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As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
Best wishes for a wonderful and magical new year!
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01-25-2010, 05:14 PM
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#1
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PassPorter Guide
 Community Rank: Globetrotter 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 3,041
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Feature Article: Walt Disney World Transportation - The Monorail
Walt Disney World Transportation - The Monorail
by Dianne Cook
How many times have we heard or said this to ourselves: "Por favor manténganse alejado de las puertas?" I even have it on my iPod! It was the first thing my son's first-year Spanish teacher said to him when we told her we had been to Walt Disney World. This has to be the most quoted foreign-language phrase related to Walt Disney World. Just imagine ... since the monorail at Walt Disney World opened, it has carried over a billion passengers, averages over 150,000 passengers every day and carries over 50 million people every year. If you add all the miles traveled over the system's track since the beginning, it would total over 25 round trips to the moon! No other monorail system in the world transports this amount of passengers.
We all know about Walt Disney's love for the railroad. However, it was not Walt Disney who invented the monorail. The monorail had its beginning over 181 years ago! The first passenger monorail began June 25th, 1825. This was the Chestnut Railway built by Henry Robinson Palmer. This monorail was pulled by a horse. Then in 1876, General LeRoy demonstrated a steam powered monorail at the United States Centennial Exposition.
In 1957, the ALWEG Company of Cologne, Germany introduced the most successful monorail system to date, which is still the most widely used in the world today. This monorail caught the attention of Walt Disney in that very same year. It was then that Walt Disney's love of railroads and steam engines culminated in a fascination with the monorail. He wanted one for Disneyland and in 1959, the Alweg monorail opened there.
When the Walt Disney Company opened Walt Disney World in 1971, they used a fleet of five MARK IV monorail trains built by the Alweg Company and later added an additional fleet of five. The first rail loop went from the Contemporary Resort to the Ticket and Transportation Center (TTC) and then to the Polynesian Resort and on to the Magic Kingdom. Later the Grand Floridian Resort was added to the loop. Then a counter clockwise track was added which ran from the Magic Kingdom to the TTC and was known as the "Express" track. In 1982, an extension between Epcot and the TTC added an additional 4 miles to the existing track. The current model of monorail car went into service in 1990, with the full fleet of 12, six-car trains operating by 1991. The exteriors are painted white with a colored stripe around the whole body below the windows. It is this stripe that identifies the train for communication purposes. The colors of the stripes are black, red, yellow, coral, green, blue, silver, gold, orange, green, lime, and purple. The cars are permanently coupled using articulated joints.
Each train has a single lever controller with five points for accelerating and five points for braking. The first point will bring the train to 15 MPH, the second to 20, and so on until the fifth and final, which will have the train reach its maximum speed of 40 MPH.
The track consists of 26-inch wide, pre-cast concrete beams with a Styrofoam core, supported by concrete columns which are approximately 50 feet apart. They were originally built in Oregon and shipped, ironically, by rail to Florida. The trains are electric, with the power coming from metal bars running alonside the beam. Each monorail travels on rubber tires and is powered by a 600 volt DC propulsion system which included eight DC motors rated at 112 HP each, with the power coming from each side of the beam.
The entire current monorail system is 14.7 miles in length. Will we ever see an extension of the monorail system? That is the question asked by many Walt Disney World visitors. The answer is, "Doubtful." It is just not cost effective for Walt Disney World to do so. The beams that the monorails ride on cost about a million dollars a mile!
One of our favorite things to do to get out of the intense Florida heat is to take a ride on the monorail. We have spent many an afternoon just relaxing and enjoying the scenery around the Seven Seas Lagoon. It is also a wonderful way to see the resorts, in an air conditioned environment. Or just enjoy the view from the ride to Epcot and back from the TTC, just for a change of pace from the parks.
If you get the chance, ask to ride up front with the driver. You may have to wait a little while in a designated area, but it is well with the trip. We especially enjoy the ride from the TTC to Epcot. The drivers are very helpful in sharing their knowledge of the monorail and showing you the controls. What great pictures you can get from there! The Monorail system at Walt Disney World has a wonderful history. Think of it the next time you hear "Por favor manténganse..."
View the full article and download a free formatted PDF of it here!
Added to PassPorter's Article Collection on 11-02-2009 02:24 PM
What do you think? Please add your own comments, experiences, or news related to this article in this thread! Reader feedback is welcomed and encouraged.
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