Risk and Reward, is Disney Parks & Resorts on the Right Track?

With the recent announcement of an Avatar themed land and attractions coming to Disney’s Animal Kingdoms and the troubled opening of Disney’s first Hawaiian resort, Aulani, a lot of the conversation has settled on the types of risks the Walt Disney Company’s parks and resorts division has been taking lately. It’s a bouillabaisse of different complaints: The monorail and bus system is no longer inpsiring, future world has stagnated, Tomorrowland is now toontown, with the result that Disney’s position as a company with vision has been lost. That Disney should believe in its own artists to come up with compelling stories and themes instead of buying properties like Avatar or Prince of Persia

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Risk and Reward, is Disney Parks & Resorts on the Right Track?

Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party Report

A slice of the holiday decor up on Main Street. As usual, click to see a larger version. This one is available in desktop size

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Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party Report

Monorail Peach Announced for Walt Disney World.

The Disney Parks blog has announced the addition of a twelfth monorail returning to the Walt Disney World fleet. That will bring the fleet back up to its full complement after the tragic accident in July of 2009. Monorail Peach will begin testing soon, albeit without its identifying stripe of color

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Monorail Peach Announced for Walt Disney World.

Tokyo Disneyland closed to assess damage, Monorail testing underway

A few quick updates from Tokyo Disneyland.

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Tokyo Disneyland closed to assess damage, Monorail testing underway

SUV strikes Monorail Pillar closes EPCOT loop for an hour

Disney fans are everywhere. No, she wasn’t driving the SUV that struck the Monorail support pillar, but Amanda Tinney (of DisneyEveryDay.com ) was on the scene yesterday in the EPCOT Parking lot and took the above photo on her mobile phone. Those beams are pretty strong, but as a precaution, Disney shut down the EPCOT Monorail Loop and closed that section of the parking lot for about an hour while the accident was resolved and the pillar and beam inspected.

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SUV strikes Monorail Pillar closes EPCOT loop for an hour

NTSB unloads documents related to Fatal July 2009 Monorail Accident

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released a group of documents related to its investigation of the fatal July 2009 monorail accident. I’ve opened a “group source” wiki to try and make sense of it all, establish a timeline, and identify any errors or areas in need of clarification

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NTSB unloads documents related to Fatal July 2009 Monorail Accident

Disneyland Hotel turns 55

Another milestone anniversary has just been celebrated at Disneyland.

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Disneyland Hotel turns 55

Family details complaints about Monorails in Lawsuit

Florida Today has the complaint from the family of the cast member killed in last summer’s monorail accident. From Disney’s perspective it’s a chain of bad luck that resulted in tragedy, from the family’s perspective, it’s pretty damning. In newly filed court papers, the family claims the monorail cockpit Wuennenberg was riding in had “virtually no bracing or frame support whatsoever”

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Family details complaints about Monorails in Lawsuit

Disney to refine Monorail Procedures with new Position

The Orlando Sentinel is reporting that Walt Disney World is refining its procedures at it’s Monorail system to include a new position, at a higher pay scale, who will be responsible for overseeing traffic along the system. We are still awaiting the final report from the NTSB after their investigation into the death of a cast member during last summer’s tragic monorail accident.

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Disney to refine Monorail Procedures with new Position

Very Short Monorail Expansion planned at Walt Disney World

Potentially interesting news from the excellent organization Monorails.org , mentions a new spurline to be added near the Ticket and Transportation Center. This short track extension will contain a new switch, a place to house a work tractor (used to push/pull trains that have lost power back to the shop), and enough room to park a reserve train to be held for when demand requires it. Whether this is a reaction to an aging fleet that seems to require more maintenance and downtime every day, preparation to an expanded Monorail system, or perhaps a little of both, remains to be seen.

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Very Short Monorail Expansion planned at Walt Disney World

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