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The E-Ticket ride

Image © Disney

Upon the debut of the monorail at Disneyland on June 14, 1959, it was instantly the first monorail in the Western Hemisphere to operate daily. As you would expect, it was immediately beloved. The monorail was not only the most discussed attraction at the park but also the most popular. Notably, it was not employed as transportation at first but simply an attraction instead. It was also not free to ride in the early days.

Have you heard of the E Ticket at Disneyland? This admission system entitled its possessor to ride the latest and greatest attractions at the park. Obviously, it wasn’t free or even cheap for the era. The E Ticket was superior to the A Ticket, B Ticket, and so forth, and it didn’t even exist until the monorail debuted. At that point, Disney employees added what would become two of their most popular rides, the Submarine Voyage and Matterhorn Bobsleds, and the brand new monorail to the E Ticket, the best of the best.

A trivia note about the monorail involves its first version. Since the red color was the first to debut, Imagineers offer a tip of the cap every time they refresh the line. The first functional unit is ordinarily the red one, a nice touch of symmetry to the monorail’s 1959 debut.

Disneyland - Mark II and Mark III

Image © Disney

The original intention of the monorail was to highlight all the wonders of Disneyland. The track passed directly through Tomorrowland, with the idea of people enjoying the unique view so much that they’d fall in love with the park. The instant, immense popularity of the monorail altered those plans. By 1961, the company already determined that the new transportation system should become an integral part of the visitation experience.

Disney Imagineers took the knowledge they gained from become the Western Hemisphere’s trial run for monorails and developed new trains. The Mark II vehicles were four cars instead of three. Disney also increased the size of the fleet from two to three, effectively doubling the maximum ride capacity. After only two years, Disney already knew that they needed to handle more traffic on each monorail ride.

A new tram color, yellow, was also added. Cosmetically, the trains were very similar in design, and that look has largely stood as status quo throughout the monorail’s Anaheim existence. The lone change with the Mark II was a larger bubble facing on the front and rear cars. This look was status quo from 1961 until 1969.

Image © Disney

The other new addition was the crucial change. The monorail tracks were expanded to the Disneyland Hotel. With the additional two and a half miles of track, the monorail needed a new station. It was added at the hotel itself, creating the seminal experience of the monorail train running directly to the hotel. It’s among the most iconic Disney theme park experiences, yet it wasn’t available when the monorail originally debuted.

The Mark III joined the line in 1968. These green-colored trains offered a streamlined design and better efficiency. They also added an additional car and other vehicle to the fleet, increasing the maximum capacity yet again. The other modifications were minor but focused on enhancing the guest experience. The windows increased in size to provide a better view of the area, and bucket seats offered a more comfortable ride experience. The new monorail line cost more than two million dollars, over double the 1959 fleet expense. The Mark III line proved so popular and reliable that it remained in operation for almost 20 years, eventually getting phased out in 1987.

The other notable change during the 1970s didn’t involve the vehicles themselves. Instead, it was a name change for the Disney fleet. Since ALWEG had been closed for a decade, Disney dropped the unwieldy original name of Disneyland ALWEG Monorail System. They settled on the much cleaner identifier of the Disneyland Monorail System, which remains its title to this day.

Disneyland - Mark V and Mark VII

Image © Disney

In September of 1987, a new fleet of trams debuted at Disneyland. The Mark V vehicles came in the colors of Blue, Orange, Purple, and Red, and there were five fiberglass-encased cars comprising each train, the same as the Mark III. The fiberglass frame reduced the weight of the vehicles, thereby increasing their energy efficiency. The trains all featured an onboard computer to maintain performance logs.

The most distinctive change with the Mark V is one that we take for granted today. The doors opened automatically. Other than offering enhanced technology and the long overdue introduction of air conditioning, the primary differences were cosmetic. The infamous bubble style was mothballed in favor of the Learjet look that better resembled mankind’s attempts to ride the sky during the era. With the space race no longer front page news, quasi-futurism fell out of favor. The new monorail aesthetics were less ambitious, and this style remained in place for over 20 years. An odd bit of trivia about the Mark V is that they were the original Mark I trains, redesigned with new bodies.

Image © Disney

In July of 2008, the Mark VII debuted after a series of failed starts. The first monorail built in Canada, it suffered from design flaws that proved difficult to debug, delaying the reboot of the fleet by several months. The Mark VII is the current train deployed at Disneyland, so if you’ve visited the park at any point since then, you know about its look and style. They claim a modified style that is basically a combination of the Mark V and the original Mark I. It’s more spaceship-styled in appearance, but it’s not as bubble-like in design, primarily due to wind resistance considerations. The larger bubble reduces efficiency so the sleek, Learjet facing is kept to a degree.

The Mark VII comes in three colors: orange, red, and blue. In terms of ride improvements, the most important one is seating. The Mark VII discards prior designs in favor of the much cleverer inward-facing benches on the ends and back-to-back window facing benches in the middle. The outcome is a less in-your-face monorail ride experience while the train manages to seat more guests simultaneously. Disney Imagineers are masters of eking out more capacity from the same designated area.

Now that we've explored the history of the monorail at Disneyland, let's take a look at Walt Disney World... 

 
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Comments

Having attended the original Disneyland soon after it was built in California, I realized my family and I had become addicted to the amazing theme park/s. By the time WDW was built in Florida, my family lived not far from there. Since I was the oldest of the kids and no longer living at home, I was drawn to returning often to visit the parks from my own home in Europe as often often as I could.

As soon as my own son was born, we brought him to Florida to meet the family, which meant not only Mom and Dad and my siblings, but also Mickey, Minnie, and the Gang!

One of my foremost memories of those earliest visits was when my son was just learning to talk, and to speak in English. Heading back on the flight to the Netherlands, we were surprised to hear him repeating some of the recorded messages from the monorail. In particular, he announced, "Please, no smoking in the monorail. Thank you." I'll bet it's been a while since you have heard that one!

The article was a bit too long for me to read but as a professional - great photos! The older ones have a true vintage feel :)

Not sure where your information came from regarding the propulsion system, however if you're referring to the Disney Alweg systems, your description is confusing at best. The Disneyland Alweg system uses two buss bars on the same side of the beam, and yes the skirt of the train covers them as it travels. But there is no "third rail" as most traditional electric trains utilize and it's not hidden. One buss bar is negative, and the other positive, supplying (not producing) 600 VDC to the train. I cannot speak to the materials used for the Disneyland buss bars, but the ones in Florida are steel-capped aluminum bars. Also in Florida, the buss bars sit below the skirts of the train with solid carbon collector shoes sliding along the buss bar. The electricity powers the motors that actuate the drive wheels, which are also the load-bearing tires riding along the top of the beam. Motors are a train's propellant (motors propel a train, not electricity).

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