The Disney Skyliner
Did you know that there is a super fun way to get around the Disney World Resort? Have you heard of the Skyliner? The Skyliner is a series of gondolas that fly you through the air to your destinations. The Skyliner can fly you between a few of the resort hotels and also to Hollywood Studios and Epcot. Let’s talk about the Skyliner route first.
Disney’s Art of Animation and Disney’s Pop Century share a Skyliner stop. From there you fly over to the stop at Disney’s Caribbean Beach resort. Here you will need to get off to transfer to either Epcot or Hollywood Studios. The line to Hollywood Studios is direct from here and will drop you off right outside the entrance to the park. The line to Epcot makes one more stop at Disney’s Riviera Resort but if you are going to Epcot you do not need to get off. The Skyliner will drop you off at Epcot at the back of Epcot at the International Gateway which is between France and the United Kingdom.
Here are some of the many reason why I love Disney’s Skyliner:
You don’t need to fold your stroller! Game changer when you have a very tired or sleeping child. This is for single strollers or double front to back strollers. If you have a double side by side you will still need to fold it. But if you have the other two options you just push it straight in.
You can also just roll your scooter or wheelchair right in. There will be a separate entrance for this and they will pull a gondola off to the side and it will be stationary so you can drive in and out safely.
Your party will have their own gondola unless it is a very busy time of the day.
The breeze through the gondola is lovely on a hot day!
You get to see the resorts and Epcot from above. Its a great way to see some parts of the park and hotels that you would never see.
It’s quick! This and the fact that I don’t have to fold my stroller is why it is one of my favorite ways to get around Disney World.
The gondolas are always moving which greatly decreases your wait times to get to where you are going!
It’s a ride all in itself. My son will sometimes say it is his favorite ride!
Riding an ECV onto the Skyliner
A view of the Skyliner at Hollywood Studios
View of the Skyliner as you exit the station at Epcot
There are only a few cons:
If there is a storm or high winds they will stop running the gondolas. It’s not safe to be up in them at this time and believe me you don’t want to be up there when it is windy!
The gondolas do stop occasionally and it is possible for you to be at the highest point when they stop so some people with issues with heights may not like this. However, the likelihood of this happening is fairly low!
So how can you ride the Skyliner if you aren’t staying on property? The easiest way is to park at Hollywood Studios. You can hop right on from the parking lot. You could also take a bus from any of the parks to Disney’s Art of Animation, Pop Century, Caribbean Beach or Riviera Resort and get on it at their stops. If you are at Epcot you can walk to the back of World Showcase and go out the International Gateway and get on there. You will need to leave the park to get on this way.
One of my favorite things to do on a rest day or when the parks get busy is to skyliner hop. Hollywood Studios tends to get very busy mid day. That’s when I like to head out to the Skyliner and fly over to the Riviera for lunch or ride all the way over to Art of Animation to check out their theming! You really could spend all day riding the Skyliner and checking out all the different Disney resort hotels.
Have you been on the Skyliner? Let me know in the comments!