Should DCA get a monorail station?

[aaronpaulcustoms]

Think like New York subway system... or any other turnstyle system which can scan your ticket and then let you through. All you need is one or two CM's standing around when the red light flashes and the doors don't open. Place it in the exit so they have to "scan out" in order to get in the park. It's simple, elegent, already known proven working technology... minimal disruption!

Whole heartedly concur

[Gone2Disneyland]

.........what do you think...........

Yes! Weren't the monorails originally Walt Disney's vision of how we would travel in the future? How we would get from one place to another? If so, why the heck not have a station in DCA? There's no reason it shouldn't. And if not monorails, there should be something!

Regarding the logistics concerns, give it to Lasseter and his Imagineers and they'll figure something out. Regarding it being tied in to the DCA present expansion plan, I think once any decision is made to add a Monorail station to DCA is made, it naturally will follow that it needs to be done in a planned, organic manner with what's already in the pipeline. And I have confidence Lasseter and his Imagineers will prioritize it amongst all of the pots they have cooking in their kitchen.

[Coheteboy]

Well I have not been to WDW in 11 yrs. (oh boy way too long) I can't remember, how do they deal with this issue and thier monerrail sytems?

The monorail basically works for Epcot and Magic Kingdom and a few of the resorts. It doesn't really benefit anyone else and you don't get much of a view either.

[DCAfanatic]

Is there enough space around DCA So the monorail could go around the park?

[Mojave]

Is there enough space around DCA So the monorail could go around the park?

Why would they do that?

[Peglegin98]

I like the idea of a stop in DCA. If they are going to be expanding so much of the park in the near future then they should add a new station there.
It would be outrageously expensive to add new monorail lines. I would be fine with them putting it in Condor flats.
Plus I really like the idea of having different monorails for each park. But there would be a big problem if one broke down, which they do.

[mycroft16]

I think it might actually require addition of track. Simply adding a stop at the Condor Flats area is going to mess up the monorail stop zones and alter station wait/load times fairly significantly. Adding in a loop of track over some part of the park or around it will allow for even spacing between the stations and even travel time. This would allow for three train operation as there would be three equidistant stations.

Yes, it would be very expensive, and this is probably the prime reason for it not getting done... but I think, depending on what happens in the next 5 years, that it could become a possibility to consider.

[monocm]

Would be nice to have a station in DCA, or DCA's main ent/the esplanade. All for it

[Peoplemover Priit]

either Monorail, subway, or the Peoplemover

[caesarboxfan]

Sure it would be nice to have a monorail station in DCA, but where would it be put, looking at Google Earth, any really big spot of land in the park is being filled in the expansion except for maybe the Hollywood & Dine area.

This area: http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=...cl=1&encType=1

[Mojave]

Remove the Downtown Disney station; put a new station just west of the esplanade, just southeast of Indy, which would service Disneyland, DCA and eastern DTD; after going through GCH, have the track turn south and add a station between Paradise Pier Hotel, the Disneyland Hotel and the third hotel going in down there, which would also service a SW expansion to DTD.

[Code90]

Adding a third station in DCA would not work. It would slow down the system considerably. Here are three reasons why:

1. There's not enough beamway to keep the trains moving efficiently. With all the time the monorails will spend waiting for a station to clear, you could walk to your destination and get there faster.

2. The short beamway and low-capacity trains cannot accommodate increased ridership. The system already struggles when a third train is not available during peak periods.

3. With three stations, how are CM's going to require guests to get off at Tomorrowland? What if someone gets on at DTD and wants to ride to DCA? Are they going to be forced off at TL and be required to wait in line again? You can't simply allow guests to ride the monorail indefinitely. DL's monorail system cannot operate efficiently that way.

[NewguY]

Adding a third station in DCA would not work. It would slow down the system considerably. Here are three reasons why:

1. There's not enough beamway to keep the trains moving efficiently. With all the time the monorails will spend waiting for a station to clear, you could walk to your destination and get there faster.

2. The short beamway and low-capacity trains cannot accommodate increased ridership. The system already struggles when a third train is not available during peak periods.

3. With three stations, how are CM's going to require guests to get off at Tomorrowland? What if someone gets on at DTD and wants to ride to DCA? Are they going to be forced off at TL and be required to wait in line again? You can't simply allow guests to ride the monorail indefinitely. DL's monorail system cannot operate efficiently that way.

Most of these problems would be fixed with the idea of each different colored monorail having a specified destination, Blue stops at all stops and is only available for aps and park hoppers, Red at Dtd and Disneyland and green a dtd and california adventure. AS far as clogging the system, all the station would have to be rebuilt with a bypass so that no station is actually part of the loop, with maybe dtd being the exception. and the dtd station would need to be expanded to accomadate two trains loading at any given time. With these changes and the addition of the DCA station it would allow for more trains to be added onto the system and reduce any overcrowding that would occur. Of course non of this would be plausible because an overhaul of the system like this would be cost prohibitive.... Unless of course the overhaul not only included the remodeled and hopefully more succesful second gate but also the garden walk and direct access to the completly remodeled Disneyland Hotel. This type of system overhaul would allow for a huge expansion of train service and would also include enough different projects to allow for a little spreading of costs so that the system expansion would appear in the accounting books under the hotel, gardenwalk, tommorowland revitalization, and dca renewal. That way no accountant has to blow his lid...

[Mojave]

For double tracks in stations and elsewhere, you need switches.

Are there any Monorail experts/CM here?

Does anyone know how long it takes to change the switch when the Monorails are moved from the main track to the roundhouse? Could those switches actually be changed 100 times a day?

[NewguY]

For double tracks in stations and elsewhere, you need switches.

Are there any Monorail experts/CM here?

Does anyone know how long it takes to change the switch when the Monorails are moved from the main track to the roundhouse? Could those switches actually be changed 100 times a day?

these switches are not terribly complicated, they use the same technology that is already utilized in railroads around the country and more importantly in Las Vegas on their monorail system. These switches might need to be tweaked and tested for as much use as they would have,but it wouldn't be terribly difficult. I think the stalling point would be the complexity of this system, Disney would actually need to create a central control, like those that operate subways and things, that would be responsible for dispatching trains at specific intrevals...