lawdogNOLA
Active Member
Just back from WDW, and a few monorail tidbits of potential interest:
Thursday, May 31st, early AM, after Wednesday's Extra Magic Hours were over, we decided to take the resort monorail (the only one running at that time, as usual) instead of the boat, to get back to the TTC. There was a good-sized crowd waiting to board. Monorail Silver came into the station, and at first nothing happened. After about 5 minutes, the pilot cabin door opened, on the right/loading side then doors opened on first one side, then the other. Then the doors closed, with no one boarding. For the next 5-10 minutes the doors were tested, before finally loading passengers.
We boarded the following monorail, Gold, with no problems. However, we had to wait for a few minutes for Silver to clear the Contemporary, due to "technical" issues. we were told. The real problem came between Contemporary and TTC. Again, "technical" issues with Silver. we had to wait at least 15 minutes (I wasn't timing it, and it was going on towards 3 am; I think it was longer than 15, possibly up to 30 minutes, but 15 minutes is where my certitude ends), before Silver finally cleared and we were let out at the TTC. Although not all stops were timed, I did note that it took about at least 45 minutes longer than I'd expected to go from the MK to the TTC.
Last day, June 7th, I asked one of the monorail cast members who man the control panels if they had any idea whether new monorails might come out by the 50th anniversary. Here's what he told me:
-There's been a lot of talk, but no one has officially told the monorail people anything yet, and as he put it "You'd expect we'd be the first to be told."
- He seemed dubious about it making the 50th anniversary date due to contracts, design, production, testing, and shipment. He never said the date couldn't be made, or that the date could be made, but his tone, facial expressions and body language all said he didn't seem to think the date could be made.
- The price per monorail that that they've been hearing? Somewhere around $20 million USD.
As always, the monorail cast members were all just great in our interactions.
Thursday, May 31st, early AM, after Wednesday's Extra Magic Hours were over, we decided to take the resort monorail (the only one running at that time, as usual) instead of the boat, to get back to the TTC. There was a good-sized crowd waiting to board. Monorail Silver came into the station, and at first nothing happened. After about 5 minutes, the pilot cabin door opened, on the right/loading side then doors opened on first one side, then the other. Then the doors closed, with no one boarding. For the next 5-10 minutes the doors were tested, before finally loading passengers.
We boarded the following monorail, Gold, with no problems. However, we had to wait for a few minutes for Silver to clear the Contemporary, due to "technical" issues. we were told. The real problem came between Contemporary and TTC. Again, "technical" issues with Silver. we had to wait at least 15 minutes (I wasn't timing it, and it was going on towards 3 am; I think it was longer than 15, possibly up to 30 minutes, but 15 minutes is where my certitude ends), before Silver finally cleared and we were let out at the TTC. Although not all stops were timed, I did note that it took about at least 45 minutes longer than I'd expected to go from the MK to the TTC.
Last day, June 7th, I asked one of the monorail cast members who man the control panels if they had any idea whether new monorails might come out by the 50th anniversary. Here's what he told me:
-There's been a lot of talk, but no one has officially told the monorail people anything yet, and as he put it "You'd expect we'd be the first to be told."
- He seemed dubious about it making the 50th anniversary date due to contracts, design, production, testing, and shipment. He never said the date couldn't be made, or that the date could be made, but his tone, facial expressions and body language all said he didn't seem to think the date could be made.
- The price per monorail that that they've been hearing? Somewhere around $20 million USD.
As always, the monorail cast members were all just great in our interactions.
