Rumor New Monorails Coming Soon?

[Disone]

I don't think it's any different than asking who Richard F Irvine, General Joe Potter, or Admiral Joe Fowler are. Or perhaps a better example, is this the lighthouse that was installed commemorate the death of the two-year-old on this beach? Yes yes it is.

 

[s8film40]

This is why I think it’d be prudent to expand the fleet to something like 14 trains, even if those were the only fully new trains. You would then be able to have one train down for extended work, one train down for more seasonal work and a third train down for minor work / backup while still keeping 11 trains on the beam.

Yeah that's pretty much what I've said multiple times. They really don't need new trains, just build two new ones and then start a continuous process of rebuilding/refurbing the existing trains.

 

[V_L_Raptor]

I don't think it's any different than asking who Richard F Irvine, General Joe Potter, or Admiral Joe Fowler are.

Except that the ferries are designed to evoke a historical concept, and there's little chance of someone expecting that a general or an admiral was actually a CM charged with driving one of the things.

Monorails don't quite have the benefit of that perceived history, and the names wouldn't necessarily come with well known titles (unless Disney proposed to dub everyone "Captain," but that's another question). Aside from naming a train the Clarke or the Asimov, it's hard to think of names someone wouldn't wonder about.

People inquire about history.

Edited to add, re: your lighthouse comment -- That conversation could play out very differently depending on whether it took place on said beach. Besides which, Disney installing anything guest-visible to commemorate the death of a guest or CM would run against their desire for (relative) tranquility and magical PR. It's not as though the wildlife warning signs come with engraved dedication plaques, after all.

 

[s8film40]

I remember when the accident happened, Disney made it VERY clear that they didn't want to acknowledge what had happened. I remember a group of CM's wanted to have a gathering to remember him (private and away from guests) and were basically told they would be fired if they did. No one was allowed to talk about it. No one was allowed to say what happened to the Pink and Purple monorail and were instructed to say they had been "retired" and the Teal and Peach trains were to be treated as all new trains. It's hard to imagine them turning around and actually memorializing it now.

 

[castlecake2.0]

I remember when the accident happened, Disney made it VERY clear that they didn't want to acknowledge what had happened. I remember a group of CM's wanted to have a gathering to remember him (private and away from guests) and were basically told they would be fired if they did. No one was allowed to talk about it. No one was allowed to say what happened to the Pink and Purple monorail and were instructed to say they had been "retired" and the Teal and Peach trains were to be treated as all new trains. It's hard to imagine them turning around and actually memorializing it now.

I was working the day after it happened and was given a script on what we were allowed to say/not say, if guests insisted we were allowed to say something along the lines of “safety is our number one priority for guests and cast and we are mourning the loss of one of our cast members”

 

[Creathir]

I remember when the accident happened, Disney made it VERY clear that they didn't want to acknowledge what had happened. I remember a group of CM's wanted to have a gathering to remember him (private and away from guests) and were basically told they would be fired if they did. No one was allowed to talk about it. No one was allowed to say what happened to the Pink and Purple monorail and were instructed to say they had been "retired" and the Teal and Peach trains were to be treated as all new trains. It's hard to imagine them turning around and actually memorializing it now.

I was working the day after it happened and was given a script on what we were allowed to say/not say, if guests insisted we were allowed to say something along the lines of “safety is our number one priority for guests and cast and we are mourning the loss of one of our cast members”

Why on earth wouldn’t they just own it?

It was an accident pure and simple.

I understand not wanting to destroy the brand, but people are reasonable. Accidents do happen.

For a system carrying over 150,000 people a day, to have only one accident that resulted in a single death, that’s pretty impressive.

 

[zulemara]

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

not really. It takes a really high wind or really bad fog to shut down the ferries. The launches get shut down every time there's lightning in the area - that's where the real pain is.

I was thinking they can't do a 4th ferry because of dry dock space, but as long as those new slips they put in have shore power capability, then it could be done from a storage perspective. However, it wouldn't really make anything more efficient. The Operating Guide dictates rules in terms of ferrys moving in and out of a slip at one time. So if one is at MK ready to leave and one is approaching, you can't have one leaving and one entering the slip next to it at the same time. 3 in rotation with 4 total slips (2 on each side of the lake) is ideal efficiency. 4 boats would cause more issues than it solves.

When they put in the new slips, they effectively stopped filling the boats (capacity is 600 btw). It's more efficient to load them to 75% and send them because it's always those last people that take forever.

Monorails are - in theory -more efficient, but the problem is one train on the beam stopping for any reason stops the entire operation. During exit that can be someone getting sick, a mechanical issue, a safety issue, etc. That's not gonna happen with the boats especially given the additional slips they put in.

 

[donsullivan]

Why on earth wouldn’t they just own it?

It was an accident pure and simple.

I understand not wanting to destroy the brand, but people are reasonable. Accidents do happen.

For a system carrying over 150,000 people a day, to have only one accident that resulted in a single death, that’s pretty impressive.

The level of scrutiny on this accident was higher than most people can imagine. This wasn't a simple Disney investigation, the NTSB (the same people who investigate plane crashes) came in as the primary investigating party. When something like that happens you simply have to have a consistent message without any room for speculation or elaboration. It doesn't mean anyone mourns the loss of their fellow castmember any less. It is simply the appropriate protocol to have one, and only one message spoken by cast members to anyone who is not an official investigator. The media were all over the resort trying to get comments from CM's and you simply cannot have CM's speculating what 'might' have happened or what 'might' have caused it. It also gives the CM's a go-to response that they all stick to so the reporters and others stop asking because everyone gives the same response. This is normal disaster response protocol.

We can look at it in hindsight all these years later with a bit of clarity about what happened and why. In the hours and days immediately following the incident, that knowledge was not available and speculation on the part of anyone would have been irresponsible.

 

[Disone]

Not that I disagree with anything you said, but I think what you may be seeing here may be a protective film they put over the doors. I believe they put that on the doors they use for wheelchairs to minimize the damage from CM’s scratching the trains with the ramps.

I don't know, it just looks like too many different shades of white. Like it's just not being clean properly. Look at coral trains skirt, how many different panels are white can they possibly use? The black marks when you zoom in, yeah unfortunately you can take those off with the wipe of your finger. So that means they can be washed off. It's just a matter of actually doing the washing.

Monorail gold and monorail yellow we're also running on the express beam today. Both of which have been refurbished recently.

 

[Disone]

I don't know, it just looks like too many different shades of white. Like it's just not being clean properly. Look at coral trains skirt, how many different panels are white can they possibly use? The black marks when you zoom in, yeah unfortunately you can take those off with the wipe of your finger. So that means they can be washed off. It's just a matter of actually doing the washing.

Monorail gold and monorail yellow we're also running on the express beam today. Both of which have been refurbished recently.View attachment 282674

Sorry. Forgot to include the Coral pic.....

 

[s8film40]

I don't know, it just looks like too many different shades of white. Like it's just not being clean properly. Look at coral trains skirt, how many different panels are white can they possibly use? The black marks when you zoom in, yeah unfortunately you can take those off with the wipe of your finger. So that means they can be washed off. It's just a matter of actually doing the washing.

Monorail gold and monorail yellow we're also running on the express beam today. Both of which have been refurbished recently.View attachment 282674

Yeah, I’m not in anyway excusing all that. Just in fairness to Disney I thought it was worth pointing out that cars 3 and 4 on the door panels from the stripe down have a protective cover. The skirts and some other panels are often individually replaced or painted as needed and you eventually get this kind of patchwork look. The quality and cleanliness of the paint job on the trains is something that’s always kind of come and gone. They keep it up for a while then things get behind and they focus on other stuff until it gets so bad someone notices then makes a big push, the cycle just keeps going. Personally to me it feels like they can’t really focus on real maintenance and cosmetic issues at the same time, it seems like it’s usually one or the other. It’s like they figure “well they're in bad shape, maybe if we paint them they’ll seem better”, then “oh a door fell off, maybe we need to put the paint project on hold and check all the doors”.

 

[Disone]

Yeah, I’m not in anyway excusing all that. Just in fairness to Disney I thought it was worth pointing out that cars 3 and 4 on the door panels from the stripe down have a protective cover. The skirts and some other panels are often individually replaced or painted as needed and you eventually get this kind of patchwork look. The quality and cleanliness of the paint job on the trains is something that’s always kind of come and gone. They keep it up for a while then things get behind and they focus on other stuff until it gets so bad someone notices then makes a big push, the cycle just keeps going. Personally to me it feels like they can’t really focus on real maintenance and cosmetic issues at the same time, it seems like it’s usually one or the other. It’s like they figure “well they're in bad shape, maybe if we paint them they’ll seem better”, then “oh a door fell off, maybe we need to put the paint project on hold and check all the doors”.

But see what you did there? Not in anyway "excusing all that" but here is a big explanation (AKA as an excuse) as to why its really hard to do that. And yes, it is really hard maintaining the Disney Standard but you have to maintain it, you have to do both show standards and operational quality at the same time.

Anyway, they are trying to catch up now. Blue, Orange, Gold, Yellow, Red, and now Black have all gone off line for repainting, and a fair amount of work under the surface as well. I won't say too little to late, I will say better late then never but should have been sooner.

 

[s8film40]

But see what you did there? Not in anyway "excusing all that" but here is a big explanation (AKA as an excuse) as to why its really hard to do that. And yes, it is really hard maintaining the Disney Standard but you have to maintain it, you have to do both show standards and operational quality at the same time.

I wasn't offering that big explanation as an excuse, but rather an observation of a pattern of neglect. To me the way they seem to shift from one thing to another shows they are really just always playing catch up rather than having a schedule and resources for keeping things the way they should be.

 

[Bender123]

I wasn't offering that big explanation as an excuse, but rather an observation of a pattern of neglect. To me the way they seem to shift from one thing to another shows they are really just always playing catch up rather than having a schedule and resources for keeping things the way they should be.

Except in certain situations, no matter how much you fix, repair, clean and scrub, time takes its toll. There is no amount of cleaning and preventative service that will stop a million sweaty bodies from their stink working its way into the carpeted surfaces. No amount of nightly repairs that will keep repair job after repair job to hold after tens of thousands of stroller strikes on moulded areas. There is no amount of lube, wrench turning and screws that will fix 30 years of mechanical wear on moving parts...

The monorails are a depreciating asset. They error isn't in the repairs, its in the delay in replacement planning.

 

[s8film40]

Except in certain situations, no matter how much you fix, repair, clean and scrub, time takes its toll. There is no amount of cleaning and preventative service that will stop a million sweaty bodies from their stink working its way into the carpeted surfaces. No amount of nightly repairs that will keep repair job after repair job to hold after tens of thousands of stroller strikes on moulded areas. There is no amount of lube, wrench turning and screws that will fix 30 years of mechanical wear on moving parts...

The monorails are a depreciating asset. They error isn't in the repairs, its in the delay in replacement planning.

You have to replace or adequately refurbish pieces as they become worn. There's no reason why they have to be replaced other than cost. The steam trains running around the park are nearly 100 years old. At a certain point it costs more to keep up with maintenance than it does to just buy new ones. At this point they haven't really kept up with maintenance and they haven't bought new trains. They need to do one or the other doesn't really matter what they choose, but they need to do something.

 

[Bender123]

You have to replace or adequately refurbish pieces as they become worn. There's no reason why they have to be replaced other than cost. The steam trains running around the park are nearly 100 years old. At a certain point it costs more to keep up with maintenance than it does to just buy new ones. At this point they haven't really kept up with maintenance and they haven't bought new trains. They need to do one or the other doesn't really matter what they choose, but they need to do something.

Its funny that you say this when the trains all got a complete rebuild in the 70s and are currently taking turns going through another complete strip down and rebuild. Basically, they are taking the entire train down to parts, replacing almost everything and reassembling.

This is actually pretty much what Disney Land did with the Mark I/II monorails and the upgrade from V to VII.

 

[ToTBellHop]

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

I do not believe in ferries.

 

[Jonathan Wang]

So it might run a little something like this...

New visitor: So what's with the name on the monorail?
Repeat visitor: Walt Disney World is the park, and this is the Monorail System.
New visitor: No, not that one. They put someone's name on the nosecone. Who's that?
Repeat visitor: Oh. That's someone who died in an accident with the monorails.
New visitor: People die on these things?
Repeat visitor: It was an accident, there was a collision --
New visitor: These things collide?!

At this point, sentimentality over monorails isn't going to help our informative repeat visitor salvage the conversation. (Neither will, "well, collisions happen sometimes!") Better, perhaps, not to put the names on the new models...

well i didnt mean like very blatant, i meant hidden, like only a certain shadow or lighting would show it via reflection or something of that sort. Disney usually wouldnt just put a name up so openly.

 

[Kamikaze]

well i didnt mean like very blatant, i meant hidden, like only a certain shadow or lighting would show it via reflection or something of that sort. Disney usually wouldnt just put a name up so openly.

No, there aren't any names in the windows on MS USA.

 

[Jonathan Wang]

No, there aren't any names in the windows on MS USA.

which proves my point... they wouldnt do it. i couldnt remember if they had any in the parks, except the boats or on specific signage

i would also like to bring up, how we are saying a full teardown refurbishment wouldve been fine. if you think about it like a vehicle it wouldnt be the best idea. the frame would absolutely have wear and not be as strong as originally. also newer safety regulations could affect how they would need to add in things that it wasnt built for before (Not regulation but IE the automated system, not very great). so getting a new fleet would be best/most cost effective in most cases. It just seems that our fleet has been overused/over neglected. originally the parks were never opened THIS late as they are now. So less time to keep up with them, things that needed repair probably got pushed back, same with the paint, then forgotten.