Tri-Circle-D

I really think you need to take into account who you are stuck in the gondola with. On the trip where we got stopped for a few minutes, there were three of us on one bench, and four large people across from us. The guy across from me was definitely crossing the imaginary line of demarcation into my foot space, and the four of them were annoying to listen to as they griped about the delay. I would not have made it to the first hour with that group. If I wasn't able to push them out, I guess I'd have to McGiver something to rappel out of there. TCD

But your point about them doing too much at the same time is valid. They went a LONG time just taking our money, closing down stuff and raising prices. Now they're playing catch-up. Dumb. TCD

All of the construction walls have created giant pinch points in Epcot for crowds trying to exit after Illuminations. They should have thought about that when scheduling the debut of the new fireworks show. TCD

There is lightning in the cars, under the benches dimly lighting the floor. I saw the call boxes. I assume all of that is run by some low voltage electricity. TCD

Been there done that. When its busy, they load 8-10 guests in each car, so you get to ride in a confined space with strangers. There's no music or engine noise so there are no private conversations. On one of our rides we got to witness some horrible parenting with a mom saying horrible things to her little 3-4 year old boy who was justifiably antsy, and the hen pecked dad sitting there and pretending nothing was wrong. On another ride we got to hear a 40 year old man mansplain everything about the changes coming to Epcot, the Riveria Resort and the Skyliner. I thought the twins' eyes would roll out of their heads- this guy got so much wrong. They got a huge laugh out of him. On yet another ride, a 60+ year old dude answered his flip phone and had a 10 minute conversation with an equally hard of hearing buddy. We all loved that. TCD

Yeah. Regulation sized single strollers can be wheeled right on, but the rule breakers with their giant strollers have to unload their precious cargo and fold their strollers, and while one parent drags the giant folded stroller on board, the other has to herd a kid who doesn't have much practice walking into a car. And that's if there's two parents available. Single parents and families with multiple young ones are going to have a problem getting everyone on board and seated in the few seconds you have to do so. But no worries, the people holding things up aren't dangling in a square metal cube with no circulation. So they can take their sweet time TCD

Hmmm a brand new DVC resort that they've been heavily marketing for years and has direct non-stop transportation to Epcot on the Skyliner has occupancy problems already? I feel sorry for the DVC owners who paid the full asking price. All those models about what a great deal DVC is are based on the inflated rack rates that are already being discounted 40%. TCD

For what it's worth we rode the Skyliner from Epcot to DHS last night on opening night. We left Epcot right after Illuminations. The crowd was very heavy because it was the second to last Illuminations performance. The line to board the Skyliner was LONG, but it moved constantly at a quick pace. It took us 20 minutes before we boarded, and 41 minutes total before arriving at DHS, and that's with a six to seven minute stop we encountered right after boarding. Total transportation time wasn't bad- quicker than the boat that time of night, but these stops in the air are a problem. From our limited experience, these stoppages happen frequently. I don't know what the issue is, but I suspect it's guests who can't get in and out of the cars in the time allotted at the transfer stations, which results in the whole line being shut down and a delay in restarting. That's going to be a continuing problem. TCD

I can't see them not running in the summer. There will be challenges, but they run the MK train, the resort boats in Bay Lake and Seven Seas Lagoon, the Animal Kingdom safari vehicles and the monorails in the summer, and none of them have air conditioning. The only problem I see with the Skyliner would be if you had to stop for a prolonged time in direct sunlight. TCD

Good question. There are a lot of louvres in use for the ventilation system. I didn't see any controls inside the cabin to adjust those. The way rain blows in typical summer storms, I think there's no way that those cabins will stay dry. I also can't believe that they will run these things when there's lightning in the area. And that's nearly a daily phenomenon in the summer. I don't think it's a coincidence that they waited until October before opening the Skyliner. The weather shouldn't cause any major problems for the next 8 months or so. But, when June gets here look out. TCD

There is one more danger I forgot to mention. The cars move surprisingly fast as they enter the station, and it seems like they just stop in the nick of time to avoid hitting the car in front. Braking mechanisms break. It's only a matter of time. TCD

I can confirm they are there, but we always had other guests in the car with us, so no investigation. Good question. They have a separate line at each loading area for guests in wheelchairs and the ability to pull the cars to that area for loading. Kind of like they do in Toy Story Midway Mania, if you've seen that. But, as far as I could see, there are no special accessible cars, and the wheelchairs have to be pushed into the aisle. I'm not sure some of the big scooters that some guests use will fit. Maybe the benches fold up? Strollers go in the regular loading area, and can get wheeled right on. They have to reduce capacity for parties with strollers, as the stroller in the aisle reduces leg room for the benches. Everything worked fine during the preview, but I think there will be problems when normal guests with strollers show up. There's not much time to load and unload, as the cars slow down but don't stop moving at the loading platforms. I can easily see problems with the typical inattentive guests. TCD

OK, you've seen the videos and heard the reviews of the Pixie Dust pumpers, but here's the truth: the TCD gang likes the Skyliner. The twins and I got to ride it during a castmember preview last night. For the previews, they have you park in the DHS lot and head to the station. Our arrival time was 7 pm, so the sun was setting, and it was in the high 80s with low humidity when we arrived. That helped a lot. The first thing we noticed was the queue isn't very big. Guests were overflowing out of the queue, so we wondered if they goofed on that. But the next thing we noticed is how fast the line moved. As advertised, the Skyliner cars never stopped, and the line moved steadily right up until we boarded. That was good. The next thing we noticed is the Skyliner cars are much bigger than they look from the ground. When I heard the capacity was 10 guests per car, I figured that would be with half the guests standing. But, there's plenty of room for 10 with two facing benches that can easily seat 5 guests each. Signs in the cabin suggest that guests should remain seated. Another observation- there are a lot of the decorated wrapped cars- I thought there would be more unwrapped, but that was not the case. It is easier to get a wrapped car than not. For our first ride, we took off immediately, and what they say is true- there's great air circulation when the car is moving. As I said, the sun was going down, and it was a pleasant evening, so we were comfortable. But as others have noted, I don't think that would have been the case if the sun was beating down or the temperature and humidity were higher. As I have suspected all along, the term "passive cooling" is a lie. Passive cooling is no different than rolling down the windows in a car without air conditioning. It feels cooler when the car is moving, but the temperature and humidity inside the car is never going to be lower than outside. On our very first ride, we stopped for about 45 seconds over Buena Vista Blvd, and the cabin instantly became stuffy. Also, we were so high at that point that I can't see how they would be able to evacuate guests from the cars there if there was ever a need. One thing that I hadn't understood up until our ride was how the different routes for the Skyliner work. It's actually simple, but not very convenient. The Skyliner only goes to one place from DHS-the Caribbean Beach Resort station. When you get there, you have to get off. From that station, you can get in a new line to take the Pop Century/ Art of Animation route, or the Riveria Resort/Epcot route. The lines move fast, but you do have to exit and change cars. The Pop/AoA line is a straight shot and takes you to the bridge in Hourglass Lake. That's a great location for guests. Same deal there- you can't stay in the car- everyone has to get out and get in line to reboard to ride back to the CBR station. i didn't realize that the Riveria Resort has its own stop, but it does. They let guests stay in the cars there for the previews, but I wonder if that will still be true when the resort opens. From there, you head to Epcot, with a turn at Boardwalk, and then arriving at the International Gateway station. Same deal there- no round trips- get out and reboard. All the line segments mean this is not the most efficient way to park hop, but it's great do the Riveria guests who have a straight shot to and from Epcot, and the CBR guests who get a straight shot to DHS. Not so great for anyone else. Bottom line, the Skyliner is nice and fun, but probably not during the day in the summer. TCD

Thanks for the tip about free snacks. I'll be looking for those in about 4 hours from now. TCD

Yup. And on the other side of Pioneer Hall will be a giant parking lot. I don't understand all of the people who say that they trust Disney, and that they are withholding judgment until the project is finished. They're right that Disney will do a great job on this project, and it will be great. It will be-for all the new DVC owners. But not for guests of the Fort. So far, it hasn't been too bad. All the work has been confined to the old River Country footprint and behind the 700 loop. But, they're about to turn the bulldozers loose on the petting zoo/pony ride area and the field next to Pioneer Hall. Even then, the impact won't be too bad. But at some point soon, they're going to be walling off all of Clementine's Beach all the way up to the marina. That's going to be bad. TCD