Walt Disney World Monorail System

"Please stand clear of the doors" ; "Por favor, mantegan se allejado de las puertas"

Mark IV trains began transit service at the world's #1 tourist destination in 1971. When Epcot was added to the WDW resort in 1982, a new loop was added with additional trains. By 1989, most of the Mark IV's had traveled around 67,500 miles each year. Having accomplished nearly ten million miles of travel with a reliability rate of 99.9% in eighteen-hour-a-day operations, it was time for a new set of trains. Bombardier, licensed by the Walt Disney Company, improved the design and debuted 12 new Mark VI trains beginning in 1989. Built closer to transit standards, the MVI design has now in the proving stages for actual public transit operations at Las Vegas

The different models of the monorails over the years and the two parks in the USA

Mark I

Disneyland 1959 - 1961 one red and one blue train (Alweg built)

Mark II

Disneyland 1961 - 1969 the two original trains lengthened by one car plus a new yellow train (train lettering still includes the name Alweg)

Mark III

Disneyland 1969 - 1987 four new trains with 5 cars each (train lettering initially still includes the name Alweg)

Mark IV

Walt Disney World 1971 - 1989 (two of these monorails were reworked for the Vegas track until the new model was built. Now they sit rotting away)

Mark V

Disneyland 1989 - now (bodies built by Messerschmitt Bölkow Blohm of West Germany, these are being rebuilt in Canada)

Mark VI

Walt Disney World 1989 - now (Bombardier-built)

Mark VII

Disneyland California's new model coming 2008 (Burke Design & TPI Composites, retro styled)

Some Info from http://www.alweg.com/disneyalweg.html Thank you

Tokyo Disneyland's monorail does not have the "Mark" designation, more info towards the bottom of the website.

At special request you can ask to ride with the pilot in the front. 4 people can actually ride with the pilot. Remember sometimes they cannot do this if the pilot is too distracted by it or they already have someone. Just ask to ride the next monorail.....its worth it!!! and don't forget to get your monorail copilot license.

Shot of switch track near Monorail "roundhouse" 11-2005

Monorail Tow Vehicle 11-2005

The Magic Kingdom Station 04-22-2005

06-29-2007

The race is on!!! 06-29-2007 from John T!!

A rainy day in the cockpit of the monorail 08-27-2006

The new touchscreen control panel, thanks Steven!!!

Exiting the Contemporary 04-22-2005

Monorail making its approach to the Contemporary 04-22-2005

Almost to the Contemporary 04-22-2005

Epcot 09-11-2004

Laura's Favorite Color.

Monorail being used as a cargo train for Hurricane Frances 09-03-2004 (Monorails did not come back online for three days)

The Mark IV's monorails were retired for numerous reasons. Guest capacity, aging fleet, a/c issues, and the big reason was safety.

Back in 1985 Monorail Silver had a very serious accident. A tire blew out and caught on fire. This in turn ended up causing at least one whole car to be engulfed in flames.

Even though this monorail was full, the fast thinking of some of the guests helped everyone up to the roof and away from the flames. No one was hurt.

The Mark VI monorails have many safety features included which would prevent this from ever happening again.

I have pictures and articles of this accident. I do not want to include them on my site as they may scare kids into thinking it could happen again.

An interesting bit of trivia here. When Las Vegas began there test of there monorail the the Mark VI transit spec'd trains were not completed yet.

A bit of a rust problem right next to the monorail. The old people mover track....or rocket rods as they were called before closing it forever.

The Tokyo Monorail was built (2001) by a Japanese company ( to there transportation standards (holds 571 passengers and are driverless)

There's something else about the Tokyo Disney Resort Line that certainly deserves mention - Its trains are driverless. The individual Liners (as they are called) are controlled from a central location by an automated (but monitored, of course) system. A single Cast Member rides in the tail of each Liner to ensure that guests have fully boarded the vehicle before its doors are closed. info from

The Japanese trains are designated as such: 1-Blue / 2-Yellow / 3-Purple / 4-Green / 5-Peach.

A single Cast Member rides in the tail of each Liner to ensure that guests have fully boarded the vehicle before its doors are closed.

(remember Disneyland Tokyo is not owned by Disney, its a franchise owned by the Oriental Land Company, so things are done a bit different there)

I hope you have enjoyed seeing some of the pics I have taken or collected. More to come as always.

I want to thank all the cast members (past and present) that have helped me or let me know how they liked the picture site.