Walt Disney World Aerial Tramway
Walt Disney World has a serious transportation problem. When the resort was first built and later expanded, the Walt Disney World Monorail was put in place to get guests to where they needed to go. The Monorail not only connects the Magic Kingdom’s parking area to the actual park, but it also connects the Grand Floridian, Polynesian and Contemporary Hotels to the park as well. An additional line runs from the Magic Kingdom to Epcot.
As the resort grew into four parks, two water parks, a shopping district and a ton of resorts, running monorail lines everywhere wasn’t a practical solution so buses were put into use. Today a huge fleet of buses (and some boats) connect guests to where they want to go on property. These buses are not very fast or comfortable and are probably quite expensive to run.
In Comes the New “Skyway”
A few months ago a rumor began spreading that Walt Disney World was going to build a aerial tramway system to connect some of the resorts to Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. (Lovers of Walt Disney World’s old Skyway rejoice!) Now, The Orlando Sentinel seems to have obtained proof that this is going to happen.
The project will contain 6 stations with a total of 3 lines. These lines will connect Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Epcot, Caribbean Beach Resort, and the Pop Century and Art of Animation Resorts. The red highlighted areas below show the approximate location of the stations.
The system will supposedly be designed by European manufacturer Doppelmayr and will feature gondolas which can hold a total of 10 people each. That seems a bit small for Walt Disney World, but I am sure the frequency in which gondolas run will mean they will have a decent overall capacity.
Walt Disney World has not officially confirmed this news, although there have been enough leaks that I would say it is more than probable this will happen. Here is Disney’s official response, “We are always looking to explore new transportation options that will make the resort experience even more magical for guests. We’re excited about our future plans on this front and look forward to sharing details at a later date.”
Are you excited about this new transportation option that is most likely coming to Disney World? I know I am excited about anything that keeps me off of those buses! 🙂 Hopefully this will be a success and they will decide to connect more areas via tramway!
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What will be the travel times?
Disney’s Caribbean Beach to Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 5-6 minutes
Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort to Disney’s Pop Century Resort or Disney’s Art of Animation Resort: under 6 minutes
Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort to Disney’s Riviera Resort: 5 minutes
Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort to International Gateway at Epcot: 15 minutes
Disney’s Riviera Resort to International Gateway at Epcot: 9 minutes
https://blogmickey.com/2019/04/disney-skyliner-travel-times-between-resorts-and-theme-parks-revealed/
it’s a great concept if Doppelmayr can build them to withstand Florida hurricanes
There are similar systems in places like Hong Kong (built by a different company admittedly) that do fine in their crazy Typhoons.