I_heart_Tigger
Well-Known Member
Yes that was my favourite part - not the pilot flirting...the view of Epcot, just to be clear.
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Remember when you could ride in the front of the monorail?
- Thread starter Jsmama
- Start date
Yes that was my favourite part - not the pilot flirting...the view of Epcot, just to be clear.
We usually traveled to Disney with my cousins so there would be a large group, maybe 6 or 7 of us kids and we always squabbled over who got to be in the very front. The drivers were so nice, though I don't remember ever getting a copilot card. They always told us intetesting things. Bits of trivia or history, though i was a kid and didn't pay too much attention (the bus drivers used to do this too). We probably asked to ride in the front just about every time we rode the monorail, so I must have done it dozens of times.
It was pretty awesome. I'm a bit sad my kids and nieces and nephews won't experience this, but to be fair there was no animal kingdom when I was little. Who knows what new awesome thing will come next?
It was pretty awesome. I'm a bit sad my kids and nieces and nephews won't experience this, but to be fair there was no animal kingdom when I was little. Who knows what new awesome thing will come next?
Spikerdink
Well-Known Member
Glad I got the chance to ride in the front car while it was still offered...was an amazing view. Think I took video, but don't know what I did with the footage....
Rob562
Well-Known Member
Yes, he was off-site. But he was put in charge of managing monorail operations while he was on an authorized lunch break. It's the same thing as you being the assistant manager in your office, driving down the road on your lunch break and then getting a call on your cell that your manager went home sick and put you in charge.
As has been said, everything the manager did was allowed under the policies that were in place at the time of the accident. Sure, hindsight is 20/20, but he was doing everything by the book. It was the book that was faulty because it didn't account for the possibility of all of the errors made that evening all happening at once.
-Rob
puppawuppa
Member
We rode in front in 2000 and 2002. The best view ever.....
sweetpee_1993
Well-Known Member
Kinda a kick to the stomach to hear "remember when" associated with something that doesn't seem like that long ago. I guess it has been, tho. As a kid I rode the cockpit if the monorail dozens and dozens of times. As an adult I had that experience many times, too. I'm glad my sons both had so many rides up front, too. We have prob'ly a dozen copilot license cards around here with our keepsakes. Definitely more special now. 
Todd L
Well-Known Member
You know what...I came to this forum to get tips for my first trip back to wdw in over 10 years and that was if 2008.
I picked up that Tip in these forums and managed to ride in the front of the monorail with my wife , kids and Niece and we talk about that once in awhile.
The views were pretty cool and we enjoyed it.
I remember the conductor had to radio someone and make sure it was okaty to have 5 of us up front. being that my son was three at the time and would sit on our laps they allowed it .
they also gave us some type of card/certificate too.. have to dig that up.
AllyInWonderland
Well-Known Member
I did this ALL THE TIME as a kid! It was so fun! Now I kinda get a little bit nervous on monorails because of that accident.
Todd L
Well-Known Member
If a Non-employee was hurt or killed in that monorail youd better believe that Disney would have a Huge lawsuit on their hands .
hiptwinmama
Well-Known Member
I went to WDW over 100 times as a kid and never got to. The first time I took my kids, on their first time on the monorail, they got to sit in the front. This was in Feb 09" not long before the crash.
hiptwinmama
Well-Known Member
I have ours, but I scrapbooked it the day we got home. Way too precious to risk loosing.
Polydweller
Well-Known Member
Well stated. People everywhere take their lunch breaks at offsite restaurants. As long as I have time to do it within my lunch break time I do it and I can be contacted if needed. The Disney CM did nothing wrong given the operational policies of the time. There was no shirking in any sense of the word. You only shirk when you aren't following assigned procedures.
What's really changed is the policy basically says now that they have to be there at those times that trains are being switched on the tracks and so now those times are now not authorized lunch times.
slkornya
New Member
I never got the chance to ride up front; kept asking CMs if it was ever coming back, and got (finally) the reason you can ride up front at Disneyland, and not at WDW. According to multiple CM's the Disneyland monorail is classified as an amusement ride, and the WDW monorail is classified as transportation. Riding up front on the WDW monorail is now akin to standing in front of the white line on a bus, or (essentially) sitting in a bus drivers lap while he's driving.
Runmyhorse
Well-Known Member
We got to once. I think they stopped doing it aftwr the accident. If I remember correctly passengers
Died or got hurt. O think thats when they stopped letting people
Died or got hurt. O think thats when they stopped letting people
Rob562
Well-Known Member
There was only one fatality in the accident, the driver of the second monorail. He had 5 Guests on his train but they (thankfully) weren't in the cab at the time.
-Rob
The Tomorrownaut
Active Member
I always found it interesting that some iteration of the co-pilot cards were designed as part of a collectible series. This would seem to promote the same visitors seeking a very exclusive experience over and over to expand their collection while simultaneously preventing other guests from doing the same.
That being said, my family had ridden in the front probably half a dozen times, as all you really needed to do to get up there in my experience was to ask. We still have several different versions of co-pilot cards and the other giveaways they went through between 2000 and 2009, and it will be neat to tell my kids that I had such a special privilege assuming that front car riding will have been obsolete for close to 20 years by then.
That being said, my family had ridden in the front probably half a dozen times, as all you really needed to do to get up there in my experience was to ask. We still have several different versions of co-pilot cards and the other giveaways they went through between 2000 and 2009, and it will be neat to tell my kids that I had such a special privilege assuming that front car riding will have been obsolete for close to 20 years by then.
Marc Gil
Well-Known Member
I miss riding in the front cabin! That was one of the perks of visiting Disneyland (they still allow guests to ride up front).
Here's a weird story, I actually rode Monorail Pink (To) and Monorail Purple (From) the day before the crash! I even rode pink in the front cabin! SCARY!!
Here's a weird story, I actually rode Monorail Pink (To) and Monorail Purple (From) the day before the crash! I even rode pink in the front cabin! SCARY!!
WDWLOYAL1971
Active Member
How I miss that. My brother and I used to ride in the front practically on every trip. On one of my birthdays, the CM let me drive it. It is on the top of my special memories list. How I wish my daughter could experience it. Definitely a great experience.
