Screamscape - Monorail Expansion Rumor

[KCheatle]

Yes, an expansion of the monorail would be nice, but it would have to be a massive overhaul - making it accessible for more hotels and to all parks. It almost just seems like too much to take on at this point.

I like the idea of adding a train-type system, like what they use to get around Minneapolis or a subway or something. I'm no engineer, but it seems like they have been able to incorproate these train-systems in cities without too much overhaul and it would be much nicer than riding the buses. Plus, it could connect park to park instead of going Park - hotel - park.

At the end of the day it all boils down to priorities. There is only so much money to go around and they've got to figure out where it needs to go first. It seems like there is a lot of rennovation/upkeep to do on the parks and I think most would agree that new rides in HS/Epcot/AK would be money better spent then a train to take us from park to park.

 

[PhilharMagician]

PRT's would be the way to go. The monorail not being able to quickly adjust to capacity issues or sudden mechanical issues are it's biggest flaw. When a problem arrises the delays can be huge.

 

[Mouse Detective]

Folks, what's actually coming is only a series of bus-only roads that interconnect with each other, Downtown Disney, resorts and the theme parks. There will be overpasses over existing roads.

Once picking up passengers via already-existing public roads and existing bus stops, the buses will get to their destinations mainly via these bus-only roads, bypassing other traffic and bypassing traffic lights. New roads cut through existing forests will decrease the distances between points.

Buses will remain the bulk of the WDW transportation system.

 

[s8film40]

Ordinally, yes thats true, but when the track is slide over, unlike the smooth curves of the normal loop, at the instant where the switch is there is an exact angle change, which is the problem for the trains, but not the mules. It would have been possible to make it happen, but would take a lot of more work, and down time, which they didnt want to afford.

So i wouldnt rule it out in the future. If they are willing to extend a line, it probably would be that switch is where they would start and re do it, since itd be a drop in the bucket compared to everything else...

That switch has a longer beam than most of the switches in the shop which means the angle would be less than that of those hard switches that the trains traverse every day. Switches aside what good do you think it would do to extend a line into a closed loop. In order to go anywhere new it would need to then go under or most likely over the existing beam way, that would likely cost way more than building a new switch.

 

[J03Y]

it's not far fetched, even if seemingly unlikely. gas prices are through the roof, Disney can can only rely on bus transportation for so long before gas becomes more expensive than building a monorail transit system to the two other parks.

 

[UberMouse]

I would go out on a limb and guess that Disney spends close to a million dollars a week just for bus fuel. That's basing it off of the number of buses that they have in circulation and it costing around $200 each time they fill up. On the average I would say at least 50% of the buses fill up twice in a 24 hour period.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I wonder how far the technology in use for the Red Car Trolleys can carry a vehicle. Those vehicles run on batteries which are charged by induction while sitting at a stop. This would at least be a demonstration of something new.

 

[flynnibus]

I don't see Disney doing anything besides road based transit.

Disney doesn't have enough true arteries to justify large capacity train systems. It's too spread out, too much of a 'mesh' in terms of routes needed.

Modern transportation systems work by having tiers of service... people hate transferring already at Disney. Transferring from a train to a bus to go the rest of the way will be seen by guests as worse than just having a bus take you directly to where you want to go.

Improvements can come in the forms of 'express lanes' for buses only.. new roads for buses only... and new types of vehicles that could be more friendly or new types of loading/unloading stations to improve the experience.

But as far as the actual transportation itself - you can't beat a flexible road system like WDW already has when there are so many diverse routes and diverse crowd loads.

Pray for innovation in the vehicles and stations.

 

[cbconglom]

To each their own. I have a buddy who loves the busses, my family can't stand them. We'll be staying at the CR in 2014 and you can bet like usual four of the days I will use the monorail to get to mk and Epcot and a rental car for ak and hs. So we would love an expanded monorail as far fetched as it may be

 

[s8film40]

They added a minor spur on the inside, true, but who said that they also havent thought that they could put a major spur on the other side, and possibly connect it to the existing spur with two parrallel lines there... and thats all ill say about that...

A spur in that area would serve little purpose toward expanding the line. Any major expansion would expand likely to the south, west and east of Epcot. It would not be very cost effective to build parallel beams rather than just expanding off of the existing system.

 

[flynnibus]

it's not far fetched, even if seemingly unlikely. gas prices are through the roof, Disney can can only rely on bus transportation for so long before gas becomes more expensive than building a monorail transit system to the two other parks.

Gas isn't the only type of energy that increases in cost. And why gas may be expensive.. infrastructure upkeep costs for a simpler system made of common parts are far less expensive then a larger, complex system, made of custom parts.

And monorail between the parks would be used far less than moving guests from resort to parks.

Remember - the original monorail was to move guests from hotels to the parks... not park to park.

 

[s8film40]

Gas isn't the only type of energy that increases in cost. And why gas may be expensive.. infrastructure upkeep costs for a simpler system made of common parts are far less expensive then a larger, complex system, made of custom parts.

And monorail between the parks would be used far less than moving guests from resort to parks.

Remember - the original monorail was to move guests from hotels to the parks... not park to park.

If you move guests from park to park. you can then create smaller hubs at those parks for transportation to nearby resorts and eliminate much of the duplicated transportation that exists at WDW. A park to Park monorail could be part of system that would create a huge reduction of Buses. Also buses don't just cost more when it comes to fuel but also labor, it takes five buss drivers to equal the capacity of a monorail. The new articulated buses show that Disney wants to reduce their labor costs in buses.

 

[Knothead]

Gas isn't the only type of energy that increases in cost. And why gas may be expensive.. infrastructure upkeep costs for a simpler system made of common parts are far less expensive then a larger, complex system, made of custom parts.

And monorail between the parks would be used far less than moving guests from resort to parks.

Remember - the original monorail was to move guests from hotels to the parks... not park to park.

The original Monorail was designed as a sightseeing attraction which was later EXPANDED to the Disneyland Hotel.

 

[Pixiedustmaker]

I really hope that WDW adds another monorail line, for the following reasons:


1. WDW's monorail system is one of the great perks afforded to guests in that it is free and in that you can easily hop around to all of the different parks. The monorail system that is there paid for itself, easily, as guests have come because the monorail is part of the experience. Add a stop at Animal Kingdom and the Studios would make visiting these parks a whole lot easier, and a lot more fun. Given how close the Studios is to Epcot, I think that adding a transportation hub at EPCOT for a Studios monorail would be great, especially as the age of guests increases, aging baby boomers will appreciate monorail service over climbing on to a bus.

2. Overall the monorail is very safe, more guests have been killed by buses. As the fleet of buses increases, the risk of accidents and litigation incrases. Safe transportation is a big plus.

3. The old monorail system has undoubtedly sucked in guests as it adds to the futuristic quality of WDW. Now, if they add a monorail line out to the Disney Market Place, shuttling guests would want to by more than what is offered in the Contemporary Resort's gift shop, then this would bring in millions in revenue, especially if they run the service late so that young adults can go to the clubs.

4. Gas prices are going up, and opinions of fossil fuels as environment wreckers doesn't jiv with EPCOT and the monorails green technology.

5. If WDW opened a new branch of the monorail 15 years ago, nobody would know. But with the internet, if a massive monorail project were announced and then opened, it would give guests a reason to consider going to WDW, bringing in millions.

 

[Murphketeer]

hope this rumor turns out to be true.

 

[Murphketeer]

Remember - the original monorail was to move guests from hotels to the parks... not park to park.

Was there more than one park when the original monorail was built?

Park Hopper wasn't a working model then either.

 

[Disneyfan_76]

Plus, then you're adding another "step" in your route back to your resort...Now you're going to a hub...and then to a bus.

Wouldn't this help to spread out the crowds a bit though. Even if it means needing to go to an additional hub. Personally, I would rather be moving somewhere than waiting in a crowd.

 

[jtizzle1023]

I think they are gonna do it sooner or later. With gas prices the way they are and how they are on the constant rise it makes sense to just making the investment.

 

[Scuttle]

hope this rumor turns out to be true.

If this rumor comes true I will vow to never say another bad thing about TDO.

 

[marni1971]

There may be a few other outside factors too that are outside of TDO control but could have an influence.