Why no Monorail

[Tara]

I think I agree with this....

Why?

Say they built an extra 20 miles of track to connect the other parks. (I have no idea how many miles it would really take.) That would be about $1.75 BILLION dollars just for the track. the trains are $18 million a pop. They'd have to build at stations and probably another barn or another switching location as I don't know that the TTC would be expandable or even the best solution.

How long would it take to recoup a capital investment of that magnitude when the investment itself generates virtually no revenue?

Remember, Animal Kingdom didn't even cost $1 billion to build. It's definitely an revenue generator and yet one of its "lands" - Beastly Kingdom - was shelved due to budget constraints. That $1 billion did not include Expedition Everest, though. EE cost about $100 million to build. It alone is a revenue generator - the addition of a true thrill ride gets more people interested in Disney, interested in going to AK.

Think about it - 20 miles of track or 17 thrill rides...the revenue those thrill rides generate could run a whole lot of buses for a long time.

 

[maccagerl]

I never said that DHS wasn't a Disney park. What I said is that it was not originally part of Disney World. It and Disney World were seperate places and promoted as two seperate places for you to visit. .

THis is just not true- DHS (formerly named Disney's MGM Studios) has ALWAYS been a part of WDW. Each of the 4 parks are unique and separate, but they are ALL part of the entire park/resort complex known as Walt Disney World.

I am sorry this issue as gotten a lot of people upset. That was not my intention...I am sorry if I offended anyway by saying that I thought Walt would have wanted a Monorail going to all the parks.

No one is upset or offended, people here are just trying to give you accurate answers to your question.

Yes at the Park the Monorails only go that speed, but that is set by Disney for various reasons. The current cars themselves are designed to go much faster by factory specs (up to 100mph if I read correctly). If Disney built a new loop, they could build one that went faster than 45mph if they wanted to.

I suspect the cars aren't running at 100 mph for safety reasons, also, if a new line were built connecting all the parks, as a pp has stated, you would have to have a lot of transfers between multiple lines, or a lot of stops on a single line, both of which would preclude running the trains at 100 mph.

It appears that most on here view the Monorail as a waist of good money for Disney. I do not view it that way. I asked an simple question because I didn't know the answer, and I appear to have gotten some good answers along with a few attacks.

Waist = Waste

Do you have any kind of a budget for your household, do you ever have to make decisions about whether to buy the latest SUV with all the bells and whistles or buy a less expensive car that will get you where you want to go but won't leave you in massive debt?
I guess since you are not responsible for the financial well being of WDW it's easy for you to sit back and say they should spend all their $$$ on extending the monorail.
Anyway, as a teacher I'm sure you must tell your students to look at a situation from more than one viewpoint, and I think if you honestly viewed your question from the viewpoint of WDW you would come to agree with everyone here who has taken the time to explain in detail why this is not feasible.

Many posters have taken the time to answer your question in great detail- I don't see how you could misinterpret that as being attacked.

Enjoy your trip!

 

[goofy4tink]

Who knew the monorail would get so many people so worked up!! In any case....WDW as a whole is just too big for this to happen. It would cost so much to build that it would just boggle your minds. Chip and Dale Express is absolutely right....he knows what he is talking about. Why would anyone choose to argue with his facts.
In any case...have any of you been stuck up there, on the monorail for mnore than 5 mins? I have. And it's not fun. If anything, anything at all, goes wrong on the track up ahead, all cars come to a screeching halt. And you get to sit up there, for who knows how long. Can you imagine what would happen if they had to empty a monorail line, while it was up in the air???
Yes, I love the monorail, but it just isn't feasible. Why do you think there are not more monorails throughout the world people???? It is not cost effective.

DHS (MGM), Epcot and AK were all build as part of WDW. None of them were built and then 'brought into' the Disney fold. They have always been part of WDW...always. There may have been, at one time, some thought of running the monorail through Epcot and to the resorts there, but I doubt there was ever any thought of running it to DHS.

 

[kaytieeldr]

The original name was Disney-MGM Studios (not just MGM Studios).

Since January 6, 2008, the name has been Disney's Hollywood Studios.

Was it really? Thanks for correcting me, Horace!

 

[crashbb]

She's confusing the Magic Kingdom with Walt Disney World... some people, especially older ones in my experience who were around when there was just one gate, do this. My dad does... as a former College Program CM, it drives me up a wall.

That still makes no sense. If the OP were making that mistake, why would DHS be specially singled out? EPCOT and AK are no more a part of MK then DHS/MGM is or was.

 

[boettj]

There may have been, at one time, some thought of running the monorail through Epcot and to the resorts there, but I doubt there was ever any thought of running it to DHS.

Running the monorail over to the BW hotels would be an interesting thought. However, you have the boats and a short walk. I could see how spending the extra money here would not be worth it.

If people don't get the point that adding monorail to other resorts/parks is too expensive, then they are being blind. That said, I personally just love the monorail. I've not been stuck on it, and yes getting off where you are well off the ground is a scary prospect. Especially for the people that EVC's and wheelchairs.

 

[yitbos96bb]

That still makes no sense. If the OP were making that mistake, why would DHS be specially singled out? EPCOT and AK are no more a part of MK then DHS/MGM is or was.

Valid point... maybe she thinks that Epcot and MK were Disney World and that Disney bought MGM and brought it into the fold and open DAK themselves. Not really sure to be honest.

 

[goofy4tink]

Running the monorail over to the BW hotels would be an interesting thought. However, you have the boats and a short walk. I could see how spending the extra money here would not be worth it.

If people don't get the point that adding monorail to other resorts/parks is too expensive, then they are being blind. That said, I personally just love the monorail. I've not been stuck on it, and yes getting off where you are well off the ground is a scary prospect. Especially for the people that EVC's and wheelchairs.

Ah, but you also have the boats at the MK resorts as well. There was some speculation that the monorail would allow Epcot resort guests easier access to the MK, just as the MK resorts have easier access to Epcot. But, obviously, it was going to cost a huge amount of money.
I have been stuck on the monorail, for about 30 mins, just shy of the TTC, coming in from Epcot. It was a wee bit disconcerting, being stuck up there. After about 10 mins, people were starting to get antsy. I can well imagine what would have happened if someone had 'lost it'..not a pretty picture.

Having the monorail run to further reaches would be a terrific thing....but it's never going to happen.

 

[Tara922c]

Although I think it would be neat if the monorail did go to each, and every park, I am going to agree with the majority, and say it would be way too expensive. Those expences would then be passed on to us since the monorail does not bring in any revenue on its own. Everytime I have tried to go from MK to EPCOT, or visa versa, on the monorail, in the middle of the day, I never had to wait for a second monorail to come. The mororail was practically empty everytime. (now I haven't gone to the parks during Spring Break, or Chirstmas so correct me if I am wrong). Also, whenever I have park hopped during the day, I never had to wait long for a bus. I believe, a new monorail system to service AK, and DHS would not be used by enough park hopping people during the day to be practical. I think it would be nice to have a monorail servicing all the parks, but I think it would be way to expensive, and I do not want the expences passed off to the consumer, which includes me.