A replacement for monorails and buses?

7series · Nov 4, 2015

wallrock said:
It still puzzles me why people think that Disney is going to come up with or employ some avant garde transportation system. The monorail concept has been around since the 1800s and Disney was far from being the first to employ such a device, so the system wasn't exactly 'futuristic' as many claimed it was. Conventional methods like boats and buses, while boring to some, work fine today to get guests from place to place.

There's really nothing special about getting you from Coronado Springs to Hollywood Studios nor is there a reason to make it special. Fundamentally guests could care less what mode of transportation they take in the morning as they are more concerned about getting to that character breakfast on time or making sure they hit that first FastPass window they reserved three months earlier. In the evening, heads are nodding off or they're glued to their smartphone screens looking at who knows what (probably the next day's schedule) to even pay attention to the vehicle that's getting them back to the place to crash for the night. That care-free, spontaneous spirit that visitors of yesteryear had at the House of the Mouse has been replaced with endless planning and adjusting every day they're on vacation. Now people board the transportation system staring at their watches with their daily schedule on their minds and aren't interested in the 'wow' factor of that system taking them from the parking lot to a place to escape the day to day.

The monorail today is an attraction novelty and will continue to be treated as such until management shuts it down. I doubt Disney sees a reason to spend the money and stick another novelty into the system that is required to be a part of the baseline infrastructure, especially when they've taken away the reason to be impressed by that novelty.

This is not really true. We definitely like and prefer the monorail. No traffic, plenty of room, nice views. Much better than the bus. Most of the people I know feel the same way.

DLM1980 · Nov 4, 2015

wallrock said:
There's really nothing special about getting you from Coronado Springs to Hollywood Studios nor is there a reason to make it special. Fundamentally guests could care less what mode of transportation they take in the morning as they are more concerned about getting to that character breakfast on time or making sure they hit that first FastPass window they reserved three months earlier. In the evening, heads are nodding off or they're glued to their smartphone screens looking at who knows what (probably the next day's schedule) to even pay attention to the vehicle that's getting them back to the place to crash for the night. That care-free, spontaneous spirit that visitors of yesteryear had at the House of the Mouse has been replaced with endless planning and adjusting every day they're on vacation. Now people board the transportation system staring at their watches with their daily schedule on their minds and aren't interested in the 'wow' factor of that system taking them from the parking lot to a place to escape the day to day.

As I read this that scene from Tomorrowland pops in my mind where we are at 100% probability end of the world. I'm sitting in a monorail cabin, or standing on the boat and I turn to people next to me and say "OMG LOOK AT THAT" and for a moment they move their eyes away from said screen and realize something magical is about to happen. 99%

Luv0fDisney · Nov 6, 2015

I think the new transportation above can cause many problems to Disney accident prone wise. Magnets can fail which would lead the cabin to fall injuring (or killing) the people inside. more prone to get stuck in some spots ...

DLM1980 · Nov 7, 2015

Luv0fDisney said:
I think the new transportation above can cause many problems to Disney accident prone wise. Magnets can fail which would lead the cabin to fall injuring (or killing) the people inside. more prone to get stuck in some spots ...

The electric magnet just propels forward or backwards, if they were to fail a car would not fall of the rail because there are other safety systems, much like how a coaster doesn't fall off the rail because of a third wheel (one on top and bottom of the rail, and one on the side to prevent the falling off)

manning · Nov 7, 2015

Look at the Skytran concept.

wallrock · Nov 7, 2015

The SkyTran system or any other similar concept have wonderful illustrations and are pleasing to the eye, but an issue with any new transportation system - or any new system at all - is that early adopters run a risk. If for some reason the technology doesn't take off and the company that provides the infrastructure folds then the early adopters are left holding the bag. As an IT professional I've seen this countless times where a piece of software was described as the answer to everyone's problems only to have it fail (or the company fail) after early adopters bought in or executive leadership was sold on the pie charts and graphs. Now suddenly you are stuck with something that has become mission critical that you've either got to spend more money to rip it out and replace it, or flat out buy the company (a personal experience I've had) so its developers can keep your systems running for you.

Any cutting edge transportation concept is going to be this type of risk to Disney, and it's a risk that they don't need to take and most likely don't want to. Bus mechanics and drivers are plentiful and/or can be trained up quickly. A cutting edge system will require niche employees that won't be plentiful or cheap.

Betting the farm on a single attraction, or even a 'land' is one thing. Doing so on essential infrastructure is something else. The system they have now is mature and works. They're not going to rock that boat.

manning · Nov 7, 2015

Luv0fDisney said:
I think the new transportation above can cause many problems to Disney accident prone wise. Magnets can fail which would lead the cabin to fall injuring (or killing) the people inside. more prone to get stuck in some spots ...

Anything can fail. Just look at the size of the population

wallrock said:
The SkyTran system or any other similar concept have wonderful illustrations and are pleasing to the eye, but an issue with any new transportation system - or any new system at all - is that early adopters run a risk. If for some reason the technology doesn't take off and the company that provides the infrastructure folds then the early adopters are left holding the bag. As an IT professional I've seen this countless times where a piece of software was described as the answer to everyone's problems only to have it fail (or the company fail) after early adopters bought in or executive leadership was sold on the pie charts and graphs. Now suddenly you are stuck with something that has become mission critical that you've either got to spend more money to rip it out and replace it, or flat out buy the company (a personal experience I've had) so its developers can keep your systems running for you.

Any cutting edge transportation concept is going to be this type of risk to Disney, and it's a risk that they don't need to take and most likely don't want to. Bus mechanics and drivers are plentiful and/or can be trained up quickly. A cutting edge system will require niche employees that won't be plentiful or cheap.

Betting the farm on a single attraction, or even a 'land' is one thing. Doing so on essential infrastructure is something else. The system they have now is mature and works. They're not going to rock that boat.

One never knows until it is tried. Walt had a new concept on parks. If he didn't try there would not be a WDW. New? yes. So was the light bulb(from a man who had 1,000 patents and one paid off), automobile, steam/diesel locomotive, etc.

wallrock · Nov 7, 2015

manning said:
One never knows until it is tried. Walt had a new concept on parks. If he didn't try there would not be a WDW. New? yes. So was the light bulb(from a man who had 1,000 patents and one paid off), automobile, steam/diesel locomotive, etc.

There's a HUGE difference between Walt Disney and the current corporate administration. In the early days the Disney company would go out on a limb and try things. Heck, it's what made Disney stand above all other theme parks. Unfortunately the current corporate mentality is in a 'play it safe' mode and has been for the better part of a decade. Wall Street doesn't like dreamers. They cost too much.

manning · Nov 9, 2015

wallrock said:
There's a HUGE difference between Walt Disney and the current corporate administration. In the early days the Disney company would go out on a limb and try things. Heck, it's what made Disney stand above all other theme parks. Unfortunately the current corporate mentality is in a 'play it safe' mode and has been for the better part of a decade. Wall Street doesn't like dreamers. They cost too much.

True. I read somewhere that Universal is looking into it.

7series · Nov 12, 2015

This whole discussion is based on the erroneous notion that the monorails and buses would, could, or even need to, be replaced. The monorails are an icon and are there to stay, and the vast majority of people are happy about that. There is no system even on the drawing boards that could replace the buses and go to all the locations that they go to. Skytran is still under testing and only uses small personal transport vehicles. It is not for efficiently transporting large numbers of people. I guess people an dream, but I don't see anything efficient and cost effective enough coming along any time in our lifetime.

luvmarypoppins · Nov 12, 2015

Disney has looked at replacing the monorail system before.

Without commenting too much, I can just say that Disney plays hard ball and they wont consider any technology unless they totally own the patent rights to said technology. Which is not going to happen.

As another poster said, beam degradation is in the future.

The system is getting older. I think Disney will very carefully look at costs versus benefits.

cruisingtwins · Nov 12, 2015

They need to do something to get out of magic kingdom at night. All the options suck.

DLM1980 · Nov 12, 2015

cruisingtwins said:
They need to do something to get out of magic kingdom at night. All the options suck.

During my last trip I was hanging around the dock area, thinking they have the space, just build two more docks, run four ferries at night, two in each direction get twice the amount of people out at once.

rteetz · Nov 12, 2015

DLM1980 said:
During my last trip I was hanging around the dock area, thinking they have the space, just build two more docks, run four ferries at night, two in each direction get twice the amount of people out at once.

They just recently built a second one I don't think they'll go to four in the near future.

DLM1980 · Nov 12, 2015

rteetz said:
They just recently built a second one I don't think they'll go to four in the near future.

I figured they were both always there, and that each boat had its own dock, thats why I said run 4 ferries, but if thats not the case, just run four at night and store the other two elsewhere during the day.

manning · Nov 13, 2015

7series said:
This whole discussion is based on the erroneous notion that the monorails and buses would, could, or even need to, be replaced. The monorails are an icon and are there to stay, and the vast majority of people are happy about that. There is no system even on the drawing boards that could replace the buses and go to all the locations that they go to. Skytran is still under testing and only uses small personal transport vehicles. It is not for efficiently transporting large numbers of people. I guess people an dream, but I don't see anything efficient and cost effective enough coming along any time in our lifetime.

It could. I understand they can hit very fast speeds.

zaccaglin · Nov 15, 2015

cruisingtwins said:
They need to do something to get out of magic kingdom at night. All the options suck.

Don't leave right after the fireworks like everyone else or right at park close. Leave right between them and you'll only wait about 20 mins max to get to parking.

Tony Amore · Nov 18, 2015

Just rent a car. Drive it across the lagoon and then down the middle of Main Street. Park it in front of the castle and toss Mickey the keys. Problem solved.

sachilles · Nov 30, 2015

On a semi related note. Has there been any more info relating to the "transportation project" that caused Disney to close down the race track near the transportation center?

rteetz · Nov 30, 2015

sachilles said:
On a semi related note. Has there been any more info relating to the "transportation project" that caused Disney to close down the race track near the transportation center?

Yeah its called a parking expansion and its already open. Speedway is completely gone.

A replacement for monorails and buses?

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