Walt Disney World Monorail System
The Walt Disney World Monorail System is a public transit monorail in operation at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando. The resort operates twelve Mark VI monorail trains on three lines of service. The monorail system opened in 1971 with two routes (Magic Kingdom: Resort and Express) and with Mark IV monorail trains. It was expanded to three lines (Magic Kingdom: Resort and Express, plus Epcot) in 1982, and the rolling stock was updated to Mark VI trains in 1989.
| Walt Disney World Monorail System | |
|---|---|
Monorail Coral traveling on the Epcot Line in April 2009 | |
| Overview | |
| Owner | The Walt Disney Company |
| Locale | Walt Disney World Resort |
| Transit type | Straddle-beam Monorail |
| Number of lines | 3 |
| Number of stations | 6 |
| Daily ridership | 150,000+ |
| Annual ridership | ~50,000,000 |
| Website | Disney Monorail Transportation |
| Operation | |
| Began operation | October 1, 1971 |
| Operator(s) | Disney Transport (Disney Parks, Experiences and Products) |
| Number of vehicles | 12 |
| Train length | 203 ft 6 in (62.03 m) |
| Technical | |
| System length | 14.7 mi (23.66 km) |
| Track gauge | Single Straddle-beam |
| Electrification | 600 V DC on the side of the beam |
| Average speed | 30 mph (48 km/h) |
| Top speed | Limited to 40 mph (64 km/h) |
| Walt Disney World |
|---|
| Theme parks |
| Water parks |
| Other attractions and areas |
| Resorts |
| Affiliated Services |
| Transport |
As of 2016, the system was one of the most heavily used monorail systems in the world, with over 150,000 daily riders. It is surpassed by the Tokyo Monorail in Tokyo, Japan, which has over 300,000 daily riders; and by the monorail system run by Chongqing Rail Transit in Chongqing, China, which has over 900,000 daily riders on Line 2 and Line 3 combined. The Walt Disney World system nevertheless remains one of the most famous monorails, along with the Disneyland Monorail System at Disneyland in Anaheim, CA.