Disney Skyliner
| Disney Skyliner | |
|---|---|
| Park | Walt Disney World |
| Type | Gondola lift transportation system |
| Opened | September 29, 2019 |
| Designer | Doppelmayr
|
| Status | Operating |
Disney Skyliner is a gondola lift system at Walt Disney World in Bay Lake, Florida, operated as part of Disney Transport. Opened on September 29, 2019, it links EPCOT and Disney's Hollywood Studios with four resort hotels through five stations and three lines, using a fleet of more than 250 detachable cabins that travel continuously between stations.
The Skyliner was the first entirely new form of scheduled transport added to the resort since the expansion of the Walt Disney World Monorail System to EPCOT in 1982. Unlike the monorail, it serves the southern part of the property, where a cluster of hotels had previously depended entirely on buses.
History
Plans for an aerial gondola network were reported in early 2017, after permits for station sites were filed, and Disney confirmed the project at the D23 Expo in July 2017. Construction proceeded through 2018, with towers erected and cables strung across Hourglass Lake and the car parks of Disney's Hollywood Studios. Cabin testing began on the Hollywood Studios line in early 2019.
The system opened to guests on September 29, 2019, a few weeks before Disney's Riviera Resort, its newest station hotel, welcomed its first guests in December that year.
Operation was interrupted in its first week. On October 5, 2019, cabins collided at the Riviera station and the system closed for several hours while guests were evacuated; no serious injuries were reported. The Skyliner also closed with the parks in 2020 and returned in stages. It now pauses each year for a short winter refurbishment, during which buses cover its routes.
Routes and stations
All three lines meet at Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort, which acts as the central hub and the only place where most journeys require a change of cabin.
The EPCOT line runs from Caribbean Beach to the International Gateway entrance of EPCOT, between the France and United Kingdom pavilions in World Showcase. It passes through Disney's Riviera Resort station, where through passengers remain in their cabin as it slows and turns, and crosses over Disney's BoardWalk area before descending to the Gateway. From that station, Disney's Yacht Club Resort, Disney's Beach Club Resort and Disney's BoardWalk Resort are within walking distance.
The Hollywood Studios line runs directly between Caribbean Beach and a station in front of the main entrance to Disney's Hollywood Studios.
The Pop Century and Art of Animation line crosses Hourglass Lake to a station shared by Disney's Pop Century Resort and Disney's Art of Animation Resort, the two hotels facing each other across the lake and joined by a bridge on which the station sits.
Cabins and operation
The Skyliner uses Doppelmayr detachable monocable technology. Cabins detach from the main cable in stations, moving slowly on an overhead rail for boarding, then accelerate and reattach for the journey. This allows continuous loading without stopping the line, although a separate loading area is provided where a cabin can be held longer for guests using wheelchairs or other mobility devices.
Each cabin seats up to ten guests on facing wooden benches, or up to six when carrying an open mobility device. Cabins are not air-conditioned; mesh-covered vents and reflective glazing use the airflow of movement to keep the interior cool, and journeys are short — most legs take between five and fifteen minutes including any transfer.
More than half the fleet is decorated with wraps showing Disney characters, films and park attractions, so that decorated cabins appear to carry those figures alongside their passengers. Plain cabins are finished in a palette of bright colours. On-board audio provides route information and, on the EPCOT line, narration about points passed below.
Travel on the Skyliner is complimentary for any guest, not only those staying at the hotels it serves.