We came to Disney World for the rides, but the Disney Skyliner quickly became my kids’ favorite part of the trip. Here’s why families shouldn’t overlook it.
When you’re planning a Disney World vacation, it’s easy to assume the rides will become the memories your kids talk about for years. We spend months researching height requirements, deciding which Lightning Lanes are worth buying, and carefully mapping out which attractions deserve priority. As parents, we naturally picture that first ride on Peter Pan’s Flight, the excitement of meeting Mickey Mouse, or the moment Cinderella Castle comes into view as the highlights of the trip.
That’s why I was so surprised when my daughter came home talking about something completely different.
It wasn’t Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind or Slinky Dog Dash. It wasn’t even one of the character meals we’d spent weeks looking forward to. Instead, the experience she kept asking about was “the flying gondolas” – the Disney Skyliner. Every morning she wanted to ride it again before heading into the parks, and every evening she hoped we’d take it back to our resort instead of another form of transportation. What I had always viewed as simply a convenient way to get from Point A to Point B had quietly become one of the highlights of our entire vacation.
Looking back, it makes perfect sense. The Skyliner isn’t just transportation through a child’s eyes. It’s an attraction that just happens to take you somewhere useful.
Kids Don’t Think of the Skyliner as Transportation
Adults tend to evaluate Disney transportation based on efficiency. We compare bus routes, debate whether the Skyliner is faster than driving, and celebrate when we can avoid waiting in another long bus line after fireworks. Transportation is simply a means to an end – a necessary part of getting to the experiences we actually came for.
Kids don’t see it that way.
Disney Skyliner station at Disney’s Art of Animation and Pop Century Resorts. Photo by Morgan Flaherty
For them, the Skyliner begins the moment a brightly colored gondola glides into the station. They aren’t calculating how long the ride will take or wondering whether they’ll have to transfer at Caribbean Beach Resort. They’re looking for Mickey Mouse wrapped across one cabin, Olaf smiling from another, or Chip and Dale flying overhead. Even standing in line becomes entertaining because there’s always another gondola arriving to admire.
Photo by Laurie Sapp
Once the doors close and the cabin quietly lifts away from the station, the experience becomes even more magical. Unlike a bus or monorail, the Skyliner immediately changes your perspective. The resorts shrink beneath you, lakes stretch into the distance, and familiar Disney landmarks suddenly look completely different from above. My daughter spent every ride pressed against the window, pointing excitedly at boats crossing Crescent Lake, spotting pools she’d swum in earlier that day, and trying to count the other Skyliner gondolas passing overhead.
What surprised me most was that she never seemed eager for the ride to end. In fact, she often asked if we could stay on longer. It reminded me that children don’t always separate transportation from entertainment the way adults do. To her, floating through the sky was every bit as exciting as many of the attractions we’d spent months planning to experience.
