Does Disneyland need a monorail...

[J4546]

and would you be ok with getting rid of it if it meant more room for a major fantasyland expansion when they redo the autopia/nemo subs area?

 

[Little Green Men]

Yes it needs the monorail

 

[TP2000]

and would you be ok with getting rid of it if it meant more room for a major fantasyland expansion when they redo the autopia/nemo subs area?

This is an interesting question, one I don't think we've truly discussed.

Yes, it needs a Monorail. If anything, it needs a slightly revised/expanded Monorail track that has a station at the Grand Californian and a station further west into the Disneyland Hotel complex. Or whatever the Disneyland Hotel complex looks like or is called by 2030.

What it doesn't really need is the spaghetti bowl of twisting track over Tomorrowland and Fantasyland. That was only there because it was the Monorail from 1959 to 1961, before it was expanded out to the Hotel in the summer of '61. You just gave up an E Ticket and boarded a Monorail train for what was basically a giant figure 8 looping course to nowhere.

The novelty of riding the Monorail as an E Ticket attraction is negligible in the 21st century. And not because Monorails actually happened in this future as they thought they would in the 1960's and we take tail-finned monorails to work every day. But because Disneyland now has dozens of better and more exciting rides than a Monorail.

But to function as a Resort in the 21st century, and a Disney branded Resort at that with Disney prices, you need a monorail. It's just part of the experience, whether the bean counters and Bob Chapek like it or not.

Expand the monorail beyond its two current stations? Yes Please!

Maybe streamline/remove the track inside the berm if it allows for quality Fantasyland expansion? Sure!

But get rid of the monorail entirely and still try and call the place Disneyland USA? Not on your life.

 

[Rich T]

Does Disneyland need the Monorail? Does it need steam trains? Does it need vehicles on Main Street? Does it need the Mark Twain? Does Disneyland need to keep as much of its soul, personality and history intact as possible while the suits do everything they can to expunge all charming elements from their cash cow? Yes, Disneyland needs to keep the monorail.

 

[Sharon&Susan]

I wouldn't mind replacing the Carrousel Theater with the monorail station and as @TP2000 remove the Fantasyland section.

But the monorail should be kept.

 

[iLikeMountains]

If the monorail didn’t wind through the park, I would probably never ride it. I love riding it in and getting that aerial view of the park.

 

[PiratesMansion]

The wandering through Tomorrowland part is what separates it from the others. Even though I'm sure it was even better with the Peoplemover there too, it would be a shame to lose that corner because you just KNOW that whatever they put there wouldn't be as nice.

Optimal use of space? Probably not, but I'm not convinced modern Disney can do better.

At any rate, this discussion reminds me of the ROA changes, and how people, at that time, seemed ok with the fact that the ROA and the experiences on it were maybe a bit longer than they needed to be. Now, you never hear the end of how horrible it is that they shortened the river even if they improved aspects of it. The same thing would inevitably happen if they were to eliminate the 'wandering' section of the Monorail too.

 

[J4546]

I mean, in Florida it makes sense because it connects parks and hotels, in CA its just a 2 stop monoral that connects tomorrowland with downtown disney... And with the new parking structure/tram, the monorail is pretty much pointless imo, esp When they redo the nemo/autopia section. they will almost certainly get rid of the monorail track that goes into the park around matterhorn and probably make a mono station by the train station. . I think getting rid of the maintenence building and using that area and the big square area behind it would make a great spot for a show building for a possibly BatB themed expansion if they went that route.

 

[SteveAZee]

I rode the DL monorail for the first time in 2016... I mostly do my Disney time at WDW. At WDW, the monorail is great both as a means of transportation and as an attraction to see the property, either the hotel loop or the EPCOT loop. The DL monorail seems to be 'eh' for me on both counts. I guess it's useful to get into Disneyland without going through the main gates, and there is some appeal to all the loops and view inside the east side of the park itself, but leaving and seeing the backsides of buildings, air conditioning units, dumpsters, etc... not great show. I realize the trade-offs made when they built out CA, but still... I felt a little underwhelmed on my first and only trip on the DL monorail.

(shields up)

 

[Robbiem]

For me there are two aspects to the monorail. As a form of transport it’s probably not needed in its current form, it doesn’t really connect up anywhere useful but a revised layout with stops at the hotels and DCA like Tokyo’s system would be if it was ever modified.

the other under appreciated aspect is in the kinetics it provides to the park. Like at Epcot having the monorail soar overhead is still exciting and adds to the atmosphere of tomorrowland

 

[Stevek]

Yes, it absolutely needs the monorail and it needs to be expanded to my house so I can ride it to Disneyland.

In all seriousness, I'd like to see them have a DCA stop and perhaps additional lines from the parking structure. More monorails is good for 'Merica MAMA 2023 (Make America Monorail Again)

 

[PiratesMansion]

I rode the DL monorail for the first time in 2016... I mostly do my Disney time at WDW. At WDW, the monorail is great both as a means of transportation and as an attraction to see the property, either the hotel loop or the EPCOT loop. The DL monorail seems to be 'eh' for me on both counts. I guess it's useful to get into Disneyland without going through the main gates, and there is some appeal to all the loops and view inside the east side of the park itself, but leaving and seeing the backsides of buildings, air conditioning units, dumpsters, etc... not great show. I realize the trade-offs made when they built out CA, but still... I felt a little underwhelmed on my first and only trip on the DL monorail.

(shields up)

I agree that there's a certain grandeur to the monorails at WDW that DL's can't quite match...but Walt couldn't do anything about Harbor Boulevard then, and it's better now than it used to be.

At least you can't see a giant ferris wheel from Disneyland's monorail though! Kind of an immersion breaker at the place where it's allegedly nothing but the 'Disney bubble' 24/7.

 

[lazyboy97o]

What no Disney park needs more of right now is Fantasyland.

 

[J4546]

how about ths for a wacky idea. Expand CA west to the paridise pier hotel/parking lot. Make that area Star Wars but with an Endor theme. And then have a monorail going between the two parks/star wars lands kinda like the harry potter train at universal FL. Maybe a fully enclosed train with the same kind of tech they are using for the star wars hotel tram in FL to simulate flying between planets. Maybe keep the stop in Downtown Disney as an earth stop...I dunno im just spitballing

 

[chadwpalm]

They could just connect the monorail at my green line and get rid of everything circled in red, and then you'll just have a large loop that still gives access to the maintenance bay and passes by the important occupied portion of DL that we like to see when we ride it.

Then, as @TP2000 said, put a station at Grand California and expand another station at Disneyland Hotel (thus removing the DTD station), and also add a station in DCA. This raises the question of how they would enforce which people are allowed to get off at certain parks with people possibly having a one-day one-park ticket. Here's my solution...

Don't put the ticket booths at the entrances to the monorail, but at the exits to the attraction in the parks. This allows people to ride the monorail for free, but they can't enter the parks without a proper ticket. So if you have a single-day single-park ticket for DCA and get off the monorail at DL, you wouldn't be able to enter the park. You'd have to get back on and either get off at DCA or one of the hotels.

The drawback is that it would be a free attraction, so it might cause too much crowding of people without park tickets riding it for a loop. The gain is that you can see the inside of the parks without having to buy a ticket.

 

[J4546]

If the paradise pier hotel lot was redeveloped to a planet endor star wars theme (which it will never be) you could have a monorail connecting the 2 planets like the harry potter train at universal florida. thatd be konda cool, being able to travel between parks in a star wars enviroment. This of course would also need massive expansion of galaxies edge to accomodate the new monorail stop and tie it in to the land. The red square is where the maintanence bay would be located.

 

[DrAlice]

If they got rid of the monorail, then generations of future Bay Area kids will miss out on a childhood of being convinced that BART goes to DL. (You just have to get on the RIGHT train!)


Of course DL needs a monorail. Is this a question????

 

[lazyboy97o]

They should build a monorail to Long Beach where they could also build a cruise terminal and maybe a park too while they’re at it.

 

[TP2000]

If they got rid of the monorail, then generations of future Bay Area kids will miss out on a childhood of being convinced that BART goes to DL. (You just have to get on the RIGHT train!)

Wait, really? Do kids up there think that? Or was that just a young DrAlice who thought that?

 

[October82]

Does Disneyland need a Fantasyland, and would you be ok with getting rid of it if it meant more room for a major monorail expansion when they redo the Fantasyland area?