WDW - Monorail System

I don't believe you can check in for your resort package until you get to your actual resort hotel. But that is a great idea. Would be awesome to go straight to the parks and worry about your bags later.

I thought Florida unamended its constitution to repeal the train amendment?

I think the future of high speed rail in Florida got decidedly more hazy when Scott got elected governor. Supposedly the Fed have diverted money from a couple of states who have decided to kill high speed and that money when to California and Florida.

But, Scott has pretty much said he thought the project should be dead and we are having our own fiscal problems right now too. I think the only way it happens is either privately or in a public/private partnership where the public contribution is the minority.

All that's really happening is construction of a new spur line at TTC for a maintenance tow:

http://www.monorails.org/webpix%202/WDWspur2010.jpg

mutly23 said:
Millions of dollars, will Disney spend?

Not on your life my good friend!

Monorail. Whats it called?

Monorail! Say again?

MONORAIL!

ROFL>

wahoo skipper said:
I think the future of high speed rail in Florida got decidedly more hazy when Scott got elected governor. Supposedly the Fed have diverted money from a couple of states who have decided to kill high speed and that money when to California and Florida.

But, Scott has pretty much said he thought the project should be dead and we are having our own fiscal problems right now too. I think the only way it happens is either privately or in a public/private partnership where the public contribution is the minority.

There's enough private/corporate interest that I would be surprised if it doesn't happen. Governor Scott isn't against the idea of high speed rail, he just doesn't want our state tax dollars to pay for whatever is left over after the money from the Feds.

What's absurd is that there are no plans to link FHSR with SunRail, especially considering that SunRail won't go to MCO.

Well, this can't be go for Orlando, but...I don't even know what SunRail is.

I know nothing about SunRail. But my "spider sense" tells me that if you look at the Taxicab union/authority, you might find a primary source/reason that rail does not go to MCO. I could be off on this...but life experience tells me that many of these big private and/or public transportation systems tend to nix the airport stop...at least in newer cities/airports. Tere is typically a powerful transportation lobby against such ventures for obvious reasons.

Common sense would tell you that the first leg of ANY rail type system should start and end AT the airport. Expansion should progress from there. Unfortunately, these projects are typically started somewhere else with the mythical promise that at some future date they will complete an expansion to the airport. Many times (most?) that future date is never realized and the rail system experiences "less than projected revenues".

Again...this may not the particular case here. I'm just speculating based on past observations...Vegas monorail comes to mind...

I understand there was massive backlash when they build the light rail here in Seattle to the airport, but there it is. It helps when the treehuggers lobby harder. :)

Getting transit to the airport isn't really even a treehugger issue, but it sure is useful to have them on your side when trying to get something that sensible actually built!

And I'll bet that even with a rail line serving the airport, in the end neither the taxicabs nor the parking lots have had any significant loss of revenue.

(Personally, I can't figure out why airports everywhere are so fixated on shuttle buses. Put in an automated fixed-guideway loop that serves the parking areas, rental car facility, on-site hotel, etc. and get rid of the shuttle buses and everybody will be better off...especially the taxicabs and hotel shuttles that right now have to fight for space with the on-airport shuttles)

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I heard yesterday that the projected budget shortfall for the upcoming fiscal year in the State of Florida is between 2.6 billion and 5 billion. Building high speed rail will be a tough sell all things considered. I think it only happens if it is 100% private.

Hmmm, so I guess Florida also rejected the stimulus $$

See, I come back up to the cold and snow and I lose track of the fun politics of Florida /sarcasm

I had always had the idea while I was there of a monorail expansion that would take advantage of unused land for a second transportation hub, instead of intruding even more at the TTC. Also, having the "central" transportation hub at the very back of the resort doesn't make much sense to me. Make it a more general parking area (maybe using a garage structure(s) to cut down on space used, similar to Universal), and instead of a swath of open-air stations prone to the weather conditions, house it in a complex similar to an airport terminal. You would have the elevated monorail stations and lines above a marketplace area, similar in concept to the Contemporary. In addition it would be the home of the Disney stop on the (now uncertain) light rail line. As for its location on property, I rather like the area west of World Dr. on either side (N or S) of Buena Vista Dr. As far as how the lines/routes would run, that is something I keep on changing ideas on. On a DAK route that could include resorts and Blizzard Beach, one option to cut travel time once the park and parking lot are clear would be to have the section physically running to DAK be a switchable extension, so that the monorail could bypass the park spur and continue on its route minus one stop and the extra transit time. The other parks are generally open late enough and are close enough to many other resorts that that is not much of a problem.

As a personal dream, having a very strong interest in the original concept of EPCOT and Walt's vision, this new central transport hub would also be the new home of offices in a tower reminiscent of the central building envisioned for EPCOT, housing TDO, Reedy Creek offices, and other resort offices/operations that could be centralized.