Bullet train approved

[DancingBear]

The half-hour intervals, of course, are purely conjecture, but I really don't see that being a big deal. It's probably a 25-minute max, and for most would be less, and you'd be comparing it to waiting for your luggage and then getting to your Mears ride. It would probably be much less wait than renting a car. And, since it's a bullet train, it's a much faster ride, with no traffic to contend with.

 

[DancingBear]

I wonder where the 50 acres is. Is it on the West side of I-4, between Wide World of Sports and Pop Century? Or does Disney own the land north of Celebration on the East side of I-4?

How about a new resort that you could walk into from the train station?

 

[KNWVIKING]

Just doing the simple math leads me to believe this is a round trip number. If Disneys 2.2 mil guests are to generate 55 mil in revenue, 25 per trip would generate 110 mil.

 

[lucky_bunni]

Where else will the train stop? Are tax payers shelling out $6 BIL to run a train just for WDW sake?

 

[DancingBear]

viking--But, it's 2.2 million RIDERS. Does that count each way separately?

lucky_bunni--It's part of a major statewide project. See:

http://www.floridahighspeedrail.org

In 2002, the Florida High Speed Rail Authority Act stated that the first phase of the system to be built would be from Tampa to Orlando with an extension to St. Petersburg. The Authority refers to the first leg from Tampa to Orlando as Phase 1, Part 1. The extension to St. Petersburg is Phase 1, Part 2. The graphic below indicates the general alignment that was defined in the planning phase for St. Petersburg to Orlando. The white circles indicate possible station locations along the route.

 

[KNWVIKING]

**"Where else will the train stop? Are tax payers shelling out $6 BIL to run a train just for WDW sake?"**

Basically: No to the first question,Yes to the 2nd. But Florida believes they can make the line profitable doing this so for them it is a business decision,not a Disney favor. Time will tell. They are also looking at creating jobs during the construction phase and afterwards.

 

[wtg2000]

I'm a proponent of high-speed rail especially after having seen it in action in other countries. It would be wonderful for Florida to be progressive and perhaps set the standard in North America.

The concept has been discussed in Canada but the government rejects it - their solution being to build more and more roads until they all converge and lay on top of each other. This goes back to the 1970s when they looked at the L.A. freeway system as nirvana. I'm pretty sure I'll be riding it in Florida before I ever ride it in Canada. I've bascially given up long distance travel around Ontario because the arteries are all clogged with mammoth transport trucks.

Perhaps this would inspire Disney to expand the monorail system so you could be taken from the train depot to various points on WDW property with a minimum of effort.

 

[disney_ac]

I heard something about this a few days ago (i dont remember where), and there was something about Disney ending its deal with Mears to allow their busses to transport guests from the Airport directly to the hotel lobby. This was part of the deal they cut to keep a station from being placed near the other I-4 Parks and the Convention Center. They will however continue their deal with Mears on the Cruise Line Transportation and on Taxi service. From what I heard, Disney plans to have trains coming into the station on WDW property, and then running Disney Transports from the station to hotels. At least this will cut down on fumes from the Mears busses. I hate those things. I would think that the railroad would set up a more frequent schedule and operate similar to an urban transit system with trains departing for Disney every 20-30 minutes.

As for $25 for a round trip ticket, I dont think that is too expensive, after all, its $19 one way or $29 round trip on a Mears bus.