Monorail Expansion

marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member

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PhilharMagician

Well-Known Member
Thanks Martin, I knew you would have it.

Has anything ever been propesed for the AK side of the property or is what you show on the map everything?

I cannot see the monorail ever going to DTD unless they put gates with ticket readers and finger scans to keep people from using free parking and taking the monorail into the parks. I do not think that would go over very well.
 

marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
What I`ve drawn is what has been officially announced since 1971 - I`ve literally joined the dots on the Epcot Termini and the route east of Futureworld. I wish I could find out more. Anyone? There were also rumours of foundation footers between The Land and Imagination built with EPCOT Center in 1982, but I`ve never found any evidence. Also of note, a WEDWay line was officially proposed to service Lake Buena Vista, back when the Sun Bank Building was to be the first of many similar office blocks, and in the mid 70`s another WEDWay was proposed to link the Contemporary to LBVs WDW Shopping Village, but the route is too vague to guess.

I`d think the company slightly mad if and when an expansion to the Studios happened not to go the extra mile (or two :D ) to AK/AKL. Along this route alone are another 9000 rooms begging to be transit linked... or maybe that`s the problem. Assuming an average of 3 to a room, that`s potentially another 27,000 guests all trying to board at 8am in the morning. One more note; the MGM link is from the masterplan that does show AK, AKL and The All Stars. There simply is no Monorail shown this far.

Who knows what`ll happen? Not I!
 

wannab@dis

Well-Known Member
I've got a question for everyone (supporters of the Monorail expansion and those that feel it may not be worth the investment)...

Would having the monorail extended to many of the resorts and all the parks diminish the "attraction" quality that it currently has? I see a lot of posts about the Deluxe resorts where people basically see the monorail as a mode of transportation only. Others see it as an attraction as good as any attraction on the property.

By extending the monorail, would they run the risk of diminishing the "Magic" and making it just "Utilitarian"?
 

PhilharMagician

Well-Known Member
Well the monorail is transportation that is just very cool. the reason it is like an attraction is because they are only found a few places in around the world and busses are everywhere you look. I personally would love to see more monorails connecting various places. My biggest concern would be how efficiently you could travel between locations. Some of the resorts are humongous and require many bus stops, so how do you take care of this with a monorail system. If you start adding possibly 10 stops to a single monorail line it could take 30 minutes + to get to your destination and that is after waiting for the monorail.

I woud like to see a poll added to see who here is really for expansion. Maybe I'll get to this weekend.
 
Well the monorail is transportation that is just very cool. the reason it is like an attraction is because they are only found a few places in around the world and busses are everywhere you look. I personally would love to see more monorails connecting various places. My biggest concern would be how efficiently you could travel between locations. Some of the resorts are humongous and require many bus stops, so how do you take care of this with a monorail system. If you start adding possibly 10 stops to a single monorail line it could take 30 minutes + to get to your destination and that is after waiting for the monorail.

I woud like to see a poll added to see who here is really for expansion. Maybe I'll get to this weekend.

I really think expansion would be best suited to just go from park to park (and maybe DTD)...right now, it is somewhat difficult (or at least takes a long time) to go from park to park, with the exception of MK-EPCOT, or EPCOT-MGM...it'd be nice to get to all of the parks from each other park in air-conditioned comfort, without having to wait for a bus, then another bus, etc...I can deal with busing it from my hotel to the first park of the day...
 

marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
By extending the monorail, would they run the risk of diminishing the "Magic" and making it just "Utilitarian"?
Very much so. Good point. There again, would this be offset by the attractiveness of any resorts to guests who would normally stay off-site? And would, hyperthetically speaking, this increase in interest warrant more mods and Values being built, there by bringing in more guests (and the bottom line)?
 

WDW Monorail

Well-Known Member
Whatever hapened to the idea that pylon footings were placed in World Showcase Lagoon?

I know that it is nat a good idea because it would block the view of the countries, but it would be fun to have the monorail pass over a large body of water.

Of course no one would be able to leave the park during Illuminations on that route.
 

lewisc

Well-Known Member
Disney would probably put a second TTC at the DTD area and charge for parking, maybe 3 hours free for people eating/shopping in DTD. One of the rumors had Disney building a garage at DTD, similar to Universal, and funnel the offsite guests through DTD on their way home.


Thanks Martin, I knew you would have it.

Has anything ever been propesed for the AK side of the property or is what you show on the map everything?

I cannot see the monorail ever going to DTD unless they put gates with ticket readers and finger scans to keep people from using free parking and taking the monorail into the parks. I do not think that would go over very well.
 

jedimaster1227

Active Member
By extending the monorail, would they run the risk of diminishing the "Magic" and making it just "Utilitarian"?

This would be a tough question to answer because it really does depend on who you are talking to. I myself will compare the monorail to the TTA, being that it is a (mostly) smooth and narrated ride through an *area* (whether that area is a themed land or a resort). I wouldn't necesscarily compare the monorail to an attraction on the scale of Pirates of the Caribbean or the Haunted Mansion, but I do consider it a part of every Disney trip. I really do think that an extension of the monorail ONLY through Disney property would be fine, as long as its ride time wasn't incredibly long and it had a good narration. I know that many guests look upon the monorail as both a form of transportation and an attraction in itself, so I really don't see the harm of making this "attraction" any bigger (as long as it didn't take away from the budget of any needed rehabs or refurbishments in WDW).

As a kid (years ago), my family and I would actually go to the TTC just to ride the monorail, not even visiting the parks in the day because my brother and I were so facinated by it (This was back before they made you show a valid ticket at the entry way of the TTC).
 

Iceviper123

Member
They could be waiting to see what new things are going to bbe built before the expand.Maybe they want the newest expanision to hit a lot of the areas. Im almost positive that this expansion will happen maybe not right now though. Never know Disney sometimes seem to pull things off before we know it. :D
 

Mr.EPCOT

Active Member
I don't think it would diminish the "magicness" of the Monorail. If anything, I think it heighten the impressiveness of the system to the average Guest. From what I see, a lot of people make a big deal about the Monorail. Some Guests would love riding around the Monorail all day if there were new destinations added. I have passengers board all the time just for a round-trip, they're waiting for dinner at one of the Resorts or something, or they even exit the Park just for a 10-20 minute Monorail journey. And I can't tell you how many Guests go way out of there way just to include the Monorail in the route back to their Resort. Lots of people each day will do things like board at the Magic Kingdom, switch to go to Epcot, and board their Resort bus there. Or they're at Epcot and want to go to MGM or AK, and they're more than happy to take the Monorail to the TTC and get the bus there. All I know is, it's time for a transportation overhaul (Monorail or not), because the number of times I've almost been run off the road by a Disney bus is WAY too high.

Sorry, Martin, I'm not quite sure how accurate your map is. My concern with it is the added section of track along the straightaway between the Transportation and Ticket Center and the Contemporary. The station for the Mediterranean would be right at Pylon 17, right on the existing beamway as I understand, and is even marked on the power consoles in the Monorail Central tower.
 

Johnn83

New Member
The Number 1 question from guest according to Disney cast members for the last 8 years has been "Why doesn't the monorail system go to MGM and The Animal Kindom"? The fact is, that it makes Disney look like there having money problems by not finishing the monorail system. People don't know what the price would be because I don't think Disney ever went out and negoiated with the monorail manfacturer. And when people talk about Disney spending money. Eisner spent more money on getting the Fox familly channel then it would coast to expand the monorail system.:brick:
 

camshron55

New Member
Hydrogen Power?

Needed to jump in on ideas for transportation issues in the World - I don't think this project ever got off the ground, and I don't know anything about the feasibility, but it sounds interesting . . . . http://www.interstatetraveler.us/
Water and solar = self-generating hydrogen power system?
 

peter11435

Well-Known Member
The Number 1 question from guest according to Disney cast members for the last 8 years has been "Why doesn't the monorail system go to MGM and The Animal Kindom"? The fact is, that it makes Disney look like there having money problems by not finishing the monorail system. People don't know what the price would be because I don't think Disney ever went out and negoiated with the monorail manfacturer. And when people talk about Disney spending money. Eisner spent more money on getting the Fox familly channel then it would coast to expand the monorail system.:brick:
I assure you that is not the number 1 guest question.
 

CHRIS J

New Member
I believe that there are a lot of people that go out of ther way just to ride the monorail, I being one of them. I dont know what it is but it is always fun to take a ride on the monorail whenever we go to WDW. I dont yhink they will ever expand the monorail system, I dont believe Disney feels that it would be worth the exspense.:)
 

CRO-Magnum

Active Member
I am not holding my breath...

...but I am holding on to the hope that Disney comes through with an expansion.

Come on Iger - make it happen :D
 

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