Disney's Skyliner
When the Skyliner was announced at Disney World, I knew I had no intention of riding it. It sounded terrifying. And with the accidents that happened after it opened, my fears had meaning. But when we booked our trip back in May 2021, the only affordable option was Pop which utilized the Skyliner for both Epcot and Hollywood Studios. Both were parks we intended to visit multiple times. So I had to overcome my fears.
Art of Animation/Pop Century
So the Skyliner station here is shared by both Pop Century and Art of Animation. You can find it on the bridge that connects the two resorts. On our trip, the lines always started at the Pop Century side. If you are facing the bridge from Pop, the line goes to the right. Each morning that we used the Skyliner, we lined up around 2 hours prior to park opening. Both times we ended up at about the same spot. It took approximately 30 minutes to get on the Skyliner itself, and then another 30 minutes or so to get to the actual park. However, during non-peak hours, we had little trouble getting right on the Skyliner.
Now I do have a tip that is probably met with some controversy. During our stay, Hollywood Studios opened at 9, and Epcot opened at 11. We lined up for Epcot at 9. Now what we should have done is just taking the Skyliner to Hollywood Studios, then WALK over to Epcot. I am not entirely sure how much faster this would have been at that time, but I am certain it would have been less frustrating since we would have been moving the entire time. We didn’t do this because we were unsure if they were scanning bands to confirm your park reservation to keep this loophole from occurring, but that was not the case our trip. So if you are up for the walk, you could take the Skyliner to the earlier opening park and walk to the later one.
Caribbean Beach Resort
So CBR is the hub of the Skyliner. You must get off here in order to go anywhere else. This could be sort of frustrating when you go off and then have to go wait in another line to get to the park you are going to. We only found lines in the mornings. In the evenings, we were able to get off one Skyliner and walk right on to the Skyliner back to our hotel. The line was the longest the day we did Epcot for some reason. But it still moved fairly quick. I would say it would take around 20-30 minutes in the mornings from this point to get to your park.
Hollywood Studios
So I don’t really have any pictures actually at the Skyliner here, but I do have a picture the morning we arrived and the line we were met with. It actually moved super quick and we were inside Hollywood Studios in no time. I felt like the trip to get to Hollywood is definitely quicker than to Epcot. We also found no issues when we left Hollywood to get back to our resort. However, we did leave around 2-3 pm that day.
Epcot
So when you go to Epcot, you will cross over at Riviera Station. You are not required to get off here though. The doors will open however. This loop was definitely the longest of them all. There were also some really high, uncomfortable spots too. We stopped most on this loop which made me slightly anxious at times. This was the only station we used for returning at night to our resort. We met really long lines here too at night. We lined up about 30 minutes prior to closing and 15 minutes after closing both nights. Both times we were met with about a 30 minute wait to get on the Skyliner. From there it was fairly quick though. The bathrooms were setup the worst here I feel. You couldn’t really use them until you were literally fixing to get on the Skyliner. We saw a few people have to step aside to wait on their party in the restroom.
Riding the Skyliner
The ride was no where near as bad as I thought it would be. Even waiting in the line the first day, I was panicked watching how fast the Skyliners came into the station. But it moved at a decent pace the entire time, and as long as we moved I was actually good. Stopping caused me to get anxious, but I usually just redirected my focus during those moments. Landing at each station was always a little stressful because you really do feel like you are going way too fast and will eat another car, but thankfully we never did.
Overall I would ride it again, and it did make things easier at times. We averaged one hour travel time between lining up and arriving to the parks/hotel when we went at peak times. But realistically that isn’t that bad considering how long the buses can sometimes take. And during our trip, they were still only doing one family per car, so I am sure it moves faster now that they are allowing more per car.
