Question About Monorail Playsets.

[cap123ny]

First off, nice job S8Film40 on your compilation. The list is very accurate and complete, well done.
I just have a few "addendums" for lack of a better word, these are a few items we "serious collectors" (now there's an oxymoron for ya!), I used both "serious" and "collectors" when referring to a bunch of 20-60 year old folks like me who collect toys for a hobby! Re-think my life...NAH! I love Disney and I've been out of the closet for years.
Some items we often use for our DTPR's (going forward this is an acronym for Disney Theme Park Replicas) that I find noteworthy:
1) Disney Town Square Playset from Sears in 1988: This is a "must have" for your DTPR. It'll take me too long to detail, but it's basically an entire recreation of Main Street made from mostly heavy gauge cardboard stock and plastic. It's enormous and comes with well over 200 pieces, it takes most people I know the better part of 3 evenings to build. They also released small accessory packs to add on to make your Main Street look more realistic. Available were figurines in packs of about 3-4 figs, some are the "Fab Five", park guests, kids, dads, moms with babies etc. There were lighting kits to illuminate your display, the Christmas Tree on MS, a furniture pack, music box, Horse Trolley and a few more.
The Town Square MIB (mint in box) complete with sealed bags will run you about $150-$200 on the Bay depending on box condition and guaranteed complete. A strongly worded caution, make 100% certain you are buying a complete set and in mint shape. I know that's a tall order for a 21 year old playset with hundreds of pieces but here's why it's so critical: Many of the pieces are essential to erect this set, any combination of broken or missing items and you'll be stuck with a $200 paperweight. Any real exposure to moisture and the cardboard stock building facades will be warped and you won't be able to clip them in place. Do not buy from someone who says, "it looks complete to me", that's basically code for "it isn't complete" or "I'm too lazy to inventory it". Do not buy a set without the instructions either, that's a guarantee it's not complete (how would they know it's complete without the instructions that have the parts list?) also Frank Lloyd Wright couldn't build this set without blueprints, errr, instructions. If you're really nice and tell me how great I look for my age, I might email you a copy. I've sold a number of these over the years and know it well and I couldn't memorize all the pieces it comes with. Get it in writing "this is a complete set" in case you need to return it. Oh, this is huge and weighs about 12 pounds, the box, ironically is very thin cardboard, much too thin for such weighty contents so MIB is relative, if it isn't badly crushed or torn, it's MIB. A few wrinkles are almost a certainty. You can use this set as your hub for your entire Monorail DTPR and just build the "lands" around it.
2) The Main Street Station: Awesome item with over 100 pieces, you'll use this at your entrance and set it up at the front of the Sears Town Square set. It has realistic recorded announcements with the sound of the train coming into the Station and the actual guys voice who does the shtick at the Parks, "The Walter E Disney is now entering on track #2, all aboard!) This one is volatile in regards to price, I've seen them as low as $50 (unusual) and as high as $175, but the average is closer to $75-$110. Depends on how many were available on the Bay at the time.
3)Walt Disney World HO Scale Railroad (the Walter E Disney) this was made for the MSS I just described in #2, it's a powered unit and a very handsome replica, and pretty fast too (variable speed) It'll cost you around $140-$175 to win one.
4) Splash Mountain from Hasbro: Pretty simple explanation, they never made one for the Mono sets so we adopted this to fill our need. It's a Polly Pocket style playset and really hard to find MIB, expect to pay $75-$100.
5) Small World: Same line as the Splash Mt $50-$75 MIB
6) Race Car Set: These are slot cars, a replica of the Tomorrowland attraction, very popular with Mono collectors $125-$175
7) Test Track: Some use this one as a "Poor Man's" Race Car Set, $40-$70
8) Wilderness Playset: This is a Lincoln Logs playset that, once built is a great Wilderness Lodge. Everyone knows about the Contemp, Poly and FL but not many know this, but enough do that make it go for about $125 MIB.
9) You missed the Sunwheel ride playset from DCA, ($100-$150) same line as the Zephyr, Triton etc. My favorite DCA ride Mono playset. Also the Epcot Sorcerers Hat Playset ($150-$175).
10) Let's not forget the Sleeping Beauty Castle Playset
11) Cinderella's Golden Carousel (Polly style too) good for the Carousel behind the Castle ($15)
12) Paradise Pier Monorail connector 3 pack: These are the only ones that work with the so-called Mini Monorail as the tracks and support beams are half the size of the standard set and can't be swapped. The full size connectors do not fit on the Mini or Vice Versa. Drives me nuts when sellers conveniently "forget" to mention that when selling these. Buyers think they are getting a 3 pack of connectors that will work with their setups, they don't. Expect to pay $50-$75 still. VHTF.
I like to use the diecast buses, trucks and fire trucks etc to put near the TTC also.
That's about it for my "supplemental" Monorail DTPR list. There are some "custom jobs out there worth a look, one guy makes graduating support beams that allow you to make a figure 8 by making one track line pass over another. Another guy installs custom high speed motors that give the Monorails more than double their normal speed, allowing for a much more realistic scale versus speed pairing. I...."ahem", he mentions "why should the Monos run at the scale speed of 5-10 MPH as originally designed when they run much faster at the Parks". The extra speed looks much more in line with how it ought to in your DTPR. He's also very clever and devilishly handsome (chuckle). Give this wonderful hobby that is so much fun for Disney families both young and old to enjoy a try. Feel free to drop me a line if you ever need any suggestions on building your DTPR, I love talking about it with both novice and expert alike. Have a Magical day.

Howdy! Do you have info on the guy who replaces monorail motors? I'd like to find someone who will replace my California Screamin motor.