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Trombo5619
09-23-2003, 03:54 PM
Just wanted to know everyone's feelings about the current Monorail situation.....

Andrew
09-23-2003, 04:03 PM
Originally posted by Trombo5619
Just wanted to know everyone's feelings about the current Monorail situation.....

What situation? Please elucidate.

efoxx
09-23-2003, 07:49 PM
I like the blue one;)

MonorailMan
09-23-2003, 08:02 PM
Originally posted by Trombo5619
Just wanted to know everyone's feelings about the current Monorail situation.....

This ride on the monorail discussion can go two ways. Please choose your route:

1) Back to the roundhouse. The current dis-repair of the Monorails.
2) To the Disneyland Hotel station. The fact that the Monorail may become a hotel only transportation option.

:D :p

Mickeyslittlehelper
09-23-2003, 08:39 PM
All i can say is holy crap. If your not going to spend the money to get some nice new cars which "can" be used as a icon for the 50th, at least spend a little money to keep them running, and use new parts, not tape to fix the problems.

DisneyFan25863
09-23-2003, 09:29 PM
I havn't been on a Monorail ride in the past 6 months where I havn't been stuck! :rolleyes:

sleepyjeff
09-23-2003, 10:28 PM
Maybe there is a corporate sponsership opportunity here for Disney. 3-M, the makers of Duct Tape might fit in nicely as a sponsor of the DL Monorail;)

cryan71
09-23-2003, 11:05 PM
I like how the monorails are used in WDW -- as basic transportation. I never understood why it seemed that they were an attraction at DL. And the only time I ride them is to get back from the hotel station to the park. The line from the park to the hotel is usually too long to be useful.

wolverine
09-23-2003, 11:30 PM
Originally posted by sleepyjeff
Maybe there is a corporate sponsership opportunity here for Disney. 3-M, the makers of Duct Tape might fit in nicely as a sponsor of the DL Monorail;)


Sleepyjeff your birthday is still incorrect, people might really believe your young ( 36 ).

tikiboy
09-24-2003, 08:02 AM
In this thread (http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=19909) it's mentioned that Las Vegas is getting NINE new monorails.

It's very nice to know that someone can afford monorails. I guess one of the largest media conglomerates in the world can't.

Granted, I would want Disneyland's monorails to look a little cooler than the ones being put in in Vegas.

tod
09-24-2003, 09:17 AM
Originally posted by cryan71
I like how the monorails are used in WDW -- as basic transportation. I never understood why it seemed that they were an attraction at DL.

They were an attraction when they opened in 1959 (or whenever it was) after the park was up and running. Figure-8 loop around Tomorrowland and come back. It wasn't until later that they decided to extend the track to the Hotel (and, even later, the New Guys used monorail access as a club bargaining chip to get the Wrather company to sell out to Disney).

When Walt Disney World was planned, monorails were planned as basic transportation from the very beginning. Different concept.

--T
:fez:

disneygeek87
09-24-2003, 02:06 PM
I just wish that Disney would actually spend the money for new ones or at least repair the old ones. I love the monorail and I think it is a great attraction and form of transportation at DLR. I just think they should really fix them. I think it'd be really cool to get new ones for the 50th anniversary.

uberfrau
09-24-2003, 02:16 PM
While I heartily agree the monorails are in desperate need of TLC, I have not gotten stuck on the monorail once in the last year+!

so DisneyFan, please make yourself known when you get on, I'll be sure to take the next train ;)

(if there is a next train..)

Freerider127
09-24-2003, 04:49 PM
101:(

cryan71
09-24-2003, 05:55 PM
Originally posted by tod
They were an attraction when they opened in 1959 (or whenever it was) after the park was up and running. Figure-8 loop around Tomorrowland and come back. It wasn't until later that they decided to extend the track to the Hotel (and, even later, the New Guys used monorail access as a club bargaining chip to get the Wrather company to sell out to Disney).

When Walt Disney World was planned, monorails were planned as basic transportation from the very beginning. Different concept.

--T
:fez:

Learn something new everyday.

NirvanaMan
09-24-2003, 06:51 PM
It would be nice if they actually went somewhere. I always used to get excited having to go to the tranportation center at WDW and then getting to ride the monorail into the parks (mk, epcot). It made it very special, efficient and fun. It would be great if the ones here were expanded to go somwhere...parking DCA...etc...

Bruce Bergman
09-24-2003, 09:32 PM
Originally posted by tikiboy
In this thread (http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=19909) it's mentioned that Las Vegas is getting NINE new monorails.

It's very nice to know that someone can afford monorails. I guess one of the largest media conglomerates in the world can't.

Granted, I would want Disneyland's monorails to look a little cooler than the ones being put in in Vegas.

The Vegas monorail system started out with two retired MarkV monorails from Walt Disney World, when they replaced their fleet with new MarkVII trains - and Bombardier just bought the dimensions and mechanical layout wholesale for making new monorail cars.

But the Disneyland monorail trains are physically smaller, and every piece is slightly different than the now-defacto WDW design, meaning they can't just have Bombardier crank out a few new trains for them at the 'bulk rate' price, they'd all have to be semi-custom jobs. (They could use standard wheels and motors, standard electronics and chassis parts, standard door mechanisms and air-conditioning systems - but custom body panels and chassis, and chassis bracketry bits.) And custom usually isn't cheap.

Disney is going to have to bite the bullet and either build a few brand new trains from scratch, or totally overhaul the ones they have - a "Strip them down to the bare frame" restoration. The current DL train chassis were recycled once already in the '80's...

--<< Bruce >>--

DisneyFan25863
09-24-2003, 09:35 PM
How bout this: New Track AND new trains!

Bruce Bergman
09-25-2003, 06:57 AM
Originally posted by DisneyFan25863
How bout this: New Track AND new trains!

Whoa. :eek: Now you're talking crazy. :fez: A few million bucks for new full-size trains, and $10 million to $25 million more to replace and re-align the beamway (track) and pylons to make them fit, and that is simply NOT going to happen.

The 5/8 scale Disneyland size trains have some very tight spots with only inches of clearance between the trains, the station roofs and platforms, the other beamway (at the cross-over as you exit Tomorrowland paralleling Harbor Blvd.) and the old Peoplemover/Rocket Rods track, the roundhouse, surrounding buildings and architectural details (the Golden Gate Bridge at DCA) and other fixed obstacles. And you'd have to replace or modify the two diesel maintenance tractors and the track-service trailers... It would be prohibitively expensive to retrofit everything, and take a few years of system downtime.

Now just building a few brand new 5/8-scale trains, that could be done as a periodic upkeep item. A million-dollar-plus item, but not one that is unexpected - after all, these train chassis have already been rebuilt and re-bodied once (they were the 1969 MarkIII trains rebuilt to the MarkV in 1987) probably have several million miles on each of them - I'll guess 5 million each, minimum, and 10 million plus wouldn't surprise me... 2.5 miles per round trip, times roughly 75 (winter hours) or 150 train-trips per day, times 365 days, times 24 years, divided by four trains... That adds up to a WHOLE LOT of miles. :p

CORRECTION: The old Vegas trains are WDW's MarkIV, and the new Bombardier versions are dubbed the M-VI and based on the current WDW MarkVI design, contrary to my last post - got my numbering-by-memory messed up. Go do your own independent research at The Monorail Society (http://www.monorails.org) webpages, lots of interesting stuff there.

:fez: --<< Bruce >>--

karl
09-25-2003, 07:52 AM
The going rate for new Bombardier MVI (Mark VI - updated) Monorail cars is $2.5 million each. They make a 4-car and 5-car version... so for Disney - may $30 - $37.5 million for three. I'd be surprised if they got four.

The trains would need to be partially re-designed to fit the track, station, and clearance dimensions of Disneyland. That would add substantially to the price.

However, there is the cost of exposure. Presently Hitachi and Bombardier, in separate bidding groups, are bidding on the new 15-mile Seattle system - which may expand King-County-wide, and may have other phases. If Bombardier gets the bid, then maybe we can hope Hitachi needs to cut a deal to gain a US foothold. Given the number of other cities now thinking Monorail - Austin, St. Petersburg, Orlando, Connecticut, Niagra Falls, etc.. its going to be a competitive marketplace.

tod
09-25-2003, 10:36 AM
Originally posted by Bruce Bergman
The 5/8 scale Disneyland size trains have some very tight spots with only inches of clearance between the trains, the station roofs and platforms, the other beamway (at the cross-over as you exit Tomorrowland paralleling Harbor Blvd.)

I remember the old Monorails -- the ones that were replaced by the ones they have now. The front had a nose cone that seated 5, facing forward in a two-in-front-three-behind configuration, and another seat for two in the bubble on top. (The driver's seat was on a third level between the high bubble seat and the nose cone seats.)

The Lovely Mrs. tod and I were sitting up in the bubble one sunny afternoon -- had to wait for three cycles to do it, too -- and as we passed under the other Monorail beam, which is a foot-18 inches high, solid cement, and two inches above the bubble, we instinctively ducked, provoking a chuckle from the driver.

"Do people always do that?" we asked.

"All the time," the driver said.

We never ducked again.

--T
:fez:

Mad Hatter
09-26-2003, 12:44 PM
Just to let you know,The mark V monorails cost $6 million each almost 20 years ago. Money for new monorails was diverted to Space Mountain $60 mil + :crying: