Unlike the old Skyway buckets that once carried visitors between Fantasyland and Tomorrowland in the Magic Kingdom, these gondolas will be enclosed... and some of them will be adorned with Disney character images, such as Mickey and the Fab Five, the Haunted Mansion's Hitchhiking Ghosts, and various Disney Animation movie characters.
Austrian manufacturer Doppelmayr is providing the 10-person gondolas, and contractors have been working on the system since last spring. This isn't the first installation of such as transportation system at a theme park. The Singapore Cable Car network that can be used to reach Resorts World Sentosa — the home of Universal Studios Singapore — also uses Doppelmayr gondolas.
At Walt Disney World, the Caribbean Beach station will be the network's official hub, connecting the stations at Epcot's International Gateway, the Disney's Hollywood Studios entrance, and the shared station for the Art of Animation and Pop Century resorts.
No word yet from Disney on when the new system will be operational... or on who will get to use it. Or if the addition of a non-bus resort transportation system will affect the pricing and status of the three resorts that the Disney Skyliner will serve. Up until now, only Disney's Deluxe resorts have enjoyed direct transportation to a Walt Disney World theme park on something other than a bus.
Rate and review:
Tweet
I've been on the Emirates Air Line, other than it having more stops I don't see how its any different.
I think Disney just needs to bite the bullet and spend the money to expand the monorails to go to all the parks. Build a line from Epcot that goes to DHS, and then Animal Kingdom, and then one from Animal Studios to the Magic Kingdom. Then the can just have all the buses just go from the resorts to the nearest park, then people can use the the monorails to the other parks.
@Flavio - The International Gateway makes the most sense because of the geometry of the system. Getting the station to the front of EPCOT would require a much longer leg that would travel either around the perimeter of the park or cross right through it - unsightly. IG can handle the influx of additional guests - it's rarely manned fully with many gates and security tables empty. Perhaps they widen the promenade to allow for more guests to wait prior to park opening, but beyond that, it will just require more manpower to facilitate getting more guests into EPCOT through that entrance. They may also need to rework entry protocol from the IG since more guests would be entering the park from that direction to give those guests the same fair chance at getting to high demand attractions at rope drop.
I agree that the hub should have been placed at DHS - there's certainly plenty of land there, especially since they're already reworking that parking lot and bus bays for Galaxy's Edge. Having a hub at a resort doesn't really make much logistical sense unless you're deliberately trying to make that resort more desirable.
Next week, on 21 December 2017, a new cable car from Doppelmayr/Garaventa will be put into operation on the highest mountain in Germany, the Zugspitze 2962 m. This cable car has three world records at the same time.
From the valley station Eibsee, 998 m, you will reached the Zugspitze by a non-stop trip in only 8 minutes. Each cabin holds 120 people. Between the valley station and the mountain station there is only one support, which is 127 m high. Between the Support and the mountain station, the rope 3213 m hangs completely free. Each of the four carry cables has a diameter of 72 mm and weighs 153 tons. The drive power is 1.8 MW. It is a very good decision by Walt Disney's management to intruct the best cable car manufacturer to build the new cable car. Here the trip (full ride) with the old cable car, which was built in 1961/1962 by the company Heckel, Saarbrücken, Germany. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_6BDaTT2b8
Best wishes from Thomas, Munich, Germany
This article has been archived and is no longer accepting comments.
