The Disney Monorail is one of the most well known icons of the Walt Disney World theme park. It is one of the most popular forms of transportation around the resorts on Bay Lake and to Epcot. Originally the fleet was 10 but was increased to 12 in 1977 with the Lime and Coral monorail. Since the two colors are easily confused with Yellow and Pink, the Lime and Coral monorails have a white stripe down them.
Construction
The Monorail was originally built with two tracks looping around Bay Lake visiting the Polynesian, Magic Kingdom, Contemporary, and the Ticket and Transportation Center, in that order. One loop allows for guests to get from their resorts to the park and the other is an express loop from the Ticket and Transportation Center to the Magic Kingdom.
The tracks were originally built in Oregon and shipped via rail to Florida. The beams are 26 inches wide and 110 feet long containing a core of Styrofoam and wrapped in concrete and steel. There were over 400 beams created sitting on pylons over trees, swamps, parking lots and through hotels.
There is also a spur from the loops to the maintenance shop behind the Magic Kingdom. The spur exit is off the express loop with a cross over between the outer loop and the inner loop there as well.
The monorail was also originally designed to visit the other resorts, like the Asian and Mediterranean Resort, after they were built, which never happened.
When the Grand Floridian was built, it was included in the monorail loop between the Polynesian and Magic Kingdom.
on June 1, 1982, the Epcot Extension opens extending the Monorail from the Transportation and Ticket Center to Epcot. The loop is separate but does have a junction allowing the trains to switch from the Epcot Extension to the resort loop. This is located right outside the Transportation and Ticket Center. The new monorail line cost about $1 million per mile in 1982 rates.
Mark IV
The original monorail fleet was the Mark IV and was planned to be the main transportation for the new park being built. It was the first time the Disney Monorail was used for transportation and not as an attraction. Martin Marietta constructed the monorails with a 'leer jet' style with originally 10 being built.
The Mark IV Monorails were sold to Las Vegas for use in their new monorail system. 2 of the monorails are in use while the other 8 were used for parts. One part of the red monorail is viewable at MouseSurplus.com in Orlando.
Mark VI
The current train in the fleet is the Mark IV which was put into rotation in April 1989 starting with the Monorail Blue and the last one in 1993 with Monorail Coral. The new monorails can carry up to 200,000 passengers per day during peak times. The fleet was built by Bombardier.
The current fleet is being upgraded again with minor modifications to the rider cabin. The carpet is being replaced with tile and the fold down seats have also been removed.
Storage and Maintenance
Since there were originally only 10 monorails planned, when the Coral and Lime monorails were added, they did not have enough room in the storage and maintenance facilities behind the park. Because of this, two monorails must sit outside during the night. A monorail never stays outside the maintenance bay for more than 2 nights in a row. Also, every monorail is checked three times a day for safety.
The storage center also has its own painting room. It is able to paint a whole monorail in 3 weeks. The room is actually 25 feet off the ground and has a wall lift for painters to move around the monorail.