As a Disney Transport cast member and Monorail Pilot... I can assure you that there is NO current plans to expand the monorail. At all. Nope. Sorry. Not gonna happen.
There are many reasons for this... the first being that it would be too costly. A recent study showed that a possible monorail expansion would cost approximatly $800-900 million... and we all know nothing runs on budget, so you can figure about $1 billion... That's a LOT of money, especially for a non-revenue generating department, and not even Disney could afford that right now -- even if we could, it would seriously affect the stocks... and Im sure all you stockholders wouldn't like that.
The second reason, and to me, the most logical reason is Feasibility. I know we all love the Monorail... no one loves them more than myself. However, when you really think about it... the way Disney is set up, it just wouldn't work.
For starters, the layout of the system would be so complex, one would have to switch trains once or twice to get to thier desired location. We have a hard enough time getting Guests to switch trains at the TTC to go to Epcot from the MK.
All day long, I hear, "Does this go to Epcot? Switch? Huh? You mean I have to Switch trains??? Why isn't there a direct train??" I can't imagine trying to tell a guest to go here, switch, go there, switch, and all that. It'd be a hassle to the guests, and it'd be time consuming. A bus on the other hand can provide quick and direct transportation from a resort to a theme park.
The second part... crowds. If you notice at Disney, you'll see a mass influx of people to the MK at 9am, for example. And then things will steady off... a lil slow in the afternoon... and then when the park closes, *BAM* you've got tens of thousands of people all exiting the park at once. With monorails... we can only have so many trains running... and they have to be on a set route... Busses are flexible. You can route busses to wherever you need them most, and add more as crowds increase.
The best way to illustrate my point would be to visit the Grand Floridian at 930am on Saturday. My platform will be jam packed ,and the train will arrive already filled from the Contemporary and Polynesian guests. I'm lucky if I get half my guests on the train. It's not fair to them that they can't board the train. If I ask to hold a car... I get guests at the Polynesian who complain they have to stand when there's an empty car.
Now... as with all 13 year old mechanical items... they are prone to failure, even with great maintenance teams. That's just a fact of life... our trains will break down every so often. They're 13 years old. There's nothing majorly wrong with them, and they dont need to be replaced. But when a train dies... the whole system can go down, because unlike roads, the trains can't pass each other. Busses on the other hand, can be easily dispatched to replace one that has broken down.
Okay... so... don't get me wrong... once again, I love my Monorails... and I'm not saying busses are great... but in this situation they are cheaper, faster, flexible, and sometimes more efficient than monorails.
As for the trains and what IS going on... I can tell you that right now we are in the process of having them repainted. Coral was just completed around Christmas, and now Black is back being sanded down. Also in the next few years, we are in the process of upgrading some of the trains systems and components... Can't really say much more than that...
