Skyliner Gondola Update – February 2019
Our Walt Disney World construction updates for February 2019 continue with photo progress reports the Skyliner, including video of the first testing of real gondolas! We also have current photos of all Skyliner stations: Art of Animation/Pop Century, Hollywood Studios, Epcot, Caribbean Beach, and Riviera Resort. Before any of that, we’ll begin with a semi-brief rant…
As is by now plainly clear, the Disney Skyliner gondolas are a bottomless well of controversy. The latest outrage percolated when news came out of SeaWorld San Diego that passengers had to be rescued from the Bayside Skyride after being stuck for hours. Naturally, this provided “evidence” to the anti-Skyliner crowd that the forthcoming Walt Disney World transportation system is unsafe, ill-advised, and should be cancelled.
Contending that you shouldn’t use a state-of-the-art Doppelmayr gondola due to the breakdown of a circa 1967 bucket system is the equivalent of saying you shouldn’t drive a Tesla Model X because Ford Pintos are known to explode. The criticism of the Skyliner is just becoming farcical at this point. If you’re apprehensive (or worse) about the Skyliner, I’d strongly encourage you to read up on Doppelmayr gondolas being used elsewhere. As I’ve said numerous times, this system is a known quantity.
Now, I realize that I’ve been a fairly breathless defender of the Skyliner. Nevertheless, I can appreciate that the gondolas just aren’t for everyone. People have fears of heights, enclosed spaces, or other legit qualms. I totally get and respect that. Personal anxiety isn’t remotely the same as claiming, “this idiotic system is doomed to fail; I can’t believe these fools wasted so much money when they could’ve expanded the monorail!”
To some extent, my commentary in these posts is possibly an over-correction because I’ve seen so many zealously bad and premature opinions about the Skyliner. I’ll be the first to admit I’m really excited about the Skyliner (of all Walt Disney World’s current projects, this is #2 for me in terms of my hype level), and that enthusiasm probably colors my perspective a bit.
I’ll also concede that the way the Skyliner is being implemented is far from ideal; I have plenty of quibbles with it. I also don’t expect everyone else to be nearly as excited for a mode of transportation as me. I just can’t comprehend those actively rooting for it to fail, and assuming they’ve thought of all these potential ways it will fail that Disney never considered. It’d be the equivalent of Walt Disney World announcing they were adding double-decker buses to the fleet, and fans theorizing that they’d tip over on stormy days.
Anyway, we’ve got plenty of actual ground to cover here, so I’ll step off my soapbox…
We’ll start at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, as that seems to be SKYLINER CENTRAL, where all the excitement is happening.
This was actually our fourth stop of the day, after Coronado Springs, Caribbean Beach/Riviera Resort, and Art of Animation/Pop Century.
I mention this not to “disclose” that we’re going out of order here, as I don’t think anyone really cares.
Rather, because I was pretty disappointed that prior to this, the only gondolas we’d seen on the lines were in the road over Caribbean Beach’s entrance. I was super stoked and ended up going out of my way to take a ton of photos at that intersection, only to arrive at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and see an endless line of them parked.
I was super excited by this, and spent way too long taking photos of a bunch of stationary gondolas.
My overly-long fixation ended up being a good thing, as loitering around this area for ~20 minutes gave us a chance to see this:
We were both beyond stoked to see the gondolas in motion, and had a general sense of it’s really happening!
My favorite thing about riding Slinky Dog Dash right now is looking to the right and seeing Galaxy’s Edge taking its final exterior form, which gives me that same feeling. The difference here is that these were gliding by right over head, giving a greater sense of immediacy to that it’s really happening sensation.
Again, I’m cognizant of the fact that a transportation project isn’t even mildly exciting to a lot of you. So, this enthusiasm might seem…misplaced?
However, I’m not exactly enamored with Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, the Guardians of the Galaxy coaster, or a handful of other projects about which others are hyped. Different strokes for different folks, I suppose.
In terms of visible progress on the Disney’s Hollywood Studios Skyliner station, there really isn’t any.
The finishing touches still need to be put on the Pan Pacific Auditorium (I’m assuming) style columns, but the rest looks pretty much good to go.
Walking between Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Epcot, this turn is visible from the pathway.
This has been done for months, and I’m not really sure why I’m still taking photos of it. To confirm that it hasn’t become…undone?
From there, we head to Epcot’s International Gateway.
It’s hard to ascertain any progress on this Skyliner station, but that’s mostly because it’s the only one that doesn’t afford any over or around the wall vantages.
Over at the resorts, we’ll start with Caribbean Beach for a look at its “major” Skyliner station. This will be the largest of the bunch, and handle the most traffic.
Some progress has actually been made on this station, which shutters and some trim work added since we last visited.
The cupola mirroring other architecture around Caribbean Beach is now taking more of a finished form.
This should end up fitting into Caribbean Beach’s existing style pretty nicely.
Across the way at Disney’s Riviera Resort, here’s what the progress looks like.
That beach on the left side of the frame is part of Caribbean Beach, so it’s more like a shared station that’ll be a short walk from both the Riviera and the Aruba section of Caribbean Beach.
We’ll finish up with Art of Animation and Pop Century, where there’s no visible progress since our visit last month.
As we commented then, progress on this station is incredibly far along, to the point that if you told me it was opening next month, I’d find that totally plausible.
Obviously, it’s not opening next month, but the point is that the station is nearly done…or perhaps completely done?
Work does continue on the structure across from the Skyliner station, which I’m 99% sure is a restroom. Or a DVC kiosk. Or a stand for selling wall-colored spirit jerseys. It’s literally gotta be one of the three.
Before you “worry” that this visit to Art of Animation was a total waste of my time (because I’m sure my time is your utmost concern), I was able to wander through Art of Animation and get some new photos of the resort–it had been a while since I got some nice blue sky day photos of this resort. It’s not for everyone, but I still enjoy Art of Animation for what it is, especially outside in the Cars section.
I also got photos of (what I believe is) a bunch of new Art of Animation merchandise. So stay tuned for that in the upcoming “sequel” to our New Walt Disney World Resort Merchandise post.
That’s it for this update on the Walt Disney World Skyliner gondola transportation network. Given that the system is already doing full speed testing with the final gondola cabins, what we’ve been saying about the Skyliner being ready to go well before Fall 2019 sure seems accurate. Perhaps we’ll see a lengthy soft opening well before the official debut…or perhaps Walt Disney World will deem that unnecessary without Riviera and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge open, and elect to wait on those.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What are your thoughts on the Skyliner? Does the video of the gondolas in motion have you more excited to see and/or ride the finished Skyliner? Or have you already sworn off the Skyliner after the SeaWorld incident, or for some other reason? Thoughts on construction progress? 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!
The idea of the gondola is great; the execution and aesthetic is a horrible eye sore for me. The towers ruin the landscape and look out of time. At least the monorail still looks somewhat futuristic and has clean and sleek lines. Would gondolas be fun to ride and take interesting pictures from? Yes. Do they contribute to the visual continuity of the Disney landscape in a positive way? No. This fits in to a seemingly new trend of disregarding aesthetic for overzealous expansion.
While I don’t see them as visual blight to the degree that you do, I do think a bit more effort could’ve been made to choose paths for the Skyliner that would’ve been less intrusive. This is particularly true at Caribbean Beach where, with minimal extra effort, the gondolas could’ve been routed over parking lots rather than guest buildings.
I too am quite happy with the Skyliner. I used to think Disney had long ago given up on building “novel” transportation methods (boats, monorails) and would resort to just using buses. The Skyliner, however, will add four more hotels to the list of those served by a fun transport method, and in the end every theme park except the AK will be served by at least 3 different systems. Sure, an extension of the monorail would have been better, but this has been a pleasant surprise.
I too was wondering about a transfer station. I go curious and looked for a map, it almost looks like the station at Caribbean beach would be where a transfer would happen.
https://www.disneytouristblog.com/disney-skyliner-gondola-construction-update/
that’s why i’m hoping for a long soft-opening so people can report back on how long the transfers take. would be helpful for planning, particularly for early breakfast reservations.
We have reservations at Pop mid August. I’m hoping (fingers crossed) that the gondolas will be up and running. Can’t wait to try them out.
LOL!!! Funniest statement on the Internet today: ‘Or a stand for selling wall-colored spirit jerseys.’ I laughed more than once reading through this one… you were on fire, Tom! 😀 See you on the Gondola (but apparently, not in line for Ratatouille)!
We are staying at the Caribbean for 3 weeks in August and I’m really hoping they will be up and running by then. We rode gondolas at Matlock Bath, UK in the height of the summer – of course nowhere near as hot as Florida – but hot for us. It wasn’t a problem in the ‘car’. The bus system is terrible at cbr, we only booked again as when we were there in 2017 as the work for the station had started and we hoped the gondolas would be complete. Love the site Tom!
we stayed at CB once in the late 90s and haven’t again, specifically because of the bus problems.
I’ve finally found someone who’s equally excited as me for the Disney Skyliner. I’ve been reading about this for months but just found your blog and it’s by far the best and funniest.
I live in Orlando so have journied our to WDW once to see the progress.
Coming from the UK at the end of July and staying in Caribbean Beach, I’m hoping – with all my fingers and toes crossed – that the skyline is open then. I can’t wait to ride it! I think it looks fantastic and it’s going to have such interesting aerial views.
I’m with you, and I’m probably absurdly excited about the Skyliner system. Anything to add another option for transportation around Disney is a win in my book. More often than not we find ourselves staying at Pop or AoA so I’m also a little biased.
I am hoping they keep alternative transportation to everywhere. I hate hanging from a wire, as a fearless kid I rode the skyway in Disneyland and thought we were going to plummet to to our dealth every time we rode over a joint. It made a awful noise as well. All of these no longer exists. Now I get there must have been some improvements and rightfully so, it’s still hanging from a wire!
I have no intention of ever riding in the air on a wire, just as I do not do “coasters”! I am super happy for those that are excited and am sure they will enjoy their ride. I will stay on the ground!!
The Skyliner is #2 current Walt Disney World’s project for me too. And #1 is of course the new TipoTorta stand at the Magic Kingdom…. Just joking, unfortunately no TipoTorta at the MK, otherwise that would certainly be #1.
Well, I’m not against them and I am sure that eventually we will ride them, but I have been very disappointed that they never expanded the monorail system. There are modern systems used around the world, many of them are even automated. Ever since I was a kid and I went to Disney the very first time, seeing that monorail screamed DIsney to me. I can’t be the only one. In fact I always make sure to ride the monorail at least once or twice when we visit, even if I don’t have to. To me it’s just another must do when we visit the parks.
I agree with that completely. Even if it “only” extended to the Disney MGM Studios when that opened, it would’ve been huge.
we went for my first trip in january 1990 shortly after mgm studios opened. my dad had an ecv and we were fine with the monorails, but this was before the days of wheelchair friendly buses so they had to call us a special van to get us to and from mgm. agree the monorail would have been a huge, but i think well invested, project at the time.
It’s the new PeopleMover!!!
The loading process looks sort of similar to me.
i was on the fence when these were first announced, but the more that comes out, the more i like. i do hope they are up and operating by september when we go and they’ve had time to work out any major kinks.
as others have said, my concern is the lack of a/c. i hope the ventilation works the way they hope. my mother succumbs to high heat faster than many, so i don’t want us to take a ride on one of these and have her have a problem.
is anything known yet on stops/transfers. if you’re at a resort, say AoA, do we know yet if you’ll have to transfer to different lines in order to get to the parks? that will have to be factored in when scheduling (i.e. an early morning breakfast reservation at boardwalk, was wanting to take the gondola to HS, then hop the boat taxi). i hope it doesn’t cause bottlenecks at the stations. i was hoping especially to use this to travel to and from the studios, since it now looks like the bus stations are a mile from the entrance and the skyliner station is much closer.
Oh my goodness!! Seeing these in action has brought back such fun memories of crossing over Magic Kingdom on the Skyway. Can’t wait until these open!! Thanks for sharing all the current details. 🙂
Same, only for me it was riding through the Matterhorn on the Disneyland version. I really miss the old Skyway, especially in the afternoon if you want to cross the park around parade time.
Thank you. Hadn’t thought about them not debuting them when they are open, i.e. basing it on Galaxy’s edge/Riviera Resort.
Here’s hoping they truly mean fall aka late September/early October.
Cheers.
i would hope once it’s ready that hey’d go ahead and start running them. i can’t see a reason for waiting for the massive crowds to start using them and then run into an unforeseen issue when you have the most people there.
They’ve already announced the “official” opening for the Skyliner will be Fall 2019.
In watching the progress on these, it seems to me there’s no way they aren’t ready by the summer. That leaves the following possibilities: I’m wrong (never a bad pick), extended soft opening period, or waiting until the other stuff opens.
Potential wildcard: if the Skyliner is an amenity of Riviera Resort from a DVC perspective–and that would make total sense as it’s a way to force owners to pay for a portion of maintenance–they may be legally restricted as to when the Skyliner can debut in relation to the resort’s opening.
hope it’s the soft opening scenario. they could extend that for a long time, hoping they have a loophole in the language. waiting for one resort to open seem unfair to guests at the other resorts it’s connected to if they can’t use it if it’s ready to go.
I do wish some money was being poured into my beloved monorail, but I am still excited by the gondolas. Hoping they are open in August when we are resort hopping so we can see them in action. I think anything that let’s you have a ride experience before you even get to the parks adds to the experience. Disney spending money on guest experience without charging for it per ride? Let’s be positive.
Will you have to be staying at the actual resort to use them- like a magic band?
I’d also love to see monorail expansion, but when that didn’t occur in the late 1980s or early 1990s, I think that ship sailed. It’d be incredibly expensive now, and not nearly as dynamic (with redirections) as the Skyliner.
As for how to access the Skyliner, there’s no word yet. I think that in part depends upon demand versus capacity. Requiring Magic Bands (and a hotel reservation) at first might keep locals from treating it as a free attraction. Over time I wouldn’t expect that restriction, as it’d pose an obstacle to Park Hopping.
I’m glad you are so excited for these gondolas. I WAS excited too about them and thought they seemed like a good idea. However, I’ve come to now thing they are an absolutely stupid idea and will result in someone dying and a MASSIVE lawsuit against Disney. My wife works at Epcot and has found out that some idiot at corporate headquarters in Burbank, CA, who apparently has never been to Florida in the summer, has made the brilliant decision that these gondolas will NOT have any air conditioning and will instead use some kind of venting system to ventilate outside air. The gondolas on the Orlando EYE have AC. These could have too. However, with Disney, AS USUAL, it’s all about saving or making money. I can be driving in my car in the summer and roll down the windows to ventilate the 90+ degree air into my car. That doesn’t make me want to do that. They are going to try and cram 10 hot, sweaty people into a box without AC in the summer for a 10-15+ minute ride??? No thank you. It will take only one senior citizen or other person to die or suffer a heart attack from heat stroke and a massive lawsuit will follow and then MAYBE, the ignorant greedy people will realize that maybe Air conditioning wouldn’t be such a bad idea! Everyone at Epcot that is aware of the lack of AC are all saying the same thing. It is a big mistake to not have AC in these gondolas. Also, Almost all of Disneyworld seems to love to shut down any time there is lightening. What happens, especially with NO AC, when this gondola breaks down with guests on it. Will they have a plan with huge cranes ready to get people off as they have had to do from the monorail in the past when there were breakdowns?
While this system would be nice and I would love to use it, it seems, at least to me, that the only time people will want to get into these things will be in the winter! And even then, winter weather seems to be almost non existent in Florida for the last few years as it keeps getting hotter and hotter each year during the winter months!
“If you’re apprehensive (or worse) about the Skyliner, I’d strongly encourage you to read up on Doppelmayr gondolas being used elsewhere. As I’ve said numerous times, this system is a known quantity.”
I have read on the gondolas themselves. But still, no matter how reflective the glass is or how dark it is, the fact is simple science. Ventilating hot 90+ humid air from outside into the inside of the gondola will NOT cool the air, especially with people inside. People can always make themselves warmer with warmer clothes. But you can’t make yourself cooler. Here is one of the numerous links regarding no AC.
https://wdwnt.com/2018/11/confirmed-disney-skyliner-gondolas-will-not-have-air-conditioning-only-passive-ventilation/
I hope I am wrong and somehow people will be able to stay cool with hot air blowing in. However, I’ve never seen anything like that. Sometimes the AC on the monorails is not working at all or working good and the ride in the monorails is very uncomfortable as a result. These gondolas will absolutely never have AC by design. I just don’t understand why they though natural “Florida weather” ventilating would be comfortable for people in the summer!
I really like the curved roof of the Pop/Animation station. It makes it look like less of a standard gondola launch station. Same with Carribean Beach. (I’m with you on the confusion about how some people are so negative about this project – these are literally installed all over the world in far more challenging environments than Orlando. My minor concern is that they *dont* just look live every other gondola system, but have some Disney flair to them.)
I think the Pop/AoA station is by far the best, or at least the most organic fit for the resorts. Part of that is probably because they are the lowest hanging fruit thematically, but there’s also some challenge here in designing a station that looks appropriate to both resorts. I think they did a good job with that one. Ditto CBR.
From my perspective, the International Gateway station is the weakest, and that’s in large part because the surrounding architecture has so much depth and detail, and that station really doesn’t.
Thank you for the update Tom! I am very excited for this as well…I think riding these to/from the parks will be part of a great day vs. the slog that is riding the bus after an otherwise amazing day.
It’d be pure speculation on your part (and I wouldn’t hold you to it) but could you fathom a guess of what “fall” means with regard to when these will open? You think if you were booking CBR in November 2019 you’d have a good shot of riding the gondola?
I think that it’s impossible to say.
My thinking here is that WDW is basing the opening of the Skyliner around Galaxy’s Edge and/or Riviera Resort, rather than debuting them when they’re done testing. Riviera Resort is opening in December 2019, but since we don’t know when Galaxy’s Edge is opening, I don’t think it’s safe to offer a prediction for the Skyliner yet.