With no replacement in sight, Walt Disney World has been quietly spending a lot of money to repair the existing monorail fleet. Monorail Silver has just emerged from its makeover with a sparkling exterior and an interior that matches the color stripe on the outside.
Monorail Silver recently received a makeover! Swipe to see photos of the interior and exterior upgrades. 😍😍😍🚝 #monorailsilver #disneymonorail #waltdisneyworldmonorail #waltdisneyworld #disney #wdw #magickingdom #distwitter pic.twitter.com/qamlY4ldLr
— Thomas Radzak (@tradzak) June 30, 2019
New to the Highway in the Sky is plastic paneling denoting the color of the monorail, with coloring on said panels and the seats matching the color stripe outside. It is expected that the rest of the existing monorail fleet will follow suit over the coming months.
So, what do you think of Monorail Silver’s new look?
i remember the rumors starting in may of last year that new monorail were in the works, you guys”WDWNT” did say that a order had not been placed yet, will all teh price hikes, you would think they could start at least getting in to talks
Siemens had offered to redo the whole system as I understand it but were refused. Disney didn’t want their advertising
Looks good. Doe it still have the carpet on the walls? Can’t tell from the pics.
Yup
It looks good, but the real question is, how extensive was the mechanical and electrical refurbishment? So much for Bob Gurr”s statement a while back that new monorails have been ordered.
As extensive as my Home Depot Commercial Credit Card points bought us
Very cool!
As long as the mildew smell is gone & the AC works properly then we can honestly say they have been refurbished.
They’re just making it easier for guests to identify which monorail they are stuck in when they contact emergency services.
Lipstick on a pig.
You can shine up a turd all you want, but at the end of the day it’s still a shiny turd. As many wild decisions Mr Chapek is making for the company, getting a new Monorail fleet is not in his agenda. Oh yeah that’s right, it doesn’t make him money. #savethejamboree
Is a refurbished 57 Chevy a polished turd? Or better yet, a P-51 Mustang? This article doesn’t say anything about systems refurbishment and we can’t assume they didn’t refurb the doors, A/C or anything else. I’d rather see the classic monorail refurbished than a half baked subway system in the sky. if this buys time to create something special then I’m for it. But once again, very little detail in this article.
The article is only reporting what the author could observe because Disney hasn’t released anything on the matter and because if the last month has taught us anything, it’s that the internet can not handle speculation and rumors no matter how many disclaimers you give. The second you share creative thought, you are accused of being “clickbate”.
i wonder if all of them will feature seats and interiors to match the monorail color? that would be fun!
Please stand clear of the falling doors… Por favor mantenganse alejados de las puertas que caen
Not possible we hooked each door with a new bungee cord that i stole from the Hard Rock Casino, you know the ones that hold my casino card
Does it still smell like urine???
Paint a turd and it’s still a turd. The look was never the issue, it was the functionality that was the problem.
It’s great that they are refurnishing the fleet. All the “haters” who complainabout getting new monorails, we renovate buildings, cars, yards, and even our bodies. If it is more cost effective, clean-up the entire fleet. They ate iconic symbols of WDW.
HOWEVER, that said, they need to order a few more to handle the opening crowds, the dinner time crowds, and the massive stampede to leave after the fireworks. Need a minimum of 5 running on the express routes and 4 on the local route to expedite the movement if guests.
Plus, they should run a monorail system connecting Animal Kingdom Lodge, Coranado, the water parks, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, Disney Springs, and Sarasota Springs Resorts with a wrap around to or Orleans and area resorts.
I agree. It might be more cost-effective to refurbish the monorails as they are but I’m sure it’s also extremely hard to get parts for such an aging system. They can be maintained forever honestly but at some point, they need a complete replacement. I always laugh when theme parks say a roller coaster or ride has reached the end of it’s operating life because that’s so not true at all. It’s just they can’t get parts that are cost effective to keep the ride running and they’ve probably known this for a while but have also been pricing up replacement ideas for a while like Big Bad Wolf at Busch Gardens Williamsburg which was quoted as being at the end of its life but was also immediately announced that Verbolten was replacing it. It was still possible to keep it running (and it’s sad it was scrapped as it was a classic) but the parts for it are much harder to come by. Same for Monorails that are 30+ years old. At some point, it’s gotta be swapped out for a whole new line.
I would even argue getting new sets they wouldn’t even need as many as they have now if you look at Tokyo’s version where you can walk through all the cars. They have much higher capacity thanks to that feature.
I’m not bagging on them refurbishing them though at all. I just think they need to pull the trigger soon and get the order process moving. A refurbishment for one of the busiest transportation systems can only go so far.
They just spent billions of dollars on two Star Wars lands (at least one of which is a bomb), and millions on that atrocious-looking gondolas system, the most impractical and ridiculous mass transportation system ever devised … and they won’t spring to completely repair and replace what is one of the most visible icons of all of Walt Disney World?
A bomb? And the gondola system is impractical? Good to see you aren’t unbiased at all. PS Galaxy’s Edge has been a major hit. But hey don’t let that get in the way of your bias.
I’m not sure how you define “major hit,” but if it’s based on attendance … um … oops. Have you ever ridden one of these gondolas? They are not what I’d call efficient in terms of moving large numbers of people.
I have and it’s a major hit. Not sure where you’ve been looking. 10 people per gondola and the amount of gondolas they have is not a capacity issue. You’ll arrive to parks just as fast as if you were on buses and will help clear some congestion on bus lines for the locations served. You don’t have to have ridden one to see the potential.
Monorail Silver looks awesome (great photos)👍
I trust the rest of the Monorail Fleet will, too
After all, if Team Disney Burbank can afford to schill 71 billion for 20th Century Fox …. well, those Bean Counters can afford to release whatever funds are necessary (nothing looks more embarrassing than a rundown Monorail).
Nothing screams “preventable bad publicity” like an incident on a transit system that could have been avoided, especially when the competition is figuring out how to improve their Hotel – Parking – Transport experience.
Thank you Tom and thank you to all the WDWNT staff. I know it hasn’t been the easiest month but just keep doing what you’re doing (maybe minus the rumors because some people have proven to weaponize that catagory against you). Your hardwork and dedication is still much appreciated. Thank you for doing what you do. I look forward to the updates!
All that carpet.. all iI can think of is bedbugs and lice
It’s not actually carpet anymore.. it’s a non porous surface that won’t absorb liquid or mold like the old stuff.
Just curious, are the monorails in Disneyland sponsored? Why are those so more futuristic than the ones in Florida? Who pays for those?
They’re not, and the interiors are decimated.
I don’t have every perspective, but I have been in the WDW monorails (Mark VI) multiple times, and had the opportunity to ride in the front of the Disneyland monorails (Mark VII). It is really that the ages of the monorails are very different. The Disneyland ones are around 10 years old, where theWalt Disney World ones are 30 years old. The Disneyland ones are nicer and in better shape, but Disneyland has been performing so they get more funds, and the monorail is purely for fun there, though it can be used to go from Downtown Disney into Disneyland Park. On the other hand, at WDW, it is almost a necessity if you drive to the park to take the Monorail or Ferry.
Some don’t see the problem with continuing to maintain the old ones versus replacement. Part of the answer is whether you can repair them, versus whether you should.
1) At a certain point you have to realize it’s just not practical to keep repairing something anymore. I had an old pool heater, and yes I could get the part I needed, but the problem was that we couldn’t install it because another part of the unit had rotted away. Sure, maybe I could replace that too, but even if that did work, what’s going to break next? So yeah you could fix the doors, or the AC on the old monorail, but what is about to fail next?
2) Sometimes it’s worth restoring. Yes, it might cost more to rebuild a classic Chevy than buying a new car, but that is a labor of love. The point of spending the money is all about the restoration and saving a classic. But you’re not going to do that for a Chevette. Things like the steam engines at Disney, those are classic Americana and you spend money on restoration. The monorails on the other hand are supposed to be a modern transportation system. It’s a utility item that just needs to be swapped out every twenty years.
The monorails move a lot of people and they are also used as a selling feature to charge more for certain hotel rooms. When they break down, it’s chaos trying to get people around. The monorails need to be reliable.