Mouse wants exclusive link for train from Orlando airport

Everyone knows Disney Monorails are on their last legs. WDI have to keep building new ones from scratch just to keep up.

HRT would be nice however in the age of downturn companies should partner up for strength, this exclusiveness cannot be a good thing for Orlando as a whole.

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One thing that has just occurred to me (maybe it's because I'm in Florida), the state of Florida can put the stations anywhere they please. They own the right of way along the I-4 corridor. If they put a station where I-Drive enters Kissimmee, and bypassed Disney property, the Mouse would be stupid not to provide transportation from the station. Plus I wonder if they've ever heard of express trains. A compromise should/could be pretty easy here. WDW has a lot of clout in Orlando, but in Florida over all, well, that's a different story.

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"She said to me oh I love it when you're mean,
don't you know it's boring when it's quiet and serene.
I said to her no way baby, life ain't what it seems,
Well don't you know baby that life is a scream!" - Gordon Gano

Always follow the money, and you will find the culprit.

Mears Transportation, Orlando largest (read: only major) transportation company (Thay are a virtual monopoly, owning all airport contracts and every major taxi chain and charter bus line in Orlando) has an exclusive contract with Disney to provide transportation to WDW from the airport. (They have the yellow and black busses, along with the "Disney Cruise Line" busses, the white town cars...it goes on and on) They have the most to loose if any mass transit system comes to Orlando. They know the locals will never approve it to follow the Greeneway (417.)

Why? Hunter's Creek, the large, upper middle class community that lines a large part of 417 at John Young Parkway. I don't think a mass transit system through this area would be too good for property values.

Brad

Orlando, FL

When you have cards to play, you play them. If any of you think that major corporations (save a few exceptions) do things out of the goodness of their hearts, you are on crack. If I were them, I would do the exact same thing.

WDI doensn't build the monorails, Bombardier Corp. builds them. And they aren't on their last legs. The entire fleet was replaced less then 10 years ago.

Where did you get that info from, Legend?

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"We don't sit on your dining room table, so please don't sit on our silver handrails"

Are there really that many people that fly to Orlando, go directly to a Disney hotel, and then visit only WDW parks? Don't they do anything else besides WDW? Even now, how do these people get to other attractions if they haven't rented a car? I realize that most attractions aren't spread out that much, but they're certainly not within walking distance of each other.

For myself, I'm not willing to pay for the high-priced hotels at the parks when there are so many good low-cost motels in the area, especially during off-season.

Yes,

There are an awful lot of people who go to Orlando strictly to visit the Walt Disney World complex and that is it. You would be surprised.

Another interesting note: When granted the rights to have its own government oversee their Orlando property, the Walt Disney Company was also granted the right to build an airport and a nuclear reactor at some future date. The latter we will never see and the airport is pretty unlikely but it is interesting that they were extended the rights to those two "controversial" complexes. *** This post was edited by wahoo skipper on 12/17/2002. ***

Some of you miss the point. Of course it's a good business decision for Disney, I don't think anyone would disagree with that. The troublesome part is that the local governments are OK with it and will play right into their hands.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com - Sillynonsense.com
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If Disney wants to pay the entire cost of the high-speed rail project, then they can have the only stop. If they want MY tax dollars to go to a single-destination project of THI$ magnitude, I'd better be receiving my lifetime MouseHouse pass REAL soon....

bill, saying the corporate welfare state has really gotten out of hand...;)

I don't know which side to take here. Disney made Orlando what it is today and deserves the influance they have. On the other hand, They shouldn't monopolize the entire Orlando area just because they can. I believe they may be worried that the product they provide has become inferior to what the Busch/Universal clan has.

It's all about $$$

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Think for yourself-Don't reley on someone else.

No, they don't deserve to have that much influence in the municipal government. Just because you help the economy of a locale doesn't mean you're entitled to madate decisions. That's the job of an elected body and the citizens, not anyone else, even a corporate giant.

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Is that a Q-bot in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?

All types of individuals and corporations influence the decisions of politicians. If you don't think that is true, I have some land in Afghanistan I am looking to sell.

They aren't mandating any decisions. The only thing they said is that if they want the train to stop on Disney property, it better be a one stop trip from the airport. They absolutely have the right to say that and it is an obvious business decision.

True, but it is a manipulative decision, because they know that the state needs that stop and that traffic to pay to operate it. That's what I can't stand.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com - Sillynonsense.com
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Wahoo, true enough that Disney DOES have *the right* to say/do whatever they want in regards to their own property. But when we (you and I, taxpaying citizens of this state) are shelling out the dough for a new high-speed rail system FOR and BY the citizens, I agree with the others here, that this is an unconscionable abuse of their obvious financial clout to the detriment of everyone else....the other businesses AND us....I sure hope the gov't shows the *CPnuts* to tell the Mouse where he can stick his *final offer* of ALL or nothing....

Well I didn't vote for this boondoggle but I know I am going to pay for it. The greatest problem with any rail system from a passenger point of view is too many stops. It lengthens your trip plain and simple. If out-of-state visitors had to vote on the I-Drive plan or the Disney plan I'd bet they would vote for the Disney plan 3 to 1.

Floridians aren't going to be riding on this train. We are still too car happy. Miami has a very nice metromover that doesn't get enough ridership. There is TriRail that also is vastly underused, at many times running with a handful of passengers.

If I lived in Orlando I would be happy to see vehicle and bus traffic decrease on the major roadways if 2 million plus WDW guests jumped on a train instead. At least that is one way to keep this high speed system from becoming a complete drain on the State economy.

Are we sure that the Florida voters even voted for this? Maybe they were trying to vote for Pat Buchannan and got confused.

Sounds like the rat is feeling some pressure from the other attractions. As someone above said, nostalgia can only take you so far. Universal is going all-out themeing and excitement like Disney had in its heyday. Of course Disney will want to steer everyone their way.

I say build it and just put a stop about 3 feet from Disney's entrance. If it's off of their property they can't really do anything about it. Let the people decide where they want to ride.

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If you could just see the beauty... these things I could never describe. Pleasures and wayward distraction; is this my wonderful prize? --Joy Division

How are you people in Orlando going to pay for this project? You have no personal income tax in Florida.

If any of the costs get passed on to residents, it would likely be via a sales tax increase, and that would affect everyone dropping cash in Orlando, not just you.

Also, don't confuse this project with mass transit meant for the local population. It isn't. It's squarely aimed at vacationers and conventioners coming and going from MCO.

I think Disney is 100% in the right here.

You might think it will be unerused when it's built--but trust me, you can only add so many lanes to interstates. I would go ahead and build, and let WDW visitors (just like visitors to Sea World, Universal, et al) take a taxi or rented car from the train station to their final destination of choice.

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Is that a Q-bot in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?

Gas prices continue to increase and people still continue to buy gas-guzzling SUV's. Public Transportation isn't going to catch on in Florida any time soon.

Gas is still CHEAP is the good old USA! It cost more to buy a gallon of *water* than a gallon of gas :)

lata, jeremy

--who is of course referring to the "designer" waters, not anything like "New York Tap"