Monorail Building

[StephenKay]

Hi there,

Just to say when leaving the MK by bus the other afternoon, I noticed that they are building new monorail resorts south of the Contemporary at the point where the police normally have vehicles parked at the grass verge. The wooden shuttering is in place and vegetation has been cleared for more supports. Who knows the reasoning, although these are for new supports not replacements.

Any ideas?

If I get a chance to get up there in the next couple of days shall try and take a photo.

 

[vicki_c]

There are no "monorail" resorts being built.

There is a Waldorf being built (don't think that's done yet) that is not a Disney hotel, and Disney is working on the Art of Animation resort (at Pop Century).

 

[Alesia]

http://thedailydisney.com/blog/2010/07/disney-world-plans-small-monorail-expansion/

It's just a very small maintenance spur.

 

[Magicbus]

You Scots are such kidders.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Just to say when leaving the MK by bus the other afternoon, I noticed that they are building new monorail resorts south of the Contemporary at the point where the police normally have vehicles parked at the grass verge. The wooden shuttering is in place and vegetation has been cleared for more supports. Who knows the reasoning, although these are for new supports not replacements.

Any ideas?

As has already ben noted, the work near the Monorail track in the vicinity of the TTC is not a Monorail resort. It's 62-foot spur line to allow a "tractor" on the Epcot line.

There are no "monorail" resorts being built.

There is a Waldorf being built (don't think that's done yet) that is not a Disney hotel, and Disney is working on the Art of Animation resort (at Pop Century).

The Waldorf Astoria opened for business in October 2009. It's much closer to Pop Century than to any part of the Monorail track.

 

[vicki_c]

The Waldorf Astoria opened for business in October 2009. It's much closer to Pop Century than to any part of the Monorail track.

Thanks - guess I'm a little behind - Waldorf has not really been on my radar!

 

[Greyhound22]

Shoot, I noticed a lot of wood and clearing just past the parking lot of Wilderness Lodge. We went to dinner on Thursday night at Whispering Canyon and took the bus in. The wood was located under the Monorail in the area I mentioned. I was hoping that it they were going to build a way to hook the Wilderness to the Monorail. I'll just keep hoping.

 

[Tara]

Shoot, I noticed a lot of wood and clearing just past the parking lot of Wilderness Lodge. We went to dinner on Thursday night at Whispering Canyon and took the bus in. The wood was located under the Monorail in the area I mentioned. I was hoping that it they were going to build a way to hook the Wilderness to the Monorail. I'll just keep hoping.

You can keep hoping, but that is never going to happen. The monorail requires elevated stations and any such station would be an eyesore next to WL. And how would it connect - to TTC so that you had to debark and get on the MK or Epcot monorail? The monorail is so expensive to build that it might as well be prohibitive and with adequate transportation in place, there's no reason to extend the monorail line to WL.

Sorry to be a buzz kill.

 

[snowy76]

Thanks - guess I'm a little behind - Waldorf has not really been on my radar!

You're probably thinking of the Four Seasons that is being built east of FW near the golf courses (Osprey Ridge and Eagle Pines I think). That project has been pushed back a couple of times. I would've mixed up the two as well, except I knew from the podcast that the WA has been open for a while at Bonnet Creek.

 

[vicki_c]

You're probably thinking of the Four Seasons that is being built east of FW near the golf courses (Osprey Ridge and Eagle Pines I think). That project has been pushed back a couple of times. I would've mixed up the two as well, except I knew from the podcast that the WA has been open for a while at Bonnet Creek.

Yep - I'm sure that's it. We are pretty much only on-site visitors whether by DVC or other, so I don't pay much attention to the other hotels.

 

[spiceycat]

Shoot, I noticed a lot of wood and clearing just past the parking lot of Wilderness Lodge. We went to dinner on Thursday night at Whispering Canyon and took the bus in. The wood was located under the Monorail in the area I mentioned. I was hoping that it they were going to build a way to hook the Wilderness to the Monorail. I'll just keep hoping.

now they cleared an area near there for the building of BLT. but would think by now it would start to be overgrown?

 

[StephenKay]

Forgive Me,

What I meant to say in my original post is that they are building monorail "supports" near to the junction of world drive and timberline drive, not resorts as I had stated. It was a nice thought to have more monorail resorts, at whatever costs.

I was tired after a day in the parks, I did take some shots today, although they are really boring so I won't trouble you with them.

 

[vicki_c]

Stevie - I was going to say that at one point - maybe you meant "supports" but then I forgot!

 

[WEDFamily]

"One million dollars for a mile of monorail track"..that is what I heard from a bus driver that it would cost to expand the monorail. well for 30 million bucks they could connect all 4 parks on the monorail. It is time we expand the monorail and move the people in a more proficient manner. and for every new park that is built, Disney should start with the monorail track first. I love this place so much and I know that everyone would love to travel by monorail than bus. How would you like to go from the Polynesian to Downtown Disney?

 

[Jestocost]

"One million dollars for a mile of monorail track"..that is what I heard from a bus driver that it would cost to expand the monorail. well for 30 million bucks they could connect all 4 parks on the monorail. It is time we expand the monorail and move the people in a more proficient manner. and for every new park that is built, Disney should start with the monorail track first. I love this place so much and I know that everyone would love to travel by monorail than bus. How would you like to go from the Polynesian to Downtown Disney?

Sadly, the driver left out a couple of zeros. Most of the existing monorail systems in the world have run at least $60 million to $80 million per mile to construct. Even if Disney could do it for $50 million per mile (and who know how much it actually would cost), that's still 50 times your estimate.

Add to that cost the fact that the monorail system is much less flexible than bus transportation; that most of the transport at Disney is between resorts and parks, not park to park; and a number of other factors and the potential for an expansion of the monorail system is virtually nil.

There have been a couple of other threads about this in the past few weeks.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

"One million dollars for a mile of monorail track"..that is what I heard from a bus driver that it would cost to expand the monorail. well for 30 million bucks they could connect all 4 parks on the monorail.

The bus driver was wrong. But the driver did a great job perpetuating the reputation that drivers have as the best source of erroneous information about all things Disney.

Here's an article that discusses the "one million dollars for per mile" legend: http://www.yesterland.com/monoraillegends.html

 

[sotoalf]

I'm pretty sure WDW thinks the existing monorail line is a pain in the butt with its maintenance problems. Plus, the monorail generates no revenue per se, although you can argue that it attracts guests to the CR, Polynesian, and GF.

 

[Marando4]

 

[Alesia]

"One million dollars for a mile of monorail track"..that is what I heard from a bus driver that it would cost to expand the monorail.

That's what it cost when they originally built it, which was 40 years ago. Costs have risen considerably since then. Now it would be somewhere between $60 and $100 million per mile.