MrPromey
Well-Known Member
I'm a little unclear on what you think this STATEWIDE STATE FUNDED high speed rail was supposed to do for the "REGION" of what I assume you mean to be the Orlando area but I'm not in disagreement with you over the idea of Disney being on a light rail extension as apposed to a stop on the high speed rail. In fact, I think such a setup would be more beneficial to Disney depending on how it were built.
If the airport were the only stop it would more logically fit the model of a high speed rail which is intended for distance travel. I've already said that in this thread.
You have to remember that the Orlando to Tampa stretch of track is only supposed to be the first phase of the project. This rail is eventually supposed to go north and all the way south to the Miami area. Having half a dozen stops on a line like this just for the Orlando area makes NO SENSE AT ALL. The point isn't to take a 20 minute trip from the airport to Disney or the convention center and do it in 15, it is to take say, a 5-6 hour trip from Miami to Orlando and do it in 2.5-3 hours. Get it? Having multiple stops in one city makes this kind of travel very difficult - Imagine taking an airplane trip to Miami where it had to land every ten miles while in Orlando to let people on and off... Those shorter distances all make more sense for ground level or elevated light rail.
The problem is that the state needs something those of us in Florida call money to fund this. I'm not sure if you use a barter system where you are or what but we use money, cash, dollars. Anyway, we need this "money" to keep the train running. The costs are estimated to be around $75 million dollars a year. According to studies done by the state, the amount of "money" generated by Disney would likely be around $55 million a year. That is over two thirds of the funding needed for the entire line and more than all of what the rest of the Orlando area combined would be able to provide without Disney.
Disney doesn't actually need a stop so they have something else we here in Florida call "negotiating power". That means that if they don't like what is happening, they have no obligation, need or reason to be involved in this project at all. The track could have still stoped near I-Drive without Disney but the financial and travel pattern realities have proven that the line will get more use and more money with the Disney stop.
Keep in mind that Disney in all of this can go local light rail, high speed rail or keep doing what they are doing. The time savings from the airport to Disney on the high speed rail as apposed to light rail will probably be minimal if existing at all as a result of the short distance (the train won't be able to reach full speed) and the added complexity of dealing with additional guests who aren't going to Disney.
Although they may ultimately not want to be on any line that connects them directly to I-Drive what they have said is that there shouldn't be a bunch of stops on the state wide high speed rail in that small area. This may not be the real motivation for them but it is an entirely legitimate argument and they are still very supportive of the light rail projects.
Why? For Disney (as well as the state), a high speed rail that remains high speed is a lot more beneficial for bringing people from around the state closer to them (as well as closer to everything else in Orlando) weather they have a direct stop on it or not. For the state, having a stop at Disney means a lot more money to fund the whole thing than having a stop on I-Drive or not having the second stop in addition to the airport at all. If we were to talk pure dollars, the Disney stop would probably be more valuable to the state than even the airport stop though the combination of the two adds up to a lot more since the majority of tourists coming into that airport are there to go to Disney one way or another.
So how would you feel about a single stop in the Orlando area that went only to Disney?.. Yep, that's what I thought...
So what about that whole Disney and light rail thing? Well, that same $55 million that Disney could generate for the state could be just as easily generated on a localized light rail system but all of that money would be going to the local governments for the investment in that smaller system which would be great financially for the Orlando area but not so great for the state. Do you understand how this works?
In any event, it is likely that Disney will also be connected to the light rail though their leg of this system would be used primarily by people staying off property or by people wishing to go off property during their stay - the state would still be getting the big money.
For me, as a resident of the state of Florida who will probably get little or no use out of this system and someone who's money will go to the construction of this project and who will have to support it financially if it can't support itself, I'm for the Disney stop. An ideolog such as yourself from out of state who doesn't have to cough up a dime can argue till your blue in the face about what is and isn't fair or right but I as someone who is much more heavily impacted and as someone who's say has and probably will again count for something in regards to all of this (as apposed to yours which unfortunately for you doesn't) am glad that my state government has made the more financially sound decision.
If you aren't happy with a light rail ride from the airport to the convention center or prefer to snub Disney when it comes to the high speed rail my advice to you is that you rent a car or take a cab/bus like everyone does now...
Incidentally, do you think it is unfair that Disney currently has 3 or 4 exclusive highway exits where as Universal and the convention center and Sea World and everyone else has no such exclusivity? Is that Disney strong arming the government or is it the reality that Disney generates that much traffic?
... And if Orlando gets half a dozen stops, I think that I living in Tampa Bay area should get just as many in Tampa St. Petersburg and Clearwater so that we can use this state funded project for local travel instead of investing in our own system as well. That way it can serve my ""REGION" the same way you think it was intended to serve the Orlando "REGION". Heck, that would make the whole thing slower than just driving but it would be fair, right? And what's fair is fair, even if it doesn't make any sense at all and wastes tons of money. After all, we are still talking about reality here, right?
I hope I've made my points drawn out, hit over the head painfully clear this time because my fingures are starting to hurt from all this typing and a lot of what I'm saying seems to be getting repeditive from post to post and this is starting to feel a lot like a monorial discussion where people seem to think they should do something just because it would be "cool" even if for a plethora of reasons, it makes no sense.
