Sprucing up the Monorails

[DisneyJunkie]

As important a part of WDW as they are, the monorails really are rather boring looking, IMO......except for those times when they get wrapped up in advertising The Avengers, Tron, or things of that nature. I think, though, that they don't look as cool as they could with their current, normal paint schemes. I think they ought to be painted either the main color they represent (with a flip-flop of the current scheme) or painted up as a particular character.....just something to give them a more exciting look to them. "How do we get to Epcot?" - "Oh, today you will go to the Ticket & Transportation Center and head to the monorail station for Epcot. Then you'll climb aboard the Genie (or Mickey, or Goofy, or Hook, etc) monorail today and it'll take you right there." I think that sounds better than saying "Oh you'll be taking Monorail Lime to Epcot today."

 

[Nemo14]

Yeah, maybe Frozenize it....

 

[DisneyJunkie]

Yeah, maybe Frozenize it....

I'd have to go all medieval on someone.....

 

[Courtney6682]

As important a part of WDW as they are, the monorails really are rather boring looking, IMO......except for those times when they get wrapped up in advertising The Avengers, Tron, or things of that nature. I think, though, that they don't look as cool as they could with their current, normal paint schemes. I think they ought to be painted either the main color they represent (with a flip-flop of the current scheme) or painted up as a particular character.....just something to give them a more exciting look to them. "How do we get to Epcot?" - "Oh, today you will go to the Ticket & Transportation Center and head to the monorail station for Epcot. Then you'll climb aboard the Genie (or Mickey, or Goofy, or Hook, etc) monorail today and it'll take you right there." I think that sounds better than saying "Oh you'll be taking Monorail Lime to Epcot today."

I think u have a good idea...Personally I didn't like the tronorail...BUT...they should def wrap them as Princesses or the Fab Five...

 

[Nemo14]

I'd have to go all medieval on someone.....

That's how I feel about your whole idea.

 

[ParksAndPixels]

As important a part of WDW as they are, the monorails really are rather boring looking, IMO......except for those times when they get wrapped up in advertising The Avengers, Tron, or things of that nature. I think, though, that they don't look as cool as they could with their current, normal paint schemes. I think they ought to be painted either the main color they represent (with a flip-flop of the current scheme) or painted up as a particular character.....just something to give them a more exciting look to them. "How do we get to Epcot?" - "Oh, today you will go to the Ticket & Transportation Center and head to the monorail station for Epcot. Then you'll climb aboard the Genie (or Mickey, or Goofy, or Hook, etc) monorail today and it'll take you right there." I think that sounds better than saying "Oh you'll be taking Monorail Lime to Epcot today."

I understand and agree with the premise that they are not as "cool" or futuristic looking as they once did. (The images of the monorail cabs being towed on the 1970s flatbed trucks show just how futuristic they were at the time). I like the concept of the body similar to the mark VII at DL but reverse the scheme (white body & color stripe). This way they are more modern but still looks like WDW.

I do not like see the monorails wrapped in ads of any kind. The only wraps that I've liked were for celebrations like year of a million dreams. IMHO... The full movie wraps look like a cheap city bus ad on steroids.

 

[JasonDeyoung]

Eh no more princesses lol please! How about wrapping them in like Marvel characters (Avengers) or villains

 

[Bedknobs and Broomsticks]

I like the idea of wrapping them with character themes. My vote would be for classic characters. You could have a Kaa the snake from Jungle Book wrap. Or a Genie wrap. Or 101 Dalmations with cute puppies all along it... or Tinkerbell flying across with pixie dust behind her! Love the classic stuff!

 

[bebert]

The first thing they need to do is visit Disneyland and see their monorail fleet. The DLR monorails make WDW look like beaters you see at a used car lot.

 

[rob0519]

Enough of the rolling billboards already. Update the fleet. Get new cars. Leave the paint job alone.

 

[Goofnut1980]

The first thing they need to do is visit Disneyland and see their monorail fleet. The DLR monorails make WDW look like beaters you see at a used car lot.

but the monorails at DL are super tiny! you have to sit in them. lol

 

[ShoalFox]

I am certainly not in favor of changing the look. The mark IV/V/VI paint job is a classic and iconic symbol of Disney parks.

 

[lazyboy97o]

The monorails don't need tacky character decorations.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

The monorails are designed as an exciting out-of-the-ordinary mode of transport. They persist in lending to WDW the Spirit of EPCOT. They couldn't be more Disney if they tried. So sleek and stylish and gorgeous too!

Character paintjobs are like adding garden gnomes to the Washington Mall.

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

WDW's monorails are in pretty awful condition. They do smell better than they did a few years ago (i'm wondering whether the air conditioning units were cleaned since 2012), but they're very dirty and scuffed up consistently. And from everything i've heard, they're basically on bought time. They can't be kept running forever, a new fleet is desperately needed. If they even make a new fleet when this one fails that is...

I'm pretty open minded about the design. Despite my nostalgia for the Mark IV-VI type designs (I grew up with WDW), I really like the Mark VII design at Disneyland (technically more "classic" since they were designed to look similar to the Mark I-III models originally used at Disneyland). I like both DL and WDW's designs though. Either way though an upgrade to a new fleet is long overdue.

but the monorails at DL are super tiny! you have to sit in them. lol

You can mimic the design without 1:1 copying the scale. Monorail fleets Mark IV-VI at Disneyland used WDW's color and shape designs in a scaled down compact form. There's no reason Disneyland's Mark VII's (which are heavily inspired by Marks I-III) couldn't be scaled up in size for use with WDW's track, reversing the process. Not that they should feel obligated to copy the design, but they could if they wanted to.

 

[copcarguyp71]

Electroluminescent wire and tape could go a long way towards modernizing their look inside and out at least at night. I know there are some who will say it is Tronesque but just because something high tech like this was used in Tron does not mean that it should be considered unique to that movie. That is like saying all cars are very Ford-ish because of the Model-A. I think it would be pretty cool if they used this and you could see the monorails travelling along their beams from a long distance away at night outside of the normal strobe warning light they have.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroluminescent_wire

 

[ParksAndPixels]

Electroluminescent wire and tape could go a long way towards modernizing their look inside and out at least at night. I know there are some who will say it is Tronesque but just because something high tech like this was used in Tron does not mean that it should be considered unique to that movie. That is like saying all cars are very Ford-ish because of the Model-A. I think it would be pretty cool if they used this and you could see the monorails travelling along their beams from a long distance away at night outside of the normal strobe warning light they have.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroluminescent_wire

I didn't get into Tron, but would say this is a decent idea. I would especially like to see the inside of the cabs go away from the pink trim on every train. That should have reflected the color of the monorail, especially having a nice colored glow inside at night. (Black of course being the easiest to install) ;-)

 

[MY_NAME_STITCH]

The first thing they need to do is visit Disneyland and see their monorail fleet. The DLR monorails make WDW look like beaters you see at a used car lot.

I totally agree with this. They need to bring the 70s vintage trains up to date.

 

[DisneyDaver]

I like the monorails as they are. And I can think of many, many other ways I would prefer WDW to spend that money.

 

[ParksAndPixels]

I like the monorails as they are. And I can think of many, many other ways I would prefer WDW to spend that money.

I would agree with this not being the most pressing of priorities, but since they're pouring money into the monorail system right now anyways... If it were attractions or monorails... Bring on the attractions!