Ever since my first ride on the monorail at Disneyland I’ve had a fascination with Mass Transit. A ride on the PeopleMover energized my idea of personal rapid transit the same way. Unfortunately, I’ve been disappointed by the lack of wider adoption of these technologies… Read More »Could Google provide a solution to Walt Disney World Transportation Issues?
The family of the 9-year old boy who died after riding his bike off the sidewalk and into the side of a Disney transport bus near Fort Wilderness has reached a settlement with Disney that will keep this case out of the courts. Disney’s spokesperson… Read More »Disney Settles With Family Whose 9-year old Boy Died in Accident with Disney Bus
The Disney Parks blog has announced the addition of a twelfth monorail returning to the Walt Disney World fleet. That will bring the fleet back up to its full complement after the tragic accident in July of 2009. Monorail Peach will begin testing soon, albeit… Read More »Monorail Peach Announced for Walt Disney World.
The monorail station could be looking like this a lot more when Disney institutes its new reduced hours for the trains.
One of my favorite Robert Heinlein short stories is “The Roads Must Roll.” Written in 1940, it speculates about a rapid transit system that would move people across the country in speed and comfort. The high speed nature of the rolling roads meant that maintenance was a huge deal. When the employees decided to organize for better working conditions, well, the shit hits the fan. In some ways it foretold the air controller strike of the Reagan era. These days there is an odd tie-in to the Walt Disney World monorails system too.
Walt Disney World just announced they would be reducing the operating hours of their monorail fleet. They used to run 1.5 hours after the parks closed or after the last scheduled event (extra magic hours, christmas party, etc). Sometimes these hours were stretched even further on the EPCOT line. Now they will all shut down 1 hour after the posted closing time for the park with no allowance for extra magic hours or other events. Guests will be placed on buses or water craft to be returned to their hotels or the TTC and EPCOT parking lots.
Initially, there was a lot of outcry directed at Disney for reducing benefits to resort and park guests at the same time they are raising prices, but soon word leaked out that there was an important reason behind the shift. The reason? The monorail fleet is just breaking down under the strain.
Disneyana fans get your wallets (and probably your second mortgage) ready. A rare piece of Disneyana has come on the market. This double-decker bus was one of six such buses used at Walt Disney World’s EPCOT Center as part of an in-park transportation system. It… Read More »EPCOT Double-Decker Bus for sale – yours for a cool $400,000
It wouldn’t be the last week of 2010 without another incident involving the Walt Disney World transportation system. This time it was another serious tragedy with a guest losing their life. A guest in the Port Orleans parking lot was struck by a Disney bus… Read More »Man Killed after Being Hit by Disney Bus
The Orlando Sentinel is reporting that Walt Disney World is refining its procedures at it’s Monorail system to include a new position, at a higher pay scale, who will be responsible for overseeing traffic along the system. We are still awaiting the final report from… Read More »Disney to refine Monorail Procedures with new Position
Another accident involving a Disney bus at Walt Disney World this afternoon. Eyewitnesses say a car ran a red light near Typhoon Lagoon and Downtown Disney and hit a Disney bus. Two in the car were reported injured. Update: it is now reported that the… Read More »Another Bus involved Accident at Walt Disney World