Tag: Disneyland Monorail

From the LA Times:

Those yearning to ride Disneyland’s long-awaited new monorail found they had to hang on a little longer Saturday. The Mark VII, which had appeared off and on late in the week, never made it out of its shelter, to the dismay of some visitors hoping to step aboard.

“I’m a little disappointed,” said Samantha Wakach, a vacationer from Los Angeles, who’d been told by the concierge at her hotel that the new train was operating. “That’s why we decided to come over here instead of walking.”

The Mark VII, otherwise known as Monorail Red, is the seventh generation of the ride that’s been entertaining visitors since 1959 when it made its entry as the nation’s first electric train system on a single rail.

Sleek and futuristic, it was promoted as a vision for public transportation.

On Saturday the long-awaited new train, the park’s only upgrade of the attraction in 21 years, failed to appear after several hours of on-again, off-again operation over the previous two days.

Disney officials attributed the glitches to the attraction’s normal “test and adjust” period, when mechanics and designers work out the bugs.

“We are working on solving them,” spokeswoman Betsy Sanchez said of the unspecified problems.

She would not predict when the ride would open full time.

Read More about The Transportation of the Future… Still Is!

Staff Photographer MintCrocodile is back with a second update from yesterday, this time taking a look at the beautiful, now operating, Monorail Red:

From the OC Register:

At about 5 p.m. today the first members of the public boarded the new Mark VII Monorail at Disneyland’s Tomorrowland station.

While some people who went on the first red monorail trip seemed to think it was just another monorail, some guests were thrilled to be on the new train.

“It was air conditioned and it was pretty,” said 8-year-old Bethany Masten from Sacramento. Masten and her family were on the first public trip with the new monorail.

Disney marked the arrival of the new monorail train with signs throughout the park. And the monorail features more than just the red sides, blue glass windows and blue-lighted floors and seat backs. The train’s message also reflects the new train.

“Ladies and gentleman, welcome aboard the monorail 7,” the speakers sounded on each ride around the park. Later, the recorded message says, “You’re riding on the new Mark 7 Monorail, the latest-generation Disneyland monorail.

“I have no other monorail experiences to compare this to, but this train looks pretty futuristic,” admitted 38-year-old John Sturgeon. This was the first visit to Disneyland for Sturgeon and his family who came to the park from Silver City, New Mexico.

On that same, second ride for the public, was Catherine Keene of San Diego. She admitted that she made her group wait for the new train, which she said looks much cooler than the old train and that also rides more smoothly.

“We saw the red monorail driving along the tracks all day. It looked so pretty and new, so we all wanted to ride on it,” Keene said.

On a ride around the track with a monorail driver, Scott Kea, he said that a few things have changed for the drivers. He said the new train has more cameras, the ability for drivers to talk to specific sections of the train and a “cushier” seat for the driver.

While some guests did not know about the new train, Michael Villanueva, a 29-year-old from Brentwood, was excited for the new train. As he walked up on the monorail platform he said of the old-style monorail train “that one’s boring, I want to go on the new one.”

Villanueva said he’s been waiting for the red monorail to open. He saw the monorail testing earlier in the day, but when he saw signs announcing that guests could go on the monorail he said he ran to the monorail station in Tomorrowland.

“I was like ahhhhhh I have to ride on the new monorail,” he said.

Disney Spokeswoman Betsy Sanchez said the red monorail’s soft opening means it will be open off and on throughout the weekend. She did not know when the monorail would begin full-time operations for park guests.

From the OC Register:

Disney’s Monorail Red (or Mark VII) will open to the public this evening as part of a “soft opening.”

Disney Spokeswoman Betsy Sanchez said this afternoon that the new monorail train will be open on and off again throughout the weekend.

The Mark VII line of trains (three in all) will slowly replace the current monorail trains. The red monorail is the first to roll-out and the blue train arrived a few weeks ago. No word yet on when the orange train will arrive at the park.

CHECK BACK tonight for an update and photo slide show of the new trains in action.

The public launch of the new red train with blue glass windows was expected to be in late February. But, testing and adjusting the monorail to work perfectly has pushed the opening back again and again.

The biggest change to the monorail trains is in the look: The first electric cars have blue glass and red stripes that change color in the sunlight. The next two cars will be blue with purple glass and orange with blue glass.

Bench seats will face the windows, allowing visitors a full view of the parks, Downtown Disney and the Disneyland Hotel. The capacity and speed will remain the same.

The Monorail started in 1959 as part of Disneyland’s first expansion and the track was extended to the Disneyland Hotel in 1961 to a length of two and a half miles.

For three years, Disney Imagineers have been working on the train upgrades.

From the OC Register:

Disney’s first new monorail car in two decades — called the Monorail Red or Mark VII — is still being tested by Disney and no opening date has been announced.

Disney Spokesman John McClintock said today that the new train is still undergoing tests and adjustments. That includes the doors and air conditioning. He said both are working, but just not yet to Disney’s satisfaction.

McClintock said there is no date yet planned for the monorail’s public opening. When asked if the monorail might make it out for this Memorial Day weekend, he said that is “not at all likely.”

The Monorail Red’s biggest change is in looks: The first electric cars have blue glass and red stripes that change color in the sunlight. The next two cars will be blue with purple glass and orange with blue glass.

Bench seats will face the windows, allowing visitors a full view of the parks, Downtown Disney and the Disneyland Hotel. The capacity and speed will remain the same.