Walt Disney World, originally, wasn’t meant to be a theme park at all. Walt Disney purchased the land in central Florida with the intention of building what he called the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow — a experiment in civic planning built around principles of New Urbanism like effective public transit, walkable urban centers, and car-free living.
Eventually, after Walt Disney passed away, the Walt Disney Company morphed that dream into the theme parks and resort hotels we know today. But, some elements of Walt Disney’s proposed prototype community stuck around. One of them — the famed Monorail — has become a symbol of Walt Disney World itself, an attraction that symbolizes the beginning of a day at the Magic Kingdom.
But, at its heart, the Walt Disney World Monorail is just an effective means of public transportation. It’s construction was so expensive, Disney has since opted not to expand it beyond a single spur leaving the Transportation and Ticket Center and arriving at Walt Disney World’s second theme park, Epcot.
Recently, Disney re-enterred the non-bus Transportation game by adding the Disney Skyliner — a ski gondola-style conveyance between Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Epcot, Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort, Disney’s Riveiera Resort, and the Art of Animation and Pop Century Resorts.
But why stop there? Here are four other routes Walt Disney World should consider adding.
Animal Kingdom Lodge – Animal Kingdom – Blizzard Beach – All-Star Resorts
Image: lorenjavier, Flickr (license)
Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge is a masterpiece. Its lobby is astonishing, its restaurant offerings are among Disney’s very best, its savannah views are unparalleled, and its proximity to Disney’s Animal Kingdom Park is a tremendous boon.
Or, rather, it would be a tremendous boon … if you didn’t have to take a bus to get there. Thankfully, Disney’s new Skyliner service offers a cost-effective solution that a new Monorail line simply doesn’t hold a candle to.
Disney’s waterparks often add a transit wrinkle in that they require bus transfers from nearby theme parks if you want to use Disney’s transportation to travel from your resort hotel. The Skyliner represents an elegant solve: A new route connecting these areas with the All-Star Resorts south of Osceola Parkway. Now, guests staying at the All-Star Resorts and Animal Kingdom Lodge would have access to a theme park and a water park without needing to board a bus, and those guests from other resorts wanting to go to Blizzard Beach could do so by taking a bus to Animal Kingdom and then transferring to the gondola rather than an intermittent bus service. That’s quite a lot of added value.
Fort Wilderness – Wilderness Lodge – Magic Kingdom
Image: cdharrison, Flickr (license)
Fort Wilderness is one of the best kept secrets on Walt Disney World property, even nearly fifty years after it made its debut. One of the reasons for this is the relatively difficult time guests have in reaching the remote resort.
A new Skyliner route connecting one end of Fort Wilderness to the other, and then linking that resort with its neighbor the Wilderness Lodge, would help reduce the feeling of isolation that sometimes accompanies a stay at Fort Wilderness while also providing easier access to the great amenities it offers.
Then, having that line terminate at the Magic Kingdom itself would help take stress off the bus and ferry routes that currently connect those resorts to the rest of the resort.
Sure, it might remove some of that “away from it all” charm that is inherent to the appeal of Fort Wilderness, but being less reliant on the internal bus within the resort is a pretty good trade off.
Coronado Springs – Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Image: kathika, Flickr (license)
It’s interesting that Disney opted not to terminate its first gondola line in the parking lot for Disney’s Hollywood Studios when it could have extended it to Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort and added another property that’s a fairly short distance away.
But, perhaps they simply wanted to leave open the possibility to expand if the Skyliner proved successful. As such, this extension would be a natural fit for the next phase of the Skyliner plan.
Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort is fairly popular among conventioneers visiting Orlando, and adding an extension to a theme park would potentially add an incentive to those conventioneers to visit the theme parks when they’re finished with their work — particularly, the new Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge expansion coming to Hollywood Studios.
Additionally, this spur would give guests staying at Coronado Springs access to the Boardwalk Resort area, and all of its entertainment and dining amenities. Surely, conventioneers would be eager to visit the delicious Flying Fish and Ample Hills.
Epcot – Old Key West – Typhoon Lagoon – Disney Springs
Image: Laura Kelly, Flickr (license)
Sure, Epcot already has one leg of the Skyliner, but why stop at just the International Gateway? Building a Skyliner terminal at the front entrance of the park provides many interesting possibilities.
For starters, you could link Epcot’s front entrance to Disney’s Old Key West — a DVC resort that currently is isolated from the rest of the Walt Disney World area. Adding just that leg would also give guests staying at Disney’s oldest DVC property access to the monorail should they want to also use that system to venture over to the Magic Kingdom.
But, once you’ve built the Skyliner line to Old Key West, the options get even more intriguing. It’s only a short jaunt over to Typhoon Lagoon, another water park Disney forces guests to transfer buses to reach. And, Typhoon Lagoon is just across the street from Disney Springs, so why not extend it over that way too?
The result, then, is giving guests staying at Old Key West easy transit options to a theme park, a water park, and Disney Springs, while also enabling water park-hopping for guests staying elsewhere. A half-day at a water park becomes much more tenable when the transfer time to get there shrinks dramatically.
All told, it would give guests a pretty great incentive to stay at Old Key West — and, with the earliest DVC quickly approaching their end date, it couldn’t come at a better time.
The Disney Skyliner is a brilliant addition to the Walt Disney World Resort, proving the effectiveness of urban gondolas in public transit infrastructure. Here’s hoping Disney doesn’t stop yet.
