Skyliner Gondola Review: Disney World’s Most Magical Flight on Earth
Walt Disney World’s Skyliner gondola system debuted over the weekend at Hollywood Studios, Epcot, Caribbean Beach, and Art of Animation/Pop Century, and we took several rides. In this review of the new aerial transportation, we’ll share a couple dozen photos, offer first impressions, and be brutally honest about whether the cataclysmic predictions of failure came to fruition.
Admittedly, this website has been among the biggest cheerleaders of the Disney Skyliner. As such, you might doubt that line about brutal honesty when it comes to conceding defeat as to the Skyliner’s problems. However, I’ve admitted I was wrong about Animal Kingdom and I’ve repeatedly reminded readers that I was way off on the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge opening at Disneyland.
I have no problem admitting when I’m wrong–it’s literally a daily occurrence (just ask Sarah!) that I’ve learned to take in stride so as to not shatter my fragile ego. However, when it comes to the Disney Skyliner, I was not wrong. Unfortunately, I also was not totally right. Let’s delve into both the good and the bad about opening day of Walt Disney World’s new aerial transit system…
We’ll start with some quick basics about the Disney Skyliner gondolas in case you’ve glossed over our ~3,402 updates during the construction of the various stations dotted around Walt Disney World.
Dubbed the “Most Magical Flight on Earth” by the in-cabin audio, the Skyliner services two Walt Disney World theme parks (Hollywood Studios and Epcot) plus four resorts (Art of Animation & Pop Century, Caribbean Beach, plus Caribbean Beach (again) & Riviera Resort) via 5 stations.
One of the Caribbean Beach stations is the hub, from which you can reach every destination. It connects directly to Hollywood Studios, Art of Animation/Pop Century, and Epcot via the Riviera Resort/Caribbean Beach second station.
At most, you will have one transfer while riding the Disney Skyliner, as the Riviera station is en route to Epcot and does not require disembarking.
In air travel times on the Skyliner vary. It’s roughly 3-4 minutes from Pop Century/Art of Animation or Hollywood Studios to Caribbean Beach.
At the other end of the spectrum, it’s 10-11 minutes from Caribbean Beach to Epcot (or 4 minutes from Caribbean Beach to Riviera, plus 6 minutes from Riviera to Epcot). Add to that whatever time you wait in line at your original station and the Caribbean Beach Resort hub station.
Riding the Disney Skyliner is “free” in the same sense that all other Walt Disney World transportation is free.
You aren’t paying a fare directly when boarding, but you better believe guests at the resorts serviced by the Skyliner are seeing its infrastructure and operating costs built into their nightly rates. (In fact, this has already happened, as we cover in our 2020 Walt Disney World Vacation Pricing Info & Analysis.)
There were “rumors” (air quotes) that the Skyliner would be for resort guests only and this would be enforced with MagicBands. This is not true. There are no rules on who may ride the Skyliner or get off where.
You could ride the Skyliner around for 16 hours, making one stop per hour to grab the Tie-Dye Cheesecake at Pop Century and nothing is going to stop you. (Well, at some point your stomach would probably revolt–but Disney won’t stop you.)
That about covers it in terms of basics you need to know for now. We can always expand this if there are frequently asked questions…
Delving into the review itself, let’s touch upon a range of smaller topics before we address the elephant in the room. First, the views. They’re spectacular–better than I expected. My biggest worry here was seeing a lot of unpleasant backstage areas, parking lots, and nothingness.
There’s definitely a lot of the latter two, and it would’ve been nice if better landscaping was done along the evacuation paths. However, there’s no reason to be looking straight down at the ground to scope out parked cars or pathways. Along each leg of the journey, there’s something different and engaging that will instead capture your attention.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios to Caribbean Beach is boring if you’re looking towards the resort, but cool if you’re facing the park or looking over at Epcot in the distance (view pictured above).
From Pop Century and Art of Animation to Caribbean Beach, you swoop low over Hourglass Lake and have the oversized icons of the resort to each side.
En route to Disney’s Riviera Resort, you have the rooftops and landscaping of Caribbean Beach, and gliding over these is much cooler than expected.
For as much as I’ve groused about the Skyliner causing visual blight at this resort by not being routed through the parking lot, I actually love flying over the buildings. (This leaves me a bit conflicted.)
Traveling from Disney’s Riviera Resort to Epcot is my favorite stretch, even though it’s ostensibly the most boring and likely to “ruin the magic.” For most of this journey, you’re traveling over roads and parking.
However, for a large stretch you’re also going directly behind World Showcase, and it’s really cool to see the icons of each nation with Spaceship Earth in the background. Plus, aside from (temporary) construction of the France expansion, you aren’t really seeing much backstage.
As with so many things, a lot of this is a matter of perspective. If you’re looking straight down at parked cars or dirt, it’s not an interesting ride.
However, there is almost always something of visual interest in some direction. Failing that, spotting the other Skyliner cabins with characters on them is an option. (For the vast majority of guests with whom we rode, this is the #1 option–at least based upon their audible reactions.)
The bench seating situation can be a bit awkward. If seated “normally,” your views will either be out a side window or straight forward, looking past other guests. The latter is not ideal, and may make everyone feel like uncomfortable conversation is necessary. (It isn’t.)
We would instead recommend facing the window against which you’re seated. There are a couple of reasons for this. Most importantly, the views are better when you have a direct view unobstructed by others. Moreover, it’s imperative that your lens–phone or camera–is flush against the cabin glass to avoid reflections. For this reason, I like being seated backwards and facing backwards…to have a forward-moving view. (Make sense?)
If you sit that way, no one will try to enlighten you about Disney secretly building a new park in Texas.
I ended up taking several rides by myself, and overheard enough source material for 3 years worth of rumor posts. As an introvert, I dread making small talk with strangers, but all of my rides were enjoyable.
I took several of the 14 rides by myself because after 6 rides, Sarah’s motion sickness was “acting up” (her words). She made a point of saying she didn’t feel sick after riding the Skyliner, but due to the way it swings and makes a fairly abrupt stop when coming into the station, she might’ve felt sick if she kept riding.
So that’s something to keep in mind if you are prone to motion sickness. Another thing to keep in mind is that this was after 6 consecutive rides, which is not a normal “use case” for a transportation system. If you spent all day riding a Walt Disney World bus driven by someone auditioning for Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, you might have a similar experience, but that probably wouldn’t be a fair indictment of the bus transportation.
The character wraps are definitely a mixed bag. Seeing your favorite characters pass your cabin is neat, but you absolutely do not want to be inside a gondola with a wrap.
Views are significantly impaired, and you can totally forget about photos. (One slight positive is these cabins felt a tad cooler than unwrapped ones.)
In theory, you can request a cabin without a wrap. We did this a couple of times when, mostly when there was almost no line going from Art of Animation to Caribbean Beach.
Unfortunately, the lines were really long traveling from Caribbean Beach to Epcot, so we didn’t bother there. Cast Members already appeared overwhelmed juggling the chaos of opening day, so we didn’t want to compound their problems. We’d recommend using common sense when it comes to making–or not making–a request.
Speaking of lines, they move fast. The Skyliner is incredibly high capacity, so even in the opening day mania at Caribbean Beach, we never waited in line more than 10 minutes. Right now, it’s tough to say how long lines and waits will actually be–clearly a lot of locals and Annual Passholders were on hand to take a Sunday drive…err, ride.
Leaving Epcot after IllumiNations, there was a long line for the Skyliner, and that’s undoubtedly going to be a common occurrence. Our recommendation there, as always, is to linger in Epcot because evenings in World Showcase after guests have cleared out are sublime.
Unquestionably, the biggest controversy about the Disney Skyliner has been the lack of air-conditioning in the cabins. I’ve continually reiterated that, to my knowledge, of the tens of thousands of Doppelmayr gondola systems installed around the world, only one is air-conditioned. That’s at Wynn Palace Macau, a 5-star luxury resort in the Las Vegas of Asia–if Vegas had seven times the revenue and probably seven times the humidity.
Thankfully, there’s really no longer any need to keep looking at past precedent or spinning our wheels offering predictions. The Skyliner is open and we have our verdict. The exterior glaze sufficiently reflects heat and the passive ventilation system works. It provides a cool and consistent breeze. In other words, the Skyliner is perfectly comfortable.
If you took a random guest off the street who doesn’t read blogs like this one or rage about Disney via social media and plopped them in a Skyliner cabin, they’d be unlikely to bring up the topic of air-conditioning.
Air-conditioning is simply a non-issue while riding, and no more likely to come to mind than concerns about a colossal gorilla appearing and tearing the tramway out of the sky. (A dire tragedy, and this is true, that Florida has actually suffered in the past.)
Disney’s Skyliner is more comfortable than sitting at a shaded bus stop and roughly as comfortable as the Tomorrowland Transit Authority Peoplemover. It’s less comfortable than the air-conditioned buses, and “it depends” when it comes to comparing it to the monorails.
Recently, we’ve had ones where it feels like the air-conditioning is barely working–that coupled with a crowded cabin has led to some unpleasant journeys on the Highway in the Sky.
All of this assumes that the Skyliner is continually moving, which is where our biggest problem comes in. This is also a big part of why this is a preliminary review offering first impressions. As noted, I ended up taking 14 rides on the Disney Skyliner, and on 5 of those, the line stopped for over 30 seconds.
Since movement is key to passive ventilation, it did become slightly uncomfortable during two of these stops. We were never stopped for more than 3 minutes, but heard of significantly longer stoppages. On longer stops with the sun shining directly into the cabin and no breeze, I could easily envision the Skyliner cabins becoming very uncomfortable. That’s not what we experienced, but it’s easy to see that occurring.
The question thus becomes why the system is stopping and how frequently this will happen once the Skyliner is operating smoothly.
We’ve ridden a lot of cable cars and aerial tramways like the Skyliner, and have literally never experienced another one stopping like this. (Since it’s a detachable gondola, the entire system does not have to stop for wheelchairs, ECVs, or other guests needing special assistance, so that’s not the explanation.)
In talking to Cast Members at the various stations, I’m not sure what is the explanation. Several different answers were given and, reading between the lines, I think the most likely reason is simply opening day hiccups.
Disney’s Skyliner is still new, and this was essentially the very first day of actual operations with real guests. Cast Members are still working on loading guests quickly, without having to stop the entire line.
Other possible explanations are Walt Disney World guests are materially different from those who use gondolas around the world, or that there is a flaw with the system itself. Disney guests do have more strollers, kids, and other reasons to board slower than normal, but I still don’t think that’s the root cause. As for the system itself, Doppelmayr has installed thousands of aerial tramways around the world, so that explanation also seems unlikely.
Nevertheless, we shall see how this plays out. If in the heart of next summer, the Skyliner is still stopping on 25% of its voyages for longer than a few minutes, I’m more than happy to eat all of my words on this topic. I really don’t think that’ll be the case, but as you all know, I’ve been wrong many times before.
There are other pros and cons I’m probably forgetting, but this is already getting long and I’ve already promised a follow-up, so we can touch upon other topics in that.
Some quick hits: we found the audio spiel to be a nice touch–but it could’ve been “catchier.” Stations are nicely designed and befitting of their surroundings. The Caribbean Beach hub feels like a central/union station, which is fun. Walking is still the fastest option between Epcot & DHS.
Overall, even though it’s not perfect (yet?), the “Most Magical Flight on Earth” moniker is entirely apt for the Disney Skyliner. It’s everything we hoped it would be, and I foresee us spending a lot of time riding it in the future (Sarah says she bring ginger drops for our next “Skyliner Crawl”). For us, this is the year’s new addition to Walt Disney World that we will enjoy the most.
I want to be careful to avoid being hyperbolic here, because I don’t think this is objectively “better” than Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge or superior to Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run (even though we’ve already ridden it more!). It’s simply more our style. These low-key, atmospheric experiences are our preferred rides at Walt Disney World, and the Skyliner ranks up there with the PeopleMover for us. In case you’re unfamiliar with the blog, that’s about the highest possible praise. We just wish you could loop the Skyliner!
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Your Thoughts
If you have already ridden the Disney Skyliner, how would you review it? For those who have experienced it, do you agree or disagree with our assessment? If you have not yet ridden, are you looking forward to it, or are you still skeptical? 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!
We just now came by Pop to hop a ride, 10/1 at 12:20pm. Down for maintenance for unknown period according to cast member.
Sounds like it’s just this leg of the network, impacting pop and AofA only. We gave up at 12:50. Talking to a couple of folks walking around the resort and they said they had same issue yesterday. Hopefully they get it worked out soon!
How do the transfers work for the skyliner? We’re staying at Pop and I’m not clear how the gondola works for getting to Epcot in terms of transfers and having to reboard??? What would be the approximate max. total travel time from POP to Epcot?
Hi Lindsay,
We just got home from Pop and enjoyed opening day Skyliner fun!
The skyliner goes from the Pop/Art of Animation to the Caribbean Beach Resort. There all guests MUST disembark.
At the Caribbean Beach Resort, there are two other skyliner gondola lines (all in one compact station, so there is no walking miles between stations). One takes you directly to Hollywood Studios, and the other takes you to Epcot (via Disney’s Riviera Resort (but you don’t have to get off at the Riviera, just stay on and you’ll continue on to Epcot).
So, in short – take the skyliner from Pop to Caribbean Beach and transfer off to the Epcot line, enjoy the ride!
Great info on the gondola. Our company has solved the problem of putting Air Conditioning and heat in those moving gondolas. Disney is taking a wait and see, how it all works.
I think a better question is the safety one you brought up. The delays and how that will impact it riders on those hot days.
You said the Lack of AC was not a problem, what was the weather Like those days?
Keep the info coming.
Rodger
I rode the Skyliner around 4:00 p.m. on Sunday on a 92F day with real feel of 97F to go from Hollywood Studios to Epcot. It wasn’t hot and was nicely breezy inside. If you just want to ride around and experience it, the Skyliner is fine. However if you actually want to get where you are going, take ANY other transportation. I promise anything else will be quicker. It took us 45 minutes to get from HS to Epcot on the Skyliner. The line is stopped every few minutes and you have no idea when it will start again. Sometimes it starts again in 60 seconds. Sometimes 3 minutes. By the end, you can’t enjoy it because you’re just praying for the thing to keep moving. You also have to switch lines to proceed towards Epcot, which means waiting to board twice instead of once. It’s just an incredibly slow experience. And frustrating if you 1) are in a gondola with a wrap you can’t see out of while the line is stopped and 2) if you are on the bench that faces backwards and then have to twist around in your seat the whole time to see where the gondola is going. I’m not a fan of the Skyliner and hope I’ll never ride it again. But this is just one person’s perspective, others may like it for it’s leisurely pace.
Thanks for the info! Good to know.
Tom please can you provide details of what the queues are now like getting into Epcot from World Showcase? Do they have more entrance gates? Have you been there at park opening? How are guests being managed once they get through the gates pre-opening i.e. are you still held in the walkway that connects the entrance with World Showcase? Are guests still being allowed into the park at the same time as guests at the main entrance (which is a serious disadvantage to World Showcase entrance guests due to the longer walk required) and therefore is the Skyliner advisable if you want to do a rope drop at Epcot? Can you provide guidance on what time to arrive to avoid being a long way back in the queue? Thanks very much.
I’m laughing over all the Orlando locals from the cast member previews saying it’s perfectly cool inside. Remember these folks are used to 1000 bajillion degree heat so take their idea of “comfortable temperature” with a huge grain of salt. Us northern climate folks will be the real judge of the temps.
I’m from Canada and the temps outside were 34F (OUCH!!), and it was nice and cool in the gondola. The air comes in through the slatted windows at the top, and provides a constant breeze as long and the skyliner is moving. It’s quite lovely.
Sept 30 – Staying In Art of Animation for a week. Used Skyliner several times today. Loved not being in packed buses. Loved the shorter lines than the the buses. Enjoyed the characters in the buses.
We had single stroller, didn’t have to fold it up. Rolled right in.
I didn’t care for the wrapped gondolas because of poor visability for viewing and taking pics. Didn’t like that hard stop at end of the ride. Air conditioning not on cars which was fine in one direction but not the other. Last 30 seconds on the ride got warm
No problems with this system until about 8:15 tonight. Rep said system was down for rest of the night and told us to use buses.
What are the hours of operation for the Skyliner? When do they begin picking passengers up in the morning?
https://www.orlandoparksnews.com/2019/09/walt-disney-world-releases-operating.html
It varies by day, park, and resort.
I stayed at Caribbean Beach last week and definitely did not mind SEEING the Skyliner. The energy that the moving cabins create was really exciting. What I did mind was HEARING the Skyliner – every time a cabin approached a station, I could hear the “BA-DA-DING” of the announcements… It was faint, but it was definitely audible from anywhere near the water at Aruba. I don’t think hanging out on the beach there would be very relaxing with that going off every 10 seconds or so, but maybe one could find a different beach? I think that the Skyliner is probably going to be a very positive addition for Disney World and Caribbean Beach Resort but I’m personally more concerned about the “aural blight (?)” than the visual.
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Do you have to fold up your stroller before you get on the gondola?
Are buses to Epcot and Hollywood Studios still available at the Skyliner resorts in case someone chooses to take them? Just curious.
Yes. Buses are still available.
We stayed at the Grand Floridian this spring and on our return back to the hotel from MK my 5 year old grandson fell asleep. We decided to stay on the monorail for another loop around to give him a few more minutes sleep. So my question is do you have to depart the gondola once you reach the station, or can you ride a continuous loop for a nonstop round trip.
One cast member asked us when we got on if we were going to the exchange or are we just riding it all the way around. So I’m guessing you can ride it for a round trip?
Thanks
We rode on a night of cast member trials. I was nervous to begin with but was quite enjoying the rather swift ride. That is, until we stopped. The stop was not a simple stop. We swayed. And every time someone moved in a gondola near us we swayed some more. Once we started (about 6 min later and after en explanation we couldn’t understand through the speaker system), we immediately stopped again. This happened a few times and was rather abrupt each time. It’s a great concept but if you are at all nervous I would say don’t bother until they get these kinks worked out. Even people that were completely comfortable riding said they won’t do it again…at least not in the foreseeable future.
We’ve ridden the Skyliner opening day and again today. Is it perfect? No. But it’s a big leap over crowed and late buses. We haven’t waited more than 10 minutes yet and transfers are smooth and quick. We were at both Hollywood Studios and Epcot for faster than a bus has ever been. No worries about cooling. The windows provided great circulation and the cabin was cool even when we had an unplanned stop. I had some doubts before but now my vote for Skyliner is a big Yes. I’m planning to take it to HS and Epcot always.
Well I have first hand knowledge of one of the reasons why the Skyliner stopped – because we were the cause of it last night. . We were leaving from Epcot to CBR with a party of 9 plus a double stroller. They told us to all go in one cabin, which we did but the double stroller barelyyyy cleared the doors. Then another cast member told the first one that the stroller had to go in first, not last. So they made us all get our and reload and stopped the line to do it. Sorry to anyone else that was on at around 815 last night! Lol
Great review, Tom! While historically Disney has tried to be careful to conceal “backstage” areas (often in very clever ways) it seems like the Skyliner has opened a whole new front on that battlefield. With the Skyliner now in service do you think there will be more attention given to details in areas like the rear (and roof) facades of the World Showcase countries than there was previously?
Obviously the France pavilion construction can’t be hidden but I’d hope even the modern ultra cost-conscious folks now in charge of WDW would still be careful to make sure someone’s first impressions of World Showcase gliding in on the Skyliner weren’t “this looks fake.”
Here Here, What WDW needs to Do is complete the line to Include All Parks and Resorts……Never Happen……But If It Was So……….!
Tom, one of my concerns is the visual intrusion from within World Showcase. Is it really bad or hardly noticeable? Maybe you intend to address this in a future post.
You actually barely see the gondolas coming or going from world showcase, if that is what you meant. They come in pretty lowright by the international gateway and from outside the showcase. Again, if that’s what you meant.
I have been waiting to read your review, knowing what a cheerleader you have been for it. I saw a video taken from inside, and it got me excited to ride, and looked quite smooth. Thank you for mentioning Sarah and motion sickness. I suffer with that too. I hadn’t thought about it before, and must remember to bring ginger drops. I was planning to take 2020 off, but want to come and ride that before they start charging for it. How do you turn facing the window? Is there a place to put your legs, or do you mean just twist at the waist? Thanks for all you do.
I believe he meant turn at the waist. There are two bench seats, one on each side, so there isn’t any room for your legs to turn.
Has anyone rode while either Epcot or Hollywood Studios has their fireworks/nightly shows on? Is there a different view to try?
My family of 6 and my in-laws (both using EVC’s) will be visiting in December. Will 2 adults, 4 kids, one stroll and 2 EVC’s fit in one?
Rode them yesterday, not a fan. I believe I saw a sign that said only 1 scooter per car plus 5 people. Otherwise the hold 10
I talked about this with a cast member. It seems they are only supposed to allow one disability access per gondola. So if you have two, you’ll have to be split up. Who knows if that is the reality of it though.