How Will the Skyliner Affect the Beach Club and Boardwalk Villas?
One of the greatest benefits of staying at the Beach Club or Boardwalk Villas is the short walk to International Gateway, the back entrance to Epcot. International Gateway has always been quieter than the main entrance to Epcot, allowing for quicker security checks and direct entrance into the World Showcase. Most importantly, International Gateway allows for easy access to all of the Epcot festivals, including everyone’s favorite, Food & Wine. It’s what makes the Beach Club Villas and Boardwalk Villas so popular during the fall.
However, now that the new Skyliner gondola system is opening on September 29, 2019 and will bring guests from the Riviera, Pop Century, Art of Animation, and Caribbean Beach Resort to International Gateway, some DVC members at the Beach Club and Boardwalk Villas are concerned: how will the Skyliner affect their access to Epcot?
Some changes have already been made as the Skyliner construction continues.
Ticketing and Guest Relations has moved to the left before the dock for the Friendship boats, and the security checks are on the right just before the dock.
The actual park entrance is further back towards the World Traveler gift shop.
While this is pure speculation for now, if additional security check stations are added, and each Skyliner car can only drop off a maximum of 10 guests at a time rather than boatloads or monorail-loads of people, I think that although International Gateway will have more traffic than it has in the past, it may not necessarily cause the awful congestion that many fear.
On a positive note, maybe the opening of the Skyliner will encourage people to try “Skyliner-hopping” and visiting different resorts along the new transportation system similar to the way that many enjoy monorail-hopping to the Grand Floridian, Polynesian, and Contemporary resorts. I for one would love to try going from the Boardwalk Villas onto the Skyliner at International Gateway and over to the Riviera to try Topolino’s Terrace, the rooftop restaurant.
As an owner at the Boardwalk Villas, I am optimistic that although International Gateway may be busier than it’s been in the past, the launch of the Skyliner can also be a positive change, making it more convenient to explore other parts of WDW.
How do you feel about the introduction of the Skyliner? Is it something that you are excited to try?
As an owner at Boardwalk, I’m very excited. The Skyliner will add kinetic energy to the whole area.
Some DVC rooms at the Boardwalk (mainly standard classification) will even have views of the Skyliner in flight from their balconies.
Disney is very aware of the added traffic at the International Gateway and will be well prepared to handle it.
Additionally, as someone who loves to “resort-hop” for food & drink, the opportunity to “fly” over to The Riviera, Caribbean Beach, Pop Century & Art of Animation will be awesome!
Thanks for reading, neighbor! I am looking forward to the Skyliner too. Can’t believe it’s almost time for its opening.
I agree with the “kinetic energy”- we just stayed at BWV in a standard view studio and they were testing the Skyliner during our trip… it was nice to sit on the room balcony, which faced the Boardwalk entrance and parking lot and see the Skyliner cars go by!
I originally shared the concern, but I actually don’t think it’s going to be that big of a deal. A little more foot traffic wouldn’t be a bad thing, either, for the boardwalk. And stormalong bay is pretty well guarded from intruders already, so I’m not worried about anyone grabbing my pool chairs or table 🙂
I’m pretty excited to ride it. Also, the biggest drawback of boardwalk & beach club, to me, is not having a food court. Riding gondola(s) over to Art of Animation or Caribbean Beach could be a fun way to grab a quick service meal someday and even partake in the bigger arcade.
I am not excited about it for fear of what it might be – but will withhold final opinion until I see how Disney handles it. Though they are always good at handling high volume crowds, I feel the Epcot resorts lose the exclusivity that made them a great choice for so many – having walk-in access to Epcot was a primary reason I bought DVC at Boardwalk. I would love to see separate security check and magic band readers for people coming from the Epcot resorts – maybe have a wall or fence separating those coming from the Skyliners and those coming in from the resort boats and walkway…that would be ideal and if Disney did it that way, I’d give them big kudos. And I definitely would love having access to the Skyliner to go to other resorts. But if 4 more resorts get dumped off to the same mass entrance as the 5 Epcot area resorts, I will be disappointed and not happy with the addition. 9 resorts plus DHS guests coming through that Gateway might make it more crowded and slower than the main gate.
As long as they continue to run the Friendship boats, I am not concerned about the skyliner at all. I have no interest in riding it myself, to be honest it’s terrifying to me, but I don’t anticipate it will greatly change the entrance at IG
It will double the amount of traffic through the IG but I don’t think it will get too backed up. It’s the price we pay for progress, I guess!
I am not looking forward to the increase in traffic. My home resort is the Beach Club, and one of the reasons I picked it was for the quieter entrance into Epcot.
I’m not happy. I loved the relaxed stroll into the park in the morning. I don’t need anymore “kinetic energy” added to an already crowded vacation destination.
Let’s just wait and see relax already
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