SnDMommy wrote:At risk of asking a question which might force me to become a SG, are there any (or were there ever) plans to expand the existing monorail to other areas/parks at WDW?
No, that's an excellent question. It's so good, in fact, that WDW considered it at great length about a decade ago. I was involved in some of the study.
Plans included converting the Express line and the Epcot line into one big loop. A new line would be built, starting at Downtown Disney, connecting to the existing lines at the Epcot station, then continuing on to Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, and ending in a new maintenance barn west of there. The alignment would permit stations at a good number of deluxe hotel sites, some already built, some not.
Eisner declared that $1.1 billion price tag was too high, and directed a descoping. The team came back with a $900 million cost that eliminated the possibility of a couple of the deluxe resorts and had a correspondingly smaller maintenance barn. He chucked that too and said in effect, "Just buy more buses."
And yes, the team was quite devastated. Some continue to this day to argue for it, some moved on, and a few of us have been looking into a PRT approach to transportation that would eliminate buses, monorails, some watercraft, parking lot trams, most delivery trucks, and much of the interior roadways on property. So far, we haven't been able to get a hearing, nor enough data to come up with a solid cost estimate for construction. The savings in manpower, however, seem certain to make operating costs lower than at present.
If anyone has connections to a person in a position to consider it, we'll be delighted to put together a presentation.
