23, November 1998: I've just learned that Disney is planning on installing a whole new transportation system for Walt Disney World. The new system is going to replace the bus system and possibly the monorails. Imagineers have been visiting West Virginia University (WVU) to study their form of mass transit called the PRT.
The system they are looking at is called a "horizontal elevator" system. What this means is that a Disney guest will call up a car at any transit station and select where he/she would like to go. That car would then travel directly to the destination without stopping at other stops like the busses do now.
WVU currently has about 200 cars running on their transit system the cars are also pretty small ( capacity 8-10 riders). I'm sure Disney will need a lot more cars and will probably design them to hold more passengers. The technology is already in place and has worked flawlessly at WVU for over 8 years.
From what it sounds like Disney will build new transit terminals at each park, resort and other entertainment complexes (probably 20-30 in all) The transit system they are looking at is an elevated rubber wheel system. Kind of the same thing they use at the Orlando airport. The difference between those kind of systems and the new Disney system is that the guest can select their final destination. The cars are computer controlled and can easily switch from track to track. During low transit times the cars can automatically relocate to where expected crowds will be at a later time.
From what I can gather, it sounds like construction could begin by the end of 1999. This would put the entire project completion around 2002 or so... Just in time to get the bugs worked out for Disney's possible hosting for the Summer Olympics?
This sounds like a really cool project. My source tells me that Disney is pretty excited about this system and feels that they are going to begin development of the WDW system in the near future!
