Episode 71: the history of Walt Disney's Monorail

[@kennethstaskiewicz4735]

Great video!!!

[@offrails]

If WDW rolls out a new fleet of trains, I have two requests: They need to retain the look of the existing trains (the white with strips is an icon of WDW, while the solid colors can stay at Disneyland), and the "Please stand clear of the doors" recording must be preserved. It's not the Monorail without it.

[@lostfoundwdw8953]

100%! those two things ARE the monorail

[@ntcfm1]

Another very good video, Dave! Nice job!

[@RetrocadePodcast]

With automobiles, "Mark" indicates a generation model, such as the Lincoln Continental Mark I or the Toyota Supra MK IV. I always figured this was the same logic with the monorail.

[@lostfoundwdw8953]

That could be. And actually that may be based on the concept of the makers mark now that I think about it. Like I said, I wasn’t / am not sure.

[@RetroFett]

@@lostfoundwdw8953 1:25 As you mentioned, you could ask Bob Gurr, the creator of the original Disneyland Monorail. He's still around and very active in his 90s!

[@lostfoundwdw8953]

If I have a chance I will. I had a million questions when I interviewed him…and he had more answers than I could digest. So I never got to some. In a way, it was a delightful problem.

[@flipcoin6301]

In development parlance, Mk is a version/variant or iterative model.

[@RetroFett]

The current monorail fleet at WDW is 15 years PAST its life expectancy. Their were wild rumors (even supported by Bob Gurr) that Disney was going to replace the fleet. Their were hopes that part of WDW 50th anniversary celebration in 2021 would showcase at least one of these new drains, but with the 2020 pandemic and Disney bleeding money, nothing eve came of it. Now, the WDW monorail system is in many ways a hot city bus, with the same amount of dirt, grime and odor.

[@lostfoundwdw8953]

It is truly shocking and surprising the fleet is held together with duct tape at this point… here’s to hoping they spend a little of the $60 billion at Disney world on new trains!

[@neilengel3715]

I drove the Mark IVs in 81. We had 4 trains on each the original beams.

[@lostfoundwdw8953]

Lucky you! Interesting. I had always heard it was 3, with a max of 4. But it would make sense for it to be 4 when it’s busy. And by the time Epcot was under construction, park attendance had increased, so 4 may have been the norm. As an added thought, even before the grand Floridian, there were 4 stations so all trains could be stopped at a station for safety reasons. (Always a consideration)

[@neilengel3715]

@@lostfoundwdw8953 Oh and let me tell you. You REALLY had to be a good driver to run on a 4 train beam!!

[@jerrycomo2736]

I sent Disney an idea for the monorail and got attacked by their lawyers. My idea was to add a (fake) spinning wind-up key to the top of the middle car. So, this gave the monorail the look of a giant wind-up toy.

[@lostfoundwdw8953]

Sometimes their sense of humor is missing. And their legal team takes everything very seriously. Cute idea tho.

[@jelliott4]

Good grief. Mk I/II/III etc. is well understood version/iteration nomenclature for all manner of engineered products. That’s it. There’s no mystery here. There’s even a Wikipedia article explaining it; look up “Mark (designation).”

[@lostfoundwdw8953]

The problem (if you will) is that sometimes Disney has reasons for doing things that are specific to them. I wasn’t sure if that was the case here or if they were doing something more traditional. That’s it.

[@GeorgeAllen-nh5sf]

Mark is used to designate a version of a product. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_(designation)

[@lostfoundwdw8953]

So I was on the right track, generally. Good insight. Thanks.