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!
Really enjoy your blogsTom! We are 45 year veterans of Disney World! We would like to try the skyliner, but we are staying at Port Orleans riverside. Any suggestions? We will have a car. Is driving to one of the resorts and option or take a ride from the park end?
Thanks for all your information
We enjoyed taking the Skyliner multiple times this week but my two comments:
1) At park closing for both Epcot and Hollywood Studios, the wheel chair lines were extremely slow as they only one approx 1 in 10 cabins prepped for wheelchairs. One night the line was so long, they pulled out extra wheel chocks and asked if wheelchairs wanted to enter the via the moving cabin zone. It helped the line but it seemed to be an ad hoc plan and not something they were prepared for.
2) I am surprised the cabins are not outlined in lights at night. It would make for a really nice site when you see them travelled at night (also the path between Hollywood and Caribbean is really dark as there are no lights below you).
Can you board or exit at the Rivera Station?
Yes, you can board and exit at Rivera Station. Was just there this week.
After seeing the accident tonight and passengers getting stuck in the air, I’m afraid I will never get on this. 🙁
I saw quite a large line at Hollywood studios last week BUT my biggest problem and arguably only problem with my visit was with bus wait times. I waited an hour 3 times during my vacation. Not cool. Did not try the skyliner but worried about the impact on buses.
I Enjoyed this review and it makes me excited to try the Skyliner for myself. Hoping they add more, just don’t replace the monorails with them. I also chuckled a bit has you confessed to occasionally being wrong and having to admit it once in awhile (in the blog) and everyday to your wife. I can empathize. Looking forward to the future day admit you were wrong again. At that future date you’ll be watching your kids swim and play at the Turtle Pond pool, and you’ll be sipping a “Turtle Crawl” at a quiet umbrella table while you finish your latest blog titled, “Old Key West Moves Up – Way Up Our Rankings”. This of course comes having realized how nice it is to have an afternoon by a pool in that quiet, beautiful, spread out resort far away from the crowds of people who swarm all of the public areas of many of the other resorts. I’ll be waiting for that blog. Until, then, I’ll keep reading your current reviews and enjoying/envying your great photos.
Not sure if its the same, but I know from hundreds of days spent on the mountain that it’s not unusual for the gondolas to have to stop for brief time frames similar to those noted here. I’ve noticed usually it’s:
1.Engine/electrical issues, these can heat up in VT and CO in the winter, and is usually why they stop temporarily. I would be surprised if they didn’t have occasional blips with this in FL, but I’m also assuming they put a lot more effort into keeping them cool.
2. If someone is having difficulty unloading or loading I’ve seen them stop it, similarly to these it’s a car that’s detached so not totally sure why they stop it here, but Ive observed this often.
3. A problem with a gondola attaching or detaching causing a pileup at the lift. Much less frequent but it happens and I’ve seen it twice. These are usually longer stoppages (I’ve seen near a half hour).
Still, pretty excited to ride these.
Are patrons with strollers routed to the ECV line or do they queue in the regular line? Just from my experience with bus loading, I find that people folding and maneuvering bulky strollers can really clog up the loading process at times.
what if God forbid one of the gondola’s fell from the wire while traveling over the water? Aren’t there gators in there?
I’d be way more concerned with the actual fall or landing in water inside of a heavy, enclosed capsule than I would be about alligators. Your fears may vary, though.
Are they stopping or lowering the amount of buses they run at these resorts for Epcot and Hollywood?
I was very surprised how much I enjoyed the ride. the lines moved very quickly after Hollywood Studios closed to get to Beach club.
Although I am an optimist and think the gondolas will be successful as both another form of transportation AND as separate Disney experience, I am skeptical about how the gondolas will fare in the heat of a Florida summer. I have watched many blogger videos, as well as read first hand experiences, and most of them say the same thing; when the gondolas are moving, the air flow is enough to keep you cool. But the moment they stop, there is a noticeable spike in temperature. And this is during late September / early October. What will happen in July and August when temps hit mid / high 90’s with high humidity?
On opening day, it was 90 degrees out, very humid and sunny. When the gondolas were moving, yes, there is more than enough breeze. Our gondola also stopped for a brief time which stopped the air flow. It really wasn’t bad though. The gondolas have a uv protection that did insulate the vehicle. On an extended stop it may be an issue but short stops, it wasn’t a problem.
Disney is keeping an eye out on the heat. If it becomes a problem in the future they are aware of new technology that can put Air Conditioning & Heat in the gondolas all the time. They are taking a wait and see approach.
Love your input on Disney. Thanks and keep it coming.
Tom what’s your thoughts on watching Epcot Forever from the gondola and which route would you take for this? Many thanks!
We rode the Skyliner on opening day just for fun and just from our resort (Pop/Art of Animation) to the hub round trip twice. Smooth ride, no stopping and perfect breeze around 7:30 at night. On the 30th, the Pop/Art station didn’t open for guests to make their way to the 6 am HS opening. Another guest told us they started bussing people to the park. Today (10/01), we rode the Skyliner from Epcot to the hub only to find that the Pop/Art station again was not open. So instead of the Skyliner we went to the bus stop outside of the hub to wait for a bus back to Pop. My thought is that Disney should have a way to communicate Skyliner closings already in place on the app. Not a big deal, but the Skyliner at Pop/Art has not been allowing riders when we’ve tried to ride 2 of the first 3 days. It would be nice to know that ahead of time. Otherwise, we’ve enjoyed the “flights” we’ve taken with little wait.
Awesome Article!
Obviously you aren’t skiers. Just because the gondolas are detachable, doesn’t mean that they whole line doesn’t stop. The detachable system allows the system to move faster, but the gondolas must remain the same distance apart.
I guess a lot of people aren’t, judging from all the “ it’s gonna fail” comments. If you’re ever been out west, they are all over. In fact, in Telluride, there is a spectacular restaurant all the way at the top of the mountain where you can only access by riding the gondola. The view is incredible, especially as night falls and the lights on the town below come. I am so looking forward to riding the Disney Skyliner, I think it will be awesome!,
Riding the skyliner this weekend has been a lot of fun, and was much cooler than I imagined! The thought of being stuck for several minutes in a hot gondola above pavement makes me shudder though. It’ll be interesting to see how/if Disney expands this into their transit system. We tried to get back on at Riviera (with a single stroller), and we wound up just walking to the Caribbean station after waiting for an empty gondola for probably 15 minutes (it did also get stuck for quite a bit at that time). The doors kept opening and all the cars were full! Did anyone else have this issue?
Tom, any information on wheelchairs fitting in the Gondolas ? For us it would be a manual wheelchair.
I’m in a wheelchair and it fit fine. Also, many chairs were there and all fit. The biggest potential issue is dbl wide strollers.
My son’s power wheel chair fit fine Nd we had 3 additional passengers in the cabin with him
We’re staying at Caribbean Beach for the first time and we’ve been able to ride them several times and have enjoyed them and the nice breeze each time.
On a side note, I was a bit concerned for the people in the building next to us (bldg 52 in the Aruba section of the hotel) had the Skyliner go right over their rooms. However, after sitting outside on the beach at night, we were amazed at how silent they are and if you weren’t looking up, you’d never notice them or hear them above you!
Help! You did a wonderful suggested tour using the Skyliner to travel and stop for various goodies. I would swear i saved it as i have many of your columns. Now i am planning a day we are not in the park the end of January and that column is not to be found. Can you point me in the right direction. Your columns have been integral to our planning for the past six months. Thank you!