Rumor New Monorails Coming Soon?

[wishiwere@wdw]

Looks like more issues today. Express side is/was closed resulting in a megaphone to push us all to the ferry. Lots of fun with 2 of the 3 running on a crowded night. For what it’s worth, we “heard” it was due to a beam issue and not an actual train issue.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Looks like more issues today. Express side is/was closed resulting in a megaphone to push us all to the ferry. Lots of fun with 2 of the 3 running on a crowded night. For what it’s worth, we “heard” it was due to a beam issue and not an actual train issue.

Who you heard that from is probably the most important part of all that information. I truly doubt that an informed CM would tell the public that there was a beam issue without being specific like an electrical problem.

 

[Flalex72]

My paycheck had Walt Disney World logo on it (might have been a division) but definetly not WED. Heck in those days we called the brakes WABCO's even instead of MAPO's. (short for Westinghouse Air Brake). But my paycheck looked exactly the same as when I came over from Grand Prix.

For what it's worth, I believe the paycheques all come from one place now, the inauspiciously named "Keystone Paying Agent."

 

[disney4life2008]

Not sure if this has always been but as of late, the monorail automatically stops if someone leans on the door.

 

[peter11435]

Not sure if this has always been but as of late, the monorail automatically stops if someone leans on the door.

Not new

 

[EricsBiscuit]

Ferry doesn't have enough capacity to take the throngs to MK and out. Hoards of guests waiting for the Ferry are hoards of guests not spending money on Main Street. The $5 per ride is less than the price of a cup of coffee and a breakfast sandwich at Main Street Bakery. Better to have them in the park spending money than waiting outside to not spend $5.

The ferries have a much higher capacity than the monorails and can move way more people over the same stretch of time. It's not even close.

 

[s8film40]

The ferries have a much higher capacity than the monorails and can move way more people over the same stretch of time. It's not even close.

The ferries have a lower capacity than the monorails. They take bigger chunks of people at a time though. In the long run assuming the monorails aren’t broken or something they carry a larger number of people over the same time period.

 

[zulemara]

Assuming just from TTC - From memory Ferry is 600 people per boat, assume 3 (I don't think they often run all 4), 10 min each way, 5 min load/unload time. So each boat can do 2.4 round trips per hour, ~1440 per boat, 4320/hr.

Monorail has capacity of 360, 3 trains. 5 min to park, 10 min from park back to TTC, 5 min load/unload. So each train 3 trips/hour, 3249/hour total.

This is all back of the envelope and I welcome someone more knowledgeable providing more accurate daya.

The big thing though, is if they charge for the monorail, many people won't ride and likely monorail doesn't run at capacity. The boats will have to absorb the extra traffic, and likely will back up.

Yeah it's roughly a 25 min cycle for a ferry under normal conditions. When they added the second slips at TTC and MK it really cut down on dock time, but by the same token they don't necessarily pump it full of 600 people every time. You can fit 4-500 pretty easily and quickly but those last 100 people take forever to load. So it's actually more efficient for them to load less and send the boat than to do full capacity.

I know a former coordinator, I'll ask the throughput in an hour. During entry and exit I think the number is higher because they go to one way traffic only which expedites the process.

 

[msg7]

Any word on if lime went in for its repaint with the deltas yet?

 

[MisterPenguin]

They could always get a fourth ferry. But then again, ferries are much more subject to weather shutdowns.

 

[mikejs78]

The ferries have a much higher capacity than the monorails and can move way more people over the same stretch of time. It's not even close.

I'm not sure that's the case but it wasn't my point. The system is designed to operate with both the monorails *and* the Ferry's. Take the monorails out of the picture or make it paid, and the Ferry's wouldn't be able to handle the monorail capacity in addition to their current load.

 

[gsimpson]

Monorail ride = $2

Monorail ride where the doors are closed = $10

As much as I don't want to be accused of being a Disney fan boy, one time in forty years is actually a pretty good record. Name a single attraction that has run for over 20 years at any park that hasn't had some type of mechanical breakdown. Yes it was bad, yes it was dangerous, no it shouldn't have happened, yes when it did happen the monorails should have done a category 1 stop, but this site makes it sound like a regular occurrence, I wouldn't be surprised to hear that cast members were waiting on board to push guests out. Just to finish doing the unthinkable - supporting Disney Transportation - we don't even know that a guest didn't 'help' the situation, since I doubt it left the station with the door open and no one noticed.

 

[Disone]

The ferries have a much higher capacity than the monorails and can move way more people over the same stretch of time. It's not even close.

.

Maybe but I don't think so. Does an individual ferry have a higher capacity then an individual train? Absolutely yes. But the monorails load and unload extremely quickly compare to that of the ferries. The ferries have to unload first, then load, through the same point and move half of their population up and later down a flight of stairs. The Monorail population does not have to negotiate a flight of stairs, and can unload and load via the entire length of the train. Several monorail trains will dispatch in the time it takes to load the ferry boat.

Personal experience, living here I had the experience exiting at crunch time, several times with no monorail available and also no ferry boat available. It is ALWAYS better with just monorail. That said, better does not equal good because when that park population is exiting heavily both really are needed.

You have inspired me to take a trip to the TTC and find out how many monorails go from TTC to MK in the time the ferry boat take a trip.

 

[ChrisFL]

As much as I don't want to be accused of being a Disney fan boy, one time in forty years is actually a pretty good record. Name a single attraction that has run for over 20 years at any park that hasn't had some type of mechanical breakdown. Yes it was bad, yes it was dangerous, no it shouldn't have happened, yes when it did happen the monorails should have done a category 1 stop, but this site makes it sound like a regular occurrence, I wouldn't be surprised to hear that cast members were waiting on board to push guests out. Just to finish doing the unthinkable - supporting Disney Transportation - we don't even know that a guest didn't 'help' the situation, since I doubt it left the station with the door open and no one noticed.

The door incident is just one of many though....there's been an increasing number of reported incidents in the past few years. Now yes, social media makes the problem more visible for sure, but we KNOW the monorails are reaching/past their replacement date. If Bob Gurr himself calls them "duct tape" monorails that's not a good sign.

 

[EricsBiscuit]

.

Maybe but I don't think so. Does an individual ferry have a higher capacity then an individual train? Absolutely yes. But the monorails load and unload extremely quickly compare to that of the ferries. The ferries have to unload first, then load, through the same point and move half of their population up and later down a flight of stairs. The Monorail population does not have to negotiate a flight of stairs, and can unload and load via the entire length of the train. Several monorail trains will dispatch in the time it takes to load the ferry boat.

Personal experience, living here I had the experience exiting at crunch time, several times with no monorail available and also no ferry boat available. It is ALWAYS better with just monorail. That said, better does not equal good because when that park population is exiting heavily both really are needed.

You have inspired me to take a trip to the TTC and find out how many monorails go from TTC to MK in the time the ferry boat take a trip.

1 ferry holds 650 people. A train is like 360. it's like a car vs a train. You might get there faster in a car sometimes, but the train moves more people. Plus the ferries almost never break down.

 

[Goofyernmost]

1 ferry holds 650 people. A train is like 360. it's like a car vs a train. You might get there faster in a car sometimes, but the train moves more people. Plus the ferries almost never break down.

Plus you can stand up front and watch the MK come into view, see the magistic exteriors of the Contemporary, the Poly and the Grand Floridian plus the wildlife in the area and there is a boat leaving about every 6 or 7 minutes from either side. I love the Monorails for the ride to Epcot, otherwise, but they're just an above ground subway. All you can see is what is beside you. Fun, but, the ferry's are much more fun and provide a much stronger anticipatory experience.

That said, I strongly advocate for all of you to continue to stand in that endless Monorail line and leave me able to roam the boat that, especially coming from MK is faster and far more scenic. Oh, and by the way, if you leave at the right times you can see the light parade on the lagoon or the fireworks reflection off the water. But, like I said, it is awful, you should stick to the Monorails.

 

[Brad Bishop]

Zero chance. None whatsoever.

You could have said the same thing about resort parking fees a year back.

 

[Brad Bishop]

Monorail ride = $2

Monorail ride where the doors are closed = $10

You mean: Very Magical Express Monorail With Closed Doors and an Ice Cream Party for our Premium Guests: $50

 

[Brad Bishop]

As much as I don't want to be accused of being a Disney fan boy, one time in forty years is actually a pretty good record. Name a single attraction that has run for over 20 years at any park that hasn't had some type of mechanical breakdown. Yes it was bad, yes it was dangerous, no it shouldn't have happened, yes when it did happen the monorails should have done a category 1 stop, but this site makes it sound like a regular occurrence, I wouldn't be surprised to hear that cast members were waiting on board to push guests out. Just to finish doing the unthinkable - supporting Disney Transportation - we don't even know that a guest didn't 'help' the situation, since I doubt it left the station with the door open and no one noticed.

You're right but the problem is that WDW hasn't been maintaining the monorails properly and this door was indicative of that. I think that the counter argument would be that had they maintained (and replaced, by now) the monorails, they wouldn't have been in such a shabby condition and would run reliably and, while it's always possible that a door would have popped open, it'd be far less likely.

It relates to how WDW used to crone about how the monorails have a 99.8% uptime when, today, that certainly isn't the case. You could argue that it's all nearly 50 years old but, again, if it were properly maintained and they had new trains (and perhaps other investments like extra trains and extra bays to work on them) then we'd probably still be up at that 99.8% uptime.

 

[HwdStudio]

The ferries have a lower capacity than the monorails. They take bigger chunks of people at a time though. In the long run assuming the monorails aren’t broken or something they carry a larger number of people over the same time period.

Off topic and I’m sure it is posted somewhere but how deep is the 7 Seas Lagoon?