WDW Monorail Observation

Collapse

Get Away Today

Collapse
This topic is closed.
X
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
  • EC82
    MiceChatter
    • Mar 2009
    • 374

    [Other] WDW Monorail Observation

    I was at Oakland Airport in California this weekend and noticed that they are about halfway through a 4-mile extension of the Bay Area's BART system that will connect directly to the terminal. When I looked up the cost, I discovered it's $484 million.

    I thought about Walt Disney World, some of the original designs for the Monorail system and Disney's flat-out refusal to expand the pollution- and transit-friendly Monorail in favor of smog-spewing buses and deals with car-rental companies.

    And it just seemed sad.
  • robbiem
    Hello
    • Jul 2009
    • 694

    #2
    Re: WDW Monorail Observation

    Have to agree. EPCOT City aside Walt, Roy & others in the 60s wanted WDW to be a showplace for how technology makes things better.

    As well as the monorail & wedway plans there was the pneumatic trash AVAC system, utilitors, water hyacynth purification, fibre optic phones and of course the Contempoary and Polynesian 'drawer' construction method as well as lots of other things big and small.

    I think it's a double shame that too few of these ideas were taken up elsewhere and the company lost its pioneering spirit & chose to copy others rather than lead.

    Today WDW is little better than the original spral around Disneyland which prompted Walt to plan for the blessing of size. What we need is someone brave enough to swallow a 'Walt pill' and press for real innovation across the resort. It's not too late like the old COP says 'progress takes people building and working together'

    Comment

    • maddogjoe
      MiceChatter
      • Nov 2007
      • 347

      #3
      Re: WDW Monorail Observation

      No, it takes money and investors would rather see that money make it's way into their pockets rather than seeing it spent on "innovation".

      I think one of Walt's greatest talents was to get people to "see" his vision and "want" to climb aboard to help make it happen. I think to those, making money became a secondary thing, NOT the main focus it is today.

      Comment

      • mikelieman
        MiceChatter
        • Nov 2008
        • 385

        #4
        Re: WDW Monorail Observation

        Originally posted by maddogjoe View Post
        No, it takes money and investors would rather see that money make it's way into their pockets rather than seeing it spent on "innovation".

        I think one of Walt's greatest talents was to get people to "see" his vision and "want" to climb aboard to help make it happen. I think to those, making money became a secondary thing, NOT the main focus it is today.
        So, your point is that the Chairman and Board of Directors are incompetent in maintaining and promoting the Corporate Vision.

        • Susan E. Arnold [1]
        • John S. Chen [1]
        • Judith L. Estrin [1]
        • Robert A. Iger (Chairman) [1]
        • Fred H. Langhammer [1]
        • Aylwin B. Lewis [1]
        • Monica C. Lozano [1]
        • Robert W. Matschullat [1]
        • Sheryl K. Sandberg [1]
        • Orin C. Smith [1]

        Current Senior Corporate Officers




        Are all complete and total failures.

        Why are they still employed?

        Comment

        • maddogjoe
          MiceChatter
          • Nov 2007
          • 347

          #5
          Re: WDW Monorail Observation

          Originally posted by mikelieman View Post
          So, your point is that the Chairman and Board of Directors are incompetent in maintaining and promoting the Corporate Vision.

          • Susan E. Arnold [1]
          • John S. Chen [1]
          • Judith L. Estrin [1]
          • Robert A. Iger (Chairman) [1]
          • Fred H. Langhammer [1]
          • Aylwin B. Lewis [1]
          • Monica C. Lozano [1]
          • Robert W. Matschullat [1]
          • Sheryl K. Sandberg [1]
          • Orin C. Smith [1]

          Current Senior Corporate Officers

          • Robert A. Iger – Chairman and CEO
          • James A. Rasulo – Senior Executive Vice President and CFO
          • Alan N. Braverman – Senior Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary
          • Kevin A. Mayer – Executive Vice President, Corporate Strategy and Business Development
          • Christine M. McCarthy – Executive Vice President, Corporate Real Estate, Sourcing, Alliances and Treasurer
          • Zenia B. Mucha – Executive Vice President and Chief Communications Officer
          • Jayne Parker– Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer
          • Ronald L. Iden – Senior Vice President and Chief Security Officer
          • Brent A. Woodford – Senior Vice President, Planning and Control



          Are all complete and total failures.

          Why are they still employed?
          I never said any of them are failures, and as Disney stock has almost tripled in value over the last 5 years I'm guessing they are doing a pretty good job at keeping the investors happy.

          Comment

          • EC82
            MiceChatter
            • Mar 2009
            • 374

            #6
            Re: WDW Monorail Observation

            While you are getting very off topic, I actually vote against all board members every year. Throwing my vote away? Perhaps. But the fact is, every one of these independent board members has strong ties to Iger and rubber-stamps executive decisions instead of providing real leadership.

            If innovation and vision can't bring a company profits, then I guess Steve Jobs had the wrong idea with Apple?

            There IS a way to innovate, to create something extraordinary and new. For instance, Disney could have made literally BILLIONS of dollars by now on the patent rights to the PeopleMover, but it was one of those "out there" ideas that the company finally just didn't know what to do with. The Disney of 50 years ago was wildly ahead of its time in many ways, and a half-century later, not only could we really use some of those ideas, but instead of simply being an entertainment company, Disney could be the kind of "rule the world" company that had its fingers in movies, TV, theme parks, transportation, urban planning, development, construction, food ... you name it. They were all on Walt's mind.

            Now we get a remake of The Lone Ranger, a Monorail-billboard and a company that will probably make over Epcot into StarWars-cot any day now. They just $ee the dollar $ign$ and can't help them$elves, those Di$ney board member$.

            The argument that the company has to make money is basically undone by looking at the trajectory of a firm like Apple.

            Comment

            • EC82
              MiceChatter
              • Mar 2009
              • 374

              #7
              Re: WDW Monorail Observation

              To quote "Star Wars":

              "If money is all you love, then that's what you'll receive."

              Ironic that this was written by someone who would go on to make billions (though he kept his company true to its core values until ALMOST the very end).

              Comment

              • robbiem
                Hello
                • Jul 2009
                • 694

                #8
                Re: WDW Monorail Observation

                Originally posted by maddogjoe View Post
                No, it takes money and investors would rather see that money make it's way into their pockets rather than seeing it spent on "innovation".

                I think one of Walt's greatest talents was to get people to "see" his vision and "want" to climb aboard to help make it happen. I think to those, making money became a secondary thing, NOT the main focus it is today.
                I guess that sums up the state of the western world today. Short term gains over long term loyalty. It's such a shame

                Comment

                • EC82
                  MiceChatter
                  • Mar 2009
                  • 374

                  #9
                  Re: WDW Monorail Observation

                  Take a look at what the BART "monorail" extension will look like in Oakland ... and then imagine, just for a moment ...

                  Click image for larger version

Name:	Bart Oak.jpg
Views:	1
Size:	140.6 KB
ID:	7348807

                  what it might look at feel like seeing that journey from EPCOT to the Studios, then journeying onward to the Animal Kingdom area, with stops along the way near Coronado Springs/Blizzard Beach. And radiating out from EPCOT over to Downtown Disney. I like to imagine it.

                  Comment

                  • Judah37
                    New MiceChatter
                    • Mar 2007
                    • 3

                    #10
                    Re: WDW Monorail Observation

                    Originally posted by maddogjoe View Post
                    No, it takes money and investors would rather see that money make it's way into their pockets rather than seeing it spent on "innovation".

                    I think one of Walt's greatest talents was to get people to "see" his vision and "want" to climb aboard to help make it happen. I think to those, making money became a secondary thing, NOT the main focus it is today.
                    Walt always had big dreams, and they were mostly too expensive to complete. Disneyland was one of them. But Roy was always there to help with the financial issues. I see this as too many Roy's and no Walt. Dreams are supposed to be high, they call it Blue Sky for a reason. Walt always had people around him who could innovate, and make it happen. Look at the wonderful sands at the WDW resort. They used things to their advantage. Bob Gurr is great at getting things done and innovating, like the original monorail. Maybe Disney needs to create a new construction technique for making the rails for the monorail cheaper. Leverage new materials. Innovate!
                    Have a great day!
                    -Judah

                    Comment

                    • robbiem
                      Hello
                      • Jul 2009
                      • 694

                      #11
                      Re: WDW Monorail Observation

                      Originally posted by Judah37 View Post
                      Walt always had big dreams, and they were mostly too expensive to complete. Disneyland was one of them. But Roy was always there to help with the financial issues. I see this as too many Roy's and no Walt. Dreams are supposed to be high, they call it Blue Sky for a reason. Walt always had people around him who could innovate, and make it happen. Look at the wonderful sands at the WDW resort. They used things to their advantage. Bob Gurr is great at getting things done and innovating, like the original monorail. Maybe Disney needs to create a new construction technique for making the rails for the monorail cheaper. Leverage new materials. Innovate!
                      great quote I agree 100% :-)

                      Comment

                      • BandM
                        Bearing with the bears
                        • Dec 2012
                        • 135

                        #12
                        Re: WDW Monorail Observation

                        Pardon my rambling here but...
                        BART has some of the weirdest trains I've ever seen, why the wide gauge trains, why the hell did they make the seats with cloth and why did they carpet the cars? Who thought this was a good idea? I know you put monorail in quotation mark but for anyone wondering, it's not a monorail.
                        See: What is a Monorail? The official TMS definition (featuring that one generic press shot of WDW's monorail!)

                        Anyway, WDW lost any sort of vision for it's transportation a while ago which is a shame. One thing I don't get though is why they haven't built an LRT next to the preexisting roads (to avoid wasting a large chunk of time arguing with various environmental agencies) and buying a bunch of trains from either Bombardier (which I imagine would be convenient considering Bombardier also maintain the monorails) or Alstom inter-city trains. Wouldn't it be cheaper in the long run to maintain EMU trains then a bunch of noisy diesel buses? With the price of gas on the rise every minute it can't make much sense to keep relying on buses. Wouldn't they be slightly faster to load (with wider doors and how there wouldn't be a need for a ramp for people on wheelchairs/strollers/ECVs to board). Wouldn't the schedule be more consistent since it wouldn't be stuck in traffic. This would especially evident for anyone that's ever had the bad luck of riding in traffic during a crowdy day like the 4th of July (never again). Wouldn't it be much nicer for guests that pay an arm and a leg to visit WDW to enjoy a relaxing ride sitting down after a long day instead of being cramped in a bus after fighting your way through crowds? Wouldn't the system be more flexible with double decker and single deck trains depending on crowds? Granted it wouldn't be as sleek as a monorail but it would probably be easier to build, maintain and (eventually) expand.

                        I'm not a civil engineer nor a city planning but it seems like something that would make sense considering WDW's size.
                        So take it as my 0.002 cents.

                        Comment

                        • EC82
                          MiceChatter
                          • Mar 2009
                          • 374

                          #13
                          Re: WDW Monorail Observation

                          Correct, BART is not a monorail, hence the quotes. Thank you.

                          The cloth seats and carpet made sense at the time, I suppose ... and now they are part of BART's personality. These mini-trains are apparently made specifically for the airport runs.

                          It's an absolute shame to see how Disney puts no actual thought into planning how to move people around its otherwise immaculately designed property. Or at least, immaculately designed to a point: Now, they're basically just carving up the land, selling it off, letting others come in and develop, and being incredibly haphazard with it. The whole thing has just devolved more or less into chaos from the brilliantly conceived and executed ideas that existed from 1968 to 2003 or so. But increasingly, it's all just one big jumbled mess that no urban planner on Earth would actually look to Disney for ideas today.

                          They've gone from absolute innovators with no competition to absolute competitors trying to cater to the whims of the public.

                          Comment

                          • Trumpet
                            New Member Goes Forth
                            • Oct 2011
                            • 530

                            #14
                            Re: WDW Monorail Observation

                            I have to say that I always like to travel in a monorail, a great form of transport
                            The new Star Wars plot summery:

                            Episode 7: Luke discovers that Darth Vader is not his father, and goes on a search for his real father

                            Episode 8: Darth Vader is resurrected and goes on Jerry Springer, claiming he is Luke and Leia's father

                            Episode 9: Princes Leia is not Luke's sister, making him furious (we all know why...).

                            Comment

                            • robbiem
                              Hello
                              • Jul 2009
                              • 694

                              #15
                              Re: WDW Monorail Observation

                              Here in London the 'tubes' have fabric seats and that works fine but we certainly don't have carpet!

                              Comment

                              • BandM
                                Bearing with the bears
                                • Dec 2012
                                • 135

                                #16
                                Re: WDW Monorail Observation

                                Originally posted by EC82 View Post
                                It's an absolute shame to see how Disney puts no actual thought into planning how to move people around its otherwise immaculately designed property. Or at least, immaculately designed to a point: Now, they're basically just carving up the land, selling it off, letting others come in and develop, and being incredibly haphazard with it. The whole thing has just devolved more or less into chaos from the brilliantly conceived and executed ideas that existed from 1968 to 2003 or so. But increasingly, it's all just one big jumbled mess that no urban planner on Earth would actually look to Disney for ideas today.

                                They've gone from absolute innovators with no competition to absolute competitors trying to cater to the whims of the public.
                                They'll eventually run into a problem, a bus is not a solution to everything but who's going to say that to the current management team which has a limited long therm vision?
                                Originally posted by robbiem View Post
                                Here in London the 'tubes' have fabric seats and that works fine but we certainly don't have carpet!
                                Sorry to go off topic again but the Underground doesn't exactly have this problem:http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/06/us...pagewanted=all
                                Don't mean to hate on BART but I'm glad they're finally buying some new rolling stock and replacing the seats with some vinyl ones.

                                Comment

                                • maddogjoe
                                  MiceChatter
                                  • Nov 2007
                                  • 347

                                  #17
                                  Re: WDW Monorail Observation

                                  I don't think "they" (at Disney) don't think of the transportation issues. I think they do, but the ones they have and maintain are most likely the most cost effective options they have now. Sure they could build other types of transport, but the cost would be high and recouping that money would take a long time and so is set on a back burner.

                                  What if they created/bought their own coach building company. They could build/design buses that could fit the themes of the various parks/resorts. While it would still be a bus why couldn't it look like a safari bus, or a cartoon bus, some futuristic versions of a bus,maybe even a short "monorail" on wheels. A simple thing that may help with the "immersion" factor, but again, what are the costs?

                                  Comment

                                  • BandM
                                    Bearing with the bears
                                    • Dec 2012
                                    • 135

                                    #18
                                    Re: WDW Monorail Observation

                                    Originally posted by maddogjoe View Post
                                    What if they created/bought their own coach building company. They could build/design buses that could fit the themes of the various parks/resorts. While it would still be a bus why couldn't it look like a safari bus, or a cartoon bus, some futuristic versions of a bus,maybe even a short "monorail" on wheels. A simple thing that may help with the "immersion" factor, but again, what are the costs?
                                    Couldn't that just be achieved with lots of decals?

                                    Comment

                                    • deathcomesarippin
                                      New MiceChatter
                                      • Mar 2011
                                      • 82

                                      #19
                                      Re: WDW Monorail Observation

                                      I think Disney could do alot better than the bus system they have now. They should be cutting edge! Its a shame they didnt build the streets to have a trolley system. I dont think it would be ideal to have an underground in Florida. I think they should have electric buses.

                                      Comment

                                      • PeoplemoverMatt
                                        When Will It Return?
                                        • Jan 2005
                                        • 1354

                                        #20
                                        Re: WDW Monorail Observation

                                        An underground subway system is hard to do in Florida with the water table being a few feet below the surface in most places.

                                        "Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom." -- James 3:13

                                        Comment

                                        Get Away Today Footer

                                        Collapse
                                        Working...
                                        X