Put it like this - you'll never get a monorail at Towers with a concrete beam track (like Disney - so no flexing) and high-speed air conditioned Intamin monorail trains! The rickety old Von-Roll trains will have their lives extended out until they are all but running on Zimmer frames.
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Monorail Refurbishment
Europa Matt
TS Member
Although the monorail is hopefully not going anywhere soon, there is probably a better chance of Varney stepping down next year than Merlin extensively refurbishing or rebuilding the monorail in the next 5-10 years.
John
TS Member
If you'd have asked me 5-10 years ago if the monorail would still be around today I'd have said "probably not".
The size of the fleet coupled with the fact that it's all such dated tech means maintaining it must be an absolute nightmare. Whilst the drop in capacity due to the sluggish batching/boarding procedures means that I now hardly ever ride it, I've pretty much come to terms with idea that the monorail's seemingly inevitable medium-term closure means that any significant changes beyond those needed to keep it operating safely aren't likely to happen.
On a separate issue, I was quite surprised that the Disneyland monorail track seemed to be in fairly poor condition, the ride quality is not great as a result. I'm not convinced a concrete track is any better in the long-term.
The size of the fleet coupled with the fact that it's all such dated tech means maintaining it must be an absolute nightmare. Whilst the drop in capacity due to the sluggish batching/boarding procedures means that I now hardly ever ride it, I've pretty much come to terms with idea that the monorail's seemingly inevitable medium-term closure means that any significant changes beyond those needed to keep it operating safely aren't likely to happen.
On a separate issue, I was quite surprised that the Disneyland monorail track seemed to be in fairly poor condition, the ride quality is not great as a result. I'm not convinced a concrete track is any better in the long-term.
Bert2theSpark
TS Member
Chester Zoo’s monorail is a completely different ride system to Towers monorail, no way they can buy their spare parts.
Also I wasn’t aware the Chester Zoo monorail closed? And if so that’s another childhood ride gone...
Also I wasn’t aware the Chester Zoo monorail closed? And if so that’s another childhood ride gone...
delta79
TS Member
If they replace the rolling stock. They will go with something that fit directly into the old track. Also i could see them going for an automatic system. So there is one controller instead of a driver for each train. Cutting operating costs.
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Skyscraper
TS Member
Yeah it has unfortunately.
ScottishChris
TS Member
*if* they were to overhaul the monorail, it would make more sense to replace the whole thing IMO. Change the track layout - have off-site car parks and link them to the hotels and gate. Would be costly, but it would free up land for development, and they could charge even more premium prices for those wanting to park at the gate. It would also help keep the village on side.
Parking "off site" as in Uttoxeter / JCB P&R monorail? That would be nice; but it isn't realistic for many reasons.
I think they were aiming to spend the money moving the main entrance by the hotels, so they can scrap the monorail as end of life. A Disney Village style area with a bit more to do year round, and another hotel etc.
All bets are off now with the new owners. I would imagine they would be looking for a different plan to solo Merlins going forward. Hopefully that will be to address the backlog around things like the monorails aging infrastructure: but that isn't likely to be clear for a while yet.
I think they were aiming to spend the money moving the main entrance by the hotels, so they can scrap the monorail as end of life. A Disney Village style area with a bit more to do year round, and another hotel etc.
All bets are off now with the new owners. I would imagine they would be looking for a different plan to solo Merlins going forward. Hopefully that will be to address the backlog around things like the monorails aging infrastructure: but that isn't likely to be clear for a while yet.
