It’s been a while since we checked up on the Disney Skyliner stations at Disney’s Riviera Resort and Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort, so we made it out there this evening just before some thunderstorms rolled through and found that both stations appear to be nearly complete!

Disney’s Riviera Resort Skyliner Station

We’ll start with the station closest to Disney’s Riviera Resort. Interestingly enough, this station will service both the Riviera Resort and the Aruba section of Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort. At least, Disney has built out pathways that run from Aruba directly into the station, and Riviera Resort beyond that. Of course, Disney has yet to officially comment on the exact logistics of the Disney Skyliner gondola system, but it would appear that guests will be able to freely walk up to this station, or the station over near the main entrance to the resort.

Here’s a look at the Disney Skyliner at the Riviera Resort as seen from the Aruba section of Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort.

Taking a look to the left side of the above image, we see patterns on the ground as well as astroturf.

Here’s a view of the Epcot (left) side of the station. This line will take guests through a turn station in the Boardwalk Resort parking lot and straight on to the International Gateway station.

As you may have noticed, the Disney Skyliner signage has been added to the main entrance ramp.

Shifting our perspective a bit, we can get a better view of the front of the station.

A wider view from the same angle can be found below.

Looking even further right of the above photo, we can see the connecting pathway to Disney’s Riviera Resort.

Here’s a ground-level view of the same angle.

Here’s a closer look at the pathway that we can see above.

Here’s a more concentrated view of the line that leads to the central Caribbean Beach station.

Speaking of the central station at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort, let’s go take a look at that station now. This station is the powerhouse of the entire system. It houses the central drive that powers all of the lines. It’s also the parking space for all 300+ gondola cabins. With the impending storm, work for the day had ended, and all of the gondola cabins were in storage.

You can see the thunderstorm north of Walt Disney World property below. We’ll take the opportunity to talk about the Disney Skyliner and the consistent afternoon storms that roll through Walt Disney World in the summers. First, the entire system is grounded. That means that while Disney won’t operate the system during storms, it would still be reasonably safe to do so as far as lightning is concerned. Next, the line will operate similar to how the outdoor attractions do in the parks. There are two radiuses that the operators of the system will take into consideration with regards to operation of the system. The outer radius will be wider than the attractions, and that’s when Disney will consider cycling the system to empty. A lightning strike within the “attraction radius” would prompt a mandatory cycle to empty. Guests won’t be stranded in gondola cabins out on the line during a storm, Disney will cycle to empty, which means simply not loading new guests until a storm passes. On to the photos.

Here’s a very wide photo of the station and the storage area seen above.

An elevated view shows that the station has what appears to be a bus stop. We can also see how far along the station is. It looks like all major work on the station has been completed.

Here’s a closer look at what appears to be a bus stop.

Here are a couple closer looks inside the station, showing off some lighting elements and a few Disney Skyliner gondola cabins on the lines.

Finally, here are a few more ground photos of the station from the parking lot and yet-to-open walkways.

Disney has announced that the Disney Skyliner gondola system will open on September 29th at Walt Disney World.

As always, keep checking back with BlogMickey.com for the latest on the Disney Skyliner gondola system and more from around the Disney Parks.