Letter to Disney Execs Re: Monorail

[John]

You are not guaranteed the monorail 24/7. That's like saying since I bought tickets to MK I am guaranteed Splash Mountain. Not if a refurb is necessary. The monorail is your main mode of transportation, but not the only one. If you expect it to continue to be the main mode of transport, upkeep is required.

Like I said before, twice in a week maximum having to use a different Disney transport is not a big trade-off to keep the monorail running.

The letter was well written, just without all the facts.

Lets lay off a bit there - you don't KNOW the facts yourself unless you happen to be in WDW managment. Everything is speculation.

Just like I speculate this is NOTHING MORE than a cost cutting move. PERIOD.

[John]

My guesses are

1. Increased Monorail use with the extended hours and increased attendance.

2. Weeeeelllll....if they weren't doing the needed maintenance before,it's probably more needed now...

One more time, twice a week max for EMH in exchange for a more reliable monorail. This is a smart trade-off!

And again - it's YOUR speculation that this "break" makes the monorails more reliable.

I don't believe it for a second. If they are THAT unreliable that taking them out of service for a few hours makes a difference, then a new fleet is in order.

I've been going since 74 - and the monrails used to run till 1am and beyond regularly.

All of this is nonsense. The cutbacks are getting to the point where longtime fans are noticing. If you need maintenence, stagger the trains into the shop, cut back the number of trains etc, but don't eliminate them.

[Bucs300]

I agree, I think it's all due to cost cutting. For instance I was just at EPCOT this past Sunday and while they say Future World closes at 9 over half of it closed at 7. So I'm sure shutting down all those attractions for the 2 hours probably saves them a good amount of money.

[CanadaLovesDisney]

We were at magic kingdom in august and 3 nights the monorail went down and WOW was it scary. The crowds were massive and one of the bus shelters was boarded up with green walls so you couldn't see how bad it really was. That was way way way too many people. The lineup for the ferry boat was backed up close to MK entrance. Clearly the monorails could use some serious rehab.

[big blue and hairy]

And again - it's YOUR speculation that this "break" makes the monorails more reliable.

Right, and your speculation that it doesn't, why is your speculation more valuable than mine?

I'm not being any more "over the top" than other folks John, you just happen to agree with them. I don't. That's what the board is all about!

[Aurora]

We were at magic kingdom in august and 3 nights the monorail went down and WOW was it scary. The crowds were massive and one of the bus shelters was boarded up with green walls so you couldn't see how bad it really was. That was way way way too many people. The lineup for the ferry boat was backed up close to MK entrance. Clearly the monorails could use some serious rehab.

I hope they get all this figured out before the holiday season or it is not going to be pretty.

[TinkerbellT421]

Just out of curiosity. I remember hearing or seeing something on maybe a disney show about Disney that the monorails cost some astromnomical amount of money to run per minute....I also agree that this is a cost cutting move definitely. If someone knows what that figure is I would love to see it! I thought it was like $1M per minute or something ridiculous. Anyone know?

[seanyred]

Just out of curiosity. I remember hearing or seeing something on maybe a disney show about Disney that the monorails cost some astromnomical amount of money to run per minute....I also agree that this is a cost cutting move definitely. If someone knows what that figure is I would love to see it! I thought it was like $1M per minute or something ridiculous. Anyone know?

So assuming the monorails run 8hours a day for 365 days a year (I know they run more than that) Your saying the operating costs would be 175Trillion. I'm thinking probably not...

[TinkerbellT421]

So assuming the monorails run 8hours a day for 365 days a year (I know they run more than that) Your saying the operating costs would be 175Trillion. I'm thinking probably not...

oops, that was supposed to say Mile (not minute). lol!! But I could be confused with them having explained it costs 1m per mile to build it? Eh nevermind! lol

[Main Street Jim]

That was correct; $1m per mile to build monorail beams - in 1971 dollars. You have to figure in cost of transporting the beams (they were cast in the northwest somewhere - I wanna say Oregon or Washington state, and traveled by train to Florida when it was originally built), surveying land, building the foundations for the pylons, building the electricity substations (the monorails run on 600VDC) and attaching the electric rails to the beams, building the monorails themselves, etc. It all averages out. That's where that figure comes from.

I can't imagine what it would cost in today's money.

[Mousemates]

That was correct; $1m per mile to build monorail beams - in 1971 dollars. ........I can't imagine what it would cost in today's money.

$5,593,703.70 per mile per the CPI inflation calculator.

[BrerGnat]

This whole situation just makes the Epcot resorts and Wilderness Lodge THAT much more attractive, in my opinion.

[TheRustyScupper]

For everyone complaining about reduced monorail service while paying bug bucks for Deluxe resorts:

. . . cheese will now be served with your whine.

.

[Mousemates]

For everyone complaining about reduced monorail service while paying bug bucks for Deluxe resorts:

. . . cheese will now be served with your whine.

.

No real cheese will actually be served, for in a cost cutting move Disney will now only offer "pasteurized processed cheese food" with our whine.

[bouncer]

Here's a thought...would you prefer for the parks to close earlier and then have the monorail running hours go back to 1 hour after close? I am talking parties and regular operating hours be say 10 pm max! No more 3 am EMH...That allows monorail to run till 11 pm and everyone back to their monorail loop hotel. Let the maintenance begin at 11:30.

[big blue and hairy]

Here's a thought...would you prefer for the parks to close earlier and then have the monorail running hours go back to 1 hour after close? I am talking parties and regular operating hours be say 10 pm max! No more 3 am EMH...That allows monorail to run till 11 pm and everyone back to their monorail loop hotel. Let the maintenance begin at 11:30.

Good point. I can't believe how folks are so quick to pooh-pooh the idea that a forty year old transportation system might need more maintenance than it did years ago...

[John]

Here's what I'd prefer - If we are to the point where the system is so old that we need to shut it down early because of train maintenance every night - then it's time for capital investment and to buy new monorail trains.

This whole thing is silly. It amazes me how some are so quick to assume that it's all maintenance related and not a cost cutting measure as so many other things have been lately.

The trains are expensive - yes - but so are buying new busses, boats and other forms of transportation. Given the life expectancy of the monorails vs. say a bus or a boat and the capacity I'd be curious of the ROI of one vs. the other.

I still don't see how late at night - pulling all the trains in off the epcot loop and running at a minimum the resort loop would cause any maintenance distress... and would give plenty of time to get started on those already in the shop.

[John]

BTW, for the record,The Mark VI started replacing the Mark IV monorails at Walt Disney World in 1989, replacing the final Mark IV by 1991.

That would make the current generation trains 20+ years old. The original beam-ways (not the Epcot loop) would be 40 years old. Electronics / control on the current trains have been updated since the system was first put in use.

[BrerGnat]

I don't buy the "maintenance" excuse either.

I mean, there are what, 12 monorails? How many can be on the track at once? Probably not more than about 4-6 right? So, they can rotate monorails into the shop that they are not using on the loop and be performing CONSTANT maintenance during the day. Track/control system maintenance obviously needs to be done outside of park operating hours, but I'm sure whatever needs to be done, can be done in 6 hours every night, right? If not, then, yeah, Disney needs to spend some money to upgrade the system or fix it so that there isn't so much maintenance to be done.

[John]

Yes, they are back to a full fleet of 12 now. Teal was created from combining Pink and Purple and Peach was created with two rebuilt cabs and 4 repaired cabs from the 2009 crash.

Monorail Peach began service 5 days ago.

Any way you slice it - they now have a full compliment of trains. Two of which were rebuild in the last 2 years.