom line- Hey Disney, folks plan trips to WDW way in advance of three months, get your act together on maintenance schedule notifications!
I’d try calling back in another week or so. Higher ups likely handed down “there will be no consideration” talking points to call center CMs, but that could change if there are enough complaints. And judging by what we’ve already heard, there will be many complaints.
You should be able to call and apply the bounceback offer to a different resort, if you wanted. We have one for 2024 that we’ve moved all over the place — changing resorts, changing dates, etc. It seems that you need to make the original reservation within the week after your stay, but then you can continue to make modifications until final payment is due.
Also, I was able to call and apply my bounce back offer (booked back in August) to another resort rather than CBR, which I had booked mainly for the Skyliner access.
Tom – thanks for the prompt news and analysis as always. Fortunately caught the post, since today was a whirlwind of news and this didn’t show up on the DVC booking page as soon as it should have.
We’ve been watching this for 4-5 months because we have been planning a trip for that last week in January. We’re actually bringing good friends and their 2 kids with us, so we were putting even more thought into the resort than normal (which is normally a lot). We wanted to take them to Riviera, but knowing the dates the last 2 years, we decided against it. I’ve been frequently checking and searching for news stories on this to see if it would be announced. We had decided to just do Copper Creek (our other home resort and other favorite) since we are really happy with that one and looking forward to bringing someone there for the first time. (Definitely not unhappy to take them to Wilderness – quite happy about it – but we were looking for Riviera because of the room size and because we plan on doing more Hollywood Studios and Epcot and love the Skyliner.)
This afternoon, however, after the Moonlight Magic announcement, coupled with yesterday’s After Hours announcement, we decided they must be skipping or doing the refurbishment later in the year next year and made a DVC waitlist for Riviera. When I saw your story, I ran downstairs to the computer to cancel the waitlists.
As you and other commenters have said, it’s really frustrating seeing them wait so long to announce this. What’s especially baffling is this coming on the same day as the Moonlight Magic announcement that has the event at Epcot during this closure, along with doing an After Hours event at Hollywood Studios that week – and then not there again for 4 weeks. I recognize the low attendance (by design) at After Hours may not be as impactful, but it still just doesn’t make sense for either of these events.
Moonlight Magic especially seems weird – a highlight event for DVC, while Riviera is still the main resort being sold – at a time when Riviera’s biggest draw is not available, is . . . odd. There are 6 of these events at regular WDW parks all year, and they chose that week.
I realize the reality is just the usual different divisions of Disney not communicating to each other, but nevertheless, head scratching.
**Congrats to you and Sarah**
I expected it to close January 21, since it seemed like the Sunday after MLK Day was when it normally closed. Interesting that it’s closing the day after MLK Day this time. I’d have avoided the week of January 14 anyway, just because of the holiday crowds.
The schedule project design seems to be based on the following assumptions:
– they plan on the “Epcot” line to take longer this year than before, and
– they would rather finish around the same dates that they did before than start around the same dates (I agree with James that this is very odd given what we know about crowds and the resulting bus related logistics!), and
– they want to start on all three lines at the same time.
It’s infuriating for me to imagine that WDW held off on announcing this because they thought (or knew!) that the schedule would change but wasn’t quite sure how yet. While it would still be annoying for this to be an update to a previously announced schedule, at least it would be understandable and I would go in knowing that my trip was up against planned downtime. (This reeks of an intentional lack of communication; someone didn’t want to deliver the bad news about the “Epcot” line, and someone else didn’t care why no status arrived on time.)
Tom, do you have any sense of whether the EP resorts will get busses to HS, or if they’ll have to resort to the boats or walk?
This is a real slap in the face to those who had booked Skyliner resorts during that time. I’m seeing all sorts of reports from people planning to stay at Pop that first week (previously a safe bet, based on how late in the month the refurbishment usually is) who are either unable to switch to the identical rooms at All Stars for cheaper, or can’t get the promotional discount that they had at Pop, meaning that a switch to All Stars might actually cost more.
I just don’t understand how Disney can announce a Stormalong Bay closure a year and a half in advance, but they can’t even give 3 months notice for the Skyliner.
Hi, Tom- thanks so much for all the awesome info on your blog (and big congrats on Megatron’s birth)! Hope this isn’t a silly question: we would still be able to get from Caribbean Beach to DHS the week of January 22, right? Am I reading the map and closure info correctly? We are going the week of 1/22 and have already book CB with one of the discounts they’re offering (my teens are pumped about the refurbished “Under the Sea” rooms) so I’m reluctant to change our reservation. We stayed at FQ last January when this happened and LOVED it (thank you for that recommendation, as well!), but we wanted to try something new. We could just take a Lyft to EPCOT the one day we plan to be at that park, and use the Skyliner for DHS since it should be open then…correct? Thanks!
That is correct.
You can also take the Skyliner to DHS, and then either walk or take the boats from there to International Gateway at EPCOT. It’s honestly not that much slower than the Skyliner (especially if you don’t mind walking).
It would be nice if they announced those far enough in advance for people to know not to book at that time
Agreed. These dates are over 2 months late as compared to the last couple years.