Rumor New Monorails Coming Soon?

Disstevefan1

Well-Known Member
It'll be done in "phases"

Phase 1 - Resort line will be resort guests only, express will require an annual pass or $8.99/per person/per trip "Monorail Experience Ticket" - Epcot line closes "for a re-imagined Bus activation"
Phase 2 - Express line shuts down, resort guests only *guests who paid the full nightly rate only
Phase 3 - Monorail shuts down
BINGO!
Easy solution. Remember all the FREE transportation around WDW bus/boat/Skyliner/monorail
WDW will simply begin to charge for it.
One price to get your ticket to use all the transportation.
Daily, weekly (dare I say) a transportation up charge to the AP.

Once they are charging for it, the bean counters (who actually run the company) can justify repair or replacement.👍
 

montyz81

Well-Known Member
"What about the monorail hotels???"
- they'll board up the entrances at the Contemporary / put a traffic cone in front of the escalators
- the rest of the hotels will remain the same (just no monorail; traffic cones or just locked doors depending on the hotel)
- they'll charge more
- you'll pay it and make excuses for them ("Well.. the trains were getting pretty old... 50 years was a pretty good life for that last set..."..."it would have been really costly for them to replace them... Plus.. That's old 1950s technology which never took off..." - that's where it'll be)
They just spent a load of money to put in a new station at the Poly, If they planned on getting rid of them, I would have expected the refurbishment would be focused on the portico only.

I don't think they will get rid of the monorail. That helps them justify the upcharge for the 3 hotels on the monorail, otherwise, those resorts have to take a bus/boat or walk.
 

larryz

I'm Just A Tourist!
Premium Member
BINGO!
Easy solution. Remember all the FREE transportation around WDW bus/boat/Skyliner/monorail
WDW will simply charge for it again.
One price to get your ticket to use all the transportation.
Daily, weekly (dare I say) a transportation up charge to the AP.

Once they are charging for it, the bean counters (who actually run the company) can justify repair or replacement.👍
FTFY.
 

Disone

Well-Known Member
Yep the work on the current trains suggests there are no plans for replacement. Eve with the refurbs, the current fleet is looking very rough on the inside.
Actually many of the trains have been refurbished on the inside as well. I'm not finally look brands making new but it's definitely a significant improvement. New upholstery on the walls and seats, new poles, new floor. And in theory new air conditioners.

I agree the amount of investment in the current fleet is probably a result of them. Finally conceding that if they're not going to buy new trains, they have to throw some money at the old trains. How long they can maintain the old trains as anyone's guess but clearly Disney intends to find out.
 

Disstevefan1

Well-Known Member

Walt d

Well-Known Member
If WDW was moving any slower they would be going in reverse. As for the monorails as we know they are “refurbishing” the existing ones, so that’s gotta mean they are going to suck more years out of the existing ones.
Yes, im ready for a new design. More futuristic. But the vintage look still rocks!
 

Figment2005

Well-Known Member
The trains are receiving more than cosmetic upgrades. It's a lot of work in progress. Coral has stuff being tested, and hopefully implemented on the other trains. Teal and Lime have received full running gear replacement and thorough inspection of the underlying frame.
 

Tom P.

Well-Known Member
I think there's an aspect that is being missed here.

Disney's goal is to get people to book at their resorts and then to keep them on property throughout their entire stay. If a guest sees Disney as all-inclusive, and never leaves the property, then they are constantly spending money with Disney. If they go off-site to a restaurant, a shopping location, Universal, whatever, then that's money Disney has lost.

Disney's free transportation encourages guests to stay on property. The buses, Skyliner, and monorails all facilitate people being able to stay at a Disney resort without a rental car. If Disney starts charging for those items, more people are likely to make the calculation that they'd rather just get a rental car and drive themselves around property, which then leads to more opportunities to go off property. Disney doesn't want that.

That is actually part of the reasoning behind parking fees at the resorts as well. Yes, of course, part of that is simply about another source of bringing in revenue. But that's actually not all there is to it. It's also so people think "why pay for parking when I could just take Disney's free transportation." Everything they do is very carefully calculated to keep you on property. And even for non-resort guests, if you can hop on the monorail to go from the Magic Kingdom to the Contemporary to have dinner, you may do that. But if there's a fee to do so, you may just go back to your car and decide to go off property for dinner instead of going over to the Contemporary.

For this reason, I find it highly unlikely that Disney will start charging for any of their internal transportation. I think what they would gain would be far offset by what they would lose.
 

Goofyernmost

Well-Known Member
I wasn't going to respond to this Monorail rebuild issue, but I just couldn't help myself. I know that many folks do not have any mechanical background other then changing the oil in their cars. That said, those trains have literally millions of miles on them. I know that it seems huge because one can see the complete track standing in one spot. I'm just going to throw this out there, those trains have probably been completely rebuilt a number of times. They are mechanical things. Mechanical things are not unbreakable. The reality is that considering the miles they have been wildly dependable. I mean almost miraculously dependable. The current fleet is at least 30 years old. It has run almost constantly 365 days a year, at least 10 hours a day for 30 years.

I would like to see them put in new ones, but my upset comes from the ridiculous, constantly harped upon claim that those trains aren't maintained to an extremely high degree. If they weren't they would have crumbled and fallen off the tracks years ago. And before anyone brings it up, that single issue were an electric part fell off a few years ago means nothing. With any vehicle freaky things can happen, even to brand new ones.
 

Disone

Well-Known Member
I wasn't going to respond to this Monorail rebuild issue, but I just couldn't help myself. I know that many folks do not have any mechanical background other then changing the oil in their cars. That said, those trains have literally millions of miles on them. I know that it seems huge because one can see the complete track standing in one spot. I'm just going to throw this out there, those trains have probably been completely rebuilt a number of times. They are mechanical things. Mechanical things are not unbreakable. The reality is that considering the miles they have been wildly dependable. I mean almost miraculously dependable. The current fleet is at least 30 years old. It has run almost constantly 365 days a year, at least 10 hours a day for 30 years.

I would like to see them put in new ones, but my upset comes from the ridiculous, constantly harped upon claim that those trains aren't maintained to an extremely high degree. If they weren't they would have crumbled and fallen off the tracks years ago. And before anyone brings it up, that single issue were an electric part fell off a few years ago means nothing. With any vehicle freaky things can happen, even to brand new ones.
Ehhhh.

Me....I think recently they have gone back to maintaining them better. Reinvesting in them if you will. Around 2017 give or take a year.... Years of neglected maintenance started to rear its ugly head. I'm not exaggerating to say near daily the monorails would break down for hours at a time and often multiple times a day.

Sure, that could be a sign of their age, but they're running so much better now which seems to me an indication that something changed in the maintenance of those trains.

All 12 of them have now been in the maintenance barn. All 12 have been repainted in the very least. Most have updated interiors. And as some here have indicated many things have happened under the hood. I think it's those things happening under the hood that have contributed to their better operational efficiency.

I do think they were faced with either buying new trains or heavily investing in the maintenance of the current fleet and they chose the ladder.
 

JoeCamel

Well-Known Member
Zip line. Would need some work. Start at top of either Contemporary or Bay Lake Tower
Higher, install a polar coaster at the TTC with a DAS elevator and service to three of the four parks.

polar.jpg
 

mysto

Well-Known Member
Phase 4 - install skyliner style ski lifts. Hurrah we're saved.

It'll be done in "phases"

Phase 1 - Resort line will be resort guests only, express will require an annual pass or $8.99/per person/per trip "Monorail Experience Ticket" - Epcot line closes "for a re-imagined Bus activation"
Phase 2 - Express line shuts down, resort guests only *guests who paid the full nightly rate only
Phase 3 - Monorail shuts down
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom