Post Vacation Question #1

[KAT1811]

I thought I would have more questions prior to my vacation but now that I have returned I have even more. Looking and traveling around the world has had my mind working overtime and I was wondering what all of you thought.

Question #1

Would you like to see the monerail expanded to include all of the on property resorts and parks? Or do you like it the was it is the "classic" monerail line?

[tiaramom]

I Would Love It ...
The Trasportation Is Tough Between Some Resort To Resort ( For Dining).
This Would Fix That Problem Up.
More People Would Use The Dining Plan Too. And Disney Could Add More Restaurants To The Resorts( Profits For Them) . Im Sure The Cost For Adding The Monorail To Include All Resorts Would Be A Pretty Penny! Not That Disney Doesnt Have It...
I Would Imagice More People Not Leaving The Property- All In One Access To All Is Something No Other Resort /theme Park Can Offer To This Level. I Never Rent A Car And Sometimes We Feel Limited In Restaurant Choices...
And I Too- Enjoy The Other Resorts Activities.. ( Wilderness Chip And Dale,
Poly Water Show, Etc...) Again This Is
A Dream Come True- If Ever It Would Come To Be...
Wishing Helps Right?

[LibertyTreeGal]

The cost for such a thing would be so prohibitive that it scares me to think what they would have to do to pay for it......

[Stan]

I don't like busses either, but I would not want them to add anything to the existing resort monorail line- it's already a 15-20 min circle with all the stops. So they'd need to make a separate line with switching or crossovers- otherwise it would have to be "not all trains stop at all resorts" so you'd have to watch which train you got on (How often would the one you need run? How often would folks get on the wrong train?... they already have that problem with the express TTC monorail- riders keep waiting for it to stop at CR Poly or GF and of course it doesn't. :rolleyes:)

I think if there was a half way obvious way to do this it would have happened a long time ago. I'm guessing they looked at the logistics and said, "no way".

Of course it is Disney, all they need is some magic. ;) :magic:

[Seasonscraps]

In theory I would LOVE IT!! There could be loops for each park with their designated resorts that meet at the TTC or another HUB like area so transfers would be necessary but so much more pleasant then buses.

I think the cost, the volume of people this system would need to move around and the size of Disney property would make a project of this magnitude prohibitive.

[DNS]

I am not a fan of the bus system, so expanding the monorail, or some type of train would be great to me. Disney comes up with some of the most amazing rides and attractions, I would just think they could come up with a better way to transport people than the buses.

[Polynesian Dweller]

Additions to the monorail system, especially an Epcot/MGM/DTD loop would be great but likely cost prohibitive as a monorail. But perhaps Disney could look at some sort of light rapid transit system (i.e. rail, people mover) that would work.

[IloveDisney71]

I would love to see the monorail expanded to include the Studios and Animal Kingdom. It would make it so much easier to park hop. I love riding the monorail to hop btwn. Epcot & the MK.
I'm not sure how they would work in all of the resorts. My husband would LOVE that though. That's the only reason he chose the Poly. for our upcoming trip - he wants to be able to ride the monorail to MK and Epcot. He doesn't care for the buses. I really don't mind them.
I know this would be so EXPENSIVE that I doubt we will ever see any expansion of the monorail system.

[BronxTigger]

I don't think the monorail should be expanded.

1. It would cost A LOT to expand and maintain. More rails means they would need more trains or the trains they have would come less often. More trains means more maintenance. More tracks means more maintenance. all this = higher cost

2. Value and moderate resorts are priced lower in part because of their transportation options. If they were all on the monorail, those economical options would no longer exist.

3. Monorails "hug" the track. I don't know exactly how it works, but I'm sure its not easy to get them onto a different track. They are somewhat limited in their track layouts. Adding more loops would require more transfer points and the end result could end up taking just as long as the bus.

[CaptainSad]

I have heard it would cost 1 Billion per mile. Of course that is adding all the new Mach vehicles, tranfer stations, Track,etc. It would be nice to be able to though. They may add in some places, but not the whole property.

[amd780]

I agree that it would not be cost effective to expand the monorail...but it would be so cool to be able to ride it anywhere in WDW--or at least to add a monorail stop to the Studios and AK :mickey:

[snifflesmcg]

I'd love to see it expanded. I love the value resorts and it's so hard to get anywhere in a timely manner. For instance, just to eat dinner in the Polynesian, from my resort, I had to take a bus to the Magic Kingdom then transfer to the monorail to go to the Polynesian. It would be much easier to those to care to buy the hopper ticket as well. I don't because I know all the travel time involved and I don't feel it's worth it.

[DNS]

If the monorail (or train) replaced all the buses though, I wonder what the difference in cost would be. Building and maintaining those buses would not be inexpensive either. If they no longer had to buy/maintain buses that would be put into maintaining a monorail/train system.

[jclightchasr]

I agree with other users that it would be cool to expand everywhere but the increased costs would only come out of the pockets of vacationers and the more economical resorts would definately cost more.
On the flipside how much are they forking out for buses, drivers, fuel, and bus maintenance?

I definately think that the monorail should be linked with MGM and AK though to enable more efficient park hopping. This would also probably increase hopper upgrade sales to help offset the cost.

[disneymom2000]

No No NO That is a great perk for the Magic Kingdom (Deluxe) Resorts. If you expand it to include all resorts/parks then you pave the way for the price of other resorts to increase immensely. Then less people will be able to afford to go. At least having the value resorts with less perks means more people can enjoy Disney. :spoiler:

[pook@wdw]

I think it at least ought to cover all the parks. I don't know if it's financially feasible to inlclude the entire park, but if they could w/o raising prices, I'd be all for it!!:thumbsup:

[JohnHMCWYG]

I'm cool with the buses myself. I think that expanding the monorail could take years and years , and the construction might make it difficult to get through the World. I'll stick with the buses and take the monorail when necessary.

Sincerely,

John Kilduff

[crltkcagle]

It would be a great idea but I agree with everyone else that it would probably cost too much to do.

[GrmGrninGost]

As much as I would love it, I don't think they will expand it at all. The sharp pencil guys will probably keep this from ever happening. It is less expensive to transport by bus than to build new track and build new monorails. :( Still, I'll keep hoping!

[dml]

When I last worked at WDW in 1999, I was told it would cost $1 million per mile of track to expand the monorail to other parts of the property. WDW has not ruled the idea out for the future but did not want to focus on it anytime in the near future because putting that kind of money out for the monorail would make costs go up considerably for guests, which they did nto want to do.

:mickey::mickey:

[kbean]

There would have to have many tracks running to different places or it would be a big traffic jam and would take forever to get where you want cuz you'll be picking and dropping people off on the way. I don't think cost is really the main problem, it's designing a working system first.

[RBrooksC]

As a poster said before, the cost is the overriding factor in why the monorail has never been extended to include MGM nor AK.

The cost is a little less then earlier stated. It is about one million dollars per mile but one can see how that money would add up especially if WDW would want to extend the line to AK.

However, for me the only reliable source of transportation is a car. Then there is no waiting and no concerns about the extra time it will take to get from point A to point B.

[Rodders]

I feel that linking the values and moderates would be far too pricey and would devalue the current monorail connected deluxe resorts. This cost would have to be passed onto the consumer. However, linking the other parks to the system may be feasible. Here are my crazy musings on the matter:-

I have just used the ruler feature on Google Earth to plot a possible route from the ticket and transportation centre to AK and the whole loop would need to be about 10.5 miles. I have created a JPG showing this route but I think posting it here could get Intercot into trouble as the map images are subject to copyright. If the 1million per mile figure is accurate then I'm sure that people can do the maths ;)

This is just for AK to be linked to the TTC. Hollywood studios is approx 3.4 miles from the TTC centre so I would think linking these 2 parks to the TTC in this way would cost somewhere in the region of 20 Million. Obviously this is VERY rough pricing.

Would Disney want to splash out to this extent? I doubt it personally. What do you peeps think?

[RBrooksC]

One thing that is forgotten is the $1 million per mile, most likely is from years ago. I would believe it is higher now. Also, what does that cost take into consideration? When the Epcot line was built, there were no hotels nor as many roads as there are now. Now they would have to deal with all the roadways, the resorts, the trees, and the other buildings the incorporate Disney. The true cost will be a lot higher because of the difference in the resort compared to when the monorail extenion to Epcot opened.

[Rodders]

I did say that these are my crazy musings on the matter :mickey:
I wouldn't be suprised if this figure was double but I think the key thing is that it is going to be a figure of that order. When I plotted a route it did come across a number of "challenges" so the points you just raised are certainly valid.

[jrpersinger]

Forgetting all $$$$$ it would cost..... I am not certain about connecting it to everything, but I think connecting it to MGM, AK, DTD, TL and BB would be wonderful!

[wdwfansince75]

As one who loves Park Hopping, I have visualized a loop connecting Epcot, Studios, and AK. Not sure of total milage this would be, but envision it adding a third stop to the Epcot mono platform, single track to AK , then to Studios.

On past trips, I have seen deer from the Epcot monorail. I remember the old monorail at Kings Dominion, running through the animal park. Think it would be great if the AK loop would at least give a glimpse of the Savannah.

Believe such a park to park (to park) loop would add to use of Park Hoppers, bringing in revenue from that source.

Not sure what a Return on Investment analysis would show for adding resorts. Suspect that adding moderates and values would raise the costs of stays.....logistics of multiple stops within the larger resorts, and/or stops at multiple resorts, would seem to add time to resort to park transit time. If it cost more, and takes longer, it is not a good idea!

[Figgyluv03]

I think it would be really cool to expand to include everything.

[RBrooksC]

If the monorail was ever to be extended to AK, one would not see the Savannah from it. The Imagineers have a clear themeing in mind for AK and it includes all references to our modern, everyday lives to evaporate and we become one with nature and the animals. It would most likely follow the road or come in at such an angle that the station would be right in front and the loop back would be in the parking lot.

To connect the Monorail to any of the resorts would be logistically impossible. It would end up being a mangled mess of monorail lines. Trains would have to be switched like on railroads because most likely to reach the resorts spur lines would have to be built. This would cause delays especially during the busy season.

[MickeyandTink]

I don't think extending to all the resorts would really be feasible, but I agree with the other posters that running a line out to MGM ( I mean, DHS) and AK would be great.

[King Triton]

I voted to expand it, but I realize it is cost prohibitive. I love the monorail and would like to see it at least go out to AK, but that would cost a large fortune that would likely severely impact ticket prices.

What I'm not thrilled with is the existing Disney bus system. I don't enjoy waiting, even at a deluxe, for 20-30 minutes for a bus to one of the parks, then make two or three more stops. This is not convenient, and I think I'll resume renting a car next time.

I would like to see better alternatives...clearly the monorail can't cover everything...maybe light rail or something along those lines.

[darthmacho]

In theory I would LOVE IT!! There could be loops for each park with their designated resorts that meet at the TTC or another HUB like area so transfers would be necessary but so much more pleasant then buses.

I think the cost, the volume of people this system would need to move around and the size of Disney property would make a project of this magnitude prohibitive.

I think what you say makes sense.

Also, would a new line more likely bring the prices of the current monorail esorts down, or would it bring the price of the other resorts up?
I'm guessing the latter. :(