It seems that one or more captains of the Friendship Boats that connect the Epcot resorts with Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios have been telling Walt Disney World guests the “interesting fact” that the black areas on the façades of the Swan and Dolphin can be removed to accommodate a Monorail expansion. The story has been repeated on Internet forums and websites. And it’s undoubtedly been repeated to friends, family, and co-workers by Disney guests.

There are two versions of the story. One version claims that the spaces behind the black areas are big empty voids. The other version claims that they are filled with “temporary” hotel rooms that can be removed.

It’s a good story, but it isn’t true. The black squares are simply design features to make the large façades more interesting. Architect Michael Graves likes to use dark and light areas or different materials to break up building façades. I don’t know if the captains honestly believe the Monorail story, or if they’re just having some fun at the guests’ expense.

Around the same time that Michael Graves designed the Swan and Dolphin, he also designed the Aventine in La Jolla, Californa, named after one of the seven hills of Rome. His 16-story, 400-room Hyatt Regency La Jolla at Aventine has three black squares on its façade. His 11-story office tower at Aventine only has a single black square on it. There’s no Monorail planned for the Aventine either.

By the way, the black areas on the Swan and Dolphin are substantially different in size (about five stories tall on the Swan, and about nine stories tall on the Dolphin) and in elevation (starting about seven stories up on the Swan, and starting about ten stories up on the Dolphin). They’re much taller than necessary to accommodate the Monorail.

If the beam did go through the Swan and Dolphin, there would not be a logical place to put a station. The beam would be way too high, and the buildings aren’t nearly deep enough. So where would the Swan and Dolphin station go?

If the builder and architect had really wanted to leave paths for future monorail beams, they could simply have left openings. If they wanted to hide the holes, why did they make the “covering” black instead of really hiding them by dressing them up to look like the rest of the building? Why would they put in “temporary” rooms? (Look up at the black area any evening, and you’ll clearly see that there are rooms and people up there.)

One more point... Take a look a the shape of the Swan and Dolphin. Think about where the hallways and elevators would be. Yep. Giant openings would cut off the hallways.

It’s in writing from Disney!

When people buy Disney Vacations Club memberships, they sign a Product Understanding Checklist. It’s an honest document that summarizes the features of the program, including some potential “gotchas,” so that buyers can’t later complain, “You never told me!”

For Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort, the Product Understanding Checklist includes the following:

18. This resort is located near stores, restaurants, entertainment areas, and other public establishments with nighttime hours of operation which may result in higher noise and light levels, including but not limited to fireworks and music. In addition, easement rights for the purpose of constructing, maintaining and supporting the Monorail transportation services (which also may result in higher noise and light levels and views of the Monorail system) as part of the larger Walt Disney World transportation system (which may or may not service the Resort) have been reserved. There are no current plans to expand the Monorail system.

Why is there a Monorail easement through Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort—a legal right for the Monorail to cross the property—if there are no plans to expand the Monorail system?

The easement was in place long before the property was Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort. In fact, the easement was in place before the property was called the Villas at Disney Institute. The easement goes back to the early days when there were ambitious plans for an extensive Monorail System to connect all parts of Walt Disney World, including the shopping area that was then called Disney Village. So the easement still shows up in legal documents.

Nobody should take the easement as an indication that the Walt Disney World Monorail is coming to the Saratoga Springs Resort.

The figure of a million dollars per mile keeps coming up in Internet discussions about expanding the Walt Disney World Monorail system. Someone will post that it would certainly be nice if Walt Disney World would replace the stinky diesel bus fleet with sleek “highway in the sky” Monorail lines. Then, someone will reply that they heard that the cost would be a hefty million dollars per mile, and that’s just prohibitive.

Actually, if the Walt Disney Company could add ten miles to the Monorail system for just $10 million, they would jump at the opportunity. The truth is that the cost would be much, much higher.

The Las Vegas Monorail, which opened in 2004, cost $654 million for just 4.4 miles. It uses the same Bombardier technology as the Walt Disney World Monorail. Bombardier acquired the technology from Disney. There were some issues in Las Vegas—such as having to deal with many various property owners, structures in the right-of-way, and municipal politics—that Disney would not face. So maybe Disney could hold the costs under $100 million per mile.

A Monorail expansion would a be huge capital expense that would not generate direct revenue. Sure, Monorails could reduce bus fleet expenses. And, for guests, the Monorails add to the “magic” of a Disney vacation. But it’s still hard to justify the business expense, even if Disney could hold the costs to “only” $50 million per mile.

The Walt Disney World Monorail has not been expanded since the opening of the Epcot line in 1982. It’s safe to say that the reason is cost—a much higher cost than the oft-repeated million dollars per mile.

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© 2008 Werner Weiss — Disclaimers, Copyright, and Trademarks

Updated February 1, 2008.

“Photoshopped” image of Walt Disney World Swan: 2008 by Werner Weiss, based on 2006 photo by Werner Weiss.
“Photoshopped” image of Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort: 2008 by Werner Weiss, based on 2004 resort photo and 2006 monorail photo by Werner Weiss.
“Photoshopped” image of TTC directional sign: 2008 by Werner Weiss, based on 2007 photo by Allen Huffman.