This week social media was set ablaze with reports of one of the doors on Walt Disney World’s iconic monorail system being stuck in the open position as it was traveling to Epcot. According to our sources, this was not a malfunction but rather a test. Indications are that Disney is planning on operating all monorails with the doors open in the future.
“It’s no secret that operating costs are skyrocketing on this aging fleet,” says Thomas Jefferson Geronimo III, Lead Project Manager for Walt Disney World’s monorail system. “If we keep the doors open, we don’t have to spend the money on the energy it takes to open and close the doors. This way we also don’t have to pay to keep the cabins cool on those hot summer days. The air rushing in through the open doors when the monorail is traveling at 50 miles per hour should do well to cool the vehicle. It’s just one of the many ways we’re looking at to cut costs.”
Typhoid Lagoon’s research staff concluded that the energy it takes to open and close the doors just one time on a single monorail is equal to the power needed to launch the Rock ’n’ Roller Coaster trains for an entire hour. Add that up and we’re talking millions of dollars spent every day just to open the doors on the monorail.
Some guests have questioned the logic of this move, citing guest safety as one of their primary concerns.
“This seems very dangerous to me,” said Roger Stevens, a guest who was riding one of the monorails Disney was testing. “What if someone falls out?”
“Oh, don’t do that,” answered Geronimo. “We’ll be posting signage in each monorail asking that riders do not fall out while it is in motion.”
Geronimo suggested families put their least favorite relative near the exits, just in case.
