Monorail lamentations

Walt Disney World
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As far as I’ve read, the hopeful replacement for the monorail trains at WDW appears to not have happened (most likely). Not sure why the delay on this. The expectation is that once the new trains are ordered, it will take 3-4 years to actually get them built.

What this means is we’ll continue to have the decrepit trains running for quite some time.

Has anyone heard anything different on this? I love the monorail, and after actually watching the Skyliner tests, I’m even more scared to ride those things. (Yes…I found myself getting dizzy just watching the testing!)

I hope Disney isn’t putting off ordering the Monorail with the potential thought of instead demolishing it and putting in more Skyliners…could see them crossing the Seven Seas Lagoon instead. (Yeah, yeah. I’m panicking based on pure conjecture!)

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Well I hope that’s not true. I don’t plan on riding the Skyliners either. If I got stuck in one of those, I would probably have a panic attack. I don’t do well with small spaces that I cannot get out of (hence no Mission Space for me).

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I would not imagine them replacing the monorail with anything except upgraded trains. The system has major historical value to WDW, the whole infrastructure is there form stations to the tracks… And I doubt that the Skyliner comes close in terms of capacity and speed, it serves a different purpose.

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No Skyliners for me! :grinning: monorail please.

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They may just be waiting to purchase Thomas the Tank Engine or some other IP so they can get the proper exterior design for the new trains.
:wink:

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Hiya Ryan,

My husband works for a major transit agency (with trains), and we talk about the monorail system several times a year. We got stuck at MK for 40 minutes during the slow afternoon last year in the summer heat, and heard from the poor monorail operators (who were herding cats b/e the ferry was also temporarily down for some reason) that this was fairly common now-a-days.

When it comes to the transit authority here in DC (Metro), the train orders from start to finish take quite some time, and it’s all built overseas. Funny, it’s not always built in the same country! But when they are finally in action, due to Federal fund rules, the replacement parts have to come from US parties… which makes no sense whatsoever.

(aka - still coming from overseas, but a middleman company or three “stocks” it in the US for the agency. When it ages out, that number drops to one company, and then they rake the agency over the coals $$$).

The engineers in DC that are trying to use the old system (the rails that the trains run on) are using things built in the 1960’s. With DISNEY, they were built in what, 1971 timeframe? Similar challenges.

The current Disney monorail system can’t really do anything about the lack of parts for a very old train system. It makes sense to get something new in there. But I can tell you from hearing the shop talk up here, the delays are probably not due to branding (i.e. - Thomas the train). They are more than likely due to working with the current system (current rails) and getting the NEW trains to be more green, engineered to fit the existing system, and be cost effective for years to come.

Seeing as it’s a selling point for several of their resort properties, and it’s an icon, I hope that they get it resolved rather than replaced.

I hope it’s ready by the 50 year celebration… or SOONER… but I haven’t heard anything solid. If you do, please share.

I love taking the monorail in and out of the Kingdom… it’s magical!

~ Josie ~

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Aah, it feels just like home! (I live in the Boston area, and “decrepit” pretty much sums up the T.)