Walt Disney World will once again close the Skyliner gondola system for maintenance in 2026. This post covers refurbishment dates and details, why we wouldn’t book an impacted hotel, recommended resort alternatives–plus why this strongly suggests there will not be scheduled downtime in 2025.
This routine downtime of the “Most Magical Flight on Earth” affects all of the Skyliner routes and resorts. These gondolas service two Walt Disney World theme parks (Hollywood Studios and Epcot) plus four resorts (Art of Animation & Pop Century, Caribbean Beach, plus Riviera Resort & Caribbean Beach again) via 5 stations.
The Skyliner gets preventative maintenance almost annually at about the same time almost every year, the duration of which and approach (all lines at once or in phases) has varied from year to year. The good news is that the 2026 closure is the downtime is relatively brief–it’s one of the shortest closures that Disney and Doppelmayr have done since the Skyliner gondolas opened.
Here’s the announcement from Walt Disney World:
From time to time, certain maintenance is required to keep our amenities and offerings updated. As part of these efforts, from January 25, 2026 through January 31, 2026, Disney Skyliner will be closed for refurbishment.
During the Skyliner refurbishment, Walt Disney World will offer bus service between the impacted hotels and the parks. Hopefully, this means increased frequency, as our past experience using and testing bus routes between the Skyliner resorts and parks left a lot to be desired.
Looking forward to early 2027, a similar Skyliner closure during roughly the same date range is possible–perhaps probable. But as this year demonstrates, there’s no guarantee of that. It’s also possible that Disney and Doppelmayr will be able to do preventative maintenance after hours.
Since past precedent suggests this is annual preventative maintenance for the Skyliner, here are historical dates for the gondolas refurbishment:
- Winter 2025: No closure
- Winter 2024: Routes in phases from January 16-26.
- Winter 2023: Skyliner system-wide closure January 22-29.
- Winter 2022: Skyliner system-wide closure January 23-28.
- Winter 2021: Skyliner individual routes closed for single-day downtime between January 24 and 28.
- Winter 2020: No Skyliner closure–it was only a few months old!
According to the DTB Archives, the 2021-2023 closures were all announced between early May and mid-August. The 2024 closure was announced on October 25, 2023.
That late closure announcement caused a lot of frustration among Walt Disney World vacation planners, so it’s great to see Walt Disney World announce this Skyliner refurbishment comparatively early, before 2026 vacation packages are even available for booking. Kudos to Disney on listening to guest feedback and moving this announcement forward. (Although it never should’ve been as late as October in the first place.)
The late notice also caused trepidation with 2025 vacation planners, which led to us offering a heads up last summer about the probable winter refurbishment in light of historical precedent. As you can see from the above, this was wrong–there was no refurbishment. Although we provided an update in November suggesting that it was too late for one to be scheduled and maintenance downtime was unlikely to be needed in 2025, some Walt Disney World planners worried it had been pushed to August, September, or some other slower time of year.
This should offer fairly definitive confirmation (or at least, as good as we’re going to get) that Walt Disney World will NOT close the Skyliner for refurbishment at any point in 2025.
Obviously, unplanned downtime is still possible–as is urgent maintenance that gets added to the schedule at the last minute. But neither of those are probable or anything that can be planned around. A scheduled week-long refurbishment is unlikely for the simple reason that it would’ve been added to the calendar before the 2026 closure. So you’re in the clear if you want to book a Skyliner resort during storm season for some reason!
To each their own, but our recommendation would be to not stay in a Skyliner resort during the refurbishment. The reason for this is quite simple: all of the Skyliner resorts have a significant pricing premium due to the gondola service.
That week tends to be a slow time at Walt Disney World, so we’re not suggesting that you avoid traveling that week (to the contrary, the dates in question come close to making our list of the Best Weeks to Visit Walt Disney World in 2026). Just that you avoid staying in Skyliner resorts during those dates.
While you might think it’s impossible to quantify what each amenity actually contributes to the rack rates at each resort, this is not simply conjecture on our part. With the exception of Riviera, all of the other hotels pre-date the Skyliner, so it’s entirely possible to track their pricing both before and after the Skyliner.
Every single hotel has gone up in price since 2019. This is true both in terms of rack rates and when it comes to effective pricing after discounts. However, not all resorts have gone up by equal increments.
The two biggest ‘offenders’ in all of Walt Disney World in terms of percentage cost increases are Pop Century and Caribbean Beach. This is particularly pronounced at Caribbean Beach, which went from being one of Walt Disney World’s more aggressively discounted resorts to one that is often excluded from special offers or in one of the lower-tiers of savings.
There have been times when the price difference between Caribbean Beach and Coronado Springs or Port Orleans Riverside is over $100 per night. This didn’t used to be the case–one of the reasons we started booking CBR was that it was often the cheapest Moderate, with Coronado Springs being priciest because it was the “convention resort.” Now, I’ve been able to score Gran Destino Tower on occasion for about the same amount as Caribbean Beach–or the outer buildings for much less.
It’s possible that this is not entirely attributable to the Skyliner. Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort also had a massive reimagining prior to the Skyliner’s debut, which likely was not fully reflected in its pricing by late 2019. Maybe the low menu prices for that glorious family-style feast at Sebastian’s Bistro are subsidized by higher room rates!
Moreover, the addition of Disney’s Riviera Resort–while arguably adding visual blight and reducing the seclusion and ambiance at Caribbean Beach–expanded the slate of Barefoot Bay amenities and added both Signature and character dining within walking distance.
But it’s difficult to “blame” the price increase on that, as Coronado Springs got a similar boost from Gran Destino Tower, and those outer buildings haven’t gone up in price. Not only that, but they’re frequently deeply discounted and slower to book up. So in all likelihood, Caribbean Beach’s pricing is due to the demand-induced by the Skyliner. Same goes for Pop Century. (It would be a similar story with Art of Animation, but those rooms started from a much higher baseline and the family suites have proven to be less popular over time.)
Suffice to say, if you’re visiting Walt Disney World during the Skyliner closure, we recommend staying elsewhere. The obvious alternative is the hotel we’ve already been discussing throughout this post: Coronado Springs. That Moderate Resort added the Deluxe-caliber Gran Destino Tower to its grounds, bringing many of the same improved amenities that Caribbean Beach saw added with Riviera Resort.
The biggest downside of Coronado Springs is the all-bus transportation, and one of the few reasons we hesitate to recommend that Moderate Resort to those reliant upon Disney transportation to get around. That disadvantage obviously still exists, but during that timeframe it’ll exist at Caribbean Beach, too.
In most other regards, Coronado Springs surpasses Caribbean Beach at this point. Where it really matters for most guests looking at the Moderate Resort tier–pricing–Coronado usually wins handily thanks to better discount availability. With the money saved staying at Coronado Springs, you can easily afford a couple of rideshares per day–or even a nice meal up at Toledo!
When it comes to other Value Resorts, the obvious alternatives are the All Stars. Normally, my go-to is All Star Sports. Coronado Springs and All Star Sports are the hotels where I stay more than anywhere else, largely due to discounts. I’ve been singing the praises of All Star Sports for a while, most notably in My Favorite Hotel for Cheap Disney World Weekend Getaways, which covers its strengths. Suffice to say, All Star Sports punches above its weight and is a surprisingly well-managed resort.
However, I hesitate a bit to recommend All Star Sports as enthusiastically because late January might have some group bookings for ESPN Wide World of Sports youth events. Currently, nothing is on the calendar. But it’s still very early. It’s a sure thing that events will be added for Winter 2026; the only question is whether they’ll coincide with those dates. Usually, the big cheer and dance competitions are a bit later.
The point is that All Star Music is less likely to host those groups than All Star Sports, so staying at Music is a good hedge against youth events. Another option is upgrading to one of the Moderate Resorts. Discounted rates at one of the Port Orleans Resorts or Coronado Springs are often very attractive, especially in the winter months. You could always start out by booking All Star Music and switching to Sports later if there’s no ESPN WWoS event. When Sports isn’t hosting youth teams, it’s usually among the last resorts at Walt Disney World to fill up (part of the reason why I book it so often at the last-minute).
Ultimately, we still absolutely love the gondolas and would choose one of the Skyliner resorts over their counterparts just about any time of year. Except when it’s down for refurbishment or more likely to be impacted by storm season. Even the latter doesn’t make it a non-starter (the monorail also isn’t 100% reliable!), it just makes awareness of the weather more important.
For those who visit Walt Disney World regularly throughout or during different months of the year, our ideal times to stay at Skyliner resorts are November through May. Obviously, minus this week-long stretch in January. As a matter of personal preference, we’d probably also remove the holiday season. Not because there’s any issue with the Skyliner then–to the contrary, that crisp breeze feels even nicer–but because none of the Skyliner resorts get decked out for Christmas all that impressively.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
Would you pay premium pricing to stay at Caribbean Beach, Pop Century, Art of Animation, or Riviera Resort while the Skyliner is closed for refurbishment from January 25, 2026 through January 31, 2026? Are you a fan of the gondolas, or do you prefer a different ‘type’ of resort? Have you used the Skyliners at Walt Disney World recently? What has been the good, bad, or ugly for you? Any issues with Skyliner downtime during storm season? What about buses as alternatives from those resorts? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Other thoughts or concerns? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
