Walt Disney World has broadened my horizons. It will not be in the slightest degree hyperbolic to say that theme parks impressed most of my pursuits as a toddler, from dinosaurs to motion pictures and extra. “Theme parks” versus simply Disney, as Common Studios Florida and the Disney-MGM Studios performed an equal function within the motion pictures aspect, and my curiosity in Alfred Hitchcock movies is immediately attributable to USF.
Whereas I liked Magic Kingdom and the studios parks, nothing was extra influential for me than old fashioned EPCOT Middle. Future World sparked my creativeness, piqued my curiosity about conservation (adopting manatees!), and made me concerned about know-how. World Showcase made wish to see the world, from Impressions de France-inspired journeys to falling in love with Japan’s historical capital. That simply scratches the floor–see Why We Can’t Let EPCOT Middle Go for extra.
Walt Disney World additionally taught me lots of issues about myself. Certainly one of these is that I actually love world cities. The delicacies, tradition, and–related for the aim of this submit–public transportation. A minimum of, when it’s clear, environment friendly, and well-maintained. I all the time knew that I appreciated Walt Disney World’s transportation community, however what I didn’t notice till World Showcase impressed me to enterprise past the US, is that what I actually love is world cities.
This isn’t meant to be a dig on the US. I’d hazard a guess that many followers of Walt Disney World truly dislike American cities as a result of many contrasts between the 2; the previous provides consolation and rest whereas the latter are sometimes not these issues. However I really like our nation’s nice cities–together with however not restricted to New York, Detroit, Chicago, Indianapolis, Louisville, Saint Louis, Atlanta, Denver, Phoenix, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle. (No knock on Texas, I’ve simply spent embarrassingly little time there.)
I additionally suppose all of these cities are imperfect. Every has its particular person faults, however the largest commonality amongst them is the weak public transportation. Some have good mass transit “by U.S. requirements,” which implies grading on a slightly steep curve. None are good whenever you broaden the comparability to Europe and Asia. By worldwide transportation requirements, there’s just one nice ‘metropolis’ in the US: Walt Disney World.
Everybody studying that is in all probability already conscious of Walt Disney’s authentic dream for E.P.C.O.T., the Experimental Prototype Neighborhood of Tomorrow. That his main goal for constructing within the Florida swamps was to not have 4 theme parks, however as an alternative a dwelling blueprint for town of the long run that might push the envelope when it comes to city planning, constructing design, governance, technological improvement, and mass transit.
We additionally know that that dream died with Walt Disney. That the EPCOT Middle we obtained, bold because it was, was additionally an enormous departure from a neighborhood of tomorrow and extra a everlasting World’s Truthful within the spirit of Walt Disney’s E.P.C.O.T. However even earlier than that second gate got here to fruition, I’d argue that Walt’s fingerprints and imaginative and prescient for E.P.C.O.T. had been seen all through Walt Disney World. That even when the precise imaginative and prescient died, its concepts had been realized all through Walt Disney World. That even to at the present time, Walt Disney World stays the idealized and aspirational American metropolis of tomorrow.
This truly isn’t a brand new or novel thought. In the event you return and watch tv specials or learn opinions from the Nineteen Seventies and Nineteen Eighties, commentators are extra impressed by the equipment of Walt Disney World than the person theme park(s). The entire operation was seen as a triumph of civil engineering, grasp planning, public transportation, and many others. For good purpose–it’s!
Folks got here for Magic Kingdom and EPCOT Middle, certain, however what left an enduring impression was the better Trip Kingdom of the World. That was very true previous to 1982, as the important thing distinguishing issue for that first decade-plus was all the pieces past Magic Kingdom. As a child, one of many issues that blew me away essentially the most about Walt Disney World was the Freeway within the Sky gliding by the Modern. I didn’t actually know why on the time, however I do know now that I used to be removed from the one one.
The larger image of Walt Disney World isn’t talked about practically sufficient anymore. All of this nonetheless leaves an enduring impression on friends to at the present time, even when it’s not celebrated as a lot. Possibly it’s resulting from a shift in media consumption, away from issues like behind-the-scenes Journey Channel specials to TikTok secret hacks in regards to the golfball in Disney World 2 having a trip inside it.
Both means, it is price celebrating the advanced and unbelievable transportation at Walt Disney World…so this submit takes a second to do precisely that. Let’s begin by having a look at a recently-released infographic, after which share some ridership stats, how they evaluate to actual world metropolis knowledge, in addition to different enjoyable info together with our commentary…
Visitors who go to Walt Disney World have entry to a complete city-sized community of free transportation, from buses and monorails to boats and aerial gondolas. There’s lots of floor to cowl and no scarcity of the way Disney helps friends journey throughout its property — whether or not to one in all Walt Disney World’s 4 theme parks, two water parks, greater than 25 inns, Disney Springs, greater than 525 eating places and extra.
Walt Disney World has a crew of greater than 3,500 transportation Solid Members. That doesn’t even embrace the a whole lot of engineers and upkeep Solid Members working behind the scenes to make sure each car within the fleet is able to transfer the tens of hundreds of friends who use Walt Disney World transportation daily.
“We’re one of many most-visited trip locations on this planet, and we spend lots of time interested by find out how to get everybody the place they should go,” mentioned Ketan Sardeshmukh, Director of Transportation Operations at Walt Disney World. “We’re all the time taking a look at methods to maneuver individuals safely and effectively, whereas additionally creating the best, quickest and friendliest expertise attainable.”
Disney Monorails
The Walt Disney World Monorail System has transported a whole lot of tens of millions of friends because it first opened in October 1971, with an annual ridership of about 22 million.
A fan favourite for greater than 50 years, Disney forged proceed to search out new methods to maintain the expertise contemporary for friends. To have a good time the resort’s fiftieth anniversary a number of years in the past, engineers designed a function that illuminates the beam beneath every practice at evening. Final week, they added one other new function, which permits the emblem on every practice to glow at nighttime.
You may recall that from round 2017 to 2019, there have been persistent rumors that Walt Disney World was in negotiations with Bombardier to buy a brand new monorail fleet. Regardless of Disney and Bombardier each (repeatedly) denying this rumor, it endured. Regardless, nothing ever got here of that rumor and it fizzled out even pre-COVID. No matter probabilities existed of Walt Disney World getting a brand new monorail fleet had been probably totally killed by the closure and phased reopening.
As a substitute, Disney has undertaken a staggered refurbishment or refresh of the monorail fleet over the past 5 years. I don’t know the specifics of what this work has entailed, however I actually want Walt Disney World would launch particulars in regards to the engineering aspect of this. It appears to have breathed new life into the monorail fleet, and the once-weekly tales about prolonged breakdowns or falling items that we heard again earlier than 2019 have died down.
There’s nonetheless downtime and delays, certain, however the issues are nothing like they had been again at their peak. There was a time after we wouldn’t take the monorail for any time-sensitive reservation, however now we now have no reservations about taking it anytime. Our experiences aboard the Freeway within the Sky have been unbelievable over the past ~3 years (knock on wooden). I’d like to know extra about how Disney prolonged the helpful lifetime of the monorail fleet, however I’m guessing that’s not the kind of behind-the-scenes content material Disney desires to share.
Disney Boats
Just like the monorail, boats have been round since day one at Walt Disney World. 36 totally different vessels carry friends round Seven Seas Lagoon to the Magic Kingdom, throughout Crescent Lake to Hollywood Studios or EPCOT, and thru Village Lake to Disney Springs every day.
Every Walt Disney World ferryboat can transport as much as 600 passengers to and from Magic Kingdom per journey. They share the waterways with two other forms of boats: motor cruisers and motor launches. The motor launches — sometimes called water taxis — have been in service since Walt Disney World first opened in 1971.
Throughout Walt Disney World property, there are two different areas of watercraft transportation: FriendShip Boats and the Sassagoula River Cruise.
- FriendShip Boats sail between EPCOT, Hollywood Studios and several other surrounding resorts. These boats had been an opening-day attraction at EPCOT, beginning their service on October 1, 1982.
- The Sassagoula River Cruise provides transportation between choose resorts – like Port Orleans French Quarter – and Disney Springs. With 15 boats, the Sassagoula River Cruise has 13 extra vessels than the New Orleans RTA, which transports passengers to and from the actual French Quarter, in accordance with the French Quarter Journal.
I don’t have a ton so as to add about boats at Walt Disney World, apart from the reality that they’re underappreciated by friends. Everybody loves the monorail loop resorts, us included, by resorts with entry to a theme park or different vacation spot by boat are comparatively undervalued. It is a disgrace, because the boats are one thing particular from a ‘journey is the vacation spot’ perspective.
There are few issues I take pleasure in extra at Walt Disney World than closing down Magic Kingdom, then taking a late evening boat trip (with Solid Members outnumbering friends) again to Wilderness Lodge. Ditto these dawn cruises when the water is calm–bonus factors when there’s a layer of sea fog, which provides environment.
Talking of which, Walt Disney World will quickly be getting its first new boat launch in…I’m undecided what number of years…in all probability a number of many years! As lined in our newest Disney Lakeshore Lodge building replace, that large Magic Kingdom space resort may have its personal dock. Given its measurement relative to Wilderness Lodge and Fort Wilderness, I’m guessing that boat service to Magic Kingdom received’t be shared with the prevailing resorts.
Disney Buses
Final 12 months alone, Disney buses transported 73 million friends. Based on the Federal Transit Administration NTD report, Walt Disney World ranks third in the US for bus riders per sq. mile of service, solely behind New York Metropolis and San Francisco. In truth, Disney’s bus community outpaces many metropolitan areas across the nation with greater than 420 buses within the fleet.
As you may recall, Walt Disney World started modernizing its fleet of again in Summer season 2019 with the debut of “Sensational Six” buses, with the addition of roughly 75 new buses. These had been additionally Gillig buses, and changed the oldest Nova buses (just below 50), bringing the overall fleet measurement to over 400.
Final 12 months, Walt Disney World introduced that it could be including 90 new buses to the fleet, which was each an growth and retirement of extra dated fashions. In that announcement, the corporate additionally famous that it was half of a bigger funding that Walt Disney World was making in its complimentary transportation choices–with no rationalization as to the place else that spending was occurring (maybe the aforementioned monorail refresh?).
Buses stay my least favourite type of transportation at Walt Disney World, however that’s largely resulting from their lack of novelty. When it comes to the general visitor expertise, it’s largely been constructive throughout stays over the previous couple of years–together with on the All Stars, Caribbean Seaside, Coronado Springs, and different resorts identified for spotty service. Early morning and finish of evening have been extremely environment friendly, even when strains have been lengthy.
My normal perspective on Walt Disney World buses is that the service is much better than it was a decade in the past, and lots of longtime followers have now-outdated perceptions primarily based on horror tales from again within the day. This isn’t to say bus service is ideal now and nobody ever waits over 20 minutes–that does occur–but it surely’s form of the character of the beast.
It was once commonplace to see a number of Animal Kingdom buses arrive (and depart) empty whereas ready ~45 minutes for one to Magic Kingdom. I haven’t had that kind of situation (knock on wooden once more!) shortly, suggesting enhancements to dispatch and useful resource allocation. Buses won’t ever be as environment friendly and predictable because the Skyliner, strolling, boats, or the monorail (assuming no breakdowns–not all the time a protected assumption).
Disney Skyliner
Disney Skyliner is the most recent mode of complimentary transportation at Walt Disney World. This 300-cabin aerial gondola system has made a big effect within the 5 years because it opened, throughout which period it has traveled over 1,000,000 miles (undecided how that’s measured). The system connects EPCOT, Disney’s Hollywood Studios and 4 resorts that accommodate practically each household measurement and finances.
It’s no secret that we love the Skyliner. I’ve known as it a “game-changer” in numerous posts in regards to the resorts it companies, and like it for Early Entry at EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios, in addition to straightforward noon breaks. In equity, it’s not excellent–particularly throughout peak season at Pop Century or Artwork of Animation, or noon storms throughout a few-month stretch of the 12 months.
However, the Skyliner is at or close to the highest of my additions at Walt Disney World within the final decade. It nonetheless form of boggles my thoughts that it obtained accepted within the first place, particularly with Bob Chapek as the top of Parks & Resorts (though in his protection, I assume, he greenlit lots of “large swings”). And though I doubt it’ll ever occur, I’d like to see Skyliner growth. It looks like the form of factor we’d by no means get right now…however I’d’ve mentioned the identical again then, so who is aware of. Possibly there’s a Nice Large Stunning Tomorrow for Walt Disney World transportation, and the enhancements we’ve seen over the past decade will solely speed up into the 2030s!
Planning a Walt Disney World journey? Find out about inns on our Walt Disney World Motels Critiques web page. For the place to eat, learn our Walt Disney World Restaurant Critiques. To save cash on tickets or decide which sort to purchase, learn our Ideas for Saving Cash on Walt Disney World Tickets submit. Our What to Pack for Disney Journeys submit takes a singular have a look at intelligent gadgets to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Trip Guides will assist. For complete recommendation, the perfect place to begin is our Walt Disney World Journey Planning Information for all the pieces you might want to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you consider Walt Disney World transportation? Is it one of many defining options–and distinctive promoting factors–of the Trip Kingdom? Is Walt Disney World really America’s finest metropolis? Any experiences of your individual to share with regard to Walt Disney World transportation? Do you agree or disagree with our evaluation? Different ideas or issues? Any questions we may help you reply? Listening to your suggestions–even whenever you disagree with us–is each fascinating to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas under within the feedback!
