New Monorails ?

[PhilharMagician]

I did hear a rumor that they will begin flights directly into the airport on Disney property in the future. But that is probably down the list behind Beastly Kingdom...and Harry Potter rides.

I heard the same rumor, but Imagineering is taking over the WDW STOLPORT area to expand it to allow commercial flights in. A people mover type transportation (larger than TTA to accomodate luggage) will move guests over to the TTC and from there to there resorts. Construction is beginning in October and completetion by early 2008. There are also rumors that a large scale resort monorail expansion could shortly follow to allow easier transportation for guests to there resort. Watch October 1st for the announcement. :lookaroun

 

[WDWFREAK53]

Not a bad idea, i would have kilamanjaro safari style busses for DAK though, but i like it.

But what transportation would the new 5th gate villians park ha-ouch! ow! ooooh! stopit! aaaaaah!

oh man... i should have ducked

:lol:

Different vehicles...to make it fun!

1. Cruella's Dog Catching Van
2. Hades' Chariot
3. Hook's Ship
4. Stromboli's Carriage

(So much potential for a Villain's area..............)

(And, if the 5th gate is a "Thrill Park" You could have a trainlike vehicle that looks like an ordinary rollercoaster :lol: )

 

[dbogue]

haha yeah, dont wanna scare 'em off now! but yeah, while it'd be awesome....they'd have to get more monorails along with more tracks...and yeah a LOT of money, and with the extra 4 bucks i dont think their gonna use it towards that...sounds more like........midway mania hopefully? or INDY. if they end up getting rid of the backlot tour.

 

[Stitch69]

I wish they would do it.

 

[brich]

Could you be a little more vague brich? :lol:

hehe Probably not... :animwink:

 

[Nemo14]

hehe Probably not... :animwink:

thought so!

 

[brich]

Construction is beginning in October and completetion by early 2008. There are also rumors that a large scale resort monorail expansion could shortly follow to allow easier transportation for guests to there resort. Watch October 1st for the announcement. :lookaroun

That's the sole reason for my trip down in October... I'm breaking ground... :lol:

 

[brich]

thought so!

It sure beats the alternative to Monorail Expansion thread responses eh?

 

[Nemo14]

It sure beats the alternative to Monorail Expansion thread responses eh?

yes .....and no....well I guess so....no, wait, well sure, sure, but then again...

 

[brich]

yes .....and no....well I guess so....no, wait, well sure, sure, but then again...

I knew you'd catch on. A very simple complexity generated by way to much New England weather... Must almost be time for a vacation.... :sohappy:

 

[Nemo14]

I knew you'd catch on. A very simple complexity generated by way to much New England weather... Must almost be time for a vacation.... :sohappy:

You've got that right! 7 more weeks!

 

[lwalker8]

Have we ever had any actual amounts of money thrown around for the monorail expansion? All anyone ever says is expensive... :veryconfu

 

[Shaman]

Ok, I may as well say something about the transportation...
I always thought that it would be neat to have different transportation for each theme park.

1. A Train to the Magic Kingdom (like the Steam Engine)
2. Monorail to Epcot
3. Trolley cars to MGM
4. An Old Safari Train to the Animal Kingdom.

Starts the theming before you even arrive at the park.

Great idea! But how would it be executed...link the hotels of a park's resort area? Have a station at a particular point, maybe some mega parking lot?

AK is far from most everything else at WDW. It would be cool if they had some sort of transportation from AKL to AK...a train, a truck or boat ride would be cool....

 

[M:SpilotISTC12]

Have we ever had any actual amounts of money thrown around for the monorail expansion? All anyone ever says is expensive... :veryconfu

Last trip I went on, a CM and a bus driver(i know bus drivers are not to be trusted but this one was different) that it would cost about a million dollars a foot. If that is right i dont know but that is what I have heard.

 

[majortom1981]

huh

How would it cost $1 million a foot?

If six flags can build Kingda Ka for $30 million I really don't thin ka monorail would cost 1 million a foot.

 

[PhilharMagician]

Have we ever had any actual amounts of money thrown around for the monorail expansion? All anyone ever says is expensive... :veryconfu

Yes there have been many threads that have estimated the cost of monorail expansion using the costs of the Epcot expansion (I beleive one million per mile) along with estimated mileage. With todays technology the cost could be more or could be less. Maybe we should just have some quote the job for us and submit it to Iger.

Do a search and check out all the info.

 

[Shaman]

I think the term expensive is used often because it all comes down to costs and return on that investment. In this case, costs could outweigh any profit that monorail expansion would yield. A new ride, like EE would probably bring in more money and cost less than an expansion of the monorail. I would take a fifth gate any day over a monorail expansion....and I would assume, so would Disney. Just my opinion though.

 

[Rayray]

How would it cost $1 million a foot?

If six flags can build Kingda Ka for $30 million I really don't thin ka monorail would cost 1 million a foot.

It cost $10,000 per foot of track with other costs added, like pylon driving in swampy areas (maybe even more trains and stations, i don't even know).

It really would cost this much, though. The land under the pylons has to be prepared to carry such large loads. I believe they drive underground pylons very deep into the ground.

 

[PhilharMagician]

I was wrong on my numbers. Here is some older info posted by Inverno which is one of our monorail experts from another thread.



Okay... I'll try my best to estimate a few costs... (Mind you, these are not solid numbers, but merely my best estimation based on factual numbers that I have seen, and my knowledge of Disney Transport & Monorails)

Monorail Trains -- $17m per train. I'm going to say we'd need 24 additional trains. That's $408 million right there, JUST for the trains alone. Never mind guideway, or stations. Guideway averages about $5m per mile. (I say average, because straightaways are cheaper... but curves/grades and special situations cost more). I'd guess we'd need approx 30 miles worth of guideway. About $150 million right there. Plus about $50 million for guideway within the resorts. (More on that later)

Now... We'd need to build a new train storage and maintenance facility. Those can get very expensive. Lots of switches, and lots of equipment. $10 million at least. Now, we have to build stations at the resorts, as well as a "Grand Central" type convergance point for all transfers. Now, keep in mind, I haven't even gotten into how on earth we'd fit a monorail into some of these resorts. Theming is a big element. And so is location. And they don't come cheap, either. We'll just say $200 million for all of the resort stations.

So far... thats $818 million dollars. And we haven't covered misc expenses, or "over budget"... because you know it'd run over budget. And, I didn't include replacement of our old trains. That would add an additional $204 million, which would make the grand total over ONE BILLION DOLLARS.

Okay, so yeah, maybe money does have something to do with it. But I can assure you... this system as I have described... would be the most efficient monorail system that they could build. However, it would take 2-3x as long to get to destinations, and require transfers. (two transfers to get to the MK... unless we rebuilt that system, which would cost another $50+ million.


By the way... Disney could buy about 65 busses for the price of one monorail. (not including guideway). Those 65 busses would have the flexibility to go anywhere at any time... bypassing other busses. Going off route to take someone someplace special. And most importantly... if one bus breaks down, they can quickly replace it. If one monorail breaks down, the entire system goes down.

Thanks Inverno!:wave:

 

[lewisc]

Prior to 9-11 there were some "reasonable rumors". Most of the proposed expansion would be using light rail to avoid the cost of the support beams. Buses are much more flexible, I don't know how serious the plans were but they're now history The only chance of even getting light rail would be if Disney decided to either move or build a new TTC.