New Monorails

[parkluvr]

This has probably been discussed before, but I am unable to find a comparable past thread. My question is simple, why doesn't Disney World purchase new monorail trains? I've seen that Disney has determined the cost of running new monorail lines to new hotels and parks is too expensive to justify, so I'm not asking for that. I read on one sight that a new monorail train cost about 3.5 million dollars. I am not sure how old that article was, but adding a modest amount on for inflation, I would guess that 5 million per train would be about right. If they kept the fleet the same size, we're talking 60 million dollars. For Disney that is pocket change. It seems like the last 3 times I've been to WDW I've seen breakdowns and hear CM's talking about shortages of monorails and such. Currently with monorail lime being damaged they are down to 10 active trains and talking about scrapping together part of monorail teal to monorail lime to make do. Monorail teal was already pieced together from old parts of pink and purple. It just seems to me that considering the premium prices that are charged for the monorail resorts and the number of day visitors the express track moves daily, it's a no brainer to invest in new trains that would be reliable and clean. I'm no expert on monorails so perhaps the dollar amounts in the article that I read are totally wrong??

 

[jlewisinsyr]

As with any business, what does $60 million provide in terms of ROI. Is it increased revenue, reduced costs? How long will it take to recover. Sure on a dollar basis, $60 million for a multi-billion organization is not much, projects still need justification.

 

[parkluvr]

As with any business, what does $60 million provide in terms of ROI. Is it increased revenue, reduced costs? How long will it take to recover. Sure on a dollar basis, $60 million for a multi-billion organization is not much, projects still need justification.

When you see advertisements for WDW, you almost always see the monorail. If your a day visitor or even a monorail resort visitor, one of your first experiences that you get of WDW is riding the monorail. Just browsing through the threads on these boards I've found numerous posts about "smelly" and "moldy" monorails. Disney would probably readily spend $60 million for an advertising campaign, so isn't it worth the money to make a positive first impression?

 

[goofy4tink]

The monorails don't truly smell....it's air conditioned air, but does smell a bit odd. As far as buying new cars? Disney would be better served spending their money on track repair. That's where a lot of the issue lie. Generally speaking, if you have an issue with the monorail, it's a track issue, not a car issue.
I know that Disney has replaced a lot of the cars.....sold the old ones to Las Vegas! I really doubt they are planning on spending much money on new cars. There is really nothing wrong with the existing ones.

 

[Viva Las Disney]

If they kept the fleet the same size, we're talking 60 million dollars. For Disney that is pocket change.

$60 million alone isn't much money to a company the size of Disney but when you start adding up the hundreds of "pocket change" items that we'd all like to see done it quickly turns into a huge number, even to a company the size of Disney.

Look at the US government, we take in trillions in tax revenue every year but still manage to have massive deficits every year. Some items like military, SS, and Medicare are massive budgets but the rest is all a hundred million here and a hundred million there, even with Trillions in revenue the spending quickly exceeds it.

Personal budgets are the same, it's amazing how many middle to upper income individuals nickel and dime themselves to bankruptcy. No single item does it but when you add up a home mortgage, a couple car payments, utilities, CC debt, etc, etc, etc it adds up quick.

 

[PatMcDuck]

They new monorails at DL Resort. 3 of them. And guess what? they do not have AC! But they are lovely.

I prefer the monorails with the AC at WDW.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Just like the A/C in your car has a smell that is the same thing with the monorail.