Why is the monorail so popular.

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

It has to by one of the least reliable transport options our there. And when it is down Disney really does not go out I of their way to assist.


Epcot loop is down. No direct bus to MK. Take a bus to TTC and them a boat. Sheesh.

 

[wdw4rfam]

It was down one morning in September, and it took us 45 minutes to get from MK to poly for a morning ADR. Our only option was the boat, and there were so many people lined up, and each boat held so little. Luckily we left enough time. But it was down later in the week when we tried to go to Epcot from MK also. Last year it broke down with us on it TWICE. I personally would never pay to stay on the monorail loop, because it is down so much.

 

[cranbiz]

The monorail is an unique attraction for many guests. While it badly needs refurbishment, it's still an experience many don't get back home.

Warts and all, it's still more exciting than a bus. The boat is a nice experience but it's not what a vacationing guest wants to do.

Why are you so down on the monorail, Mr Orange County Commuter?

 

[disneyguyla]

Totally agree, was there and had problems with monorail, had to find differrent transportation. This thing might have been something in the 60 s and 70 s, but today it is what it is a train in the air, that needs a complete overhaul.

 

[nkereina]

The monorail is an unique attraction for many guests. While it badly needs refurbishment, it's still an experience many don't get back home.

Warts and all, it's still more exciting than a bus. The boat is a nice experience but it's not what a vacationing guest wants to do.

This. And I know for families with strollers, its convenient to not have to take the kids out and fold up the stroller like you do for a bus. Also easy and convenient for folk in ECVs and wheel chairs.

 

[joelkfla]

OP, you must be a younger person.

For those of us who grew up loving Uncle Walt (or at least his public persona), the Monorail is a symbol of WDW, and part of Walt's dream of a Utopian future.

It was unique and futuristic when it opened, and still is in a nostalgic sort of way.

I don't ride it as much as I used to, but I still love seeing the trains go by, and especially driving along side one, or standing under the beam as it glides (not so) silently overhead.

 

[LBIJim]

I don't know about the OP, but I'm a middle-aged poster. Yeah, I thought monorails were cool and futuristic when I was a kid, but decades ago I realized they are antiquated relics of 1960s "space age" thinking. Monorails were supposed to be the wave of the future in mass transportation, with every city in America having them by the early 1980s. The fact that there are very few other than in specialized situations shows how backward and impractical the idea really was.

Yeah, I suppose the monorail might be exciting for anyone who's never ridden an "El", and nostalgia may play a factor, but in the end it's a friggin' mass transit line in the sky. (And a very basic elementary school-level one at that.) Ho hum for even a transit junkie like myself.

 

[MillauFr]

Yes too bad they didn't just build a real rail system like other transit agencies have. Monorails are toys, not real transit systems. Still it is much better than the bus system that Disney operates.

 

[linzjane88]

Don't tell me you don't get a warm fuzzy feeling when you step in one!

The only negative monorail experience I have had is sitting in the seats while a nice gentleman stood in front of me and farted the whole way from MK to Epcot. Mind you -I am a nurse, I am used to bad smells- but THAT. I can only assume he had some VERY spicy foods at some point that day.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

OP, you must be a younger person.

For those of us who grew up loving Uncle Walt (or at least his public persona), the Monorail is a symbol of WDW, and part of Walt's dream of a Utopian future.

It was unique and futuristic when it opened, and still is in a nostalgic sort of way.

I don't ride it as much as I used to, but I still love seeing the trains go by, and especially driving along side one, or standing under the beam as it glides (not so) silently overhead.

I agree.

 

[Alesia]

I don't get it either. I'd much rather take the ferry.