Will the monorail ever be expanded?

[teampont]

Unlike Disney buses which service resort guests. The Monorail does not generate any revinue for Disney. Because of that, it is my opinion that they will never add on to the monrail.

 

[OldsDr]

Even though I love the Monorail. I think that in 20 years you may see it and the stations in the abandoned and rotting thread that is in the theme parks board right now.

Part of the reason Monorail resorts are so expensive is that it is the money collected at those resorts that pays for the resort loop of the monrail (at least a portion of it) Get rid of the monrail, make everyone take busses, leave the cost of the room the same and they would instantly be making a ton more money at those three resorts

 

[marius97]

Even though I love the Monorail. I think that in 20 years you may see it and the stations in the abandoned and rotting thread that is in the theme parks board right now.

Part of the reason Monorail resorts are so expensive is that it is the money collected at those resorts that pays for the resort loop of the monrail (at least a portion of it) Get rid of the monrail, make everyone take busses, leave the cost of the room the same and they would instantly be making a ton more money at those three resorts

Problem is though that they charge a huge premium on the monorail resorts because of the convenience to the parks. If they got rid of the monorail, then they would have a hard time justifying the increased price of the resorts. I go the opposite way with making it not as expensive to make a loop around Boardwalk area. (Though I don't think it would ever happen.) If they expanded the monorail to service DHS and Boardwalk area, then they could jack up the rates of any resort that it stops at and even some that it just goes close to. This would by no means cover the cost of an expansion, but it would help.

 

[truck1]

from what I've read, it's not even the cost of adding, but the fact that the current trains can't even be upgraded without redoing the entire monorail system due to power requirements of the new trains being manufactured. We'll be lucky if they eventually upgrade instead of letting the current trains fall apart like they are doing right now.

If they follow past precedents, probably within the next 2 or 3 years we should see a new generation of monrails appearing or at least announced.I want to say that the inital Mark Vs were 15 years old or so,when they were replaced with the current Mark VIIs

 

[ChrisFL]

Monorails would have been fine....back in 1989 when MGM Studios opened and they didn't have nearly 30 different resorts, etc. randomly dotting the property.

Now, they wouldn't be convenient, cost effective or having the "wow" factor like they used to....

However, IMO, Personal Rapid Transport is the way that Disney should go. It's "brand new" in the sense that it's not really around in many places, it provides a much smaller need in building of the tracks, they can be built in many more places, have a better "grid" network above the roads, and maintenance and storage would be a lot simpler I think.

Again this isn't technology that's out there in many places yet, but the monorail didn't exist hardly at all either when Disney decided to CREATE their own.

Here's some versions that other companies are working on:

 

[ConcKahuna]

It's a shame as the original plans for the Monorail were to link it to the Ontario airport. Boy did that project fall short.

I know you meant to type this as Orlando, but it made me giggle

The proposed WDW stop for the Florida light-rail system is rumored to be the Epcot resort area. Where exactly, I'm not sure.

 

[Orange&BlueMonorail]

If you look at the original concept of how the monorail was supposed to serve 'The Florida Project' it is doing just that...to a much lesser extent. Check out the Walt Disney Treasures - TomorrowLand DVD to see what the monorail was truly meant to be.

But, I agree with ChrisFL. There are now just too many resorts dotted all over property to effectively serve everyone. There is no way that the monorail could ever be the end-all of transportation. Not now. If they were a little more forward thinking when putting resorts and parks around property throughout the Disney Decade then maybe.

And the examples that ChrisFL gave could be very viable options to replacing both the monorail and the buses. Personal Rapid Transit is coming along nicely as a option...it just needs someone to take that first leap. If he were alive, PRT is something that would have been right up Walt's alley.

Until that happens, I will wait for the Mark VIIIs to come out, and enjoying staying on the loop when I visit Disney

 

[CanadianGuy]

Even though I love the Monorail. I think that in 20 years you may see it and the stations in the abandoned and rotting thread that is in the theme parks board right now.

Part of the reason Monorail resorts are so expensive is that it is the money collected at those resorts that pays for the resort loop of the monrail (at least a portion of it) Get rid of the monrail, make everyone take busses, leave the cost of the room the same and they would instantly be making a ton more money at those three resorts

I don't share your dark view.. the upgrades to the much shorter Monorail at DL give me hope that Disney bean counters and execs see the monorail as 'untouchable' for the most part and a valuable investment in the 'magic'.. Will they expand it - I doubt it.. But I think they are just as unlikely to shelve it.

Sides a new monorail refurb (it was actually a refurb) has debuted at DL (the Mark VII) -- I have hope that a train refurb based on the Mark VI platform is possible at WDW as well taking it I guess to the Mark VIII nameplate.

And for the poster who would love to see the 5 mile loop for DHS, just keep in mind that you'd be talking about somewhere in the vicinity of $300 to 500 million dollars for that.

That's a LOT of ticket price increases.

 

[EcbLovesMickey]

I believe I remember reading a few years ago when Seattle tried to expand its monorail system that there is only 1 company in the world that currently makes and helps maintain monorail systems. So even to purchase a new train must be ridiculously expensive.

 

[North7]

Unlike Disney buses which service resort guests. The Monorail does not generate any revinue for Disney. Because of that, it is my opinion that they will never add on to the monrail.

Just curious... how exactly do Disney buses generate revenue for Disney

 

[ShinjiMickey]

Again I agree that the monorail will probably never see an expansion. My problem is innovation, where is it? I really wish Walt were still around, he stressed innovation so much... Like ChrisFL posted there are many different options other than buses and cars... Maybe its just me but when I' m at Disney I hate having to plan for bus routes.

 

[Disco]

I know you meant to type this as Orlando, but it made me giggle

The proposed WDW stop for the Florida light-rail system is rumored to be the Epcot resort area. Where exactly, I'm not sure.

I didn't even notice until you pointed it out. A monorail stretching all the way to Canada (or California) would be impressive.

On the flip side, a light rail system just doesn't snap "Disney Magic" to me. It has to be elevated and on pillars if it is any good.

 

[KYMickey]

And the examples that ChrisFL gave could be very viable options to replacing both the monorail and the buses. Personal Rapid Transit is coming along nicely as a option...it just needs someone to take that first leap. If he were alive, PRT is something that would have been right up Walt's alley.

Until that happens, I will wait for the Mark VIIIs to come out, and enjoying staying on the loop when I visit Disney

Here's an interesting article about PRT in Morgantown West Virginia. It's an 8.5 mile system was 71 vehicles that serves 16,000 people per day. UWV personal transportation system

 

[KYMickey]

For those of you really interested in monorails here's a link to the monorail society's website: monorail Society It's very surprising how many monorail systems are in service or under construction worldwide.

 

[Dznefreek]

never . . . . is a very long time . . . . .No one can be sure it will NEVER happen. . . .

 

[mobocracy]

Again I agree that the monorail will probably never see an expansion. My problem is innovation, where is it? I really wish Walt were still around, he stressed innovation so much... Like ChrisFL posted there are many different options other than buses and cars... Maybe its just me but when I' m at Disney I hate having to plan for bus routes.

This is really my overall gripe about Disney; I think there is a little too much emphasis on commerce and little too little emphasis on innovation.

Much of what I found (and still find) "magical" about DW are the more Walt-influenced areas, such as the MK and Epcot's Future World. We had fun on some of the rides at Hollywood Studios but I found too much of the park seemed to be just stores selling merchandise, which I thought was kind of a waste of the well-done streetscapes.

I really find Walt's emphasis on tomorrow -- even if it eventually turns out to be an impossible, Jetsons flying-car kind of future -- quite inspiring, along with his willingness to innovate to make it happen (like the monorail or the Contemporary hotel).

I recognize that selling stuff helps keep the doors open, but I'd like a little more of the Main Street of tomorrow and a little less of the Wall Street of today.

 

[ConcKahuna]

Just curious... how exactly do Disney buses generate revenue for Disney

Easy, they generate revenue by resort bookings. Do you think people would pay 3x the hotel price of other hotels in the area (but off-property) if it werent for the fact that Disney busses you everywhere so you dont have to deal with a car? I dont.

 

[mobocracy]

Here's something else, people want the monorail to go to all the parks. Ok, but where are they going to come from.

If you extend the existing lines to DHS and AK it only benefits maybe 20%confused3) of the onsite guests and people hopping during the day.

How is everyone else going to get to the parks?

Do you expect them to take some sort of other transportation, like maybe a BUS, to some super TTC and transfer? What about the water parks and DTD and ESPN WWS?

In my original post I suggested an expansion involving a loop from Epcot, through the Swan/Dolphin Epcot resort area and then on to DHS and AK. Those resort areas have thousands of hotel rooms, making the monorail possibly capable of moving 10,000 plus guests on the Epcot/DHS/AK loop alone.

Disney development has been too chaotic for anyone to believe that a monorail could connect everything. Had some visionaries been involved, they might actually have planned a larger monorail route and then built the park around the monorails.

Plus it seems appropriate that the monorail is a "theme park" transportation system/attraction, not just a generic mode of inter-park mass transit.

People are suggesting that they scrap a flexible mostly point to point transportation system to an inflexable hybrid hub and spoke/point to point system where you may have to change vehicles 3 times to get where you want to go just for the extra magic.

I don't know about your bus experience, but my bus from the Contemporary to DHS and AK was hardly "point to point". It was point, to point, to point, point, including a stop at a water park on the way back from AK. I'm pretty sure this made the overall trip much longer than the 2 minute walk between monorails added when going from Contemporary to Epcot.

 

[mobocracy]

Easy, they generate revenue by resort bookings. Do you think people would pay 3x the hotel price of other hotels in the area (but off-property) if it werent for the fact that Disney busses you everywhere so you dont have to deal with a car? I dont.

The "Unofficial Guide to WDW" went into a lot of detail on inter-park transportation and wasn't very kind to the Disney bus system. They did a number of comparisons and found it actually a lot faster to get around by car than by Disney transportation (which would have been primarily bus, since the monorail only services a very small number of hotels).

For the theme parks specifically it was fine, but for getting around generally it would have been a headache.

I think the Disney bus system is more about luring you into *not* having a car and convincing you to do more Disney dining/attractions during a visit versus going off-property.

I really wanted the Contemporary this time around for sentimental reasons, but next time around I won't be afraid to shop outside for housing. There are some nice properties and with a car you get the option of doing some non-Disney things without really compromising the ability to do Disney parks.

 

[North7]

Easy, they generate revenue by resort bookings. Do you think people would pay 3x the hotel price of other hotels in the area (but off-property) if it werent for the fact that Disney busses you everywhere so you dont have to deal with a car? I dont.

But teampont originally stated "Unlike Disney buses which service resort guests. The Monorail does not generate any revenue for Disney. Because of that, it is my opinion that they will never add on to the monrail." If the buses generate revenue, then I would argue that the monorail generates revenue for the same reasons. Would people pay the prices they do to stay at a monorail resort if there was no monorail? I wouldn't.

Rather than breaking it down into the "mode" of transportation, I guess it would be a fair statement to say that Disney transportation generates revenue. Probably more so since the introduction of Magical Express.