Disney Skyliner Stays Open in January 2025, Breaking Annual Refurbishment Trend

1 day ago in "Disney Skyliner"

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Disney Skyliner overview

Posted: Thursday February 6, 2025 7:10am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

For the first time since its debut, the Disney Skyliner has not closed for a January refurbishment. This marks a break from past trends, where the Walt Disney World gondola system temporarily shuts down for maintenance in the first month of the year.

Disney Skyliner overview

Previous January Refurbishments

In previous years, the Skyliner saw brief closures for maintenance:

2024: Closed January 16–27
2023: Closed January 22–29
2022: Closed January 23–28

However, in January 2025, the Skyliner remained fully operational, providing uninterrupted transportation between EPCOT, Disney's Hollywood Studios, and several Walt Disney World resorts. Disney has not given a reason for skipping this year's refurbishment, but it could be due to adjustments in maintenance schedules or improvements in system reliability. A refurbishment may still happen later in the year, but nothing is scheduled at this time.

The Disney Skyliner officially opened on September 29, 2019, bringing a new high-capacity transportation option to Walt Disney World. Inspired by classic gondola systems, it allows guests to travel between parks and resorts from a bird's-eye view.

Resorts and Parks Connected by the Skyliner

EPCOT (International Gateway)
Disney's Hollywood Studios
Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort (Main Skyliner hub)
Disney's Riviera Resort
Disney's Pop Century Resort
Disney's Art of Animation Resort

The Skyliner features over 300 gondolas, each capable of carrying up to 10 guests. The system operates continuously, with brief stops at stations to allow for boarding and unloading.

Disney Skyliner - Riviera Resort station

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UNCgolf5 hours ago

Oh sure, but another form of direct transportation would do the same thing, and would likely be a better ROI for Disney than another Skyliner for a variety of reasons. Either way, I would love to see them add additional direct transport options.

Agent H1 day ago

Well he is a HAUNTED pirate

mattpeto1 day ago

Skyliner is a huge factor to charge more per night at AoA, Pop, CB. Seems like AKL always has availability. So does Coronado. Skyliner would fill more rooms and increase rack rates per night at those resorts.

JoeCamel1 day ago

Call Jacques

UNCgolf1 day ago

Having some kind of direct non-bus transportation between AK-AKL is a good idea, but using gondolas again is probably pretty far down the list from an ROI/efficiency standpoint.

networkpro1 day ago

It's Florida, you'll hit water.

mattpeto1 day ago

AKL-AK would be a good fit. Doesn’t have to connect with the current run. They could include CS, BB too.

DisneyFanatic121 day ago

Sounds like some boring work.

JoeCamel1 day ago

Maybe if Bob asked nicely Elon would bore him some tunnels? No?

UNCgolf1 day ago

Yeah, the system just isn't efficient enough for what it costs. It's not really feasible to use over the longer distances required for some routes around the property, and, as you mentioned, it doesn't actually save Disney that much money in terms of eliminating other forms of transportation. They don't have to run buses on Skyliner routes, but they have to have buses/drivers in reserve in case the Skyliner goes down (which is a relatively common occurrence, especially in spring/summer), so... I think Martin indicated they'd already decided internally that it wasn't worth the price to expand other than maybe a couple of small spurs off the existing routes. They'd be much better off building light rail or something else that is both faster and less prone to downtime than gondolas.

HauntedPirate1 day ago

I saw a map/plan once but can't recall the details. Other than one of the routes displayed that would not have been gondola-based. I think there are logistical issues to expanding the system beyond a couple of places and close destinations. And even then, it doesn't make a ton of sense because you aren't really relieving any existing transportation pressures.

HauntedPirate1 day ago

Yep. I can confirm I and several other passengers perished on the Skyliner 2 weeks ago, with several more of my family members being turned to ash last week. :cool:

Cmdr_Crimson1 day ago

Would be nice but, I think the problem is connection issues and how long it takes to get location.. The benefit of the set we have is how close Epcot and DHS is to each other... It would take twice as long being stuck in the gondolas if they connected from Epcot To AK or DHS to TTC. Or even adding which hotels would be a HUB station to switch at.. Wasn't there someone who posted a map concept on how it would have worked with the 2 other parks when it was being introduced?