Rumor New Monorails Coming Soon?

[matt9112]

This is true, but keep in mind those metal rails you see along the monorail beam up in the sky are very much susceptible to getting hit by lightning and carrying that charge back to the rectifier building and burning stuff out. Don’t know if that was the case here or not, could also just be poor upkeep of the power infrastructure.

Isnt it possible to protect against this with enough effort abd budget? Im amazed they let lightning effect ghe beams so often.

 

[Kamikaze]

I want to clarify, I don't necessarily believe the conspiracy theory I made up about them wanting to switch to gondolas, just saying it's still a 1% chance of being the case

I don't think that its a conspiracy that if they could get rid of the monorail system easily, they would. If a storm/sinkhole/event/whatever ever took out a section of the beam, that would give them the excuse.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Sherlock Holmes would analyze the situation and come to the conclusion that replacing the trains and track system is NOT an option...but logic is not the highest priority in our “internet kingdom”

 

[RadiatorSpringsRacer]

conspiracy theory, Disney is doing this purposely to push gondolas to replace monorails to MK

I would imagine it'd be a lot more expensive to tear out the whole monorail system than to just get new trains.

Then again, this is the same company that supposedly did this to shut a ride down...

 

[gsimpson]

Generally, no mass transit system will be allowed to be towed while passengers are on board. The tug vehicles aren't made for the weight of the passengers' and when the vehicle fails you can't have confidence in the safety systems any longer are just two of several reasons, most of which result in higher liability. Since it would be impractical to train all of the monorail CMs to know "when there is this failure do this and when there is that failure do that" the safest bet is to have a single procedure that works for as many types of failures as possible. The monorail fails, you might not know that a wheel is "frozen", so you tow it and start a fire (something WDW is probably very sensitive to). The vehicles control system is down, you start to tow it and a passenger becomes distressed, the emergency communications system may not work. As far as power is concerned, they most likely lost one of their traction power substations that convert the commercial power to the 480v that the trains use, having a spare generator won't help that. I am not sure but based on the age I doubt they have adjacent station coverage where if they have substations A, B, and C, and B goes down A and C have sufficient power to cover the line section that is normally powered by B. It is common today but was not very common in the 70s and 80s.

 

[s8film40]

Generally, no mass transit system will be allowed to be towed while passengers are on board. The tug vehicles aren't made for the weight of the passengers' and when the vehicle fails you can't have confidence in the safety systems any longer are just two of several reasons, most of which result in higher liability. Since it would be impractical to train all of the monorail CMs to know "when there is this failure do this and when there is that failure do that" the safest bet is to have a single procedure that works for as many types of failures as possible. The monorail fails, you might not know that a wheel is "frozen", so you tow it and start a fire (something WDW is probably very sensitive to). The vehicles control system is down, you start to tow it and a passenger becomes distressed, the emergency communications system may not work. As far as power is concerned, they most likely lost one of their traction power substations that convert the commercial power to the 480v that the trains use, having a spare generator won't help that. I am not sure but based on the age I doubt they have adjacent station coverage where if they have substations A, B, and C, and B goes down A and C have sufficient power to cover the line section that is normally powered by B. It is common today but was not very common in the 70s and 80s.

The monorail tow tractors are in fact designed to pull a train loaded with passengers and do indeed do this regularly. Also monorails run on 600 volts not 480.

 

[Brad Bishop]

I would imagine it'd be a lot more expensive to tear out the whole monorail system than to just get new trains.

Then again, this is the same company that supposedly did this to shut a ride down...

Strictly a guess on my part - it kind of feels like they're doing that to the Monorail (the 20K Leagues deal).

If they wanted to properly maintain them then they would have swapped them out at the 20 year mark.. Then there was talk about them swapping them out at the 30 year mark.. Now we're getting fresh paint and some clean up on the inside though they still seem to break down regularly. The 99.8% uptime is a thing of the past.

They can raise prices, people will still defend it, and show up at the gate! That's today's Disney...
(except...shhh... People aren't showing up like they're supposed to.. Chime in, "That's OK! Just more space for me!"-guy)

I really think they're doing long-term damage with this stuff.

 

[rsm]

I agree with the likeliness that Epcot beam will be gondolas someday. And the 7SL will be 3 or 4 trains cannibalized from the existing 12 to support the resorts. Express beam will sit unused. TT&TC will be new new gondola connection.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Strictly a guess on my part - it kind of feels like they're doing that to the Monorail (the 20K Leagues deal).

If they wanted to properly maintain them then they would have swapped them out at the 20 year mark.. Then there was talk about them swapping them out at the 30 year mark.. Now we're getting fresh paint and some clean up on the inside though they still seem to break down regularly. The 99.8% uptime is a thing of the past.

They can raise prices, people will still defend it, and show up at the gate! That's today's Disney...
(except...shhh... People aren't showing up like they're supposed to.. Chime in, "That's OK! Just more space for me!"-guy)

I really think they're doing long-term damage with this stuff.

Big shot Bobby is doing his book tour on tv this morning...

I particularly liked how robin roberts and ripa were obviously prompted to ask him what he’s doing after 2021?

The “maybe I’ll go to Disneyland and stand in line” was particularly cute

 

[larryz]

The “maybe I’ll go to Disneyland and stand in line” was particularly cute

He'll need to take some bodyguards with him.

 

[larryz]

I agree with the likeliness that Epcot beam will be gondolas someday. And the 7SL will be 3 or 4 trains cannibalized from the existing 12 to support the resorts. Express beam will sit unused. TT&TC will be new new gondola connection.

New Monorail driver joke: And that's the remains of the Jungle Cruise version 1.0...

 

[Brad Bishop]

I agree with the likeliness that Epcot beam will be gondolas someday. And the 7SL will be 3 or 4 trains cannibalized from the existing 12 to support the resorts. Express beam will sit unused. TT&TC will be new new gondola connection.

That and add in another Ferry or two.. Yeah, you'll get some clot of the crowds but it'd probably handle it AND it'd be cheaper than running the monorail.

When they finally give up on the monorail I foresee:
- The beams being removed over the parking lot or any public areas where some piece of the beam could fall down.
- All the rest of the beams, unused, being left up because that's the way Disney abandons rides / attractions / buildings. It's bizarre but there's a long history there.j
- The stations will be made into cupcake party M&G areas ($150/head)

Just to be clear: None of this is meant to be tongue in cheek. If you look a their history this falls right in line with it.

 

[gsimpson]

The monorail tow tractors are in fact designed to pull a train loaded with passengers and do indeed do this regularly. Also monorails run on 600 volts not 480.

While I am surprised the tractors can handle the extra 20 or so tons I'll take your word for it and apologize for the mistake, that still doesn't mitigate the other concerns. The 480 volt comment I made was based on the HMI display I saw onboard the monorail a few years ago, again if that is wrong I apologize, but they would still be using the traction power substations to provide that power.

 

[GhostHost1000]

That and add in another Ferry or two.. Yeah, you'll get some clot of the crowds but it'd probably handle it AND it'd be cheaper than running the monorail.

When they finally give up on the monorail I foresee:
- The beams being removed over the parking lot or any public areas where some piece of the beam could fall down.
- All the rest of the beams, unused, being left up because that's the way Disney abandons rides / attractions / buildings. It's bizarre but there's a long history there.j
- The stations will be made into cupcake party M&G areas ($150/head)

Just to be clear: None of this is meant to be tongue in cheek. If you look a their history this falls right in line with it.

you may be spot on with this - part of me was actually worried they would remove/re-route the monorail track in Epcot during the redesign

 

[creathir]

I agree with the likeliness that Epcot beam will be gondolas someday. And the 7SL will be 3 or 4 trains cannibalized from the existing 12 to support the resorts. Express beam will sit unused. TT&TC will be new new gondola connection.

Highly doubt they’ll string up the high voltage power line towers for the almost 3 miles from EPCOT to TTC...

The ride would take a half hour or more.

 

[peter11435]

The ride would take a half hour or more.

It would be roughly 16 minutes.

But I agree I don’t ever see that happening

 

[rsm]

They strung up high voltage lines for 3 miles before AND built 3 miles of wretchedly expensive concrete beamway to go with it... I hope I’m wrong too, FTR

 

[Monorail_Orange]

I understand that they way the company is going these days, we can't put anything past them. However, these dire predictions about the monorail are moving into the realm of hyperbole.

First off, the Mark VI trains are transit-grade, they are designed to be refurbished, refitted, and refreshed many times before replacement, as seems to be currently happening. The 20/30 year "replacement" cycle may be valid, or much like the 120+ year-old steam locomotives (usually) circling the MK daily, they may require a large overhaul in that time frame. Let's not forget that the Mark VII monorails in DL are still built upon the Mark III frames dating from 1969. This shows that the trains, with occasional major overhauls, can last a very long time.

Secondly, the beams. Again, let's look to DL...original beams still in place since 1959. By the way, the EPCOT beam is in much better condition than DL's. (Admittedly this is anecdotal based upon the "feel" as one is riding... you can actually feel the "sag" between supports on DL's beam...never noticed that on any of WDW's.) Again, WDW's beams are significantly larger and "heavy duty." Also, even if the beam were to require replacement in the future, it is not the same expense as a new route, so long as the support columns, or perhaps even more specifically, their foundations, remain solid.

I don't believe any leader in TWDC is so stupid as to think the monorail is expendable. It is iconic and integral to the resort's image. The day that TWDC announces that they are permanently closing the monorail - or any portion of it, it would scare the hell out of shareholders and other investors. They would largely assume TWDC is about to either go out of business or shut down the resort operation, either of which is signalling desperate straights.

I guess let me bottom line it this way: the day the monorail systems dies is, at best, the beginning of the end for TWDC.

 

[Monorail_Red_77]

Are you sure the tow vehicle doesn't run off of the same power that the monorails do? Perhaps no power to the monorails means no power to the tow vehicle?

I honestly don't know on that one. Just surmising a guess.

The tow monorails are diesel powered. Maybe the monorail broke down too close to the tow monorail just past the SPUR and they were unable to use that tow monorail. The other tow monorails are stationed at the Monorail Barn behind MK. Might have been faster to Evac the monorail instead of move the tow monorails through all the beam switches, given their slow speed.

 

[s8film40]

The tow monorails are diesel powered. Maybe the monorail broke down too close to the tow monorail just past the SPUR and they were unable to use that tow monorail. The other tow monorails are stationed at the Monorail Barn behind MK. Might have been faster to Evac the monorail instead of move the tow monorails through all the beam switches, given their slow speed.

Yes the monorail was stopped on the switch (switch 9). So no tow tractor could reach it since the switch couldn’t be moved.