connect the Animal Kingdom by monorail

[sheriffwoody]

As cool as it would be to ride the monorail all around property, I'd much rather them spend money inside the parks.

 

[morningstar]

No, not quite. Pirates and Space Mountain are within the Magic Kingdom; therefore, their operating costs are covered by the ticket revenues of the Magic Kingdom. The monorails are essentially "free". To cover their cost, they have to take money from all of the other revenue streams because the monorail does not have a direct revenue stream (i.e., monorail tickets). I agree that the monorail makes Disney special, and that in my opinion, Disney should capitalize on it and expand the monorail. I think the boost in image for the park would be worth the expense, but I don't want to rehash my arguments and bore the good people of this forum.

You could argue that monorails are paid for by the high rates at monorail resorts, or that part of the park hopper option goes toward transportation.

 

[Kamikaze]

When a bus breaks down, you send another bus.
When a monorail breaks down, you cannot send another monorail because you can't pass the broken down one.
This means in addition to the monorail fleet, you always have to have a bus fleet and drivers available.

Without even factoring in the ridiculous cost and setup of a resort-wide monorail system.

 

[The90skid]

Can you say more about this? What is the operating cost of the monorails? I would have thought it was pretty cheap since there is no gas required, very little infrastructure maintenance, and fewer CMs needed To transport a larger number of guests than the buses. But I haven't seen any actual numbers. So can you explain why you are saying they are expensive to operate.

(I understand that they are expensive to build but that is a different conversation.)

I assume that the operating costs would include what you mentioned. I do not have any numbers, though I wish I did! These kinds of things really interest me. The point was that the operating costs over time would be greater than a one time cost to take them down.

 

[The90skid]

You could argue that monorails are paid for by the high rates at monorail resorts, or that part of the park hopper option goes toward transportation.

Unfortunately, we can only assume, since we do not have detailed cost information.

 

[POLY LOVER]

Sorry, but this is one of the more silly statements on this thread. Of course Disney has a bucket of money, but they haven't achieved that by throwing it away or spending it on whatever improvement they might think up. There's plenty of evidence to support the idea that Disney is actually a pretty cheap company, from the way they pay their employees to the lack of speed in a lot of maintenance or repair. When they do decide to open up the purse strings and do great things, they do 'em better than just about anyone else. But those purse strings are normally pretty tight, and there's no way they're gonna open up for a monorail to DAK.

well folks keep repeating costs as being the main factor for not expanding the monorail system, I just responded to the fact they have cash. Now if you are saying they have money but are cheap about spending it then thats fine.

 

[danyoung56]

That is indeed what I'm saying.

 

[POLY LOVER]

You could argue that monorails are paid for by the high rates at monorail resorts, or that part of the park hopper option goes toward transportation.

If I am staying at the Floridian and paying that rate per night, I don't really want to run to standing room buses to go to the Parks. The monorail stopping at my door is what I am looking for. If there were no Monorail then there would have to be some better form of getting me to the Parks than a bus. Not trying to be snooty but when you ask for 500/600 a night or evening the price tag for the new water front rooms at the Poly you better not send me a bus.

 

[TXDisney]

Is love to see the monorail expanded, but the fact is.... AK is pretty far away from the other 3 parks. Having one go to HS would make more sense being how close it is to Epcot.

 

[POLY LOVER]

That is indeed what I'm saying.

you can't argue with cheap, but cheap gets you in the end and you end up spending more money.

 

[The90skid]

you can't argue with cheap, but cheap gets you in the end and you end up spending more money.

I think "cheap" is a little too strong. I would say they are very cost-benefit conscious, but not "cheap".

 

[POLY LOVER]

Is love to see the monorail expanded, but the fact is.... AK is pretty far away from the other 3 parks. Having one go to HS would make more sense being how close it is to Epcot.

Small steps don't hurt either. Get to the DHS and then expand.

 

[wm49rs]

you can't argue with cheap, but cheap gets you in the end and you end up spending more money.

Or, perhaps they'd rather not spend money on monorails and put it into the parks instead. Because, as has been stated before (and trying to remain on topic; a challenge for you I know) the travel time via bus is not that much more....

 

[The90skid]

Or, perhaps they'd rather not spend money on monorails and put it into the parks instead. Because, as has been stated before (and trying to remain on topic; a challenge for you I know) the travel time via bus is not that much more....

How is the OP not on topic? If the topic is "monorail to AK", I don't find the OP off-topic in this thread.

 

[wm49rs]

How is the OP not on topic? If the topic is "monorail to AK", I don't find the OP off-topic in this thread.

How about incessant posts about "cheap" or "accountant hating?"

 

[French Quarter]

well folks keep repeating costs as being the main factor for not expanding the monorail system, I just responded to the fact they have cash. Now if you are saying they have money but are cheap about spending it then thats fine.

That is exactly what we have all been saying.

(And I personally don't think it's bad that they are cost conscious. I am too.)

 

[The90skid]

How about incessant posts about "cheap" or "accountant hating?"

If you are referring to me, I did not bring up the whole "cost" question. Others did, and I think that it is worth discussing when the original purpose of the thread is to discuss a monorail line to AK, which will obviously cost money.

 

[wm49rs]

If you are referring to me, I did not bring up the whole "cost" question. Others did, and I think that it is worth discussing when the original purpose of the thread is to discuss a monorail line to AK, which will obviously cost money.

I'm referring to both, and this OP has a history of not being to stay on topic, even in his own threads. The bottom line, whether either of you like it or not, is that AK was not built as part of a monorail line, nor ever will it be. TWDC has chosen busses as primary transport there, and as others have pointed out, it does not add on much more in the way of time....

 

[The90skid]

I'm referring to both, and this OP has a history of not being to stay on topic, even in his own threads. The bottom line, whether either of you like it or not, is that AK was not built as part of a monorail line, nor ever will it be. TWDC has chosen busses as primary transport there, and as others have pointed out, it does not add on much more in the way of time....

I can't speak for the OP's posting record as I am new. But surely you must realize that every comment on this thread is speculation and conjecture. None of us know with 100% certainty what Disney will do, but we can all weigh the evidence and propose ideas. I thought the whole point of a discussion board about Disney topics was to discuss Disney topics, not shut down opinions because they don't seem valid. Others a d myself happen to think Disney should buld new monorail lines. Yourself and others think opposite. That is the point of having a discussion.

 

[wm49rs]

I can't speak for the OP's posting record as I am new. But surely you must realize that every comment on this thread is speculation and conjecture. None of us know with 100% certainty what Disney will do, but we can all weigh the evidence and propose ideas. I thought the whole point of a discussion board about Disney topics was to discuss Disney topics, not shut down opinions because they don't seem valid. Others a d myself happen to think Disney should buld new monorail lines. Yourself and others think opposite. That is the point of having a discussion.

Spare me the sanctimony about discussions. You want to imagineer, you know where that forum is. You want to find a thread about how "cheap" TWDC, is the search function is your friend. No one is "accountant-bashing" either. But TWDC is investing in other areas than monorails for transport. And it doesn't add or detract from the ability of people to enjoy AK. Unless they're looking for a reason to no go in the first place....