How much building can the resort monorail take?

[Mississippian]

I'm just curious if anyone has any opinions as to whether the monorail can take a substantial increase in passenger traffic that would be caused by additional DVC building. For example, everyone pines for a Grand Floridian DVC, but since the promised walkway was never built there won't be any walking! (Remember when Disney sold everyone the stones and promised to build a "Walk around the World)? Maybe they could finish this walkway!

A Poly DVC would also be easy to build if they moved the road couple of hundred yards to the west. But again, can the monorail handle a near-doubling of the Poly, a big Grand Floridian DVC and perhaps another Bay Lake tower down the road?

Perhaps the resort monorail could be converted into a Wedway People Mover.

 

[tjkraz]

IMO, it depends a lot on how many net rooms are added. The Contemporary's North Garden Wing's 250 hotel rooms were demolished to make room for about 300 DVC villas. The villas have a higher max occupancy so there was some net gain, but probably not to the degree that many would think. And only a fraction of those guests would even use the monorail. From BLT, the only destination that's practical for monorail transport is Epcot. Most MK guests would walk and DHS, DAK & DTD are bus trips.

Another Contemporary tower would add a few more guests. Poly & Grand Floridian impact would depend upon the amount of new construction vs. conversion of existing rooms.

Additionally, I don't get the sense that the number of monorails on the line has been maxed out. When standing on the platform at a resort, there is still a wait of several minutes for the next train to arrive. Seems like they could add additional trains to the line such that there is a shorter delay between arrivals.

 

[OhioDVC]

Couldn't Disney just add on more cars to the monorail to increase capacity

 

[erionm]

Couldn't Disney just add on more cars to the monorail to increase capacity

I'm sure they could, but if they put more than 5 on the resort loop there will be trains holding for traffic between stations.

 

[Oglet]

I'm sure they could, but if they put more than 5 on the resort loop there will be trains holding for traffic between stations.

You really don't want more than 4 trains on the resort beam at a time, They are all over each other with 4 trains to begin with. Typically a lap on the resort beam takes about 18 - 20 minutes so with 4 trains your wait shouldn't be more than 4 - 5 minutes.

Couldn't Disney just add on more cars to the monorail to increase capacity

I wouldn't say cant because the trains could easily pull additional cars however the stations are not long enough to fit additional cars

Additionally, I don't get the sense that the number of monorails on the line has been maxed out. When standing on the platform at a resort, there is still a wait of several minutes for the next train to arrive. Seems like they could add additional trains to the line such that there is a shorter delay between arrivals.

The biggest problem in regard to station times (besides the reliability of the trains) is ECV's. A large number of ECV newbies have great problems getting on and off the monorail, I've seen some take 4 - 5 minutes, that is the single biggest cause for long waits between trains (when everything is running as it should)


Personally, I don't feel the monorail system can handle any more traffic, If they were running reliably and station times were kept to the ideal 1:30 - 2 minutes they could probably handle a minor increase in guests but even that is pushing things.

 

[Alexander]

We had an interesting experience last night on the resort monorail. We took off from the GF and the bell rang and the recording came on that said, "This monorail is operating under reduced speed." In 20 years and probably 100 visits, I have NEVER heard that before. We have had to stop while they put another train on the line, or wait for the train ahead of us to move, but never have I heard "operating under reduced speed" and it was a recording, not even the driver. Anybody have any thoughts?

 

[Oglet]

We had an interesting experience last night on the resort monorail. We took off from the GF and the bell rang and the recording came on that said, "This monorail is operating under reduced speed." In 20 years and probably 100 visits, I have NEVER heard that before. We have had to stop while they put another train on the line, or wait for the train ahead of us to move, but never have I heard "operating under reduced speed" and it was a recording, not even the driver. Anybody have any thoughts?

Yeah, because of the cold weather the expansion joints along the beam have contracted leaving space without anything connecting the different parts of the beam touching. Due to this the monorails must observe a reduced speed of 15mph between the GF and MK on both express and resort beams.

 

[wcpamotm]

Remember that the Venetian Resort was in the original plans as a monorail resort and the Mediterranean Resort may still be built one day if Disney can figure out how to keep it from sinking into the muck. But that would be a new station, and I suspect that would somewhat mitigate the effect of added guest burden more than simply expanding the existing resorts would.

And I'll also note that the Grand Floridian is a larger resort than the Asian was planned to be, and that the Polynesian has been much expanded since its opening.

 

[Sammie]

Considering it seems to break down every time we are on it lately, I would say none.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Another thing to remember is that besides guests staying at the Contemporary/Bay Lake Tower, Polynesian and Grand Floridian who already use the Resort Monorail, guests not staying at those resorts who eat at their various restaurants also take it. Plus sometimes guests take it when leaving the Magic Kingdom if the Express Monorail is not running. So those additional guests already make the lines a lot longer and sometimes when waiting for the Resort Monorail at the Contemporary, I have waited for 2 or 3 Monorail's to go through until I finally got on.

 

[Alexander]

Yeah, because of the cold weather the expansion joints along the beam have contracted leaving space without anything connecting the different parts of the beam touching. Due to this the monorails must observe a reduced speed of 15mph between the GF and MK on both express and resort beams.

Yes, this makes perfect sense! We have never been here when it has been so cold, thus us never having this experience before! Thank you!

 

[Mississippian]

It may come back to my question of the Walk Around the World that was never built as promised. Why wasn't it built? Perhaps Disney was worried about crime or something. But if this were to be built, I suspect it would be used very, very heavily by Grand Floridian guests and also by Poly guests as well, and would take a lot of pressure off the monorail from any expansions. People really like walking to the theme parks, which is something I wish Disney would figure out.

 

[kenny]

It may come back to my question of the Walk Around the World that was never built as promised. Why wasn't it built? Perhaps Disney was worried about crime or something. But if this were to be built, I suspect it would be used very, very heavily by Grand Floridian guests and also by Poly guests as well, and would take a lot of pressure off the monorail from any expansions. People really like walking to the theme parks, which is something I wish Disney would figure out.

I wish they would build this. We stayed at the GF the week of July 4th. Some days the monorail was packed and we wished we could just walk back to the GF like we do BLT.

Plus the walk around the lagoon would just be something nice to have. It is so pretty and would be an nice way to travel between resorts as well.

 

[tjkraz]

Another thing to remember is that besides guests staying at the Contemporary/Bay Lake Tower, Polynesian and Grand Floridian who already use the Resort Monorail, guests not staying at those resorts who eat at their various restaurants also take it. Plus sometimes guests take it when leaving the Magic Kingdom if the Express Monorail is not running. So those additional guests already make the lines a lot longer and sometimes when waiting for the Resort Monorail at the Contemporary, I have waited for 2 or 3 Monorail's to go through until I finally got on.

While that's true, it has always been the case. I'm not sure there is any relevance to the OP's topic.

My sense is that monorail capacity isn't going to play a big role in resort expansion decisions. While there are times when guests must wait for a second or third train to board, those periods are still the exception rather than the rule. When you consider Disney buses often go 20+ minutes between visits to a given resort/theme park, monorails still run on a more frequent schedule.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Another Contemporary tower would add a few more guests.

I said this before and I will say it again. I doubt they will ever add a 2nd Bay Lake Tower, but not because it means extra guests using the Resort Monorail. Unlike the original Bay Lake Tower with a 2nd one they can not add a walkway to and from the Contemporary Tower because of Chef Mickey's being in it's way. Besides that the Contemporary can't afford to lose their other Garden Wing since those rooms are the least expensive among the Monorail Resorts and they also got fully renovated a few years ago. With the number of conventions the Contemporary hosts they need extra rooms for convention guests and the loss of those rooms will make it harder for anyone to stay at the Contemporary with only their Tower rooms.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

While that's true, it has always been the case. I'm not sure there is any relevance to the OP's topic.

My sense is that monorail capacity isn't going to play a big role in resort expansion decisions. While there are times when guests must wait for a second or third train to board, those periods are still the exception rather than the rule. When you consider Disney buses often go 20+ minutes between visits to a given resort/theme park, monorails still run on a more frequent schedule.

Well I believe the Monorail is supposed to be a lot more faster then taking the buses and that's one reason why the Resort Monorail has multiple ones that stop at the Monorail Resorts, Magic Kingdom and TTC. However if guests are being forced to wait for multiple Monorail's before they can finally get on, then they don't become faster and the wait times can add up and almost be like waiting for the buses.

 

[aggiemullins]

I would think they could add capacity at Poly due to the fact they can walk to the TTC to catch the Epcot train unlike at BLT. Granted it's offset by the fact they can't walk to MK like BLT can, but it wouldn't be nearly as big a burden as a GF expansion would be where you couldn't walk to either MK or the TTC.

I would seriously just be happy if they could expand the CR train station! Wow that platform gets crowded!

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

I would seriously just be happy if they could expand the CR train station! Wow that platform gets crowded!

In December 2009 it got so crowded of people coming on the esclator going up to the Monorail station that everyone was getting pushed together, so others were screaming for a Cast Member to come and help. Well they didn't hear us so someone else hit the emergency button to stop it.

 

[aggiemullins]

In December 2009 it got so crowded of people coming on the esclator going up to the Monorail station that everyone was getting pushed together, so others were screaming for a Cast Member to come and help. Well they didn't hear us so someone else hit the emergency button to stop it.

So that's why that escalator is off now. Wow, I hadn't thought about that, but it sure wouldn't take much for that platform to reach capacity during peak holiday season, would it? We were there in October and it was crazy. I can't imagine Christmas!

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

So that's why that escalator is off now. Wow, I hadn't thought about that, but it sure wouldn't take much for that platform to reach capacity during peak holiday season, would it? We were there in October and it was crazy. I can't imagine Christmas!

Well that only happened because the line got so long and I think one of the Resort Monorail's was out of service, so that only made the line longer with one less Resort Monorail on the track.