Disneyland Monorail
| Disneyland Monorail | |
|---|---|
| Park | Disneyland Park |
| Land / area | Tomorrowland |
| Type | Straddle-beam monorail |
| Opened | June 14, 1959 |
| Designer | WED Enterprises
|
| Status | Operating |
The Disneyland Monorail is a straddle-beam monorail system at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. Opened on June 14, 1959, as the Disneyland ALWEG Monorail System, it was the first monorail in the United States to operate on a daily schedule. What began as a sightseeing loop over Tomorrowland became a genuine transport link in 1961, when the beamway was extended to a station at the Disneyland Hotel. The system now runs about 2.5 miles (4 km) between Tomorrowland and the Downtown Disney district.
History
Walt Disney encountered the German Alweg company's straddle-beam monorail during a visit to its test track near Cologne and brought the concept back to California. WED Enterprises, working with Alweg, redesigned the trains in-house; Imagineer Bob Gurr led much of the vehicle design. The monorail was dedicated on June 14, 1959, as part of Disneyland's first major expansion, alongside the Matterhorn Bobsleds and the Submarine Voyage. Two three-car Mark I trains, Monorail Red and Monorail Blue, opened the system, running a figure-eight loop through Tomorrowland.
In 1961 the beamway was extended across the parking lot to the Disneyland Hotel, and longer four-car Mark II trains entered service; from then on the monorail carried hotel guests directly into the park. The fleet was renewed repeatedly: Mark III trains arrived in the late 1960s, the five-car Mark V trains, built by Ride & Show Engineering on new bodies over existing chassis, entered service in 1987, and the current Mark VII fleet followed from 2008. No Mark VI served at Disneyland; that designation belongs to the Walt Disney World fleet.
When Disney California Adventure and Downtown Disney were built at the end of the 1990s, the beamway was rerouted around the new construction, the hotel station was replaced by a Downtown Disney station, and the line began passing through California Adventure, over Buena Vista Street and through the façade of the Grizzly Peak area, without stopping inside that park.
Trains
The present fleet consists of three five-car Mark VII trains — Monorail Red, Blue and Orange — converted one at a time from the Mark V fleet between 2008 and 2009. Their styling deliberately echoes the rounded nose and bubble canopy of the 1959 Mark I. The trains run on rubber tyres over a concrete beam, powered by electric motors fed from a busbar along the beam, and operate at up to about 30 mph (48 km/h). Each train is driven by an operator in the front cab, and guests may ride in the nose cone by arrangement with the station crew when offered.
Route and stations
The monorail has two stations: Tomorrowland station, inside Disneyland Park above the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage and Autopia area, and Downtown Disney station, serving the resort hotels. A park ticket is required to enter at Downtown Disney and ride into the park, while the return trip from Tomorrowland amounts to a full loop with views over Tomorrowland, Fantasyland, the Disneyland Railroad main line, Disney California Adventure and the resort esplanade. Because all passengers boarding in Tomorrowland must hold admission and the Downtown Disney platform functions as a park entrance, the monorail remains one of only a few Disney transport systems where a one-way sightseeing round trip is possible by staying aboard with permission.