- Joined
- Aug 23, 1999
View attachment 387102 View attachment 387103 View attachment 387104 These are screenshots from the Doppelmayr website (the gondola builders).
The video showed wheelchair and stroller loading while it was moving,but everything
I have seen says that Disney’s system will have track at each station where a gondola can be taken off line for stationary loading.
...On a side note, I hope they don't try to fill these to maximum capacity. They seem like very tight quarters and I don't want some stranger practically in my lap.
Since my name was mentioned at the start of this thread, I've come over to chime in & clarify on a mistake I made. A poster on the Rumor Board thread noticed that I'd misinterpreted the door opening width because of the Doppelmayr emphasis, in their promo video, on accommodating pallet width. The (Euro) delivery pallet measures 31.5, so the door must have some additional width in order to allow it to move through; therefore it does meet ADA requirements of at least 32" (which, if I'd really been thinking about it, makes perfect sense. If they knew at the design stage that they would be marketing these to ski resorts in the US, they would have had to design it that way.)
Anyway, interesting news is, a poster on that same thread [Jade1] took a brief video of the secondary (stationary) track loop at the DHS station, with test cars coming off of it to be slotted in to the main line: Disney Skyliner (Gondola Transportation System) Read Post 1 Updated 3/4/19 Thought you folks might be particularly interested in seeing it. The video is in the 4th message from the bottom of that page, post #5957.
Another question, if there is a reason to evacuate the gondolas in between stations, how will people in wheelchairs/scooters get out?
Ok not great but you can see the "left" side (curve) cabin come through past the curve, and the next one takes the first curve-although I quit a hair to soon.
If you don't need to ride with someone in an ECV/Wheelchair/stroller (or someone who requires the car to be stopped for loading/unloading then you have no worries; you will simply proceed through the standard line, and board/disembark with everyone else.
If you do choose to ride with a mobility device of some type, and go to the area where the cabins are stopped for boarding, chances are pretty good that you will know everyone in your cabin, just by virtue of how the system is set up.
I do agree with you about folks who only use ECVs at WDW; I think that pulling into the cabin might not be too bad, but backing out may be difficult for some of them. In those cases, family members can help (or transportation CMs can verbally guide them. It may slow things a bit, but those cars will already be off the rails, so to speak, so it doesn't matter as much - it won't slow down the vast majority of riders. Honestly, I was expecting that they would be set up with a door on both sides, so that mobility devices would enter from one side, and drive through the cabin (straight out) the opposite door. Doing that, however would limit the amount of bench seating in the units, so it makes sense to have only one door, since the majority of people at WDW would not benefit from (and might find confusing) a door that does not open for them on the "regular" side.
Speeding Tests...looks like a thrill ride to me...ha...ha...ha.
From Mousesteps and Jim Hill
Holy cow! At first I thought that they sped up the video and then saw the people walking. That is fast!
They are made to go 11-14 MPI so my guess is they will run this fast and slow down once they reach the station I hard going from POP AOA to the hub will take about 2 minutes. And the hub to HS about two minutes the hub to EPCOT will take longer at about 9 minutes. I am happy it is going this fast. Getting place will not take an hour.I had the same reaction! LOL Let's hope they never have to run them that fast in daily operation LOL! Can you imagine the traffic jam that would result?
I'm with you on this. For well over half the year the humidity in Orlando makes even a good breeze moot. I don't tolerate heat well anyway and this looks to be a real problem.I won't be riding them - especially if there's no air conditioning. I'm claustrophobic to begin with, and the idea of being trapped in that little capsule with no air (especially when it breaks down - because, just like the Monorail, it will at some point) just hanging there... :::shudder::: You would see me dismantle that thing from the inside...