Remember when you could ride in the front of the monorail?

[jkl2000]

On our '70s visit we rode in front most of the time. Cool!

 

[75disney]

Loved it! Did it a bunch of times as a kid. When my brother was little, he wanted to be a monorail driver. Once the CMs heard this, they would typically let us ride up front.

 

[bgraham34]

I loved riding in the front and I was looking forward to the day when I could take my son.

 

[Dads 2 Boys]

We were fortunate enough to be able to in 2007 when my ex and I took our boys for their first trip. The kids loved it and were bummed when they returned in 2011 and we told them it's no longer available. It's definitely understandable why and they understood when I explained it to them.

 

[Tinkerbella16]

That is one of my fondest memories as a kid... sitting in the front of the Monorail with my family. It was awesome.

 

[SyracuseDisneyFan]

I remember that awesome chance. However, if I'm not mistaken, that's no longer permitted due to safety issues.

 

[Phonedave]

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.

I wouldn't go so far as to say it was very exclusive. All you had to do was ask. The pilot could refuse passengers if they wished, but my experience is very few ever did. We used to ride in front quite often. Sometimes there would be a line for the first. We would ask, and the CM would say "that family is riding in front, if you want you can wait for the next monorail". We rarely did, because after you have done it a number of times, it really is no great thrill.

Like many things at WDW before the age of the internet it used to be a "secret" - very few people knew about it, and very few asked. Once you became able to google "WDW Secrets" and you could get a list of 25 things to do, it sort of lost its exclusiveness. it's like trying to be the Flag Family at Wilderness Lodge now - good luck with that.


-dave