Walt Disney World is famous for its extensive monorail system. Here are some things you may not know about this unique form of transportation, even if you’ve been to Walt Disney World many times.
1. It’s one of the two most popular monorail systems in the world
The Walt Disney World Monorail System carries over 150,000 on a daily basis. There’s only one other monorail system in the world that surpasses its number of daily passengers—Chongqing Rail Transit in China.
The Disney system has a total of three lines, including the two Magic Kingdom ones (Express and Resort) and the single Epcot line. The Express line carries passengers between the Transportation and Ticket Center and the Magic Kingdom, while the Resort line also stops at the various monorail resorts. The Epcot track simple runs in a loop from Epcot to the Transportation and Ticket Center.
2. The system has its own maintenance area near the Magic Kingdom
There’s a maintenance area for the Disney monorails, as well. It’s located northeast of the Magic Kingdom, down the road from the Contemporary Resort.
This area holds up to ten monorail trains at one time. (There are twelve trains total.) At night, the trains are parked here until the next morning, and maintenance checks are performed before they go back out for the day.
Unfortunately, due to space constraints, two trains are left on the track overnight. If the weather is poor, however, these trains are often parked inside the Contemporary Resort instead.
If a monorail train ever breaks down and is unable to be restarted quickly, special tractors are dispatched to pull the train into the service station. These tractors run on diesel fuel, so a power shortage is never an issue.
3. The monorail track is just over two feet wide
Though the track for the monorail seems imposing from afar, it’s actually only 26 inches across. These tracks are actually called “beams,” and they are much thinner than the actual monorail trains, which are a little over eight feet across. The trains are 203.5 feet long and carry up to 360 (though the comfort level at max capacity would be virtually nonexistent).
The small width of the beam probably won’t bother you unless there’s some reason you’d be walking across it. Don’t worry, though; that only happens if the monorail is evacuated due to fire.
4. The monorail is sometimes evacuated during emergencies
For the most part, the monorail ride is one of the most comfortable attractions on Disney property. (And, yes, Disney does count the monorail as one of its attractions.)
However, for a few unlucky passengers, an emergency got in the way of their usually seamless ride. In 1985, a fire broke out in the rear car on the monorail. Authorities believe it was caused by a flat tire that caught fire due to friction. Passengers kicked out windows and climbed on top of the train to escape the fire.
In 2014, a power failure caused a train on the Epcot line to stall on the beam. Passengers were trapped inside the train for over an hour before they were evacuated by Disney personnel and the local fire department.
During an evacuation, passengers will generally use one of three escape routes. There’s a window inside each car that opens from the inside. Passengers can also remove part of the ceiling to reveal a trap door that opens onto the roof (these doors were installed after the fire incident). Alternatively, someone can release the air pressure to open a door from the exterior of the monorail, as well.
Usually, passengers will crawl onto the roof of the monorail and be assisted to the ground by the local fire department. However, if the emergency requires that the entire train be evacuated quickly, guests are directed to walk across the top of the train to the front car, where the pilot attaches a rope. Occupants then crawl down this rope to the beam below. They may need to walk away from the train along this beam, if necessary, which is why the two feet of width may be cause for concern.
Fortunately, monorail emergencies are quite rare, so the evacuation plans are mostly there as a “just in case” measure.
5. The monorail’s speed is capped by Disney
Some former Disney employees claim they’ve gotten the monorail speeds up to nearly 70 mph, but this has never been done during working hours. Disney limits the speeds on the trains with a safety device. The maximum speed limit for the train is 40 mph. If the driver tops this speed, the train will shut down temporarily. In fact, some areas of the beam have speed limits of only 15 mph.
6. The distance between two monorail trains is monitored by computers and pilots
Guests who ride the monorails often have probably experienced a short stall on the tracks, due to the proximity of another train. There are set guidelines that require the trains to be a set distance apart at all times.
These distances are measured by various “holdpoints” set along the beam. There must always be two holdpoints between any two trains. Lights inside the cabin alert the pilot when they’re becoming dangerously close to this requirement. If the light turns red, the train is only one holdpoint away from another train. At this point, the emergency brakes are automatically applied. They cannot be removed without an override from the pilot. This is called the “Moving Blocklight System,” and it’s used by various transportation systems worldwide.
7. A full day at Walt Disney World involves no ticket—only the monorail
Some Disney guests, in an effort to save money or widen their vacation experience, have chosen to partake in what’s unofficially called a “Monorail Crawl.” The term was originally used as a play on the popular term “pub crawl,” but it’s sense branched out to involve more activities that are family-friendly.
The original Monorail Crawl involved trips to each of the monorail resorts, with guests sampling a drink selection from one or more bars in each resort.
If you don’t drink or prefer a more family-friendly activity, however, you can grab an appetizer at one resort, a main course at the next, and dessert at the last. Or, just spend your time viewing each resort and all it has to offer.
The monorail resorts are some of the nicest—if not the very nicest—ones on Disney property. They are elaborately decorated, especially during the holiday season. A family could easily spend several hours on this one activity, and a ticket isn’t required.
8. Until 2009, Walt Disney World guests could ride in the cabin with the pilot
Until July of 2009, Disney guests could ask a cast member at the station to ride up front with the pilot. There are seats for up to six passengers in this area, though only four passengers may sit comfortably.
Some pilots would give children special cards to commemorate this event. It wasn’t difficult to achieve this feat, though it did sometimes require patience. There was often a line of families who also wanted the opportunity to ride in the front of the car, but cast members were generally happy to let you wait your turn.
Unfortunately, a tragic event happened in 2009 that ceased this practice altogether.
At the very end of a long July 4th day (actually in the wee hours of July 5th morning), a monorail driver was pulling his train in for the night. To do so, he was driving the train in reverse and didn’t see another train that was behind him. The two trains collided, resulting in the death of the driver of the rear train.
Due to this accident, Disney ceased the tradition of allowing guests to ride with the driver. They also instated some safety rules that probably should have been on the books long before. For one, drivers are no longer advised to drive the trains in reverse. If it’s ever necessary, someone must be watching the situation from an exterior area. While the death of the driver in 2009 is tragic, hopefully these new rules will avoid any more deaths in the future.
9. Walt Disney had huge hopes for the monorail
Walt Disney World guests are huge fans of the current monorail system, but Walt Disney had even bigger hopes for what it would someday become.
Only Walt was completely certain of his ideas, but rumors have swirled about possible expansions and additional destinations. Disney hoped to one day have an extensive monorail line that carried passengers throughout Walt Disney World—not just from one park to another, but to other destinations, as well.
Unfortunately, the cost to build the current monorail system was much higher than expected, and the time and effort required was substantial, too. Occasional rumors still arise about a possible expansion to Animal Kingdom or Hollywood Studios, but the majority of experts agree that these will remain rumors.
Each new addition of the monorail system saw so many difficulties that it isn’t likely they’ll attempt another one any time soon. But, who knows? Modern technology is leaps and bounds ahead of what it once was. And, of course, almost anything is possible at the most magical place on earth.
