WALT DISNEY WORLD MONORAIL

If you are anything like most visitors to Orlando, you will ride the Walt Disney World monorails without thinking too much about them. Certainly, alongside Disney’s fleet of buses, they are one of the workhorses of the parks, and are definitely an integral part of Disney’s incredibly smooth “people moving” mechanism.

Whilst being ideal to move people in large numbers, and very quickly, what is sometimes overlooked is that they are also incredibly expensive to build at approximately $5 million (for double track) per mile. The track itself consists of 26-inch wide, pre-cast concrete beams supported by concrete columns, which are approximately 50 feet apart. Each monorail travels on rubber tires and draws its power from each side of the concrete beam.

Whilst having approximately 24 kilometres of track, future developments have already been planned. It is believed that construction work has already taken place, with a view to expanding the monorail system between EPCOT, MGM Studios, Downtown Disney, and Animal Kingdom. Trees have been cleared and pylon footers have been poured for some time. When EPCOT was built, pylon footers were buried through world showcase so they could expand to the Studios. However, in view of the large capital sums involved it is extremely unlikely that the development will take place in the foreseeable future.

The Disney designed Mark IV trains first began service at Walt Disney World in 1971, using the experience gained from three generations of monorail trains in Disneyland. Initially the double-beamed track circled the Seven Seas Lagoon and transported guests between the Ticket and Transportation Centre, the Contemporary Resort, Polynesian Hotel and the Magic Kingdom. Sometime later the Grand Floridian was added to the service. However in 1982 the system was expanded, by adding a four mile extension, to enable guests to travel from the Magic Kingdom resort areas to Epcot' s front door.

By 1989, most of the Mark IV' s trains, having travelled nearly ten million miles, were due for replacement. The newly improved designed Mark VI trains began operations in 1990, with the full fleet of 12 in service by early 1991.

The Mark VI can now carry 365 passengers as well as improved air conditioning, door systems and improved safety features. Each Mark VI train consists of six cars with an overall length of 203 feet.

One amazing statistic is that the monorail system will carry over 150, 000 guests to the Magic Kingdom and Epcot parks on an average day!

Finally, you may be one of the many guests who listen to the announcements on the monorails and wonder what the Spanish phrase is that immediately follows the English “Please stand clear of the doors”. It is ' Por favor, mantenganse allejado de las puertas' - loosely translated it also means ' Please stand clear of doors' . Bet you never knew that!