Monorail Expansion?

[PhilharMagician]

TWDC just spent 100+ million on EE just to boost attendace. Now why couldn't they spend that or more on a monorail expansion? I would expect just as many people to flock to Disney to see and ride on the new Disney Monorail System which could be labeled the largest monorail system in the world. I personally believe that it would be a good boost to the attendance throughout the entire resort.

 

[bhg469]

I always loved the idea of an expanded monorail system, it may not be more efficient but it really is more fun. That band-aid smell is one of my must do's when i go.

 

[gsimpson]

LV Monorail is being expanded

For those who like to point at the Las Vegas monorail as an example of why monorail shouldn't be exanded at WDW, here are a couple of fairly interesting facts that have been published in the Las Vegas Sun Times and the Las Vegas visitor and convention papar. The Clark County transportation commision is now pushing for an expedited expansion of the monorail to include the other side of the strip and the airport. Steve Wynn who was originally one of the most vocal oponents to the LV Monorail is now a proponent. Harrah's Entertainment (who owns 4 hotels along the guideway) says that the monorail has increases traffic in its monorail hotels nearly 8 percent. 4 of the largest conventions over the last year, SEMA, National Association of Broadcaster, CES, and the biggest of them all MAGIC gush on pretty heavily about how the monorail has been a godsend for their convention goers (conventions tend to have traffic spikes similar to park load and unload by the way). They were recentely able to raise the price for riding the monorail without any significant impact on ridership. They added another hour to its operating day, seems odd that they would do that unless there was demand. We all pretty well know about the months and months of start up problems the monorail had, most of those do to fairly stupid design implemtations but since then the system at Disney would be designed by or at least in conjunction with Disney it is unlikely those would plague any Disney expansion. Pleae refresh my memory, why is the Las Vegas monorail an example of why not to build/expand the monorail?

 

[NoNoNoNoNo]

plenty of people have said

"I WANT MORE MONORAIL"

but nobody has been able to explaing

"WHY THERE SHOULD BE MORE MONORAIL"

It just seems silly to build more monorail. if you want to ride it.. then ride it.
It's like making another dumbo/rockets/carpets/dinospin just because the others have lines. Sure people ride the monorail... but honestly... if i could bypass the extra 40 minutes in and 40 minutes out it takes to get to and from MK and it was used more as an attraction like at DL, I would be nothing less that ABSOLUTLY GIDDY! I want to park at MK and leave when i want to. If i want to run to my car to save that extra 15 minutes GREAT. I'm a park hopper, and hate wasting my day away transporting to transportation. If you want more monorail.. get to the airport 2 hours earlier.

 

[bgraham34]

Without the Monorail Disney just would not have the same feel. The sounds and smell on the Monorail are just so Disney.

 

[ThumpersThought]

All I know is what I experienced. It was about two weeks ago. They were moving yellow from the Express loop to the Epcot loop and another monorail from the barn to the express and I was on another monorail (don't remember what color) at the TTC. It wasn't exactly 20 minutes I admit but it was definitely at least 10. The entire time on the monorail the air was off and it was very hot. I saw and heard the pilot of our train as well as the pilot of yellow complaining about the heat and fanning themselves. As soon as the track switched back the air came back on and we were on our way. Then we stopped over the MK bus loop for another 4-5 minutes while they performed afternoon safety checks on the train in front of us. Maybe the air was out for another reason but it was definitely out. The monorail was very hot; the air was not running, the pilot was complaining, and the air turned on as soon as the track switched back. Maybe it was just a coincidence.

Ok, that I'll buy. Certainly sounds like something else was going wrong (we pilots are a picky bunch -- if we were stuck in a hot train every time there was a switch, you'd see us scattering from the platform right before a switch to avoid a train). And I'm sure the pilot of Yellow was complaining just because they had to drive Yellow.

 

[George]

If Disney were to expand the Monorail, i think they should replace the monorail all together! *gasp* Yes, you heard me. They should move towards something that is more flexable and expandable. Something that is futuristic much hoow the monorail was 30 years ago. Personally, I like Skytran. Looks neat. It's Fast. And very expandable. Imagine... centralize ALL the Disney Parking into one area and use a Skytran system to move you to your desired park in just minutes.

Just my $.02.

That's a pretty neat site. I just ate my lunch as dorked around looking at this. The unedited version of the manuscript the guy wrote in 1999 is entertaining. It also contains a reference to DisneyWorld (he conjectures that a Mag Lev train was carrying tourists from MCO to WDW in 2012 or something).

 

[TimeTrip]

Without the Monorail Disney just would not have the same feel. The sounds and smell on the Monorail are just so Disney.

But yet Disney makes the Disney transportation from the Disney hotels (monorail hotels excluded) bypass the monorails.... hmm. I wonder how many Disney hotel guests (once again monorail hotel guests excluded) don't take a ride on the monorail during their entire stay.

 

[peter11435]

Ok, that I'll buy. Certainly sounds like something else was going wrong (we pilots are a picky bunch -- if we were stuck in a hot train every time there was a switch, you'd see us scattering from the platform right before a switch to avoid a train). And I'm sure the pilot of Yellow was complaining just because they had to drive Yellow.

Thanks for the information. Glad to know they don't shut off the air everytime they switch.

 

[peter11435]

TWDC just spent 100+ million on EE just to boost attendace. Now why couldn't they spend that or more on a monorail expansion? I would expect just as many people to flock to Disney to see and ride on the new Disney Monorail System which could be labeled the largest monorail system in the world. I personally believe that it would be a good boost to the attendance throughout the entire resort.

It might boost attendance slightly but not nearly the amount Everest will. Not to mention you could visit WDW and ride the monorail without spending a dime. I’m not saying many people would actually do that just that the ROI on monorail expansion is nowhere near what it is on a large new attraction such as EE. Not to mention Monorail expansion would cost much more than Everest.

Like I said I would love to see monorails everywhere. I have literally had dreams about riding the monorail from the contemporary to AK. I just don't think it is practical.

 

[TimeTrip]

Thanks for the information. Glad to know they don't shut off the air everytime they switch.

For the record, I've also been on the express monorail at the TTC when they've had to shut the AC off. It's very strange to be in a monorail car without the humming that normally accompanies a monorail ride. At least they kept all the doors open

 

[peter11435]

For the record, I've also been on the express monorail at the TTC when they've had to shut the AC off. It's very strange to be in a monorail car without the humming that normally accompanies a monorail ride. At least they kept all the doors open

Any idea why they do this.

 

[Iakona]

Pleae refresh my memory, why is the Las Vegas monorail an example of why not to build/expand the monorail?

Las Vegas was cited as an example of how expensive it can be. I never said because of Las Vegas Disney should not add on. The poster I was responding to stated that rumors on the internet was preventing municipalities from even considering monorails.

 

[NoNoNoNoNo]

Las Vegas was cited as an example of how expensive it can be. I never said because of Las Vegas Disney should not add on. The poster I was responding to stated that rumors on the internet was preventing municipalities from even considering monorails.

Las Vegas Disney

great idea

 

[DocMcHulk]

That's a pretty neat site. I just ate my lunch as dorked around looking at this. The unedited version of the manuscript the guy wrote in 1999 is entertaining. It also contains a reference to DisneyWorld (he conjectures that a Mag Lev train was carrying tourists from MCO to WDW in 2012 or something).

I just thinkt he idea is really cool. Especially if it could be used to replace most mass transit between the suburbs and inner city of large cities.

For example, I live in a NW suburb of Chicago. I went to college downtown. So everyday I had to drive to the train station, get on a train. Go downtown, get off the train and wait 10 minutes for a bus then ride 20 minutes to get within 2 block of my buiding. Over all, i spent close to 2 hours geting to school then another 2 going home. Imagine.... drive to a "train station", hop in a pod and get dropped off within 3-5 blocks of your building. Total trip.... 30-45 minute.

 

[aklodge]

I honestly cannot believe this thread has lasted as long as it has... thats all I'm going to say.

 

[marni1971]

I honestly cannot believe this thread has lasted as long as it has... thats all I'm going to say.

This ones a short one!

 

[cloudboy]

Las Vegas was cited as an example of how expensive it can be. I never said because of Las Vegas Disney should not add on. The poster I was responding to stated that rumors on the internet was preventing municipalities from even considering monorails.

The Las Vegas monorail gets thrown around a lot because it had so many wild figures. What is so different about it is that there was a lot of project management/design problems early on, and the fact that it is a private system. So there is a lot of misunderstanding about the actual construction costs versus the costs with all the financing, land value, etc. figured in. The same thing happened in Seattle, where the financing costs so overshadowed the construction costs that everyone lost sight of the fatc that the proposed monorail was as long as the light rail line that was under construction, costs less to build, and that included two huge water crossings.

The Disney system has a lot of peculiarities. Heck, likely it would be very difficult to expand due to poor future plannin in the early design - both logistically as well as for clearance (the Contemporary hotel makes train size a big issue). Yet people fail to realize what is really a limitation of the technology and what is just a factor of Disney's design choices.

As far as why expand (or just rebuild a) monorail? Well, becuase there are too many busses that make getting around too messy and get too confusing; because while in theory the busses could be very efficient, in practice they are not and probably never will be; because the busses are to put it bluntly uncomofortable, tippy, and unpleasant; because many people rent cars and bring cars with them to avoid the current transit system, thus encouraging them to go off site; because all the effort that then has to go into providing parking and access for all those cars; but mostly because the sickening amount of land that is now covered in blacktop, causing absurd flooding issue and major environmental problems, that is growing to overwhelm anything else on property. There is more area that is devoted to vehicle access than there is to the parks!

 

[peter11435]

because while in theory the busses could be very efficient, in practice they are not

I don't know. When you watch the buses transport thousands of guests out of the parks at closing in a relatively short period of time, it is hard to say they are not efficient.

That said I agree with you that too much land has been used for parking lots.

 

[freediverdude]

I forget who it was, but some famous person said something about Disney, and I am kind of paraphrasing here, not an exact quote, but close: "What makes Disney great, is that they build a $100,000 spire that they didn't need. And they find out they needed it all along." I think this is very appropriate here.