Magic Behind the Music: Walt Disney World – Monorail – Disney Resort Monorail Complete Loop

Many fond Disney memories include a ride on Disney’s highway in the sky: the Monorail! Monorails have been around since the early 1800’s, but it’s safe to say that Walt made them famous when he had one built for Disneyland that opened in 1959. The addition became so popular that he intended it to be the primary means of transportation as he was dreaming up the Florida Project that became Walt Disney World. When Walt Disney World opened on October 1, 1971, the Monorail was exactly that – the primary means of getting around the property. In fact if you watch the Grand Opening video, it’s the first thing you see that is uniquely Disney.

Of course back then, Walt Disney World wasn’t very big, so the Monorail only made stops at Magic Kingdom, the Contemporary, the Transportation and Ticket Center (TTC) and the Polynesian Village. Only Fort Wilderness was inaccessible by the “bus on the beam,” as the WDW Railroaders call it. At that time, the monorail system included the Express Route which bypassed the resorts, and the Resort Route which stopped at everything and is the focus of our feature track. The audio includes the automated narration for the Resort Monorail and was added to the D-COT Jukebox on May 17, 2010. D-COT Members re-living their Monorail experiences have played this track 21,471 times and 449 of us have it as a Favorite. Our Supporters have added it to 26 Custom playlists. The Monorail track (the audio, not the beam-way) gets a 4.8/5 average rating with 126 votes.

Since Walt Disney World has gotten much bigger over the years, Disney added at third route in 1982 to take guests from the TTC to Epcot and back. The Resort Monorail also stops at the Grand Floridian since it was constructed in 1988. The Monorails were originally Mark IV’s, but were upgraded in 1989 to Mark VI’s. Each of the Monorail’s 12 trains is identified by the color of the stripe on its side. They are operated by Cast Members who are called “Pilots” who transport up to 360 passengers at a time on each train and at speeds up to 40 mph. The Walt Disney World Monorail has the 3rd highest daily ridership in the world with over 150,000 daily riders. It is surpassed significantly by monorails in Tokyo, Japan and Chongqing, China. The next time you’re at Walt Disney World, be sure to take that special trip on the Monorail and don’t forget to “Please stand clear of the doors! ¡Por favor manténgase alejado de las puertas!”

RocketEAR99 is one of our contributors that specializes in Disney music in the series we call "Magic Behind the Music". You will find some fun and exciting information about the music you can listen to in the jukebox.

4 Comments

  1. I love the monorail for…..unbiased reasons… :goofy: The Resort line sure is fun, but it’s so sloooooooooooow thanks to the computer system put in a couple years ago.

    • I’ll admit, my favorite trip is the one to Epcot and back :epcot: :monorail:

      • YEEEEEEAH that’s the best one!!!! And the longest, even though most of it is at top speed! LOL

  2. The attraction responsible for teaching every Disney fan a little Spanish ;) :monorail:

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