I'm hoping that Disney is giving an over estimate, that actual times should be less. An engineer made the following calculations based on google distance measurement and gondola going at 11 mph:
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If not, then the gondola is definitely longer than bus travel. Last summer, for example, we stayed at Pop and left our room for the bus to Epcot around 10 minutes before estimated arrival (not during rush hour). We got there, the bus was there within 5 minutes, took up to 5 minutes to load/unload if there's a
scooter, 13 minutes to drive to Epcot, so 23 minutes to go to Epcot, or 28 minutes counting from the time we leave our room. The gondola's travel time, counting transfer time, is double that of the bus according to Disney. But according to the engineer, the travel time should only be 13 minutes, not counting transfer time of 5 minutes. That is still no faster than the bus, however.
Coming back, we rarely wait for the bus for long because we have the choice of Pop or AofA. That cuts the average wait time down to 5 minutes. The buses are still faster.
Going to DHS, however, during non-rush hours, I am imagining jumping on the gondola, fly to CBR in 3 minutes 16 seconds, jump off, rush onto the other gondola within 30 seconds, fly to DHS in 3 minutes 45 seconds, add 30 more extra seconds for gondola slow down/speed up, for a total of 8 minutes! According to Disney's estimate, it's more like 11 minutes, but I really want to shave off those 3 minutes. I am planning to stay in a room that's 2 minute walk from the Pop gondola station, so I can get to DHS in 10 minutes! That beats staying at Boardwalk! But if I have to add 3 more minutes, then I lose to Boardwalk. They are still the fastest location to get to DHS.
In any case, being that Disney will run the buses with the gondolas, it won't take much to figure out which is the faster way to get from Pop to Epcot.