Yes, consistently opening early. Altho 
is anything WDW consistent? 
An early riser person who likes cooler temps is happier arriving early and thus waiting early, in the cooler temps.
Tho, we’re not going to experience every attraction. And we’re definitely not waiting intentionally over perhaps 30 minutes for any attraction.
yes, this but … early isn’t early anymore…
I haven’t ever seen them use helicopters to evacuate gondolas, (though I suppose they could, just like they could for a regular chairlift). Gondolas are usually at the altitude of chairlifts. Their main selling point is keeping people warm.
You may be thinking of trams? They’re the ones that are very high, usually there are only two on the line to balance each other. That’s where you may need a helicopter, but really the determining factor for all of them is how far it is to the ground, and what kind of terrain is underneath. I have been on some chairlifts that there is no possible way they’d be able to get us down from the ground. And on some gondolas where you could open the door and jump, if you had to.
But anyway, so what if people are milling about beneath them? Make them move, if an evacuation is needed. It’s not like they are evacuated that frequently at WDW. I hope!
I’m thinking of gondolas that’s go across huge valleys in the Alps. The ones where every so often a cable snaps and if they’re lucky no one actually dies and they manage to get everyone out. 
But regardless, there were all sorts of safety regulations that had to be met when WDW first proposed the Skyliner. I suspect one of them was easy access for emergency vehicles. There are lots of roads and pathways at WDW that are not for pedestrians and are purely for access, whether construction or emergency services. Reedy Creek has it’s own fire service.
WDW really aren’t happy for people to be walking anywhere except along designated paths. Heck if you walk from Contemporary to Mk and happen to wander into the bus station the police will quickly escort you back to the path.
Don’t shoot the messenger, take it up with WDW if you want them to add that path. It won’t get you anywhere though, I can guarantee it. 
Yes. Those are trams.
I understand WDW wants the ultimate in safety, I’m just pointing out that there is precedent for allowing people underneath, with no harm done to anyone, it happens every day at ski resorts all across the world.
I suppose that they’re just not used to it, but maybe someday they will open those paths. You never know!
Ah it’s that language thing again. Trans run on rails on roads in cities with overhead wires for power.
Cable cars are the term that is more commonly used in the U.K. Dopplemayr use both terms but referred to the WDW one as a gondola system.
Even so, ski resort systems tend to be higher off the ground than at WDW, where the highest point is 30 feet or so.
Haha, not even cable cars is specific enough! They’re all on cables. To us Americans, cable cars are found in San Francisco, for the most part.
It all depends on the resort, and on the chairlift. There are lifts that are literally on the ground, they just drag you up the hill. And there was a lady that sued Big Sky for getting left on the chairlift overnight and the locals were like, “Oh, come on, you could have jumped and skied down”. Another resort just swapped out a chair for a gondola, same towers and everything.
But a ski resort is a different place, too. Everyone there is ready to accept a lot more risk than they do at WDW. So I do see their point of view- at the same time it wouldn’t surprise me if they did open up those paths as time goes on. There’s no reason not to, except having to keep an eye on more pathways. I suspect that is the real reason. As @Jeff_AZ alluded to, can’t have us wandering around unsupervised!
So that sort of on-the- ground lift is known as a drag lift to us. The cross bar and a rope or cable to hold on to. I tried one at Aviemore, with hilarious results - as in when I got to the top of the nursery slope I let go and promptly slid most of the way back down again backwards. 
I actually agree I wish Disney would put in more paths. They really are so risk averse. I wonder if it’s because of the accident at FW, not sure when that was. A kid (aged about 9 or 10) was on their scooter on the same road as one of the buses and went too close to the wheels; the child was dragged under the bus and died at the scene.
I have not taken the Skyliner “road,” and I would not try to do that, even though it’d be a very direct path from the center of the resort right to the Studios entrance. You’d be very obvious, and you might get yelled at or worse.
However, I have taken a route suggested in one of the other responses. Basically, cut through a bit of grass (and it’s not swamp) near the Aruba bus stop, and you’re on Buena Vista Drive across from the Fire Station. Go a bit to the left, and you’re at the intersection with Victory Way. You have to cross both streets here; there is no crosswalk, but there is a traffic light. There is “danger” in cutting through the grass and crossing Buena Vista Dr, but the danger is brief, and for that reason you’re unlikely to attract the attention of security. After you cross those streets, there’s a sidewalk that starts up not far from the intersection, and from there it’s a safe route (via crosswalks and sidewalks) to get down to the Crescent Lake path to Hollywood Studios.
When I did this, I was going jogging, and I wanted to explore, running on the Crescent Lake path between Epcot and the Studios. I was doing it early in the morning when there was no traffic. Also note that I did this about 10 years ago. It’s totally possible that fences, land mines, etc. have been installed since. So scope out the scene before you depend on this route to get to HS quickly. I would NOT do this with strollers or kids, but I’d probably do it again by myself and/or with a couple of sober adults in nice weather.
Thanks for the first hand account! One thing to be aware of though is that it appears a section of sidewalk was taken out recently after the Skyliner was completed - the red line in my screenshot below. It is visible on the satellite view in Google Maps, but when you do the Street View, there is no sidewalk until Epcot Resorts Blvd. So you may have a tougher time making this trek today than you could a few years ago.
Land mines! 
@david Thank you! Great info. I did also look up FL pedestrian laws and i even without sidewalks or crosswalks it is all still perfectly legal. We will scope it out!
Personally, I wouldn’t want to put myself in a risky situation, even if it is perfectly legal, just to save a few minutes of waiting in line time.
Those lifts are not for the faint of heart! We have a similar type of lift that you kind of sit on, called a poma lift, but it still drags you across the snow.
There is a ski hill here they used to use for the US Ski Team to ski n the summer that only has one poma lift, & is only open during June & July. All black and double-black, ungroomed runs. And where did my family fall? On the lift!!
What’s legal is one thing. WDW can make their own rules on their property which will apply to the whole area, all 43 sq miles of it.
From the Property Rules section of the website:
So if they deem it backstage or a staff area only, or if they consider your actions to be unsafe, legal or not, they can take action.
Good point. It’s cool when we put pieces together like this! I agree that the sidewalk looks gone. Although I assume that Disney meant for it to be a useful sidewalk (and maybe it was one?) at some point, that part between the gas station and the fire station was a sidewalk to nowhere, and I can see why they’d get rid of it if construction was happening nearby, anyway, due to Skyliner. It was attractive nuisance to people like me!
This missing sidewalk alters the calculus a bit. I don’t think walking on the grass there would be unsafe, per se, but obviously Disney does not want you walking there, crossing outside of crosswalks, going in staff-only areas, etc. The more of that you do (and you’d be doing this stuff for 0.5+ mile of the route), the greater chance you have of getting noticed. But I also don’t think Disney is likely to bother a couple of adult hotel guests walking by the side of the road who have caused no problems to traffic. If security approaches you and you’re polite, I suspect they’re more likely to offer you a ride than to have you arrested.
It might be safer to cut through the parking lot that sort of connects the fire station to the BoardWalk Inn, but that’s a longer walk, and it’s possible that part of that parking lot is closed, with hotel occupancy down and so many workers furloughed.
I mean, if you did decide to go exploring a bit one day and discovered there were no signs and kept going (for science, of course) I think it would be best if you just keep us updated with photos every 50 yards or so. That way when you get taken by a land gator then we’ll be able to point them in the approximate vicinity.
Ok I lol’d at landmines
Yes, thank you. This is what has been in my head since this thread started.
We saw a gator on Shades of Green property once… and BTW, they are fast
