Stuff From the Park has some great vintage Disneyland photos including the one pictured above of the Monorails traveling over Submarine Lagoon from 1959. Gorillas Don't Blog also has some great old Disneyland pictures including the one below from 1960. I still wonder if all the Monorails in the respective Disney parks are considered by the general public to be transportation or a novelty attraction.
I think that in Disneyland it is just a novelty, but in Disney World the monorail is the main mode of transportation to Magic Kingdom and Epcot from the parking lots, as well as the Magic Kingdom hotels.
ReplyDeleteAudio downloads, vintage photos and side-by-side script comparisons between the onboard spiel of the Disneyland-Alweg Monorails of 1976 and 2001 are available at Sorcerer's Workshop.org.
ReplyDeletehttp://sorcerersworkshop.org/monorail.shtml
The ride was originally sponsored by Southern Pacific Railroad and was promoted as the passenger rail system of the future. Getting people to imagine traveling in something other than a car in Southern California is no small feat!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure that the monorail even runs between the Disneyland Hotel and teh park anymore. With the new parking structure (!) and the tram cars, that old beast was turning whiter.
ReplyDeleteBut we have ridden on the monorail thing in Vegas, and it is a GREAT alternative to waiting in traffic on the Strip! We rode it for free, which was awesome, but I think it is usually priced at like $5 or higher for a one way ride. Not so great for the hotel workers, or the low-rolling tourists...