Should Disney get rid of the monorails?

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I know there is dialogue to replace the fleet with new models.

There was similar dialogue 15 years ago....and 10....and 5....

 

[Storm]

Sure ! If they replace them with maglev trains instead

 

[marni1971]

There was similar dialogue 15 years ago....and 10....and 5....

Don’t I know it. But as you pointed out, time continues to run out.

 

[marni1971]

I’ve been waiting for a better document manage system at work for about the same time. I assume that the arrival of either, anytime soon, would be as likely as my winning an Oscar.

I know. And we’re meant to have hover cars and a paperless office by now too.

 

[RustySpork]

I know. And we’re meant to have hover cars and a paperless office by now too.

 

[TwilightZone]

Hey, we have holograms! Just very regrettable ones.

 

[RScottyL]

I am with many that vote NO in getting rid of the monorails!

You can't think of WDW without thinking of the monorails are WDW made monorails famous!

 

[RustySpork]

Let's hope they don't start becoming 'famous' for other reasons.

 

[Trackmaster]

To be honest, I really don't know why they make you get on a tram just to get on a stupid monorail if you want to go to Magic Kingdom. Its one of the only theme parks in the country that puts its parking lot so far away from the actual park. Looking at the map, they could probably just switch out Disney University (the training facility for the staff) for the current MK parking lot. That way, guests could just get to MK with a tram.

But it seems to me that this is quite intentional. They want you to have a miserable time if you're too cheap to stay at an on-site hotel. So they make it really easy on the rich people who stay at a hotel on a monorail, but miserable for those who drive (and I guess in between for the people staying at a cheap Disney hotel where they bus you in).

So I'd be all for getting rid of the monorails if it meant closer parking. I even think it would just be smart to run trams from the pick-up points all across the parking lot that went express to MK's entrance. The transferring kills you. On a crowded day, (or even just park closing on non-crowded days) it'll take you an hour or more to get from your car to the entrance. Maybe knock that down to 20 minutes if its the middle of a non-crowded day.

Edit: Yeah, there's a reason that monorails never caught on as a viable form of public transportation. Transferring sucks. If anything, a metro that was continuous and just had multiple stops is smarter.

 

[Disstevefan1]

Now that alternative transportation, at a far cheaper cost, exists, perhaps it is time to retire the monorails once and for all. Maintenance, performance, and technical issues are only going to get worse. Is it that important to keep the monorails? How easy would it be to replace them with gondolas?

I could see keeping the monorail lines that serve the Magic Kingdom and the deluxe resorts around Seven Seas Lagoon (allowing the Contemporary Resort monorail to be left as is; it truly is iconic), but the EPCOT line might benefit from a switch to gondolas. The overall savings would more than offset the cost to switch. Given that Future World is being overhauled, perhaps now is the time to remove the monorail track that loops within EPCOT.

I did not get to vote, but I would have voted, "are you out of your mind", and while you are at it, let's get rid of the Walt Disney World Rail Road and the people mover! The monorail is not simply a form of transportation that a bean counter can draw a line through in some spread sheet!

The monorail is an attraction as much as it is transportation. It was one of Walts vision of the future and it's just darn cool! None of us has any control over the decisions Disney makes but I for one would hate too see the monorails shut down.

The reality is (I think) I read someplace WDW is getting NEW monorails, so it looks like they are here to stay.

 

[RustySpork]

I did not get to vote, but I would have voted, "are you out of your mind", and while you are at it, let's get rid of the Walt Disney Word Rail Road and the people mover! The monorail is not simply a form of transportation that a bean counter can draw a line through in some spread sheet!

The monorail is an attraction as much as it is transportation. It was one of Walts vision of the future and it's just darn cool! None of us has any control over the decisions Disney makes but I for one would hate too see the monorails shut down.

The reality is (I think) I read someplace WDW is getting NEW monorails, so it looks like they are here to stay.

Wrong, the people mover should be extended with destinations at each of the resorts and parks.

 

[Disstevefan1]

Wrong, the people mover should be extended with destinations at each of the resorts and parks.

That would be FANTANSTIC!! And it would be more inline with Walts original vision of EPCOT Center!! Too bad the bean counters at Disney would never let it happen.

 

[NickMaio]

Sure ! If they replace them with maglev trains instead

They already have a mag-lev train - - - - is it the TTA.

 

[RustySpork]

That would be FANTANSTIC!! And it would be more inline with Walts original vision of EPCOT Center!! Too bad the bean counters at Disney would never let it happen.

Yeah, unfortunately it would be down as often as Test Track.

 

[World_Showcase_Lover007]

Not only should they keep the monorails, but they should expand them to each park with some transport hubs along the way for connections to hotels.

I don’t care how much it costs, you can’t tell me that it is so astronomically expensive to the point that it isn’t a wise long term investment.

Monorails are still unique and a symbols of the parks overall. But the bean counters are short sighted

 

[World_Showcase_Lover007]

To be honest, I really don't know why they make you get on a tram just to get on a stupid monorail if you want to go to Magic Kingdom. Its one of the only theme parks in the country that puts its parking lot so far away from the actual park. Looking at the map, they could probably just switch out Disney University (the training facility for the staff) for the current MK parking lot. That way, guests could just get to MK with a tram.

But it seems to me that this is quite intentional. They want you to have a miserable time if you're too cheap to stay at an on-site hotel. So they make it really easy on the rich people who stay at a hotel on a monorail, but miserable for those who drive (and I guess in between for the people staying at a cheap Disney hotel where they bus you in).

So I'd be all for getting rid of the monorails if it meant closer parking. I even think it would just be smart to run trams from the pick-up points all across the parking lot that went express to MK's entrance. The transferring kills you. On a crowded day, (or even just park closing on non-crowded days) it'll take you an hour or more to get from your car to the entrance. Maybe knock that down to 20 minutes if its the middle of a non-crowded day.

Edit: Yeah, there's a reason that monorails never caught on as a viable form of public transportation. Transferring sucks. If anything, a metro that was continuous and just had multiple stops is smarter.

The TTC (MK parking lot) is far away bc the surrounding area is a big sink hole. It’s also about MK being a destination that is purposely separated by land/water/whatever so that it exists in its own “world”. So it’s meant to take a little effort to get to, so that there is a build up of anticipation and then a big reveal.

You’re not suppose to be able to just drive up to it. This is why it wasn’t build right next to I-4.

 

[Trackmaster]

The TTC (MK parking lot) is far away bc the surrounding area is a big sink hole. It’s also about MK being a destination that is purposely separated by land/water/whatever so that it exists in its own “world”. So it’s meant to take a little effort to get to, so that there is a build up of anticipation and then a big reveal.

You’re not suppose to be able to just drive up to it. This is why it wasn’t build right next to I-4.

I get it. And Disney wants to intentionally make the parks more inconvenient and time consuming so that guests need to play for a week there. It would be nice if instead of doing something like this, they just made enough rides to occupy guests for a week without any tricks. If they want to increase the build-up, maybe they could at least create a quick innovative way to get you back to where you need to go when the day is over...?

 

[Storm]

They already have a mag-lev train - - - - is it the TTA.

I mean you can call it that , the appearance isnt there tho. : P

 

[lazyboy97o]

They already have a mag-lev train - - - - is it the TTA.

The PeopleMover is magnetic propulsion. It doesn’t levitate.

The TTC (MK parking lot) is far away bc the surrounding area is a big sink hole.

Seven Seas Lagoon isn’t a sink hole.

 

[Trackmaster]

The PeopleMover is magnetic propulsion. It doesn’t levitate.


Seven Seas Lagoon isn’t a sink hole.

Exactly. They could put the parking lot in an appropriate spot for the park if they really wanted to, but they're intentionally throttling the experience of people who don't stay at those high end hotels in hopes that you'll stay at those hotels.