Skyliner Gondola Update: Racing to Opening
We’re back on another stormy day at Walt Disney World’s Skyliner gondola resorts for an August 2019 update as this new aerial transportation system races (glides?) towards its official grand opening date next month. In this photo report, we’ll take a look at the stations at Caribbean Beach, Art of Animation & Pop Century, and Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
Our Disney Skyliner Gondola Update: Summer Storms, Station Progress, and More covered Epcot and Disney’s Riviera Resort in addition to the ones in this report. That last update is less than 2 weeks old, and nothing has changed at Riviera or Epcot, so no need to revisit them here. (That last update also has a rant about the Skyliners operating in storms and lightning of Central Florida, in case you missed it.)
This go-round, we’re more focused on what has happened and still needs to happen in order for the Disney Skyliner to meet its official grand opening date at the end of September 2019. Or, from our perspective, how feasible it is for this work to wrap up in the next few weeks for a soft opening date in time for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge…
In terms of work that needs to be finished, the Skyliner hub at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort is probably where the most work remains. Not that there’s a lot that remains to be done here–just more than at Disney’s Hollywood Studios or Art of Animation/Pop Century, which are the only two other stations we’d anticipate soft opening.
In our recent Barefoot Bay Resort Area Update: Caribbean Construction & Riviera Revealed post, we covered a new walkway that was being built between Old Port Royale/Barbados and Trinidad. At the time, we didn’t think much of this, but it turns out that this is actually a path that veers to the left, leading over the bridge and connecting Trinidad to the Skyliner station.
Above on the left side of the frame is a look at where this pathway will connect to the station.
This portion is finished, and the path near Trinidad is also nearly completed. However, it’s still incomplete over the bridge. (Apologies for the lack of photos; there’s nowhere to stop for pictures and this is only evident while you’re literally on the bridge in a vehicle.)
Changing perspectives for a moment, here’s a look at the Caribbean Beach Skyliner hub, as viewed from near Spyglass Grill, which is “only” a quiet pool restaurant but is nonetheless one of Walt Disney World’s hidden gem counter service restaurants.
It might be tough to tell here, but in under 2 weeks, a solid amount of progress has been made here. Grass and shrubs have been planted, and a lot of landscaping work has been done around the station. There are still some random piles of dirt and a bit of landscaping, but nothing that would take more than a few days to complete.
Here’s an elevated side view showing where the buses will enter the main Skyliner station area at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort.
We know that structure is a bus stop and this area is only for buses (and other authorized vehicles) because there’s now signage up that states as much. The bus stop structure itself looks like it’s in the process of having additional “stuff” installed on it (even zooming in, I couldn’t tell what–maybe Disney advertisements or a wait times screen).
In response to our last Skyliner update, some readers asked whether this bus station will serve as a ‘final destination’ transportation option when extreme storms cause a Skyliner closure.
That’s one possibility, but our expectation is that Walt Disney World’s storm monitoring coupled with the relatively short ride times won’t require such a reactionary approach. We’d expect the Skyliner to stop loading new guests when there’s lightning in X miles, but to allow guests who have already boarded to continue to their final destination.
Over at Art of Animation and Pop Century, here’s a look in pretty much the exact opposite direction as the last Caribbean Beach Skyliner station photo.
These stations are actually surprisingly close to one another, to the point that you can now see Art of Animation from Caribbean Beach, and vice-a-versa.
Here’s a wider look at this Skyliner station.
As we’ve said before, this station has been in near-finished form for months. Construction walls are still up on Generation Gap Bridge, but the hasn’t been any significant physical work to the station in ages.
The walls are also down around the new restrooms on the Art of Animation side of the Skyliner.
In addition to the cones, there are signs adjacent to each door that say “NOT IN SERVICE.” (I assume the doors are also locked.)
One very exciting change this week is the installation of Disney Skyliner signage. Above is a look at the sign on the Pop Century side of the station.
I know what you’re thinking–that looks like the aerial tramway emoji! I thought the same, and I’m very optimistic that once the Skyliner opens and everyone is posting selfies aboard it, this beloved underdog emoji will rise from the cellar of emoji rankings to claim its rightful throne as #1 emoji. We can at least dream it.
This signage is likely to display hours, instructions, or perhaps a map of the Skyliner system. Not that the last detail is particularly important here–this line only goes to Caribbean Beach. It’s there where instructions and a map might be more essential.
Operating hours are another question we’ve received several times. The short answer is that we don’t yet know. The longer answer is that Walt Disney World posted a job listing for Skyliner Cast Members, and it stated that Disney employee hours would be as early as 5 a.m. and as late as 3 to 5 a.m. In that same posting, it’s noted that the Walt Disney World Resort operates round the clock, even if the parks aren’t open.
This is interesting, albeit not conclusive. Cast Members working as early/late as 5 a.m. doesn’t establish the operating hours of the Skyliner, and we would not expect it to run from 5 a.m. to 3 a.m. on a regular basis.
However, we will say that Walt Disney World transportation hours are always later and earlier than what’s published to guests. When it comes to transportation, the general rule is that if there are guests somewhere who need to get somewhere else for a legitimate reason (e.g., home from the park after shopping on Main Street for an hour after closing, to an early morning ADR, etc.) transportation will be running.
A more succinct version of that general rule: Walt Disney World won’t leave you stranded without transportation. Why Disney is so conservative with its officially published transportation times is beyond us, because those limited hours are literally never true. (Take it from someone who is often last out of the parks or in need of a sunrise bus ride somewhere.)
Our expectation would be that the Skyliner will begin running over an hour before the start of Extra, Extra Magic Hours. Likewise, we’d anticipate it continuing to run until the last guest is off Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run and Disney’s Hollywood Studios is officially cleared. There’s always the possibility that they’ll switch to bus service at some point super late in the evening, but Walt Disney World is not going to leave you stranded.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Any expectations on operating hours for the Skyliner during Extra, Extra Magic Hours? Think progress here is far enough along for a late August soft opening? Any other thoughts on the Skyliner? Will you be using it, or sticking to buses? 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!
A round trip on the gondola , from either park? Of course, exiting at the hub and re-boarding? Is this going to be ‘ok’? I count this as another ride!!
We are staying at the CBR this winter. Can we take skyliner to epcot then monorail to MK? ( w/o entering epcot )
Mark, the Skyliner deposits guest at Epcot’s International Gateway. In order to get to the monorail, you’d have to walk through Epcot.
Thanks Barbara – we were hoping to avoid the bus on MK days
Hey Tom,
Bit of a dumb question, but I plan on staying at the POP around Christmas, and we wanted to stop and visit the other Skyliner resorts. Do you know if we’re still allowed to eat at Spyglass without actually having reservation at Caribbean Beach? I understand usually QSR location at hotels don’t require you be a hotel guest, but I’ve never dined at a resort’s poolside bar.
Hey Ricky. The pool bar is actually outside of the pool’s gates so non-guests can eat there without a problem. Same for the main pool’s bar.
Thanks for the update! Everything looks great, after your other post we snagged a mid morning reservation for Ogas Cantina for our fall reservation. I should also add we are staying at CBR for our fall trip as a result of your reviews, and grabbed it on the cheap when the construction was going full and you said everything would be ready for Galaxys Edge…everything coming together courtesy of your advice. Thank you!
I have what may seem to be a rather weird question……If you are getting on to the Skyliner at one of the middle stations how are you going to get on if all of the gondolas are filled up at the end terminals? Gondolas usually work when it is a Point A to Point B line, b ut with all of the stops??? I am perplexed.
Staying at Pop September 19-28. When I booked in early January totally thought Skyliner would be running and Galaxy Edge not open yet. Funny it’s reversed. What’s the odds of soft Skyliner opening during that time period?
We are staying (in November ) in the Martinique part of the CBR , is that fairly close to the skyliner station ?
Should be some getting off as with monorails. Might be a few tight spots but they could just leave a few empty seats at the start if it became a problem. They will never lose control to the mobs!
Sorry, don’t know why previous comment autofilled.
Station is across a bridge from all C.B. lodging.
are there alligators in that water under the gondola’s?
That could be a feature of the system, with ‘gators leaping up from the water to menace your gondola. And then the gondola could get a skipper with a cap gun to “shoot” at the gator. The final phase will be the opening of the Gondola Skipper’s restaurant.
it’s florida. if there’s a puddle, there are alligators. i’m guessing disney tries to curb that as much as possible but there are times you can’t fight nature.
Tangentially related to the Skyliner, reservations are currently available up to 180 days out at Savi’s, Droid Depot, and Oga’s.
Go to “shops” or just search for the location you are wanting, click check availability, and reserve.
I believe they went live a couple hours ago.
Hoping and praying for a soft opening for our upcoming stay in mid September!
Staying at POP in December and I’m really excited for the Skyliner!
Do we have any idea how the queuing/lines will work? If I get on at Pop, do I then have to get off at CBR and get back in line to ride to Epcot? Do I have to do the same at Riviera?
same. going labor day week and hoping things will quietly start transporting guests in time for SWGE, if only to hollywood and back. we’d like to ride it at least once at least one way.
I would say ‘yes’, this is how it will work. When resorts share transportation resources, it always adds to travel times regardless of the method. The main benefit from the Skyliner for these resorts is that there will now be a choice of transportation – if the line is too long to hop on a gondola, hit the bus instead. With that, guests will very quickly figure out which way works the fastest, and I’m sure there will be very detailed articles coming soon (right here on this blog no doubt!) relaying travel strategy with regards to wait times and several other ‘times’.
Meant to be a reply to Laura B.’s question below.
I just hope that Disney makes it very clear that when you’re in line at AoA you are going to have to wait in line again at CB. I could see a lot of guests very upset that they then have to wait in line AGAIN after already waiting. I would not want to be those CMs because you know they’re going to have to deal with some very angry guests who aren’t going to make rope drop even though they left the resort over an hour before it was scheduled to open. Anyone who’s ever lived in a city with public transit knows that when you have to ‘change lines’ it adds sooo much extra time. But I would guess 90% of guests at WDW don’t take public transit on a daily basis.
Off the subject, but can I get to the Epcot monorail from Dolphin without going into Epcot?
Frank, You can Uber to the Transportation and Ticket Center and walk to the Epcot monorail. If Uber is not your thing, you can take a bus to Magic Kingdom and take the monorail or ferry to the TTC and walk from there to the Epcot monorail.
If you walked from Dolphin to the International Gateway you’d need to go through Epcot to get to the monorail at the front of the park.
Great article — even though I have no plans to visit WDW in the near future I’m still so excited about the Skyliner. If it works well here I could see other U.S. cities (and/or other theme park operators) adopting similar gondola systems to meet transportation needs. While the U.S. has plenty of gondola tramways used for skiing and mountain sightseeing, I’m only aware of two tramways used for urban transportation (Roosevelt Island in NYC and the Portland Aerial Tramway).
Also, I hate to be that guy, but quick grammar note — it’s “vice versa”, not “vice-a-versa”.
https://www.grammarly.com/blog/vice-versa/
I keep seeing stories about cities contemplating gondolas (for example: https://la.curbed.com/2019/7/19/20701059/griffith-park-aerial-tram-gondola-study) but not much has come to fruition yet. A ‘case study’ at Walt Disney World could be exactly what the general public needs to get on board with this type of transit…or to turn against it if the doomsday predictions are what’s realized!
(As for vice-a-versa v. vice versa…I think the former is simply an archaic spelling. Not wrong, but also not the modern, preferred spelling.)
This is very odd. I just came to your site looking for that article about the gondolas and just like that, here it is!
My question to you Tom – we are coming in August 19 for the Star Wars land AP preview, what are the chances that the gondolas would be running from Caribbean beach to Hollywood Studios?
We would consider spending a little extra to stay there if gondolas were running.
I think there’s a chance, but I don’t think it’s likely.
If (and that’s still an if) the Skyliner is operating in time for the debut of Galaxy’s Edge, I’d expect it to start running only a few days in advance. Ten days beforehand is a bit of a stretch–but who knows!
Maybe I am also trying to justify spending a few extra $ to be able to stay in a pirate room!
Ok just read your review of the Pirate rooms and maybe not. Port Orleans riverside it is then
To the points about transportation running when guests need it, here’s an anecdote from a trip two years ago:
We were staying at Polynesian and had early breakfast reservations at Trattoria al Forno at Boardwalk. We took the Monorail over to Magic Kingdom and walked over to the buses, thinking we could just get a bus returning from there to Boardwalk.
After waiting for no more than a minute or two, a van from Disney Transportation pulled up, and we were asked where we needed to get to and told to get in. When we told him our plan, he explained that the buses do not do return trips to the resorts that early (MK was not open yet), and it was basically his job (and others) to look for guests like us needing to get to a resort and drive them to the resorts in the van.
Great example!
We’ve been picked up by those vans and SUVs a time or two, as well.
So if you board at AoA and have to get off the Skyliner at CB, to get to Epcot, do you have to get in line behind all the CB resort guests? Let’s say in the morning park rush, you have to stand in line with all the AoA/Pop guests and then go stand in line with CB guests on top of those arriving via gondola from AoA/Pop. This puts those values at a severe disadvantage because I could imagine travel time with waits going into the hour plus mark.
i have had this question forever as well. i really hope it’s more of an airport security style situation, where you only have to stand in line once even if you have to transfer. if they make people disembark and get behind at CB in a long line of CB guests, people are not going to be happy at all, especially if they already had to stand in a line at their resort or at a park to board. i really hope they’ve planned for only having to wait in a line once instead of multiple times. if not, oops, some big oversight there.
I’m really anxious to hear reviews of these in the Florida heat. I know that similar systems have run in other hot climates, but as a person who has driven an un-air conditioned car in a Florida Summer, I just don’t understand it.
this is a reason i had really hoped these would be up and running this summer, to hear first-hand reports of interior conditions in the peak of summer heat. they probably planned to avoid that as the first season purposely.
I’m curious as to how Disney will be loading passengers onto the new gondolas. Will single riders get their own gondola? Just wondering….
“even zooming in, I couldn’t tell what”
Tom, as a service to the readers of your blog it’s clear you need to add the Nikon 600mm f/4 lens to your bag. You’re in good shape and it weighs less than three 70-200’s for 3 times the zoom – you won’t even notice the weight! (You might notice the hole in your wallet, but I think we deserve it.) 🙂
I’ve been telling Sarah the same thing!!!
Can you get on the gondola at let’s say Hollywood Studios and stay in the gondola getting off at Hollywood Studios?
Also will the gondolas accept EVC?
If you get in the gondola at DHS, you’ll exit at Caribbean Beach and then re-board for either Art of Animation/Pop Century or Riviera with continuing service to Epcot.
Gondolas will accommodate ECVs.