Monorail Expansion??

[wtg2000]

So they would force people to park at DTD and close the TTC parking lot? Otherwise I think people would still park at TTC. Even so, you'd have to light rail them to old TTC and then put them on the monorail - a two stage journey. Unless the light rail ran to the gates of the MK. That's a long way to haul people and it seems unneccessary and expensive. And it doesn't eliminate any bus routes. I think people would just park at EPCOT and take the monorail up.

 

[KNWVIKING]

The new TTC they were talking about really had nothing to with monorail expansion, it was more to do with the proposed new short rail line between the airport & WDW. Disney was going to donate 50 acres for a train station near Oceola (sp) parkway & I-4 and then build a new TTC adjacent to it.

 

[Lewisc]

Originally posted by wtg2000
So they would force people to park at DTD and close the TTC parking lot? Otherwise I think people would still park at TTC. Even so, you'd have to light rail them to old TTC and then put them on the monorail - a two stage journey. Unless the light rail ran to the gates of the MK. That's a long way to haul people and it seems unneccessary and expensive. And it doesn't eliminate any bus routes. I think people would just park at EPCOT and take the monorail up.

I'm not sure how far alone this idea went. The concept that people coming from the hotels on I-Drive would park in DTD (maybe garages) and get train/monrail service to the parks. There was speculation that they might close the existing TTC and use the space for another monorail resort.

When the dust settles buses are more flexible and cheaper. It's a shame they couldn't at least come up with something better to go from AKL to AK.

 

[wtg2000]

When the dust settles buses are more flexible and cheaper.

It would be interesting to know long term the cost difference - monorail vs. buses.

You'd have to consider the replacement cost for buses after a few years, repair costs, gas vs. electric, road vs. track maintenance, driver costs, insurance, lost revenue that you could charge for monorails (or higher hotel costs). Not to mention goodwill and the enjoyment factors for the guests. I wonder if it would be all that different.

 

[Rence]

Personally I would like to see them expand on-site transportation with a variety of options.

Extend the mono-rail where it makes sense, but part of the fun of Disney is the different types of transport.

They could add any and/or all of the following:
Light rail, steam train, people mover, boats, trolleys, double decker busses, moving sidewalks, aerial tramways and anything else you can think of.

Busses work, but are a little dull, monorail everywhere would also be a bit repetitive, I'd like to see some good old Disney imagination to come up with lots of different transport options.

 

[KNWVIKING]

I think the monorail would be cheaper to operate. For one, the electricity they use is generated by WDW using trash to fuel the boilers. The monorail uses one driver to transport several bus loads of people, but there are people manning the rail stations so maybe that's a wash. Many of the buses are old NY transit buses running old Detroit Diesels, they are not inexpensive to maintain, monorails would have a big advantage. Plus, those buses do a lot of damage to the WDW roadways.