Due to the terminal length, many cabins load at once.Lift line between Trinidad and Hourglass Lake.Passing over a parking lot. Construction equipment was staged here when the Skyliner was built.Crossing Century Drive.View towards the hub.This line is the shortest of the three.Cabins passing low over Hourglass Lake.Closely spaced cabins about ten seconds apart.Towers 2-4.Two shades of orange wraps.A depression tower.Cabins gain height once they reach land.Look closely and you’ll see evacuation boats.Pop Century Resort/Art of Animation Resort station.The section over hourglass lake.Side view of the over water station.Lift line overview.Loading area for special needs guests.Operator controls at the apex.The west side of PD station.D-Line terminal equipment.Unloading area.Evacuation boats.Modified D-Line station.Tower with a foundation in water.Tower 12.The Hourglass Lake section.First tower after the lake.Towers near roads and parking lots are carefully guarded to avoid damage from errant cars and trucks.Approximately half the cabins had character wraps on opening day.The drive station at night.Hourglass Lake station in the dark.Cabins feature indirect lighting.Unloading area.The drive station and queue areas.Front turnaround.View towards Hourglass Lake.Parking rails.Drive terminal during the day.D-Line bullwheel and transfer to parking rails.Cabins have lots of windows that open.Door side windows.Wooden “tropical” style benches.Emergency call box.Quick transfer rails.A cabin near a chain conveyor section.You can see part of the Epcot line in this shot.Combo assembly.
That would entitle a very sharp 90 degree turn to head west. Then it would have to head west for about 2.7 miles, and have an intermediate station at Blizzard Beach along the route.
You have to remember that things in Disney World are more spread out than you think they are. The Skyliner system services the densely developed resort area around Epcot and Hollywood Studios. Animal Kingdom is in the far southwest part of the Disney World property, two miles away from Hollywood Studios. And then the Magic Kingdom and its resorts are 3.6 miles (in a straight line) from the Epcot/Hollywood Studios complex, a distance comparable to traversing the width of Breck from Peak 6 to Peak 10 (there’s a reason why the monorail is so integral in linking the Magic Kingdom area to the Epcot area).
Actually, Disney’s plans for the Skyliner are more like this:
Essentially, the Hollywood Studios line might eventually run to another “hub” terminus at Blizzard Beach, with another spur line running north to Coronado Springs Resort, and a second line that runs west to Disney’s Animal Kingdom and then Animal Kingdom Lodge. Another line will run east from Caribbean Beach to Disney Springs with an intermediate station at Typhoon Lagoon.
As noted below, the map was created by fan speculation and fueled by Jim Hill (who has a reputation for unreliable rumors). Disney has no intention of expanding the system through the parks themselves, especially into the backstage areas, hence the massive France Pavillion expansion at Epcot coupled with the expensive turn station for the TIG line. This eliminates the pictured western line’s route. The eastern line would cut right through Bonnet Creek Resort, which is property Disney does not own bordered by I-4, Osceola Parkway, the vertical line of trees seen on the map just east of Pop Century Resort, and the horizontal line of cut trees just north of the Club Wyndham Bonnet Creek (which is visible on Google Earth but tough to see on the screenshot above).
While Disney has discussed Skyliner extensions, they mostly focus on shorter options because they do not want any routing to take longer than ~15-20 minutes.
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I believe this line is supposed to be extended to the Animal Kingdom in the near future, possibly why the drive terminal looks so basic.
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That would entitle a very sharp 90 degree turn to head west. Then it would have to head west for about 2.7 miles, and have an intermediate station at Blizzard Beach along the route.
You have to remember that things in Disney World are more spread out than you think they are. The Skyliner system services the densely developed resort area around Epcot and Hollywood Studios. Animal Kingdom is in the far southwest part of the Disney World property, two miles away from Hollywood Studios. And then the Magic Kingdom and its resorts are 3.6 miles (in a straight line) from the Epcot/Hollywood Studios complex, a distance comparable to traversing the width of Breck from Peak 6 to Peak 10 (there’s a reason why the monorail is so integral in linking the Magic Kingdom area to the Epcot area).
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Actually, Disney’s plans for the Skyliner are more like this:
Essentially, the Hollywood Studios line might eventually run to another “hub” terminus at Blizzard Beach, with another spur line running north to Coronado Springs Resort, and a second line that runs west to Disney’s Animal Kingdom and then Animal Kingdom Lodge. Another line will run east from Caribbean Beach to Disney Springs with an intermediate station at Typhoon Lagoon.
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As noted below, the map was created by fan speculation and fueled by Jim Hill (who has a reputation for unreliable rumors). Disney has no intention of expanding the system through the parks themselves, especially into the backstage areas, hence the massive France Pavillion expansion at Epcot coupled with the expensive turn station for the TIG line. This eliminates the pictured western line’s route. The eastern line would cut right through Bonnet Creek Resort, which is property Disney does not own bordered by I-4, Osceola Parkway, the vertical line of trees seen on the map just east of Pop Century Resort, and the horizontal line of cut trees just north of the Club Wyndham Bonnet Creek (which is visible on Google Earth but tough to see on the screenshot above).
While Disney has discussed Skyliner extensions, they mostly focus on shorter options because they do not want any routing to take longer than ~15-20 minutes.
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(Source of the map: https://ziggyknowsdisney.com/new-disney-skyliner-details-air-conditioning-and-expansion-to-animal-kingdom-coming/)
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EDIT: The map is more like speculation, since it’s unlikely Disney would want a gondola cutting through Hollywood Studios.
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Here’s the outbound journey from the Hub:
And here’s the return journey:
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I personally think that the blue terminal is what all of the standard d-lines without screens should have looked like.
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I agree. I feel like it better suits the North American market than what’s on big sky’s 8 pack and hope that dopp will offer it as an option.
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I’m just the opposite. I like the new look. I even like the super boxy R2 option with frameless windows more than the ones installed at Big Sky.
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