Monorail Technical Question

[montyz81]

I know this probably seems obvious to most, but I thought, hey this is Disney, if they imagine it, they con probably build it. Here is my question, do the recordings in the Monorails exist on the Monorails or are they apart of the DACs System? I figured they could be as the power strip could also include a data strip although this might be a less reliable solution. Who knows, maybe Disney figured out how to do it. Anyway, just curious mostly because it seems like it would take forever to upload new messages to each of the 12 trains.

 

[DisneyJoe]

My guess is that the computer in the cockpit is responsible for feeding audio to the trains.

 

[Chape19714]

Individual to the trains. When new audio is realeased, it often takes a few days or a week to get it on all the trains.

 

[FatBoy976]

How would it take forever to upload new audio to the trains? Have you ever transferred an mp3 on an SD card? It should take seconds per train, and they don't change the audio loop all that often. Running a data strip along the entire length of track would be ridiculously expensive.

 

[Chape19714]

It doesn't take forever...but I don't think there's A: A rush to do it, and B: It probably isn't done anywhere except the maintance bay, which only certain trains go to at night, not all trains. Therefore, it takes a bit longer, at least a few days.

 

[montyz81]

Yes I know it should be quick. I work for IBM. You would think we could get a video posted on the internet in a few minutes. Disney is a large company like IBM and it takes for ever to get things like this through the process. My thought was that if it were part of the beam, it could be done quicker and the recordings could be customized to the train and by the day. Would make for a more unique experience for guests.

 

[Rob562]

It doesn't take forever...but I don't think there's A: A rush to do it, and B: It probably isn't done anywhere except the maintance bay, which only certain trains go to at night, not all trains. Therefore, it takes a bit longer, at least a few days.

They park 10 trains each night (well, the two involved in the accident are still parked and not moved). Two are left out on the beams in one of the stations. The two that are left out will not be left out the following night. So if the maintenance crew has time to update the recorded spiels in all ten trains in one night, the remaining two would then get updated the following night.

But as others have mentioned, unless it's a major change, spiel updates are probably pretty far down on the nightly maintenance checklist...

-Rob

 

[luckyeye13]

I can't remember if this was on a train with a new console or an old console (as there was still a mix at this time), but, while I was getting drive trained, I remember a maintenance Cast Member hopping into the cab with a small box-shaped device. He then connected it to a port on one of the panels and I asked him what it was for. He told me that it was used for updating the spiels on the train. (Right around that time, the spiels were being changed over from the Happiest Celebration on Earth to Year of a Million Dreams.) The whole process must have taken not even 30 seconds and we left the station in the same amount of time that it would normally take (about a minute).