OK, a few weeks ago I might have said a thing or two about the new Disney Skyliner (ahem…Skybuckets). Yeah, those new people mover things at Disney World that look like ski lift gondolas. So I recently visited Disney World and decided to experience the Skybuckets for myself. So let’s revisit this Skybucket idea.
Visually the Skybuckets are not obtrusive. The gondolas ride high in the air so they are not within a normal horizontal line of site. The towers that suspend the gondolas are really no different than seeing large electrical wire towers. The placement of the Skybuckets route does not impede the esthetics of the resort hotels and/or the view from said hotels. The gondolas themselves are attractive and most are decorated with Disney characters/scenes. The arrival and departure stations are esthetically beautiful and match their surroundings. There are not hordes of people exiting the Skybuckets all at once, such as what occurs with a Disney monorail or ferry boat, because each of the gondolas arrive sequentially and can only hold ten people at most. And the whole ride mechanism is very quiet.
Inside a gondola the ride is very quiet and very smooth. There is 360 degrees of vision and there are great views from the gondola. Also, my gondolas were very clean. When I asked a Cast Member about there being no air conditioning in the gondolas the Cast Member mentioned something about a venturi effect within the gondolas when the windows are open (and that 80 degrees within a gondola feels better than 95 degrees ambient). Overall, my Skybucket ride was cool, smooth, quiet, comfortable, and enjoyable.
The Skybuckets really shine when we think about the environment. Disney needs to move people and, historically, the most heavily used intra-resort mode of transportation at Disney World is bus. Buses are omnipresent at Disney World. I am grateful for the buses but they are noisy and produce exhaust. All that exhaust only adds to our carbon dioxide issues (I am happy to report that Disney is now using renewable fuel in its buses). Disney recently built one of the biggest solar arrays in Florida and plans to add more solar. As the Skyliner is all electric Disney can run the Skyliner with a minimal if not neutral carbon footprint. And having a few empty gondolas is going to be much more environmentally friendly than running partially full buses. And the Skyliner recently surpassed a million passengers so we can all do the math on how much fuel would have been needed to move those numbers of people by bus.
So, maybe I was a little hasty/nasty in my judging the Skyliner. It still doesn’t go anywhere I’m going at Disney World. Small price to pay for something that is good for the environment and good for people living their Disney dreams.
Doc's Writing Refuge 