We just took a Disney Skyliner Tour of four resorts, two theme parks, and Disney’s Boardwalk!
I’ve mentioned before that we have made the mistake of over-planning when it comes to our Disney vacations. Another mistake we’ve made is cramming our days full. If you’re purchasing tickets by the day, the price to add another day or two drops exponentially. It’s easy to think you should buy a park ticket for every full day you’re in Florida, especially when the per-day prices drop for every day that you add.
This year we resisted that urge and planned three whole unscheduled days! We quickly found ways to fill them, though. We played miniature golf, dined at Sanaa, and spent one day taking a self-guided tour of the entire Skyliner route!
This was a very special day for us. When our family visited in 2019, we stayed at Art of Animation Resort and first heard of the Skyliner. During that time, they were building what would become the Skyliner station on Hourglass Lake (between Art of Animation and Pop Century Resorts). We were so excited to finally see its completion!
Disney’s Skyliner
The Skyliner is Disney’s newest mode of transportation, a gondola system that runs from four resorts to Hollywood Studios and Epcot. The gondolas are large and can accommodate up to 10 riders! Because we visited while mediation measures for COVID-19 were in place, parties were not combined and it was uncommon to see many people in a single gondola.
The gondolas are enclosed. The walls are made of one-way mirrored glass so that riders can enjoy breathtaking views without baking in the Florida sun. Some gondolas are wrapped with character designs. This only partially limits your views as those, too, are made of one-way material.
All gondolas have adjustable vents on the front and back for air flow.
Because we were staying at Pop Century Resort, we once again had easy access to the Hourglass Lake Skyliner station.
Disney Skyliner Tour: Resorts
Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort
I was initially a bit nervous about riding due to the heights the Skyliner reaches. (Heights make me queasy.) Luckily the ride from our resort to Caribbean Beach was very short, probably under five minutes! We were up in the air and barely had time to look around our cabin before we were descending again.
We disembarked at Caribbean Beach and did some exploring. Caribbean Beach Resort is, of course, themed like the Caribbean! Sandy beaches with hammocks line Barefoot Bay. It is a truly beautiful resort with a lot of charm.
Sections of the resort are named for Caribbean countries and are painted in distinctive colors to differentiate them from one another.
We crossed Barefoot Bay at Caribbean Cay, a serene island with benches, cannons, a couple of huts, and a playground.
The kids wanted to spend a few minutes playing on the playground, but the equipment was hot and so were we! We hurried along to Centertown Market. It was vibrant and lively, even though there were no crowds.
While there, we ordered a Cuban sandwich with fries and ice-cold drinks. I loved the sandwich, but my kids weren’t so sure about it. We won’t get into the debate about what is on a real Cubano sandwich; I will only say that it was tasty!
When we had cooled off a bit, we were ready to explore the rest of the resort before heading to Disney’s Riviera Resort. We spent a good amount of time watching the activity at several large birdhouses around Barefoot Bay. They were filled with purple martins!
This photo wasn’t hard to capture. They were everywhere!
Disney’s Riviera Resort
We weren’t surprised at the short ride to Disney’s Riviera Resort because you can see the resort from the Caribbean Beach Resort station! It is perhaps a two minute ride. If you prefer, you can walk between the resorts easily; a paved jogging trail connects them.
Disney’s Riviera Resort blends elements from the Italian Riviera and French Riviera into one luxury resort. There was not as much to explore outdoors because the Riviera Resort is a single, towering building. It’s still shiny, new and elegant. We had a look at the lobby and headed to the café.
We watched a family play bocce on the lawn as we ate at Primo Piatto, a quick service café with a pool view. Bocce looks like a lot of fun! I’ve only ever played a video game version and this made me want to try it in real life.
I ordered the croque monsieur. It arrived topped with Swiss cheese and green onions and was served with fries covered in Romano cheese and herbs. My five-year-old son wasn’t a fan, but it was delicious!
Primo Piatto has Coca-Cola Freestyle machines, which means we had a ton of options! Due to COVID-19, we couldn’t get our own from the machine, but a cast member was happy to “refill” our souvenir mug by providing us with a disposable cup of our beverage of choice.
The best thing about Primo Piatto is that it is covered in framed black-and-white photographs of Walt Disney on his travels to Europe. It was interesting to see the inspiration for the resort, but also to see Walt Disney exploring the world around him. Many celebrated images of him show him at the drawing board or at Disneyland.
After our meal, we hopped back on the Skyliner, ready to see what Disney’s BoardWalk had to offer. I’d explored a bit before when I stayed at Disney’s Yacht Club and I was eager to see what the kids thought.
Disney Skyliner Tour: Disney’s Boardwalk
Disney’s BoardWalk is accessible from the Skyliner station at Epcot. The ride from Epcot from Disney’s Riviera Resort was the longest one we’d taken at about 10 minutes. We came in by International Gateway and had a bird’s-eye view of the new Ratatouille area in France as well as the Eiffel Tower. (My daughter even asked why it was on top of a building and not “full-sized.”)
The BoardWalk is a charming shopping and dining area that’s a lot Atlantic City was like decades ago. (Admittedly, my knowledge of this era is based on Boardwalk Empire.) My kids didn’t have any frame of reference for the time period or the area, but loved it just the same.
The promenade follows the edge of Crescent Lake and passes several resorts, including Disney’s Yacht Club, Disney’s Beach Club, Disney’s Boardwalk Inn, and The Swan and The Dolphin. There are also shops and eateries along the way. Jellyrolls and the Atlantic Dance Hall were both closed due to COVID-19, as was the Flying Fish, but everything else we passed seemed to be opening (or preparing to open for dinner).
From the BoardWalk, you can also ride the FriendShip watercraft to the Swan & Dolphin Resorts, Hollywood Studios, or back to Epcot (International Gateway).
Disney Skyliner Tour: Returning to Our Resort
Without park tickets, there wasn’t much to see at the entrance to Hollywood Studios. We disembarked and walked right to the Skyliner. We rode right back to our point of origin, the Hourglass Lake station at Art of Animation/Pop Century Resorts. For both legs and the transfer, our total travel time was about ten minutes.
When we arrived, we walked over to Art of Animation to explore instead of heading to our “home resort,” Pop Century.
It’s worth a visit to Art of Animation for the photo ops alone! There are larger-than-life versions of characters from the Lion King, Cars, and Finding Nemo. It’s an excellent resort for families with young children or larger families that need the space a suite can provide!
There is great food at Landscape of Flavors, but we were pretty full by this point. We ended up ordering dessert only: cupcakes and classic Mickey ice cream bars.
Still a bit hot, we walked back to Pop Century Resort and hopped in the pool. It was the perfect end to our tour!
Overall Impressions
We did this Skyliner tour around lunchtime, departing a little after noon and returning after 3:00PM. During that time, there were no crowds at any of the stations, though we’d heard rumors that lines formed just before park opening and after park closing. We apparently missed rush hour; we were able to walk right on at every station except one.
When departing the Riviera Resort station, we waited perhaps two minutes to board. That was because this station is a through-station, which means that riders from Caribbean Beach can stay on and continue to Epcot. Many of the gondolas that were passing were full of through-riders, so we had to wait for an open one.
We didn’t experience any stoppages on any of the legs of our trips.
Despite our hesitations, the Skyliner was a fun ride that provided new access and views to resorts and parks. We’ll probably ride it again just for fun or to come back and visit one of the resorts again. It was a really enjoyable resort day!
