BabybetterDisney
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2018
It’s been a month since its opening, and now a million people have been on the Skyliner. I don’t know how Disney can know this for sure, being that I don’t notice any turn styles at the entrances. But Disney believes it and I do too.
I having been keeping track of the Skyliner from mostly an observer’s point of view. As a mathematician, I am interested in the logistics of the thing, even though the Skyliner doesn’t actually affect me; I am not planning on riding it except for after 6 p.m., when I am not in a hurry to go anywhere. (For example, I won’t be riding it to get to an evening ADR, but it should be OK to ride it back.) I will also be bring an adult diaper with me (I‘m old and decrepit and have to go every hour).
We missed the Skyliner by a week during my last trip. People’s reviews, for the most part, say that the Skyliner isn’t as hot as most feared. That makes sense to me, being that it is in October already. During my last trip in September, I once stood waiting 20 minutes for the ferry around noon at MK. It was a normal hot day, but not extremely so. We stood in the shade, there was a slight breeze and it was all very pleasant. We could have stood there for hours and wouldn’t have broken a sweat.
However, just a few days before that, also around noon, we were eating lunch outside Boardwalk. (That hotel is nearly perfect except for the lack of a food court, even a small one.) We were sitting in the shade and drinking ice water from Boardwalk Bakery. There was no breeze. Twenty minutes later, I rushed the family back into the hotel so that we could breathe -- it was so hot! If we had been stuck inside the gondola then it would have been very bad. The difference of a few degrees really matters when the temperature is past 90. And the irritation of being stuck for an unknown amount of time will make me much hotter. If I get stuck on the Skyliner, I got nobody to blame but myself. I know how hot WDW gets in the summer, and I know how often Disney rides get stuck. If I get on the Skyliner or the Monorail, it’s on me if my family get stuck for 3 hours. (The Monorail got stuck for 3 hours the day I left WDW. People had to be dug out through the roof.)
If Disney can guarantee that the gondola is never stopped or slowed down, then it wouldn’t have been a problem. But I know that Disney can’t do that; Disney rides are frequently slowed or stopped. Originally, Disney had published that the time for traveling from Pop to Epcot to be 20 minutes, even though they knew full well that it is actually less than 10. So they have known this whole time the gondola would be frequently slowing and stopping. Various posters have indicated how their trips are delayed during normal operating hours. One couple took 45 minutes to get from DHS to Epcot. Another family had to be bused from CBR back to Pop because that section of the gondola was down, but Disney never mentioned it at Epcot. They just let the Pop/AofA people go on to CBR and then make them catch a bus there. And when the gondola was down at Epcot, people are made to walk to Boardwalk to take the bus. (I don’t imagine the Boardwalk people liking this too much.)
The wait time at Epcot after fireworks is reported at 17 minutes. That’s a huge line and a long walk just along the line, considering how fast the line was moving, and not a big improvement from waiting for the bus. (People used to say that there will be no wait because the gondolas come continuously. It’s like Spaceship Earth; just because it comes continuously doesn’t mean there won’t be a 30 minute wait, as it often does.) I think this information alone will make Riviera less attractive. I would prefer Boardwalk or Beach Club. In 17 minutes you’d have been in your hotel room for 7 minutes already. In 17 minutes I’d have taxied back to Pop.
I don’t understand who’s staying at Rivera. That place looks like a moderate but charges like GF. For $600 a night, why don’t I just stay at GF? Or BC or BW, for less, and be closer to Epcot/DHS? They all have DVC options.
People have claimed that the gondola is much cheaper to run than the buses. That’s only possible when both are stuffed full. Otherwise, there is no way the gondola is cheaper. Most the time, based on Youtube videos, the gondola looks about 20% full. The buses can run with less frequency and manpower but the gondola can’t. Without doing the actual math, I would say that the gondola has to be several times more expensive than the buses, and being that the buses are running simultaneously, the Skyliner has to be bleeding money from Disney right now, a million riders notwithstanding. Why doesn’t Disney post how many people have been riding the related buses during that time? I bet more people ride buses than gondolas, especially since after the accident.
Disney has been disingenuous with the Skyliner. They never published a schedule of its operations. There is no announcement when part of it is down so that people have the choice of not getting on it. There is no widespread knowledge of what happens when the line is down at Epcot -- that people have to walk all the way to Boardwalk for buses diverted from other hotels. During park closings, that is going to be bad for everybody. And to get to Boardwalk bus stop, you have to walk up a flight of stairs. Boardwalk does have an elevator for hauling people to the main level, but only one, and it‘s small. It’s not designed to hold a lot of traffic, and it‘s tucked in a corner.
Most importantly, Disney has called the latest accident “unexpected down time.” That is both irritating and pointless: the photos of the accident were all over the internet. Whitewashing it will only make Disney look irresponsible and untrustworthy. Disney is like a guy whose car breaks down but tells everybody, “ Uh, everything is under control. Situation normal. Had a slight malfunction. But, uh, everything's perfectly all right now. We're fine. We're all fine here, now, thank you.” I suppose Disney does this to protect their stock prices, but with the internet and everybody knowing everything instantly nowadays, that does nothing but harm.
Some people say, if not many people go on the Skyliner, more room for me! But that’s not true at all. If Disney continues to bleed money, they will scrap the project, and then there will be no room for nobody. There used to be a railroad at Fort Wilderness, I understand. That’s gone. I wish it was still there; I would love to be on it. You might wonder, why would Disney build anything big such as a railroad or the Skyliner without knowing if it’s worth it? You would think, for example, that they can see how many people live at Fort Wilderness to calculate how many will use the railroad. Disney knows how many live at the 3 gondola hotels and might use the gondola. Disney also knows how frequently their rides break down. The math shouldn’t be hard. However, one can always manipulate statistics. And that’s what they did with SWGE.
The truth is, Disney just spent 2 billion dollars building 2 Star Wars Lands that no Star Wars fan has ever seen or heard of, and the fans have not showed up at all. The regular Disney fans are coming, but that’s it. There is no increase in attendance. The Force is not with Disney on SWGE. But then, that’s not really a surprise: the CMs are not allowed to say “May the Force be with You” in Star Wars Land. Has Disney bothered to ask anybody the basic question “Should we build Mosley Eisley or just something we make up? Will SW fans worship anything we throw at them?” Sometimes even Disney get into the “optimistic big business groupthink mode”, and they fail like every other business with a bad idea.
The Skyliner is compared to the Monorail often. They are both high up, but the obvious difference is, the Monorail is sitting on a concrete road bridge, like all other roads bridges that people drive over constantly, whereas the gondola is dangling from a wire. It is theoretically perfectly safe, but it looks creepy. Worried old ladies like me tend to want to avoid it.
I hope the Skyliner succeeds because it’s interesting. I want to ride it some time, and it looks neat zipping along in the air. I am slightly worried that Disney might scrap it if it turns out to be too expensive to run. I do, however, hope that Disney scraps SWGE. That place has no redeeming feature whatsoever; it provides me, a SW fan, with nothing but irritation. I have been going to WDW for 10 years. I have donated my share of family savings to the Disney cause. I can’t believe they used my money to build THAT!
It really depends on how frequently the Skyliner gets stuck for 3 hours. If Disney can keep it less than once a year, it should be fine. If it happens every 3 months…not so fine. I am hoping that the Skyliner will at least still be running when I get to WDW next year. However, by Christmas Disney will know if the Skyliner is worth being kept running, and if it isn’t, they’d be smart to cut their losses right then, or at the least, only run it during busy seasons and not run it when I go during the slow season. Or only during park openings and closings. So I’m hoping Disney isn’t that smart. I want to get on it at least once. I also want to count how many people go on it during different times of the day compared to how many go on buses. My family is less interested in all this information or the Skyliner, but that’s their problem.
I having been keeping track of the Skyliner from mostly an observer’s point of view. As a mathematician, I am interested in the logistics of the thing, even though the Skyliner doesn’t actually affect me; I am not planning on riding it except for after 6 p.m., when I am not in a hurry to go anywhere. (For example, I won’t be riding it to get to an evening ADR, but it should be OK to ride it back.) I will also be bring an adult diaper with me (I‘m old and decrepit and have to go every hour).
We missed the Skyliner by a week during my last trip. People’s reviews, for the most part, say that the Skyliner isn’t as hot as most feared. That makes sense to me, being that it is in October already. During my last trip in September, I once stood waiting 20 minutes for the ferry around noon at MK. It was a normal hot day, but not extremely so. We stood in the shade, there was a slight breeze and it was all very pleasant. We could have stood there for hours and wouldn’t have broken a sweat.
However, just a few days before that, also around noon, we were eating lunch outside Boardwalk. (That hotel is nearly perfect except for the lack of a food court, even a small one.) We were sitting in the shade and drinking ice water from Boardwalk Bakery. There was no breeze. Twenty minutes later, I rushed the family back into the hotel so that we could breathe -- it was so hot! If we had been stuck inside the gondola then it would have been very bad. The difference of a few degrees really matters when the temperature is past 90. And the irritation of being stuck for an unknown amount of time will make me much hotter. If I get stuck on the Skyliner, I got nobody to blame but myself. I know how hot WDW gets in the summer, and I know how often Disney rides get stuck. If I get on the Skyliner or the Monorail, it’s on me if my family get stuck for 3 hours. (The Monorail got stuck for 3 hours the day I left WDW. People had to be dug out through the roof.)
If Disney can guarantee that the gondola is never stopped or slowed down, then it wouldn’t have been a problem. But I know that Disney can’t do that; Disney rides are frequently slowed or stopped. Originally, Disney had published that the time for traveling from Pop to Epcot to be 20 minutes, even though they knew full well that it is actually less than 10. So they have known this whole time the gondola would be frequently slowing and stopping. Various posters have indicated how their trips are delayed during normal operating hours. One couple took 45 minutes to get from DHS to Epcot. Another family had to be bused from CBR back to Pop because that section of the gondola was down, but Disney never mentioned it at Epcot. They just let the Pop/AofA people go on to CBR and then make them catch a bus there. And when the gondola was down at Epcot, people are made to walk to Boardwalk to take the bus. (I don’t imagine the Boardwalk people liking this too much.)
The wait time at Epcot after fireworks is reported at 17 minutes. That’s a huge line and a long walk just along the line, considering how fast the line was moving, and not a big improvement from waiting for the bus. (People used to say that there will be no wait because the gondolas come continuously. It’s like Spaceship Earth; just because it comes continuously doesn’t mean there won’t be a 30 minute wait, as it often does.) I think this information alone will make Riviera less attractive. I would prefer Boardwalk or Beach Club. In 17 minutes you’d have been in your hotel room for 7 minutes already. In 17 minutes I’d have taxied back to Pop.
I don’t understand who’s staying at Rivera. That place looks like a moderate but charges like GF. For $600 a night, why don’t I just stay at GF? Or BC or BW, for less, and be closer to Epcot/DHS? They all have DVC options.
People have claimed that the gondola is much cheaper to run than the buses. That’s only possible when both are stuffed full. Otherwise, there is no way the gondola is cheaper. Most the time, based on Youtube videos, the gondola looks about 20% full. The buses can run with less frequency and manpower but the gondola can’t. Without doing the actual math, I would say that the gondola has to be several times more expensive than the buses, and being that the buses are running simultaneously, the Skyliner has to be bleeding money from Disney right now, a million riders notwithstanding. Why doesn’t Disney post how many people have been riding the related buses during that time? I bet more people ride buses than gondolas, especially since after the accident.
Disney has been disingenuous with the Skyliner. They never published a schedule of its operations. There is no announcement when part of it is down so that people have the choice of not getting on it. There is no widespread knowledge of what happens when the line is down at Epcot -- that people have to walk all the way to Boardwalk for buses diverted from other hotels. During park closings, that is going to be bad for everybody. And to get to Boardwalk bus stop, you have to walk up a flight of stairs. Boardwalk does have an elevator for hauling people to the main level, but only one, and it‘s small. It’s not designed to hold a lot of traffic, and it‘s tucked in a corner.
Most importantly, Disney has called the latest accident “unexpected down time.” That is both irritating and pointless: the photos of the accident were all over the internet. Whitewashing it will only make Disney look irresponsible and untrustworthy. Disney is like a guy whose car breaks down but tells everybody, “ Uh, everything is under control. Situation normal. Had a slight malfunction. But, uh, everything's perfectly all right now. We're fine. We're all fine here, now, thank you.” I suppose Disney does this to protect their stock prices, but with the internet and everybody knowing everything instantly nowadays, that does nothing but harm.
Some people say, if not many people go on the Skyliner, more room for me! But that’s not true at all. If Disney continues to bleed money, they will scrap the project, and then there will be no room for nobody. There used to be a railroad at Fort Wilderness, I understand. That’s gone. I wish it was still there; I would love to be on it. You might wonder, why would Disney build anything big such as a railroad or the Skyliner without knowing if it’s worth it? You would think, for example, that they can see how many people live at Fort Wilderness to calculate how many will use the railroad. Disney knows how many live at the 3 gondola hotels and might use the gondola. Disney also knows how frequently their rides break down. The math shouldn’t be hard. However, one can always manipulate statistics. And that’s what they did with SWGE.
The truth is, Disney just spent 2 billion dollars building 2 Star Wars Lands that no Star Wars fan has ever seen or heard of, and the fans have not showed up at all. The regular Disney fans are coming, but that’s it. There is no increase in attendance. The Force is not with Disney on SWGE. But then, that’s not really a surprise: the CMs are not allowed to say “May the Force be with You” in Star Wars Land. Has Disney bothered to ask anybody the basic question “Should we build Mosley Eisley or just something we make up? Will SW fans worship anything we throw at them?” Sometimes even Disney get into the “optimistic big business groupthink mode”, and they fail like every other business with a bad idea.
The Skyliner is compared to the Monorail often. They are both high up, but the obvious difference is, the Monorail is sitting on a concrete road bridge, like all other roads bridges that people drive over constantly, whereas the gondola is dangling from a wire. It is theoretically perfectly safe, but it looks creepy. Worried old ladies like me tend to want to avoid it.
I hope the Skyliner succeeds because it’s interesting. I want to ride it some time, and it looks neat zipping along in the air. I am slightly worried that Disney might scrap it if it turns out to be too expensive to run. I do, however, hope that Disney scraps SWGE. That place has no redeeming feature whatsoever; it provides me, a SW fan, with nothing but irritation. I have been going to WDW for 10 years. I have donated my share of family savings to the Disney cause. I can’t believe they used my money to build THAT!
It really depends on how frequently the Skyliner gets stuck for 3 hours. If Disney can keep it less than once a year, it should be fine. If it happens every 3 months…not so fine. I am hoping that the Skyliner will at least still be running when I get to WDW next year. However, by Christmas Disney will know if the Skyliner is worth being kept running, and if it isn’t, they’d be smart to cut their losses right then, or at the least, only run it during busy seasons and not run it when I go during the slow season. Or only during park openings and closings. So I’m hoping Disney isn’t that smart. I want to get on it at least once. I also want to count how many people go on it during different times of the day compared to how many go on buses. My family is less interested in all this information or the Skyliner, but that’s their problem.
).
And isn't any discussion of SWGE more appropriate for the Theme Parks forum?
