Rob562
Well-Known Member
That's a good point. It's more than just making the storm door openings larger, the trains on the Resort beam have to fit under the balcony of the floor above them.
-Rob
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Rumor- WDW to get new monorail trains in near future
- Thread starter baylaketower
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That's a good point. It's more than just making the storm door openings larger, the trains on the Resort beam have to fit under the balcony of the floor above them.
-Rob
danlb_2000
Premium Member
Would be neat to see how much of this information has changed. It seems unlikely that much of it has changed but I'm sure there's been adjustments to some of the procedures. I'd like to know how far the runaway train went
I might also add I like the story about how they had to adjust the opening to the contemporary to make room for the current monorails. So it's not exactly out of the question to get new bigger monorails...still have the bottom line to meet though...
There were probably changes to come procedures after the accident a couple years ago.
JEANYLASER
Well-Known Member
interesting Timon! Awesome work! I love new Side Seating!
MinnieM123
Premium Member
Timon, your side seating suggestion makes sense in that more passengers could fit inside (with the extra standing room in an "open" floor plan). I'm sure your idea will generate some interesting discussion, as many people enjoy and appreciate the monorail. 
Yet, IMO, I think I still like the current style with the middle seats—it creates a bit more of a welcoming design feature. The monorail is more than just a means of transport; it's also always been an attraction within itself. Maybe in some respects, the present theming has cut down on the number of passengers that can fit in each car, but I still tend to gravitate toward the middle-seat design from an aesthetic point of view.
Yet, IMO, I think I still like the current style with the middle seats—it creates a bit more of a welcoming design feature. The monorail is more than just a means of transport; it's also always been an attraction within itself. Maybe in some respects, the present theming has cut down on the number of passengers that can fit in each car, but I still tend to gravitate toward the middle-seat design from an aesthetic point of view.
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lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
It would require more extensive modifications, but switching to a single door per side like Las Vegas would offer both increased standing room as well as increased seating.
Figment2005
Well-Known Member
The only problem I see with the seating changes you presented would be an operation headache per se. Currently, many guests will straight up opt out of getting in a train simply because they want to sit instead of stand. To me this makes no sense because the guest will just be standing the same amount of time on the platform instead of standing in the train and making progress towards their destination. To each their own I guess, but regardless taking more seats away will just make this headache worse. IMHO.
Timon
Well-Known Member
Timon, your side seating suggestion makes sense in that more passengers could fit inside (with the extra standing room in an "open" floor plan). I'm sure your idea will generate some interesting discussion, as many people enjoy and appreciate the monorail.
Yet, IMO, I think I still like the current style with the middle seats—it creates a bit more of a welcoming design feature. The monorail is more than just a means of transport; it's also always been an attraction within itself. Maybe in some respects, the present theming has cut down on the number of passengers that can fit in each car, but I still tend to gravitate toward the middle-seat design from an esthetic point of view.
Your argument so reminds me of the Mark IV which was only seating permitted and the same protests when the VI's were announced. The Disneyland Monorail is an attraction and only has seating which influenced the Mark IV's. The WDW Monorails are much more about transportation than an attraction. As with the Ferry boats which have few seats vs the 600 capacity. Latest trends in Monorails even have car to car walk thru (which isn't possible on this scale monorail).
Personally standing, brings out the 10 year old in me, hanging on and bracing for stops starts and turns. The seats should be reserved for those you truly need it.
Voxel
President of Progress City
I am the same way standing. I enjoy it as much as I did as a kid.
Timon
Well-Known Member
I'm guilty of suggesting the same layout as virtually every Subway and Metro car layout in the country. It works in big cities it should work at WDW. I would rather stand in a train than wait numerous trains to sit. For 10 minutes, standing can be fun.
CDavid
Well-Known Member
If I could have one improvement made to the existing WDW monorails is would be to get rid of the center seats so people could spread out.
The real problem with so much of a monorail's capacity being standing room (versus seating) is getting the passengers to actually load the train to that extent. With the current seating arrangement of two compartments per monorail car, you have ten seats but you need to have twenty standees in each compartment (40 standees per car) to attain the monorails supposed maximum capacity of 360 passengers. In all my trips to WDW, even at peak times of year, I've never once witnessed the monorail loaded to that capacity. We've all seen buses loading standees where the driver keeps saying move all the way to the back, but invariably one or two guests seem oblivious and the bus leaves less than completely full. More often you have just 8 to 10 standees per monorail compartment, and it is plenty crowded even then, but you are then leaving over 120 people (2-3 bus loads) behind.
What is needed is a monorail design (or a new approach to boarding) which actually loads the trains to their full capacity. The above revised seating plan is interesting, but you still have the problem of getting 42 standees to squeeze into each newly combined car/compartment.
Timon
Well-Known Member
Good point. The other day I was running to catch a monorail at the Contemporary. My friend and I ran the entire length of the train before we finally found a car we could get into. Often as you say, a compartment was half full but blocking the open door. One thing we noticed was with seats facing each other people stick their legs out and add one stroller to that mix and that compartment is done. Luckily there aren't many strollers at Disney (nod, nod, wink, wink)
By turning the center seats there would be less legs blocking the door and more places to roll the strollers. Plus now you if one door is blocked you could enter the next door and circle around to the empty spaces. So, unless you hire those Professional Japanese Passenger Stuffers, people will always tend to block doorways.
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MinnieM123
Premium Member
Agreed, some people don't mind standing during the ride; and years ago, I recall my brothers having so much fun "subway surfing" when they rode the city subways. Same thing applies to the monorail.
However, particularly during the hotter months, I've observed many families and individual guests who look forward to sitting in the a/c car, after so much walking in the parks. It's really a nice break, and a pleasant ride, especially on that monorail route from MK to Epcot.
Regardless, even though the WDW monorail will always be an attraction in itself to me, I understand that the challenge of transporting thousands of guests, may necessitate some design changes in the future. The monorail system was built a long time ago, when the guest attendance level was lower than it is nowadays.
However, particularly during the hotter months, I've observed many families and individual guests who look forward to sitting in the a/c car, after so much walking in the parks. It's really a nice break, and a pleasant ride, especially on that monorail route from MK to Epcot.
Regardless, even though the WDW monorail will always be an attraction in itself to me, I understand that the challenge of transporting thousands of guests, may necessitate some design changes in the future. The monorail system was built a long time ago, when the guest attendance level was lower than it is nowadays.
TubaGeek
God bless the "Ignore" button.
If I could have one improvement made to the existing WDW monorails is would be to get rid of the center seats so people could spread out.
Yes, but my girlfriend and I like to find empty cars and jump over the seats and shoot each other with finger guns and pretend to be spies. This new configuration wouldn't allow that, so...
relots
Member
Sounds like a happening time on your monorail rides...
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