I have been to Walt Disney World four times since 1994, and on our first visit, in March 1994, and our most recent visit, in October 2000, my family and I have gotten to sit in the front of the monorail. The first visit, we went with my aunt and uncle (who go to WDW 2 times every year) and they asked if we could sit in the front since it was our first time. On the latest visit, my best friend came with us (her first visit), and she wanted to sit up front, too, so we asked again and got to sit up front. The secret is to get to the monorail line early, so you can get to the cast members first and ask to sit in the front.
REPORTED: Sarah 03 FEB 01
When the driver comes into the station with his arms folded in a "X" against his chest. The passengers in the front car will not be getting off so no one else can sit up front. A monorail operator told me this secret.
REPORTED: David Kalina 15 JUL 97
I would like to set the record
straight on the voice. Throughout the 1970's and into the 1980's the voice
heard on all Disney monorails, as well as most all the voiceover work for all
the parks was the legendary "Voice of Disney", Jack Wagner. I have had the
privilege of working with him many times through the years. One interesting
side note is that Jack's home in Southern California was one of the first
uses for a direct audio link from a remote recording studio. It was put in
by Disney in the 70's and connected a voiceover booth in his home to Studio D
at Disneyland in Anaheim. He frequently would receive last minute calls for
special events and was able to just walk over to the booth and "beam" it
directly to the park. Anyhow, with the amount of work that Florida was
generating after Epcot and the Studios opened, plus the fact that Jack wanted
to head towards retiring sometime, other voice talent was sought out locally
in Florida. There have been several people used in voiceover work since
then, one of them being Kevin Miles, who is one of the original members of
the Voices of Liberty at Epcot, and can still be heard there daily. Kevin
recorded the monorail voiceovers after the Grand Floridian was built, and his
voice was still there until the 25th Anniversary rolled around, when it was
updated by one of the new voiceover talents. The amount of voiceover work at
the parks now is astronomical, and it is shared by a couple of people who
have "the voice", including Kevin. Interestingly enough, though, Jack's
voice can still be heard welcoming everyone to Orlando on the monorails at
the airport terminals.
REPORTED: Tom 25 JUL 97
In the event of a fire in mid-track on a monorail, the driver is supposed to get out of his cab, through the side door, climb onto the roof of the train, and go to each car to help people out. He then takes a rope, which goes over the nose of the monorail, and people climb down, then walk along the track to safety.
REPORTED: Jeff Schultz 01 MAY 97
Actually I was at WDW, and thile I was riding in the front of the monorail a maintenance guy was up there, I asked him what the fastest a monorail can do. He told me the story about how when they first got them, they removed all the fail-safes and got it to 69 m.p.h. on the straightaway at Epcot.
REPORTED: Jeff Schultz 23 JUN 97
The monorail operator isn't required to let you sit in the front, but if you ask nicely and you are the first person(s) to get there, he will usually oblige you. The operator's cabin can seat 5 people comfortably, or 7 uncomfortably. Most of the seating is in the form of a U-shaped couch that faces backwards. If you do manage to get seated in the cabin it's a real treat. The operator has very little to do and most of them like to talk.
REPORTED: Anthony Spataro 27 MAY 97
I'm sure it's not that big of a secret, but you would be surprised at how many people don't know that you can ride in the front of the monorail with the driver if you simply ask.
CONFIRMED: Chris Chappa 29 MAY 97
Sometimes if you ride in the front of the monorail, you receive a special conductors card from the conductor of the monorail.
UPDATE: Anne Pezzano 31 AUG 98
CONFIRMED: mickeyden 29 JUL 99
CONFIRMED: Mark 06 MAR 01
I was fortunate enough to be a part of the Walt Disney World Millenium Celebration. My parents, my best friend, and I enjoyed EVERYTHING Disney for 2 wonderful weeks. We spent the first 10 days of our vacation at the theme parks, and we enjoyed everysecond of it! I must say it was the best vacation of my life. Our last five days were spent abord the Disney Magic... perhaps the best part of my summer vacation. All four of us had such a wonderful time! I just wanted to set one thing straight about the monorail system. Although it is a special privilege to sit in the front car of the monorail with the conductor, it is not a hard feat to achieve. You simply walk to the front of the boarding area and tell the cast member (s) that you would like to sit in front. You may have to wait if there are others in front of you, but the employees have absolutely no problem with it. Monorail cars fit four comfortably, six people if you squeeze. Some conductors hand out little "licenses"
UPDATE: Jess 01 APR 01
If you are fortunate to get to ride with the Monorail driver, you may get your official "Co-Pilot License". It is a small business cardĘsized memento of the ride that is handed to the cabin passengers when they disembark.
UPDATE: Richard Olko 20 MAY 02
The latest on the MGM/Animal Kingdom Monorail... I talked to a CM who
said that he'd seen conceptual drawings a long time ago of a MGM Monorail
and doesn't really seem to doubt that there could be another circuit (or
addition to current circuit; however unlikely) that would possibly connect
Downtown Disney, MGM, Animal Kingdom and maybe a resort or two. On the con
side, he also said that it would be seriously unlikely to happen soon
because of the contruction problems Disney had with building the Epcot
circuit: The Epcot monorail track was built by two separate crews. The studs
and tracks crews. The studs crews would lay the studs for the monorails one
day, and the tracks crews would lay the tracks on top of the section the
studs crews did the previous day. What happened was the tracks crew came to
work one day, but when they got to the section they were to work on, there
were no studs there! As it turned out, a large portion of the WDW property
has very unstable soil; the studs had sunk into the ground over night. So
Disney apparently spent tons of mony to brings in heaps of firm dirt to put
in the ground so the monorail track could be placed. So, Disney will be very
reluctant to do that again. My take on this is that they probably won't
build any more monorail tracks until either they see what kind of profit
they make with Animal Kingdom (I plan to be there Opening Day.) or until
they have a fifth park in operation.
REPORTED: Skunk Nut 22 FEB 98
The fastest attraction at the Magic Kingdom (Orlando) is, surprisingly, the Monorail. Space Mountain only goes 24 or 25 mph, but the darkness makes it look like its going faster.
REPORTED: Diana 20 MAR 99
On the monorail, the flashing lights on the top of the front and back cabins are signals for the TTC (Ticket and Transportation Center). The GREEN lights are RESORT MONORAILS;the RED lights are MAGIC KINGDOM MONORAILS; the ORANGE lights are EPCOT MONORAILS. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
REPORTED: Holden 21 APR 02
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