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DefyingGravity
05-09-2004, 11:48 AM
When I was at DLR back in March, the guy driving the shuttle to the parks (I was staying at one of the Good Neighbor Hotels) told me that the DLR is trying to expand the monorial so it links all the hotels. He said that this was still way in the future, though. Anybody else heard this rumor? Do you think there's a possibility of it happening?

sleepyjeff
05-09-2004, 11:55 AM
I heard this same rumor in regards to all the Hotels at WDW.....back in 1990. So I wouldn't hold your breath.

:)

Opus1guy
05-09-2004, 12:00 PM
Boy. I can't think of any reason Disney would want this. Even if they got the other hotels along the new loop to pay for it, I don't think it would generate any substantial new revenue, and would just devalue their own "on-monorail" property (The Disneyland Hotel) a bit more.

The only reason I could think of where Disney would want to do this would be that if shuttle traffic became such a problem or if they needed further away off property parking. But I don't think either of those are putting any pressure on Disney to do this.

BTW, according to something I was told...with the opening of Downtown Disney there seems to be a decrease in the perceived value of the monorail being a transport benefit to guests of the Disneyland Hotel. Seems now most Disneyland Hotel guests prefer strolling through Downtown Disney to get to Disneyland rather than monorailing in. So that "On-The-Monorail" attraction is no longer there for most guests, I'm told. And the monorail is now even more of just a Disneyland Attraction than a true means of point-to-point transport.

sleepyjeff
05-09-2004, 12:13 PM
Seems now most Disneyland Hotel guests prefer strolling through Downtown Disney to get to Disneyland rather than monorailing in. So that "On-The-Monorail" attraction is no longer there for most guests, I'm told. And the monorail is now even more of just a Disneyland Attraction than a true means of point-to-point transport.

Not to mention that it is kinda Depressing to enter Disneyland via Monorail these days.....what with TL being what it is(or isn't) :crying:

GreenDragon
05-09-2004, 01:12 PM
So the Disneyland Hotel is still linked by monorail to the park? Good. I'd heard a rumor (from my sister) that it wasn't, and I was upset because I'd been counting on the monorail to get my gimpy butt back to the hotel after a day at the park. ;)

Morrigoon
05-09-2004, 01:15 PM
The monorail is where it always was.... far from the towers of the hotel. It's just that with the ESPN Zone and Rainforest Cafe between the hotel and the station, it now seems even further and guests feel like they're halfway there by the time they get on the monorail. Plus there's that whole "not having to cross the street" thing.

GreenDragon
05-09-2004, 01:21 PM
As long as it only seems further, I can handle that. The monorail was a lifesaver last time I was there. thanks for the answer!

Bruce Bergman
05-09-2004, 03:34 PM
When I was at DLR back in March, the guy driving the shuttle to the parks (I was staying at one of the Good Neighbor Hotels) told me that the DLR is trying to expand the monorial so it links all the hotels. He said that this was still way in the future, though. Anybody else heard this rumor? Do you think there's a possibility of it happening?

I'm going to treat this as a "What If..." question for now, since it sounds more like wishful thinking than an actual plan. It would be wonderful if they could expand the DL Monorail System except for one Huuuuuuge problem - Money. :geek:

If they built three new stations - Put a station along the beam in the Grand Californian at the existing "Emergency Evacuation" point, and built two new stations at Paradise Pier and DLH - removed the current DTD station, and put in new beamway and pylons (track) to connect to the two new stations, you're probably talking (rough guess) $25 Million at the bare minimum. They could spend $75 Million on it with little effort - because they'll have to put a station in DCA, too. :eek:

Unless they can find a sponsor to pay for a big part of it, and/or decide that they can boost the occupancy (and the premium room rates, naturally) at the DLR Hotels, I sincerely doubt that's going to happen.

The Monorail system is more likely to get extended and expanded if they decide to start building the "Third Theme Park" on the old Fujishige Strawberry Fields on Harbor south of Katella. That would be a more practical method of moving mass quantities of visitors between the parks - IF (and it's a big if) they invest about $5 million each in having several more new monorail trains built first, and spend about $2 - $3 million each rebuilding the existing four trains in the fleet...

(Oh, and about $10 Million on enlarging the existing 4-track Monorail Barn to accomodate all the service needs. Or at a minimum, adding extra covered parking beamways in that backstage area - even if they can't use them for service work, they have to have a place to park the trains at night.)

They could get large financial contributions and sponsorships for extending the Monorail beamway to the "Third Park" site from some of the other major hotels in the Harbor Blvd / Anaheim Convention Center area (Hilton Garden Towers?) to build a stop at their hotels, just like the Wrather Corp. used to get the Monorail extended to the Disneyland Hotel.

One sticking point that I've heard rumors of is that Harbor Blvd. is on some old 1930's - 1940's list of Civil Defense "Defense Access Roads", (http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/legsregs/directives/fapg/cfr0660e.htm) and there are restrictions on putting bridges (or monorail beamways) across it. (Most of the posts I found in a Google were from the "Black Helicopter" crowd...) They may have to go up 25 feet before crossing Harbor to allow for driving tanks & missile launchers through there.

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

DisneyFan25863
05-09-2004, 03:47 PM
One sticking point that I've heard rumors of is that Harbor Blvd. is on some old 1930's - 1940's list of Civil Defense "Defense Access Roads", (http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/legsregs/directives/fapg/cfr0660e.htm) and there are restrictions on putting bridges (or monorail beamways) across it. (Most of the posts I found in a Google were from the "Black Helicopter" crowd...) They may have to go up 25 feet before crossing Harbor to allow for driving tanks & missile launchers through there.

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


I see nuke transporters, tanks, and a few Apaches driving down Harbor, right next to Disneyland. Funny :fez:




But yeah, basically it will probably never happen. Everything that everyone else said above :D

Doombuggy999
05-09-2004, 04:56 PM
I always thought it was a no-brainer to put a stop at the GCH...I mean, when I saw them building it, I just assumed there would be a stop there.

But now, after it's done, I've been in Tomorrowland and thought how cool I would be if the monorail stopped inside DCA like at Paradise Pier...cause it's about an equal walk between Tomorrowland/DCA and Downtown Disney/DCA...so I've never taken the monorail from Tomorrowland to get to DCA..I just walk it. And that's a looooong walk.

Just a thought......

ToursbabeC3po
05-09-2004, 08:16 PM
This is a BIG RUMOR!

HollywoodTower
05-10-2004, 08:51 AM
Never listen to the shuttle drivers. According to a few of them, the new hotel in DCA should be taking reservations pretty soon.

tod
05-10-2004, 08:52 AM
Boy. I can't think of any reason Disney would want this. Even if they got the other hotels along the new loop to pay for it, I don't think it would generate any substantial new revenue, and would just devalue their own "on-monorail" property (The Disneyland Hotel) a bit more.

I would say that the Disneyland Hotel hasn't been "on the Monorail" since the parts that were on/at/near the Monorail track were razed and replaced with Downtown Disney elements like ESPN Zone and Rainforest Café.

--t

DigitalLizard
05-10-2004, 12:35 PM
I think this RUMOR stems from the fact that Las Vegas
just put in that huge monorail system connecting all
the hotels with the airport!

If Disney doesn't have the money to put into current
projects, they certainly aren't going to do this!

:eek:

cstephens
05-10-2004, 01:44 PM
I thought they were building a monorail that went between Disneyland and the Las Vegas hotels...?

DigitalLizard
05-10-2004, 01:50 PM
I thought they were building a monorail that went between Disneyland and the Las Vegas hotels...?

Hardy Hardy Hardy!

Bruce Bergman
05-10-2004, 05:35 PM
I thought they were building a monorail that went between Disneyland and the Las Vegas hotels...?

Does the Vegas Monorail have a loop? :p

Seriously, the Vegas Monorail could be used as an example to expand the DLR system, or put in a seperate comprehensive system - one that connects all the larger Orange County area hotels, The Convention Center, the Pond and Angels Stadium, Knotts and Medeival Times, and the other big draws in the immediate area. Even Disney's own "Third Theme Park" site.

Getting a lot of the public buses, shuttle buses and passenger cars off the streets would do wonders for the traffic conditions in the Resort District and beyond.

Vegas built their current Monorail system with all private money, including a bond that will pay for the teardown if the operating district goes broke. The taxpayers didn't have to put up much at all, other than the right-of-way.

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

Opus1guy
05-10-2004, 07:54 PM
Getting a lot of the public buses, shuttle buses and passenger cars off the streets would do wonders for the traffic conditions in the Resort District and beyond.

Yeah. But there's absolutely no financial incentive to do so. :( The only incentive is guest convenience, aesthetics, and quality of design. And those things alone don't cut it with the company these days. :(

Heck...look at Walt Disney World. When justifying the cost of the monorail extension to EPCOT Center, I remember Card Walker saying, "We'll never allow busses to be the primary transport of our guests! They're not what we're about here!" He (and Roy O.) even spent a ton of money building that road that goes under the channel that connects Seven Seas Lagoon and Bay Lake, just so you wouldn't have to see some Cast busses and Reedy Creek trucks going over some bridge there.

Now look at the place. It looks like a GMC Bus convention or something. :(