Hi Lindsay!
Welcome to the Disney Parks Moms Panel! I see you've already done quite a bit of resEARch for your upcoming Walt Disney World Resort vacation. With the addition of the brand new
Disney Skyliner, guests now have four complimentary modes of
Resort Transportation to get around the 'World ... well, the Walt Disney World. Buses, boats, monorails and aerial gondolas, but let's try to get you from your Disney Resort Hotel to Magic Kingdom Park the fastest way to start your Disney Day!
Yes, you absolutely could take the Disney Skyliner from
Disney's Art of Animation Resort to
Disney's Hollywood Studios. It's about a five minute journey from the time you board your gondola at the Hourglass Lake station, which services both your hotel plus Disney's Pop Century Resort, until you land at the connection station at Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort. It's another five minute flight between the Caribbean Beach station and landing at Disney's Hollywood Studios. And in my experience, the wait time to board a gondola at both stations is just a few minutes.
However, buses heading to
Magic Kingdom Park regularly depart from Disney's other three Theme Parks as well as
Disney's Resort Hotels every 20 minutes. These bus routes are all direct lines that only drive between their pick-up location and drop-off destination, so there are no extra stops in between.
While I do love the brand new Skyliner and the unique vantage point it now provides guests, I do think the Skyliner plan above would only keep your group moving and give the impression of saving time by not standing around waiting for a bus at Disney Art of Animation Resort. It would save time if when heading out for the day, you checked the bus situation at your resort hotel first. If the Magic Kingdom Park bus line was completely full and spilling out of its metal stanchions, and a bus just left, then the Skyliner might shave about 10-15 minutes off of your wait and commute. But when checking the buses to make your decision, if the line of other guests only halfway fills the Magic Kingdom queue, then the bus from your hotel will be your better bet.
I hope this helped, Lindsay, and We'll See You Real Soon!
~Kristen