More monorail!!! About This Page:

[katsunderthestars]

Does anyone know why they don't build more monorail...at least connecting the 4 parks? They must have spent SOOO much money building it when the technology was new and now that it is old technology, it has to be much cheaper. I feel it would be so amazing if they expanded the monorail and I would feel more inclined to stay in some of the further hotel (such as AKL) if a monorail went there!

[jenlovesmickey]

That would be cool. The only reason I can think of (other than $$$) would be that the resorts served by the monorail are some of the best, most exclusive resorts on property. So, if you were to connect them all, or even add others, those resorts (GF. Poly, Contemp), would somehow feel less special and exclusive, thereby warranting a lower price tag. Just my opinion though, as I am sure someone knows the actual reason.

[Sue M.]

I've heard this speculation about extending the monorail before, but I'm not an engineer, and don't know how difficult or expensive it would be to connect all 4 parks, well really there are 2 water parks & DTD too, and tie in all the resorts.

It would be nice! Even if they just did a monorail linking all the parks, from your resort, they would only have to bus you to the closest park, and you could take the monorail to whatever park you were going to.

[scottjs]

There is talk of extending an electric train from San Francisco to San Jose. One possible price I heard was 10 million dollars per mile!!! Now that is a lot of Mickey Bars!!!!

[DopeyGirl]

I'm willing to bet that a large amount of the reason why there is not more monorail is the cost. It is NOT cheap. Multiple millions of dollars per mile.

[bradk]

it'd be a little over 2 million per mile right now.

another problem is (and i may be mistaken), they don't have the exact formula for the tracks. the concrete has to be aerated at a certain percentage so it's not too soft and won't crack too easily.

it's also a huge headache. every beam has to be a different custom length given the nature of the land.

[chezp]

The main reason I've always heard is cost, but I agree, it would be wonderful to have some more monorail around Disney World, especially having seen the amazing monorails they have at Hong Kong and Tokyo - if only they had some of those at WDW with Mickey shaped windows and Mickey shaped hand grabs inside the carriage.

[Luvsun]

I agree - it would be wonderful to have it extended to other parks and resorts.
But in reality, I don't see it happening due to the cost!

[njsmama]

Originally Posted by bradk

it'd be a little over 2 million per mile right now.

another problem is (and i may be mistaken), they don't have the exact formula for the tracks. the concrete has to be aerated at a certain percentage so it's not too soft and won't crack too easily.

it's also a huge headache. every beam has to be a different custom length given the nature of the land.

That's what we learned while riding up front in the monorail. The "pilot/captain?" said that when the monorail was built that it was at a cost of one million per mile and that WDW did not foresee building anymore as it would be much more costly now. Even as close as Wilderness Lodge runs to the monorail , it will never have monorail access either.

[Buffalogirl18]

Cost - for sure!

[Stripes]

Originally Posted by bradk

it'd be a little over 2 million per mile right now.

another problem is (and i may be mistaken), they don't have the exact formula for the tracks. the concrete has to be aerated at a certain percentage so it's not too soft and won't crack too easily.

Actually, I believe cost would be much higher.

The Las Vegas Monorail, which opened in 2004, cost $654 million for just 4.4 miles and stations. It uses the same Bombardier technology as the WDW system so is a good comparison. (Bombardier acquired the technology from Disney and some of the old WDW monorails were 'retired' to Vegas.) There were problems Vegas had that Disney wouldn't have to deal with like purchasing right-of-way, so maybe Disney could hold the costs under $100 million per mile. WDW would also have to take into consideration possibly expanding storage and maintenance yards and control centers.

A Monorail expansion would a be H.U.G.E. expense for something that doesn't generate direct revenue. Yes, an expansion could reduce bus fleet expenses, be green and add to the magic but it’s still hard to justify the expense even if Disney could hold the costs to “only” $50 million per mile.

The original formula for the tracks has to be around somewhere...its my understanding they used it when the track was expanded to Epcot in '82.

[jimmymac]

Building a monorail is prohibitively expensive

[janicelovesmickey]

wow thats alot of $$ for the vegas one
i wish they would make them to all the parks even that'd be great.
In fact, I wish the world ran on monorails think of no pullution or less I should say, I'd still want to fly..
but back to disney, it would be cool even if they did them from all 4 parks

[Lyle & Jessica Orr]

I imagine a large part of the cost is the concrete beams. Perhaps they will look into other means of rail between the parks some day.

Given the choice of a 5th park or monorail everywhere, which would you choose?

I thought so. Me too! ;-)

[Dave Marx]

There's been a lot of discussion around the web about this. There's no doubt the romance of the 'rail keeps the discussion going.

I'd say first off that park-to-park transportation isn't high on Disney's priority list. Resort-to-park transport is by far the biggest chunk of the transportation pie. However, at that very high cost-per-mile, monorail is not the answer for connecting all those destinations.

The complexity of an rail-based system that can connect all resorts with all parks is pretty substantial - either there will be lots of transfers required, or a very extensive network of dedicated routes.

Then there's the problem of Disney itself needing to distinguish between the various "classes" of accommodations. Transportation options are currently one of the determining factors. With the exception of AKL, all Disney Deluxe resorts have multiple transportation choices - monorail/bus/boat or bus/boat. For the most part, other classes of resort do not. If transportation becomes cooler/more efficient at the less expensive resorts, then Disney has to find other ways to keep the Deluxes attractive. You can also bet that, to the extent possible, Disney would increase the prices at the resorts served by upgraded transportation.

The most practical current idea out there is light rail (trolley-like vehicles). The cost is substantially lower than monorail, but that's only relative. It could be used to connect the parks and resorts, and also the airport. There have been serious proposals for a light rail link between WDW and the airport, but the idea hasn't gotten a lot of support from the rest of the Orlando business community, because it wouldn't do much to serve their needs.

Among various blue sky ideas, one that catches the imagination of Disney fans with an interest in transportation is a full-fledged version of the People Mover idea (like the Tomorrowland Transit Authority, but all grown up). You'd have a whole lot of driver-less, small capacity electric vehicles visiting all the parks, resorts, and (presumably) the airport. The vehicles would move to the loading zone on demand, and parties of travelers would select their destination from a touch screen menu. The system might use dedicated roadways, or by the time it went into effect, they might even use the existing road system, with all the vehicles under computer control (radio control, guide wires embedded in the pavement, etc.). Vehicles would be small capacity, so instead of waiting 20 minutes for the right bus to come along, folks could head to their destination on demand.

All of this is fabulously expensive, and not likely to happen anytime soon. Our best hope might be if it was built by the Reedy Creek Improvement District (RCID), rather than directly by Disney. As a government body, RCID can issue municipal bonds and obtain Federal, State, and County transportation funding. As an experimental system, one could imagine RCID obtaining government financing that would cover a significant part of the costs, but I have a feeling cities with large populations of taxpayers would be first in line for those monies.