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.