lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
I could see bus service to the Magic Kingdom being added the Grand Floridian and the Polynesian (the Contemporary would also not completely surprise me) while the monorails remain in operation.
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Appalling state of the monorail cabins
- Thread starter ptaylor
- Start date
willtravel
Well-Known Member
20years? I won't care by then....
englanddg
One Little Spark...
Yes. A Rat from New Jersey. He's still from New Jersey, but he's a mouse.
This change occured in 1998, officially. Here's the history.
1977 Bushnell founded Chuck E. Cheese
1980 Showbiz Pizza Time, Inc. was founded by Robert Brock (hotel magnet) because many people wanted to
open Chuck E. Cheese's, but didn't like Bushnell's franchising concepts (heavy handed)
1984 Bushnell had run CEC into the ground. It filed Chapter 11, and the assets were purchased by Showbiz Pizza Time, Inc.
1986 New Leadership with Dick Frank
1990 Showbiz Pizza Time, Inc. went public on the NASDAQ as SHBZ. They proposed a "Concept Unification" meant that, after market studies showed that the CEC Brand was more popular, even in areas that had Showbiz, it was better to rebrand everything to that name and group of characters. In addition, it meant that all ties with the animetronics company (Creative Engineering), who originally had a 20% stake in CEC under Bushnell, could be severed. This rebranding took several years, ending around 1996.
1998 The company moved from the NASDAQ to the NYSE and changed it's name to CEC Entertainment, Inc. THIS was when it was decided that rebranding Chuck to a Mouse was to be done. They felt that "Rat" held a negative connotation, so, he became a mouse. The character went through a redesign, from stage to walk around, as a result.
Around this time, a Cartoon Q study found that among children 6-8, Chuck E. Cheese ranks
among the top 4 percent of favorite characters ahead of Mickey Mouse, Ronald McDonald, The Flintstones, Barbie and Snoopy.
That's right. CEC was more likable than Mickey Mouse (to the kids surveyed).
englanddg
One Little Spark...
No, can't say I recall that.
Nope...worse things. Think pointy items that should be disposed of in a special manner and used items made out of latex.
Those...were surprisingly common.
CDavid
Well-Known Member
We don't, however, know if that point will be reached within the lifetime of anyone reading these words. Plenty of rail and highway bridges well over 100 years old and still carrying traffic, but at the other extreme, many interstate highway overpasses were designed for just a 20-year lifespan (cheaper that way). We don't know how well the Disney monorail stuctures were designed; A great deal depends on maintenance to make things last, which Disney tends to neglect (you'll note there is always work on a highway overpass somewhere, again, because they weren't built to last).
Anyone ever heard a lifespan estimate for the monorail beams? I haven't, but I'm very curious.
unkadug
Follower of "Saget"The Cult
Aww c'mon...surely you jest. Why would kids have those?
englanddg
One Little Spark...
I don't jest. For the record, adults were allowed in the pits as well (and still are).
It wasn't every day...maybe a few times a year, but it happened often enough that it was decided that liability, combined with the general issue of keeping the pits clean, was enough to force an investment to refurb all the stores systemwide.
It really depended on the store.
I was a cleaner for a while...my job was to go to the worst stores and "clean them up"...I did this before moving to corporate training. So, I've seen the some of the worst of the worst (like the store that got shot up by a drive by and had scars in the ceiling tiles from where bullets grazed through the showroom on a saturday morning, or the gun I found hidden in a paper bag under the dumpster (same store, actually), kids crawling out of the tubes covered in feces, parents fighting, the kid who decided to hijack the tubes and threaten other kids with a knife...list goes on...
They may sound fantastic, but they are not. Oh, the stories I could tell.
rudyjr13
Well-Known Member
Doesn't change the fact that I'd like to email.
thehowiet
Wilson King of Prussia
According to a former VP of The Monorail Society, the original guideway has a 50 year cure which will then start to degrade and eventually need to be replaced. I don't know how accurate this is nor do I know a whole lot about the lifespan or degradation of concrete. This gentlemen knew the WDW system inside and out as he was also a monorail pilot at WDW for years so I'm just passing on what he stated.
Perhaps a few others on here who know more about the subject can chime in on this one.
Cesar R M
Well-Known Member
maybe they are waiting for that moment to replace everything?
better to just cut down maintenance, let it fall down, and rebuild with newer more proven and cheaper tech.
I wonder how much energy needs the monorail to keep each train moving.
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
That cheaper technology is called a bus.
Clever Name
Well-Known Member
I expect the next significant transportation improvement at WDW to be automated buses. They'll have traffic lanes dedicated exclusively to the buses and will run based upon passenger demand. It will be easy and inexpensive to expand the system as needed to service all areas on property. It will be a vast improvement over the monorail system.
TalkingHead
Well-Known Member
"Seriously dedicated Disney World fan" is about the nicest way to put it.
There are dozens of other ways to describe someone who'd do that.
Cesar R M
Well-Known Member
but a bus doesnt have anything "magical".
electrical double (sausage) type buses?
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
"Magic" and cost effective typically have a rather strong, inverse relationship. I also question the notion that busses are inherently lacking in "magic."
englanddg
One Little Spark...
Some of my most "magical" memories are of the kid falling asleep on me as we rode the bus home after a busy day.
Or then, there was that one night in 2012 when they started playing "Bohemian Rhapsody" on the way back from Magic Kingdom, and I started humming, and then singing under my breath, and then the guy next to me did the same, and by the time we were pulling into the bus stop half the bus was singing along!
ford91exploder
Resident Curmudgeon
Busses are CHEAP and when they are clapped out they can still be SOLD to some sucker who thinks Disney maintained them well. A monorail - well you have to pay someone to take the old ones away.
What kind of transport do you think TODAY's Disney prefers....
ford91exploder
Resident Curmudgeon
Classic London Double-Decker's have Magic, Classic Flxible busses have magic and quality, The cheap-a-- rental car shuttle busses used by Disney do NOT have magic.