The Monorail Project - Network Concepts

Once I described all the monorail network components, I had to develop a way to determine the best way to put them together. So, I used Excel to generate every possible combination of routes. Once I removed all the combinations that included two monorail lines serving the same resort, this left 1,201 possible combinations. Obviously, that is too many combinations to evaluate, so I ranked them based on station score per mile.

Below are the top 25 network combinations and the existing monorail network for comparison.

System number is an arbitrary number used to identify the alternative. System Combination lists the components of the network alternative, with '0' indicating no addition for a particular loop category. I allowed for multiple Epcot alternatives to be selected in a given network combination as long as no resort is served by two stations ('Epcot Loop CE' indicates that the system includes both Epcot Loop C and Epcot Loop E). Rank is the ranking of each combination by Score/Mile.

You may notice that the existing monorail network has the 75th highest Score/Mile. This does not necessarily mean that the Walt Disney World Monorail System should be extended. It is possible that the operational characteristics of any of the 74 higher-scoring systems would be worse than the existing system. And it is quite likely that the substantial capital costs of a greatly expanded system might not pay for themselves. But I was still surprised that any combination would have a higher station score than the existing system.

I selected the 1st, 7th, 10th, 23th-ranked alternatives for further analysis:

Build-Out 1094 was selected because it was the highest-ranked alternative. The ridership characteristics of this network should be nearly identical to the 11th ranked Build-Out 1098, which has all the same stations but uses the longer Hollywood Studios Loop B which does not cross the Hollywood Studios theme park.

Build-Out 838 was selected because it was the shortest network in the top 25 at 33 miles.

Build-Out 1112 was selected because it was the highest ranked alternative with a Sports Loop.

Build-Out 453 was selected because it was the highest-ranked alternative using Park Connector A.

I will be moving forward with the above concepts to determine the likely feasibility and operational characteristics of each monorail network alternative. Between now and the next post on this project, I will need to find a realistic number of guests per room at these hotels (at a peak season) so I can determine the daily ridership on each segment. I will also need to determine the average distribution of trips to theme parks throughout the day so I can begin to model the peak hour operating characteristics of the system. If you have any idea where I can find this data, please let me know.

The Monorail Project - Resort Loops and Comparisons II

Today I will discuss the Animal Kingdom and Epcot transfer station lines.

Animal Kingdom Transfer Station

The Animal Kingdom Loop A has stops at both Animal Kingdom Lodge sections, the All Star Resorts, and Blizzard Beach. This means that it can only be considered along with the Park Connector B option without having a transfer at Blizzard Beach.

A transfer station at Blizzard Beach is not recommended because this water park currently has free parking. Even if parking at Blizzard Beach cost the same as the other theme parks, I could imagine this being inadvisable, because it may be considered more convenient to park close at the water park and ride the monorail to Hollywood Studios or Animal Kingdom. Come to think of it, this could also be considered an argument against the regular stop at Blizzard Beach on Park Connector A in general.

Animal Kingdom Loop B drops the Blizzard Beach station, which naturally implies that it would pair better with Park Connector A.

Animal Kingdom Loop C drops the stop at the All Star resorts and goes to Coronado Springs instead.

Generally, all three Animal Kingdom loops strike me as being somewhat poor choices for construction because of the long length of the lines and the way the resorts are laid out straddling the swamps of Reedy Creek.

Epcot Transfer Station

Like the resorts near Animal Kingdom, the resorts near Epcot are spread across both sides of a swampy body of water (the Sassagoula River). But the Epcot resorts are even more difficult to connect by monorail because the center of this section of the resort is home to the Lake Buena Vista Golf Course. For obvious reasons, any proposed monorail extension would need to avoid crossing a golf course or the impacted parts of the golf course would need to be reconstructed to avoid the alignment.

As a result, the Epcot Loop A gets a strange amoeba shape and is an unwieldy long route.

Epcot Loop B dispenses entirely with the idea that the monorail needs to serve the Downtown Disney area. However, it would be rather strange if the only hotels with direct access to the front entrance of Epcot had some of the least futuristic themes of all the Disney World resorts.

Epcot Loop C adds a stop at Old Key West by following the resort entrance road to the water taxi dock.

Epcot Loop D ignores the Port Orleans area entirely and just serves the Downtown Disney/Typhoon Lagoon area.

I was unhappy with how long Epcot Loop D was considering that it only stopped at one resort. So I decided to add stops for the resorts at Hotel Plaza Blvd. The Hotel Plaza Blvd South station is located near the Wyndham, Holiday Inn, and the Hilton resorts. The Hotel Plaza Blvd North station is near the Best Western, Doubletree, and the B resorts. Finally, I added a station at the Buena Vista Palace resort. Although these resorts are not owned by Disney, they are located on land owned by Disney. Therefore, the feasibility of these stations is similar to that of the station at the Swan and Dolphin.

For Epcot Loop E, I also added stations at Downtown Disney West Side and the Downtown Disney Marketplace. The station labeled Downtown Disney may or may not be included in a final version of this alternative. Regardless of how many stations are located at Downtown Disney, I only gave this alternative the station score points as if it stopped at Downtown Disney just once.

Somewhat surprisingly, the Station Score per Mile of the Epcot monorail loops are fairly consistent. In a complete build out, it is possible that Alternatives B or C could be built in addition to Alternatives D or E.

Next time I will discuss the possible combinations of routes I can combine to develop a complete system. The system-wide Station Score per Mile will help me identify the top ideal build outs of a Disney World monorail system. If there are any possible monorail networks that have a higher score than the existing monorail, it will be kind of cool.

Museum of Science and Invention

The Museum of Science and Invention from the world of Phineas and Ferb was a project created by myself and Doug Rakoczy for the University of Florida/Point Park University Team for the 2013 Walt Disney Imagineering ImagiNations Design Competition. [Note: This project is the sole property of Walt Disney Imagineering and all rights to use these ideas are exclusive to Walt Disney Imagineering. The competition is a way for students and recent graduates to showcase their talents and for Walt Disney Imagineering to identify new talent. All intellectual property used in this project belongs to its respective owners, and this blog has no affiliation to the Walt Disney company in any way.]

This was the second time Doug and I collaborated on an ImagiNations design contest and the third time I participated. The prompt was to design an experience for a large city that transforms it for the enjoyment of its citizens and visitors. After considering several possibilities, we decided to develop a concept based on Phineas and Ferb because of the comic and educational possibilities of the show. In particular, we liked how the show seems to exist in an alternative reality in which science is real, but making things work is much easier than in real life. This, we reasoned, would make a great basis for a science museum.

I created the concept art, while Doug was responsible for the vehicle design and modeling. We both collaborated on the story. At the end of the day, we did not make it to the next round of the competition, but we generated a lot of quality work we are both proud of.

Below, I have reproduced the text and imagery from our submission:

Project Summary:
The Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated Main Building rises prominently above the skyline of Pittsburgh, transforming the Pittsburgh Tri-State Area into the Danville Tri-State Area from Phineas and Ferb. The Museum of Science and Invention is housed inside this distinctive, environmentally friendly building.

Dr. Doofenshmirtz's latest diabolical plan to take over the Tri-State-Area involves winning the trust and admiration of the citizens of Danville by opening a museum. In addition to highlighting some of Dr. Doofenshmirtz's latest inventions, this museum has an educational mission to inspire children to learn about science and engineering through interactive hands on exhibits. Each exhibit starts with a common everyday invention and breaks it down into fundamental components explained through hands on exhibits and interactive media. Within some of the exhibits are inventions made by Phineas and Ferb, including Where’s Perry? a hydrogen balloon ride over parts of the museum and across Danville on a quest to find Perry while Candace tries to bust everyone.

The finale experience is the Elevator-Inator, an elevator which can travel horizontally and vertically. Guests board the vehicle and are lifted into Dr. Doofenshmirtz's lab, where he reveals that the whole museum was a ruse to fool the residents of Danville so he can take over the Tri-State Area. Agent P arrives and wrestles Dr. Doofenshmirtz for the ride’s remote control, sending the vehicle careening through Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s workshop and activating some of his evil inventions. Agent P eventually defeats Dr. Doofenshmirtz by exploding one of Phineas and Ferb’s hydrogen balloons while guests in the Elevator-Inator are returned safely to the ground.

Story Behind the Design:

Welcome to the greatest museum in the Tri-State Area! Dr. Doofenshmirtz invites you and your family to the new Museum of Science and Invention! Inside, family members will be able to dive head first into the world of science, engineering, and technology.

At least, that’s what Dr. Doofenshmirtz wants you to think. In addition to sharing his love of science, the purpose of this museum is to brainwash the citizens of the Tri-State Area into handing over the deeds to their houses. Dr. Doofenshmirtz invented the Elevator-Inator, but he decided it wasn’t evil enough. So he installed a Mind Control-Inator to the seats so he could make guests give him the deeds to their property.

Phineas and Ferb were taken to the museum by Candace today. When the boys realize Perry is missing, they build hydrogen balloons to find him. They invite other museum patrons to help them locate Perry. Meanwhile, Perry has been captured by Dr. Doofenshmirtz while attempting to foil his plot. Agent P eventually defeats Dr. Doofenshmirtz by exploding one of Phineas and Ferb’s hydrogen balloons near Dr. Doofenshmirtz and reversing the Mind Control-Inator. Once again the day is saved, thanks to Agent P!

Guest Experience:
Every guest that visits the museum is transported into the world of Phineas and Ferb and experiences interactive, hands on exhibits about science and the history of invention. It is the mission of the museum to enrich the ideas, imaginations, and passion of all people and to explore the world around them in the light of science. Exhibits range from hands-on demonstrations to rides and interactive media, ensuring that there is material presented in ways suitable for all types of learners. In addition to the many exhibits and attractions, several programs are offered for the educational outreach of school children. The Doofenshmirtz Summer School of Science is where children will learn how to become the next generation of mad scientists… er, inventors! Programs for school groups will also be available. This museum will entertain and inspire tourists from around the world, but it will also provide a valuable educational environment for the people who call the Tri-State Area home.

The full-scale recreation of the Doofenshmirtz Evil Inc. Main Building will permanently transform Pittsburgh into Danville, and the museum will inspire the children of Pittsburgh with Phineas and Ferb’s spirit of invention.

Pittsburgh was selected to be transformed into Danville because it is the second largest Tri-State metro area in the United States, and the largest without a state-of-the-art family science museum. Home to over 2.6 million people, the Pittsburgh Tri-State area has the population necessary to support this educational entertainment complex.

“Welcome, citizens of the Tri-State Area! I hope you enjoy my museum that is definitely not some sort of evil scheme.”

Guests enter through the Atrium of Genius, a tribute to our generation’s greatest inventor, complete with a collection of his masterpieces. Each of the museum’s exhibits can be accessed through this atrium, but the exhibits are also designed to flow from one to another internally.

Exhibits include full-scale recreations of historic moments in the progression of ideas along with demonstrations, displays and interactive media. Shown here is part of the Make it Float-Inator, where the Wright Brothers perfected the ideal wing shape for flight. Here, guests can test different wing shapes in a wind tunnel, read how it was done or interact with the Wright Brothers in person. Lighter-than-air flight is described in Where’s Perry? While visiting this exhibit, Phineas and Ferb realized Perry was missing, so they invented hydrogen balloons to look for him. This ride (a suspended variation of the Omnimover ride system) goes over this wing of the museum before leaving the building and soaring over Danville (done in miniatures, like Peter Pan’s Flight).

Attractions and Exhibits:
The Lair Restaurant and Observatory is a family dining environment complete with great views of Danville and furnishings fit only for the future ruler of the Tri-State Area.

The Doofenshmirtz Evil Inc. Hotel and Suites are generally less evil than most of the Doofenshmirtz Evil Inc. projects, because it is operated by Doofenshmirtz’s bank, with whom he is late on mortgage payments.

The 1st floor is occupied by the Hotel Lobby, Museum entrance and Retail Space. Guests exiting the museum do so through a Disney Store featuring an extensive collection of Phineas and Ferb merchandise.

Museum guests enter through the 1st Floor, ascend stairs to the Atrium of Genius, and travel by escalator to the top museum floor. Each exhibit flows into the next, although they are all accessible through the Atrium of Genius.

The Time Warp-Inator allows guests to witness the discovery of some of the most groundbreaking inventions.

Follow in the footsteps of Henry Ford and design the next generation of electric powered vehicles at the Car-Inator.

Discover what it really takes to make things fly in the Make it Float-Inator complete with a hydrogen balloon ride invented by Phineas and Ferb.

Finally, ride Dr. Doofenshmirtz's latest invention, The Elevator-Inator! On this thrilling ride, witness experiments that are in progress and discover what it really takes to be an inventor.

The Elevator-Inator is a new style of family thrill ride that takes the classic dark ride and turns it on its side. The vehicle combines conventional simulator movement with a unique track configuration to simulate an elevator that can travel up, down, left and right. In order to be accessible to the greatest number of guests, seats and restraints are able to be raised and lowered so that the height restriction is only 36”. In order to be accessible to guests with disabilities, those needing special assistance will be placed in a custom wheel chair at the station. Once the other guests are seated, the wheel chair is locked into position in the center seat of the front row.

The Elevator-Inator is driven by a unique system that uses a worm gear and sprocket that connects to the track. On the track itself is a 3” wide toothed bar which allows the car to climb the vertical portions of track. Each car is powered by 2 bus bars that also run the length of the track. Linear actuators on the top and back of the car allow it to rock front and back as well as side to side to keep the car level. Speakers are located in the head rests and under each seat in order to produce binaural sounds to create the effect of the Mind Control-Inator.

Guests board the vehicle and are lifted into Dr. Doofenshmirtz's lab, where he reveals that the whole museum was a ruse. He activates the Mind Control-Inator but before the riders give up their homes, Agent P escapes and wrestles Dr. Doofenshmirtz for the ride’s remote control, sending the vehicle careening through the workshop and activating some of his evil inventions. Agent P eventually defeats Dr. Doofenshmirtz by exploding one of Phineas and Ferb’s hydrogen balloons while guests in the Elevator-Inator are returned safely to the ground. Once again, the day is saved, thanks to Agent P!

***

I hope you've enjoyed reading about The Museum of Science and Invention. We only had a few weeks to work on this project, which we completed while I was a full time graduate student who also worked 20 hours a week as a research assistant. So I am extremely happy that we managed to complete as much as we did. The only thing I wished I could have added to this was a layout for the Elevator-Inator ride. Maybe I will get back to it one day.

The Monorail Project - Resort Loops and Comparisons

Now that I have outlined the main theme park connector monorail, I can begin to fill in the extensions to the resorts. I will show maps of individual concepts grouped based on their theme park transfer station. Where multiple options are given, I will compare them based on their combined scores and lengths.

Magic Kingdom Transfer Station




The first addition is the extension of the existing resort line to stop at Wilderness Lodge. It would require approximately one mile of new monorail alignment between the Transportation and Ticket Center (TTC) and The Contemporary Resort. The big downside to this alternative is that it would preclude the land between the TTC and The Contemporary from being able to be the site of a resort with a monorail station.

If the Park Connector line described in the previous post has to be built new around the Seven Seas Lagoon for capacity reasons, the Wilderness Lodge Extension could be built for relatively little cost. The existing Resort monorail beam between The Contemporary and TTC stations could be used for the Express line and the new Park Connector line could use the existing Express monorail beam.

Hollywood Studios Transfer Station



All three versions of The Hollywood Studios Loop have a station at the entrance to Hollywood Studios and at the International Gateway entrance to Epcot. The Hollywood Studios Loops A and B also have stops at the Boardwalk Resort, a combined station for the Yacht and Beach Club resorts, and a combined station for the Swan and Dolphin resorts.

Loop A crosses Hollywood Studios between Tower of Terror and the Fantasmic! theater and at the park entrance. The visibility of the monorail within the park is not necessarily an issue in these areas for two reasons: a monorail system was proposed for Los Angeles by the Alweg company in the 1960's, and the area around Fantasmic! has a contemporary aesthetic. The theme park crossing may limit future expansion in the areas adjacent to the monorail, so the other alternatives for this loop do not cross the theme park.



Loop B has all the same stations as Loop A, but it goes around Hollywood Studios instead of through it.



Loop C has an additional station at Blizzard Beach and Coronado Springs. However, it is still the Hollywood Studios alternative with the lowest Station Score/Mile. This alternative is the only Hollywood Studios-based alternative with a possible station at Coronado Springs. Coronado Springs had the 15th highest Resort Score (of 20) and has been classified as having a moderately-convenient layout for monorail transit. So It may not end up having a station in every final resort network alternative.

It is interesting to note here that all three Hollywood Studio Loop alternatives have a substantially higher Station Score/Mile than the existing Resort line. This suggests any of these alternatives would be very highly used if it were built, and it suggests that a large number of rooms (as much as 6,580) would increase in value because of the monorail.

One of the downsides to all of these alternatives is that they include a stop for the Swan and Dolphin resorts, which are not owned by Disney. This is a problem because Disney may not be able to convince the hotel's owners to pay a premium to pay for the construction, staffing, and operation of the Monorail at that site. If Disney chose not to include a stop there because of these negotiations, Disney would look bad for not including a station because the average guest doesn't know that the Swan and Dolphin are not Disney-owned resorts. I would suspect that after the difficulties in justifying an expansion of the monorail system financially, that this may be the second biggest obstacle to any monorail expansion.

The Hollywood Studios station is also ideally located as a transfer point for a monorail serving the resorts located on the southeast portion of Walt Disney World near the ESPN Wide World of Sports. Below are three possible alignments connecting Hollywood Studios to the sports complex and the nearby resorts.



The Sports Loop A serves the Caribbean Beach, Pop Century, and Art of Animation resorts as well as the ESPN Wide World of Sports. Art of Animation and Pop Century had the 16th and 13th highest Resort Score (of 20, respectively) and had been classified as having a moderately-convenient layout for monorail transit. The Caribbean Beach resort had the 19th highest score and a low-convenience layout for monorail. Therefore, all three resorts along this alternative have relatively low priority for monorail access. The one big advantage to this line (and the two other Sports Loop alternatives) is the station at the ESPN Wide World of Sports and the fact that many people coming to the sports complex stay at the nearby resorts.



Sports Loop B adds the All Star Resorts to the station lineup, which is a good fit for this line because sports groups using the Wide World of Sports are frequently booked in the All Star Resorts. Unfortunately, at 8.2 miles, this alternative is one of the longest proposed in the system and is longer than the existing Epcot line by 0.7 miles.



Sports Loop C drops the Caribbean Beach station from the layout of Sports Loop B, saving 0.9 miles. However, both Sports Loop B and C have a lower Station Score/Mile then Sports Loop A. All three alternatives have substantially a lower Station Score/Mile then the existing Resort line, and would probably be relatively low priority.

I will discuss the Animal Kingdom and Epcot transfer station lines in the next post. Let me know if you have any thoughts about the alternatives I discussed here. I would love to hear your ideas.

The Monorail Project - Overall Network Design Strategy

[Note: This was originally posted on April 7th, but due to a technical issue related to the tables, I had to repost.]

Given the Convenience Scores for each resort in the previous post, I am able to determine the Score/Mile of the existing system and some potential monorail alignments. Before I do this, I should assign Convenience Scores to the non-resort station locations. Otherwise, monorail lines that connect theme parks would show lower scores, even though connecting the resorts to theme parks is the whole point of this project. So, for the sake of creating some sort of score, I arbitrarily assigned a score of 100 to theme park stations and 75 to water park and activity center stations. Using this scoring system, the existing monorail network has the following characteristics:

The existing monorail system and the locations of all the possible resort and activity center stations is shown above. The backbone of the expanded monorail network id dictated by Goal 3 from the Monorail Project Goals and Assumptions, which calls for all hotel-to-park trips to be possible with only one transfer. The best way to accomplish this is to have a monorail line that stops at all four theme parks.

The Park Connector monorail line would use the existing Epcot Express line as a base. To get to the Magic Kingdom (if capacity allows) the Epcot Express line could be combined with the Magic Kingdom Express line. If capacity does not allow for the Magic Kingdom Express line to be combined, there may be a need to create a third monorail beam around the Seven Seas Lagoon.

A new monorail alignment would need to be constructed to connect Epcot to Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom. Most of the alignment would probably follow existing roads like the Hollywood Studios entrance road and Osceola Parkway. But there is also the opportunity to stop at the Blizzard Beach water park. Below are two potential alignments, one that stops at the water park and one that does not.

The table above includes Station Scores and Station Scores/Mile for the total proposed alignments and for just the new alignment segments. Note how both Park Connector alternatives have higher average Station Score/Mile than the existing Epcot line. I believe that this points to these alternatives having at least as much usefulness as the existing Epcot line, even without additional resort hotel connections.

At this point, I do not know if it is better to include a stop at Blizzard Beach on the Park Connector, even though the Station Score/Mile is highest for that alternative. It will become apparent whether this station should be a part of the Park Connector line or a resort line after I put together the possible overall resort network combinations.

I will describe some of the possible monorail routes that would connect additional resorts in the next post, along with a way to determine which combinations are worth further investigation.

The Monorail Project - Stations

When designing a transit system, one of the most difficult and important tasks is to determine the best location for stations. At Walt Disney World, this process is easier than normal because nearly all of the possible station locations are owned by Disney. This does not mean that there are no difficult choices to make when designing the route, but it does remove many of the political complications that conventional transit planning encounters.

To plan a fully-realized monorail system for Walt Disney World, I still had to create some baseline data to evaluate possible configurations. This process forced me to formalize my decisions, so I will describe them here in case somebody cares to comment or disagree[i].

I created a scoring system that will be used as a way to score different routes in a consistent manner. This scoring system uses three equally-weighted variables: number of rooms, room rates and convenience.

Number of rooms implies the number of guests who could possibly use the monorail. The source I used to calculate the number of rooms is the excellent resource, The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2013[ii]. Unfortunately, my inputs do not include more recent additions such as the Grand Floridian Villas or the upcoming Polynesian expansion.

Room rate is the bottom of the range reported as the rack room rate in the 2013 Unofficial Guide[iii]. The bottom of the range was chosen because the existence of the monorail would need to be justified even during the slower season when room rates are the cheapest. Where one station would serve two hotels with different rates, a weighted average price was used. For instance, the Wilderness Lodge station serves Wilderness Lodge (727 rooms at $265) and the Wilderness Lodge Villas (136 rooms at $355). The weighted room rate is calculated by multiplying the room rate by the number of rooms and divided by the combined number of rooms.

Convenience is a subjective rating on a score of 1 to 3 that describes how well the resort hotel is configured for a monorail station to increase the value of the hotel. For instance the Boardwalk resort is located on a relatively compact site, with even the furthest rooms a comfortable walking distance away. Hotels with a convenience score of 3 have the potential for conveniently-located monorail stations. The All-Star Resorts have a convenience score of 1 because the buildings furthest from the center are a long walk across grounds and parking lot. If a monorail station was built here, only some of the guests would find it an improvement over the existing bus system (which uses multiple stops).
 

The overall score is a combination of the three equally-weighted variables[iv]. Note how the three resorts with existing monorail stations are the first, third and sixth-highest rated resorts. This may mean that my scoring system is somewhat reasonable because it does not give low scores to the existing monorail resorts.

What do you think? Are my Convenience scores reasonable? Is there a problem with my methodology? Next time I will arrange these hotels into several possible routes and compare the total score to the length of each possible line.

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[i] I am creating this project in such a way that I can change the variables fairly easy to allow me to evaluate different combinations.

[ii] Sehlinger, B., & Testa, L. (2013). The unofficial guide to Walt Disney World 2013. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Official Website. The number of rooms are from the Disney Resort Amenities table on pp. 124.

[iii] Cost Per Night of Disney Resort Hotel Rooms (Rack Rate) table on pp. 114

[iv] If the most expensive hotel also had the most rooms and had a convenience score of 3, it would score 100. The overall score was calculated as follows: Overall Score = ([Number of Rooms] / [largest Number of Rooms] * 33.3) + ([Room Rate] / [highest Room Rate] * 33.3) + ([Convenience Score] / [highest Convenience Score] * 33.3)