Still think it's crazy the station is still going to look like a garden centre for the foreseeable with all that wooden trellis business! Do we think there's a possibility of "Managed Decline" here until a new entrance is created near Forbidden Valley? I love Towers Street and the views that come with it, but without the monorail, it becomes difficult to reason keeping the entrance there. I say "without the monorail" because it's really, really old for what it is. Monorail's typically don't survive this long without a complete re-track, new trains etc. (Although my perspective is probably somewhat clouded as I'm thinking of urban monorails)
The
Singapore monorail is an excellent model to follow. It only has two carriages, but they're longer, wider and more comfortable. They also run much more frequently. Strangely enough it was also built to replace a smaller-scale, older system.
It functions very much like the Alton one, taking passengers from the city and hotels to various resorts including Universal Studios. It's twin-track also, another similarity. It's obviously a lot more substantial and so replacing the AT one with something akin to it would be a pricey job. I'm normally inclined to say monorails as a concept are outdated and cost inefficient, but for the purpose of theme parks and resorts etc they have their place. They should keep up with current technology though if we're serious about keeping one at the park!
If routing new, more substantial monorail infrastructure through the park becomes operationally difficult in terms of fitting it in (loading gauge) and possibly disrupting the park below, given its purpose as a shuttle, I personally wouldn't be opposed to a new route following the entry road. It'd be more of a utility than an attraction, but throughput would be much, much higher (goodbye queues!) and journey times much quicker.
The alternative of course is you have a bus shuttle, which is fine as it does the same job at a similar speed. It just lacks the "Experience" a monorail gives which is part of the fun of theme parks where escapism is important. People get the bus to work every day, that's boring, they've looking for escapism, give it to them!
If you apply modern standards and a higher maximum speed of 40-50mph (Desirable to make long queues a thing of the past) you get something like this:
You'll note the resort station is now physically connected to a new parking structure, that would replace the majority of the existing surface car park, freeing up the space for a park extension. It also creates a nice "Piazza" between Splash Landings & the Monorail & parking structure. This could be extended further to reach ATH & the lodges.
With higher top speeds you should only need 2-3 three-car units max to achieve the desired throughput. The whole thing can be fully automated and with less units, be much more cost-effective. You'd be looking at a 3min end-to-end trip.
