How far would $2 billion have gone in expanding the monorail?

[5Hfan]

Such a bummer they've cut back monorail for EMH, had it down so long far maintenance recently...would be great to monorail to HS or AK...

 

[W.E.D.]

Probably not as far as we think. Maybe, maybe, enough for an additional spur between EPCOT and DHS, which wouldn't be that far.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

I think 14-16 feet, if Iger got his cut.

 

[hedberg1661]

Yeah unfortunately the monorail doesn't make them money. While spending 2 billion on the monorail would please me to death I have to say I don't really mind the MDE FP+ idea. Are there currently glitches? Sure. But there is progress.

As far as EMH Monorail...do they not run the Monorail for EMH at all now? Is it just due to construction/rehab or is this a permanent thing?

 

[JimmyV]

It really doesn't matter that much any more. In the beginning, the World revolved around the TTC so people figured that a centralized monorail would be a good idea. But now that the vast majority of on site guests are dispersed around the property, running a monorail to, say, AK from the TTC would be pretty pointless. Off site guests will drive to the more-than-ample parking lot, and on site guests can do better with a bus. What would be the point of taking a bus from Port Orleans to the TTC, only to have to get off and then board a monorail to AK when your bus could have gotten you there faster? Alternatively, running monorails to each and every one of Disney's many resorts would be as ugly as it would be costly. You'd still have to use the TTC as the central hub, otherwise you'd need a separate line connecting every resort to each of the 4 parks. I can't even begin to think of what a tangled eyesore that would be. And how much longer it would take a guest to get back to whichever would be the last resort on that particular line. They could probably run a spur to Wilderness Lodge that connected to existing trackage, and run a spur from Epcot to DHS. But that would be about it. Not much gained in either instance.

 

[5Hfan]

Yeah unfortunately the monorail doesn't make them money. While spending 2 billion on the monorail would please me to death I have to say I don't really mind the MDE FP+ idea. Are there currently glitches? Sure. But there is progress.

As far as EMH Monorail...do they not run the Monorail for EMH at all now? Is it just due to construction/rehab or is this a permanent thing?

I thought that was permanent? Perhaps I am mistaken though?

 

[Liljo22]

At $150 million per mile that it cost for the Vegas monorail that uses a similar system as Disney, it would not go far.

 

[W.E.D.]

I agree JimmyV. In my first response I was thinking merely of costs for new monorails and track. You're right. It would probably be an ugly mess.

 

[Bullseye]

All the way from Hotel Plaza Blvd down to the Animal Kingdom with stops at every park and resort along the way.... or 14-16 feet if Iger got his cut . Somewhere in that range.

 

[ArwenMarie]

I feel like the long-term plan is to dismantle the monorail. New ferry dock, a billion new bus stops at the front of MK...I dunno. Hope I'm wrong.

 

[over50visits]

At $150 million per mile that it cost for the Vegas monorail that uses a similar system as Disney, it would not go far.

Is that a fair comparison? I really don't know, but wonder if the Vegas monorail had a huge expense of construction in an existing city with privately owned land, existing buildings, and utilities in place, where Disney has mostly unimproved land or highways between the hotels. Just wondering.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

Is that a fair comparison? I really don't know, but wonder if the Vegas monorail had a huge expense of construction in an existing city with privately owned land, existing buildings, and utilities in place, where Disney has mostly unimproved land or highways between the hotels. Just wondering.

Agreed, it would be far less expensive, but no more likely. Disney spending is now focused on revenue, and has been for a while now. An expanded monorail will not help in that arena. Not going to happen unless some uber-rich person funds the entire thing with a donation.

 

[sethschroeder]

http://www.yesterland.com/monoraillegends3.html
They suggest likely over $50 million per mile as costs in the US are more yet still less than the $150 million per mile that was in vegas.

http://www.monorails.org/tmspages/HowMuch.html
Here is other options but unsure of the differences compared to what Disney would ever invest in if they choose to do something.

The next question is where would you have the monorail go?

 

[Mom2darlingboys]

I'd like to see it connect Hollywood Studios to the Epcot monorail and Epcot area resorts (from the front of the resorts, not ruin that great BW/YC/BC view), and get rid of those busses. Those resorts get terrible service.

 

[Jennasis]

God NO! Not that I wouldn't love that, but imagine the price increases property-wide to pay for it. Hotel rooms, park tix, food...yikes!

 

[wareagle57]

At $150 million per mile that it cost for the Vegas monorail that uses a similar system as Disney, it would not go far.

Epcot to AK is only 6 miles, and that's taking the roads. As the crow flies it is closer to 3. So it could be done for somewhere around 450-900 MM. And still have over a billion left to send it to some resorts and build a southern TTC.

 

[hakepb]

Epcot to AK is only 6 miles, and that's taking the roads. As the crow flies it is closer to 3. So it could be done for somewhere around 450-900 MM. And still have over a billion left to send it to some resorts and build a southern TTC.

It would make too much sense if they added an eco-friendly transportation option to AK.

 

[MichiganDVC]

I'd love to see a DTD-HS-AK monorail. This way, while staying at Boardwalk, I can get to both DTD and AK without buses. Seriously, if I could take a monorail to DTD, I'd go once a trip! Now its once every 3 trips, only if the trips are long, and only if we haven't been to Fulton's in a while.

Actually, I'd extend that to a AKL - AK- Blizzard Beach - HS/Boardwalk - Typhoon - DTD. Then all the Deluxe resorts would have "access" to a monorail. AKL would be an end point. Epcot resorts would have access via Swan-Boardwalk-HS stop. OKW and SS would have access via DTD.

Win-win-win!

 

[Viva Las Disney]

I think $2 billion would be enough for a major expansion. I can see 2 relatively easy options for extending the Epcot line.

Choice 1 (the cheap choice) would be to extend the Epcot line to include a BC/YC stop, a Swan/Dolphin stop, a HS stop, a Blizzard Beach stop, a Kidani/AK Lodge stop, and an AK stop before reconnecting to the existing Epcot line. They could even include a Cor Springs stop if they wanted at the convention center. This would just be a continuation of the one way single beam.

The problem is with all those stops it would take forever to get anywhere, buses would be faster. For example, getting on the monorail at GF to go to AK would require a stop at Poly, TTC to transfer, Ep, BC, Swan, HS, BB, AK lodge, and finally AK. Even if each stop only took a couple minutes you'd probably spend more than 30 minutes sitting at stations on top of the travel time.

The better option (but much more expensive) would be to put another transfer center at Epcot and make the 2nd line a circle with 2 beams, this would help because you could go in either direction and skip most of the stops but in the example it would still mean getting on at GF, stopping at TTC and transferring, stopping at Epcot and transferring, and then AK. Much better but I still think a bus sounds more convenient.

Using the distance feature on Google earth shows this would be about a 10 mile loop. The current Seven Seas Lagoon loop looks to be about 3 miles and the TTC Epcot loop looks about 8 miles.

Here's a crude drawing of the circle line.

 

[supergoofy]

It would make too much sense if they added an eco-friendly transportation option to AK.

Buses are "eco friendly" if you switch them to natural gas which is much cheaper than a mono rail line.

I don't have the price for a mile of mono rail line but a road way is about a million dollars a mile.