Is the Walt Disney World Gondola System about to become a reality?

Feb 15, 2017 in "Disney Skyliner"

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Walt Disney World Gondola map

Posted: Wednesday February 15, 2017 7:30am EST by WDWMAGIC Staff

Recently filed permitting plans suggest that Walt Disney World may be about to get its own gondola transportation system.

The plans show several structures at key locations around property, with some exhibiting quite distinctive proportions - L Shapes, that are typically used to change direction on overhead cable-based gondolas. (Thanks to danlb_2000 and P_Radden on the WDWMAGIC Forums for interpreting the plans)

The plans appear to show the new gondola transportation system linking Disney's Hollywood Studios, Art of Animation Resort, Caribbean Beach Resort and Epcot.

Walt Disney World Gondola map

Timing is especially interesting, as major changes are coming to Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort and Disney's Hollywood Studios, which would make integration of a new transport system much easier.

The Magic Kingdom of course had its own Skyway, which served as an attraction inside the park for many years. But the use of gondolas as mass transport is gaining popularity. A new system is proposed for New York City, and London already operates a version in the east of the city.

Disney has not yet announced any new transportation plan, but it is well known that expansion of the monorail is unlikely, and roadways for bus use are becoming increasingly congested.

Discuss on the Forums

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JoeCamel13 days ago

Well I'm glad you survived to tell the tale. July/ August may be a different story but still viable at the moment

Chef idea Mickey`=13 days ago

Thing is the Hollywood line would either be beside the Epcot line or beside the Pop Animation line which wouldn't looked appealing. The Hollywood whichever way it went would then have a turning section like the Epcot line has.

Disone13 days ago

Agree. They should have placed the main three line station where the Rivera is. Could have served both Rivera and Caribbean.

TiggerDad14 days ago

Eight years down this rabbit hole I finally had a chance to ride it this weekend. I loved the feeling of cruising around above the tree line. I didn’t love inching along when they had to slow the line, and I really didn’t love the full stop in the air. Adding Riviera to the Epcot line was just too much given typical Disney clientele. All in all, I think it works well to provide unique transportation and be a different experience.

GoofyernmostFeb 20, 2025

If you had to compare the two, the gondola's will win the race for low cost operation when empty. Imagine a couple engines as opposed to a hundred running all day long.

mmascariFeb 20, 2025

I'm thinking of the line path and turn wheels. The turn stations are already essentially two end stations plus extra turn pullies to guide the cable around the turn. There's a diagram somewhere in this thread. Having two actual end stations would eliminate the extra pullies with it's additional cable routing and complexity plus two shorter instead of one longer cable. Adding an extra drive motor instead. Everything else would be the same. That extra motor may cost more to drive 4 motors instead of 3, or not since 1 of those motors is moving less stuff now. Definitely some trade offs. They could transfer cars between two end stations. Just like the 3 end stations share a yard now. In this scenario, cars would be unloaded from a Riviera/CBR line first, then cars on an Epcot/Riviera line unloaded at Riviera and be transferred to the Riviera/CBR line destined for the same storage yard. Probably a manual push instead of driven rollers for the entire switch at Riviera. Knowing the operations impacts now, after they've been running, I wonder if they would have decided differently than they did. Maybe that extra motor costs so much, or the guest experience of making a transfer would be so much worse than the current impacts that the same decision would still be right. We'll never know. 🤷‍♂️

Chef idea Mickey`=Feb 20, 2025

How will the waterway connect from Coronado Spring's to Swan and Dolphin. They just built Swan Reserve and unless you rip out the Golf. If the Skyliner Turn station was a station even like Riviera you could easily have another skyliner run straight and it would cross the highway straight on to Coronado Spring's a solution much easier than a waterway where how will it cross World Drive.

Chef idea Mickey`=Feb 20, 2025

so Riviera is a hub station. 🙂 Thanks!

UNCgolfFeb 19, 2025

Yeah, despite me not being a big fan of the Skyliner for a variety of reasons, the fact that it's continually moving is a benefit in this regard. Buses and boats can't just sit and wait until they're full (although they do sometimes wait a few minutes before leaving if they're mostly empty) because it would make guests furious -- what if you have a dinner reservation, get on the bus with plenty of time, and then the bus doesn't leave for 30 minutes because there aren't enough guests and you miss the reservation? -- so they're not remotely optimized. An empty Skyliner cabin has very little effect on anything. Buses/boats running mostly empty is definitely a bigger hit to optimization/efficiency (and more importantly, costs) than empty Skyliner cabins.