A new evacuation platform has been added to the Disney Skyliner at the turn station between Disney’s Riviera Resort and EPCOT.
The evacuation platform is at the turn station in the parking lot for Disney’s BoardWalk.
The station has always been there, but now Disney has built the platform to facilitate evacuations in the event of an emergency.
Over the past few years, there were many problems and malfunctions with the Disney Skyliner.
Some of the most notable ones include the Skyliners colliding on the Pop Century Skyliner line, a collision at the EPCOT Station.
There was also another accident which resulted in a collision and broken glass — a similar situation happened in 2019 at the Riviera Resort Station.
Most of these resulted in emergency guest evacuations, which is most likely why Disney finally decided to install the evacuation platforms.
Disney’s Skyliner
The Disney Skyliner is a gondola lift system that opened on September 29, 2019 in Walt Disney World Resort. The system is composed of five stations that service four resorts and two of the four theme parks, with a fleet of over 250 gondola cabins that can accommodate up to ten guests per cabin, or up to six with an open wheelchair or electric scooter. Guests sit on twin, inward-facing wooden benches.
The Disney Skyliner is the only gondola system in North America to include separate stationary loading and unloading platforms at each station, with the exception of the Riviera Resort station. It is also the second double loading aerial lift system in the United States. At the end terminals in each line, most cabins unload their guests at the first unload platform immediately after decelerating, then turn around before loading guests on the loading platform on the opposite side.
The Disney Skyliner connects Disney’s Pop Century Resort, Disney’s Art of Animation Resort, Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort, and Disney’s Rivera Resort, which is a Disney Vacation Club property. Using the Caribbean Beach Resort station as a central hub, guests may board a Skyliner gondola and be transported through the sky to either EPCOT International Gateway, an alternate park entrance found near France in the World Showcase, or Disney’s Hollywood Studios just next to the front parking lot.
The Skyliner is also a way to see the resort and park entrances from a different perspective. As guests glide through the air, they are treated to a bird’s-eye view of the parks, resorts, and the surrounding area. Guests also are treated to a few “fun facts” about Walt Disney World narrated onboard as they ride.
The Disney Skyliner is a free for guests to use as part of the Walt Disney World transportation system.
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