Guests Speak: What Monorails Mean to Me

[February]

I thought it might be a good thing for those of us who are guests, to just take a little corner of SGT and tell some stories about our best monorail related memories. Perhaps if we do then we can begin to explain to the CMS here what they mean to us, how they are more than simple (even if simply beautiful) trains used to transport people from place to place.

Maybe it's difficult for them to understand that those of us who have never worn the wings could love the trains and dream of the job as we do.

But for some of us here- monorails aren't just something that we ride on to get to the parks when we visit a Disney property.

For some of us, they are an iconic symbol of happier times- and they are a part of our everyday lives, in our homes, in our thoughts, in our dreams, every day.

I have many stories I can tell to try to explain this. For now, I can't find the words but I will add to this. I owe everyone the story anyway of how I happened to get one of my most prized posessions; a button that fell off of the uniform jacket of a Monorail pilot, bearing the Disney D, when they were walking out from work through the convention center late one December night.

So please, guests (and CMs alike if you wish, you're welcome) share your happy, sentimental monorail memories here.

May this be a place of comfort for us all.

Moderators, if this is inappropriate in any way or should be placed in another forum, delete or move this thread as you see fit.

love to all,
Bru

[darph nader]

MANY moons ago,we got to ride in the very back of the Monorail. I know,kinda lame,but it was a different perspective.

[hobie16]

It wasn't until I found this sight that I finally figured out how to ride in the front. The first time was totally cool. Next time we get to DL it's a ride in the back.

[Zazu]

One of my favorite memories is riding in the bubble on the Mark II at Disneyland back in the day. That bubble gave not just a great view of the park, but you also looked over the shoulder of the pilot. My poor eyes didn't know *what* to look at first!

[Monorail_Red]

Where do I start?

First off, many mistake me for a WDW Monorail Pilot. I am just a guest that has been a long-time Monorail Fan that has gained knowledge on the system via research & talking to Monorail Pilots.

One of the earliest memories that I have had in my life is my 1st Monorail ride, and following that is my 1st ride in the front cab. I thought that it was the coolest thing in the world.

When I was young, before I was introduced to the Monorails, I was really into trains. Never knew why, just one of those things that were in me.

My family & I have been WDW regulars for the past 18 years. Most of the time, we would visit WDW once per year, and for some reason, it wasn't "Disney" to me until I saw a Monorail pass overhead. From then on, I thought that the Monorail was the coolest thing ever.

It wasn't until 2002-2003 I became the true Monorail Nut. In '02, I videotaped a ride up in the front cab. Since then, an annual video of the ride up front with the driver was the ultimate souvenir that I always wanted to take with me, and the best part about it to me being a souvenir is that it cost $0.

I only did this up until '06, as some trips I never found the time, and it became less of a priority to me as YouTube was out there, so I was never felt the loss of not having a Monorail video from every trip. Plus, I have been in the front cab many times, and I feel better limiting myself to only a few rides up front per trip instead of 2-3 per day, just to give other guests an opportunity to experience the front cab. The only time I will board the front cab if it is available, and nobody is waiting for it, typically in the early morning.

In 2000, I saw on display the 1st of the Monorail Play Sets out on display. It was Monorail Red, and of course being as young as I was, I just had to have one. My brother & I loved it. On our next trip the year after, my brother got a play set of his own...Monorail Black. When I found out it was a different color, I thought it was the coolest thing ever. We also bought the Contemporary and Spaceship Earth accessories to go with it. Our set-up would keep my brother & I occupied for hours, and we went through SO many AA batteries!

The year after, we added Monorail Yellow to our collection as well as the Poly, GF, TTC, and a few boxes of straight track! For 3 more years they didn't produce another color...but then they finally came out with Monorail Purple, and now little sis was in on this too! By that time I started to outgrow the toys, but we were still all happy campers being around Disney Monorails in CT.

We all have outgrown the play sets since, by today I still have them stored away, but I always will have my Monorail Red sitting atop my dresser.

Once I got older, I realized that I could be a Monorail Pilot some day, but for a while I doubted that because of the stronger bonds that I have here at home in CT. But then I came across the WDWCP that could make my wish of being a Monorail Pilot a reality. That has been my goal to land the role of a Monorail Pilot for the CP.

That's when my rainy day activities consisted of research on the Monorails. There was so much information out there that I soaked up like a sponge. Like I said before, I also learned quite a bit by just talking to pilots in person, on other message boards, and of course, here at SGT. Joining the SGT was by far one of the best moves that I have ever made. You don't know how much it means to me that all you SGT pilots here have taken the time to answer my questions and keep in touch with me. When I had my bad days and it seemed that everything was going wrong for me, becoming a pilot on the CP always gave me something to look forward to, and to work through the bad times and pull through.

Speaking of which, I still can't figure out what sparked inside me to want to become a Monorail Pilot. For some reason, I just can't get enough of the "Monorail Smell" and the feel of a Monorail ride. There is just nothing else like it in the world. One thing perhaps is that my deep seeded interest in technology and my childhood love of trains both came together, and for some reason when I think of the two, I think MONORAILS!!!

With that said, the WDW Monorail has always been a feeling of comfort to me. They become an escape to me...just because after a long & hot day at Epcot, there is nothing more refreshing to me than the Monorail doors closing, the cut-off of the humid air, and the A/C surrounding you. Plus, the Monorail is just cool because it's not a form of transportation that you would use every day.

[Monorail_Red]

(continued from above)

As to my user title Monorail_Red, obviousley it comes from Monorail Red being my favorite Monorail. Just because Red is my favorite color, and for some reason it's a rare occasion that I get to ride Monorail Red as much as I do the others (there have been trips where I didn't see Red out of shop at all), so when I'm waiting for a Monorail to come, if it's Red, for some reason it's just a special treat for me.

That's all for now. I'm sure that I will have more Monorail memories when I get back down there to WDW and meet the SGT pilots in person! :D:

[turkeyham]

A few years ago my friends and I met up at WDW. My friend Christina and I were on the monorail from Epcot and heading to the ttc. Our driver was Johnathan. I told her, if she was to tell a bad joke about the ride, Johnathan would stop and push her out. We had him in tears. I mentioned SGT and he smiled. ;)

Next year when I return back to the parks, I hope to ride the monorail daily.

[Shorty82]

I've always loved the monorails. They're fun, fast, efficient, quiet, and safe. They're a wonderful way to get around and I feel the system really needs to be expanded. For a while now I've tossed about the idea of becoming a monorail pilot in my head and recent events have made me come to the conclusion that I WILL become a pilot one day. Maybe not for a few years but eventually.

[February]

Thank you everyone for the wonderful monorail memories you've shared so far. I don't know about anybody else here on the boards but this is really helping me.

I have so many I could tell. I will start at the beginning and work through them, hopefully close to putting them in order.

I guess you could say, my earliest childhood memories are of WDW. Specifically, I should say, of monorails.

The joke in my family is that the shirts say WDW was established in 1971, but should say And so was Bru because I was born that year and I took my first trip to WDW before I could talk.

There is, somewhere in mothballs, old reel film camera footage of me on It's a Small World asking for my bottle in baby talk.

I don't remember ever not knowing what the castle looked like. I don't remember ever not knowing that sweet, whispering sound that the monails make when they go through the Grand Canyon Concourse.

and it's not like I lived in FL either. We live 'up North' as my FL relatives used to call it.

I remember the excitement, of riding in the back of my grandparent's station wagon and driving under that ...what do you call it, overpass thing and coming up on the other side and seeing the Contemporary in the distance, rising majestically into the Florida sun.

The second someone first spotted a monorail, there would be much commotion and excitement in the car as we could barely stand to stay in our seats a minute longer. We'd seen a monorail, it was really true. We were really here. It was really happening.

We would stay out at the Vacation Villas most of the time then, though I do remember a lot of time spent in the North Wing of the Contemporary too over the years... either way we'd always go to the Contemporary the first night to "Ride the loop".

Back then it was only the Contemporary the Polynesian and the MK (or was the TTC always there too? momentarily it slips my mind if it was. I know I know this...ugh...anyway...)

Just being within sight of a monorail for me was always a thrilling experience. I really think I learned my colors as a baby by pointing and naming off monorails as they went by.

[February]

I know that, as young as the age of two when I could talk and ask for them, I was putting my Weebles in the egg cartons to play monorail, as I've posted before. I was that little. I thought it was great too because of the Mickey Mouse Club Weebles I actually really had Mickey. I used to pretend the club house was part of the MK.

Yes, Weebles and Fisher Price little people. I never played 'house' with them or anything else, it was always 'put them on their Little People airplane, then on the (egg carton) monorail with the blue stripe (for me back then it was always Monorail Blue...) then they're at the Magic Kingdom!'

I had a lot of fun with a couple of cardboard boxes for hotels especially drawing windows on one with a hole cut into the sides to the 'monorail' could go through. I remember saying "We are now approaching the Magic Kingdom" before I could really get the words out clearly.

As I got older, I never stopped loving monorails. I used to dream of monorail merchandise like they have now. That's why I have so much of it in my house...Not just my kitchen...there is a Monorail Blue on display with the Grand Floridian model atop my dresser in my bedroom too. Where I used to live I did a Disney theme for my daughter's bathroom with mickey shaped mirror and the monorail running on a track up by the ceilings.

My husband spent half an hour figuring out how to use twist ties and nails to mount the miniature TTC monorail sign from that playset over the entry way to my kitchen for me so I can look up and see it nearby my Main Gate display up above my cupboards. Above another cupboard, I've recreated Epcot with the die cast monorails and my own sort of World Showcase behind it complete with Eiffel tower.

Did I tell you yet that the Cinderella Castle playset is on display on top of my refrigerator? Trust me. It works.

Why all this and why all monorails?

Well, this is the truth folks.

My only happy memories of my childhood, save a very few, all happened at WDW. Thanks in large part to my grandparents, who I loved more than anyone else in the world and always will.

But even my parents were different people there, especially my dad. He's always loved the place so much, being there puts him in an entirely different frame of mind as to who he was at home.

The years have mellowed him considerably, a stroke and later life experience have changed his personality and softened it a lot. But I remember, as terrified of him as I was when I was little, whenever I"d get to WDW with him I would timidly thank him for taking us, every time he took out his wallet for something and he'd say this.

He'd say "We're making memories"

And we were making memories. I just didn't realize when I was very very small how precious those would really become to me.

So while some people always imagine Cinderella Castle when they think of WDW or their favorite hotel or attraction, for me, it's always been monorails.

I have so many more things to say in this thread but in closing I'll tell you one story that proves how deeply they are embedded into my psyche, even though it's going to likely be out of order from others I have to tell.

Once I was injured at work in a chemical spill accident. My lungs were burned, which, on top of my asthma, meant I couldn't get any air. I passed out before the ambulance arrived and they had me on all kinds of nebulizers and shooting me full of stuff on the way. They told me later my pulse ox was in the low 80s by the time I got to the hospital.

When I was starting to try to come around in the back of the ambulance, the paramedics told me this later- when the doors opened after it stopped, I apparently asked them "Is this the Magic Kingdom?" It took me awhile to figure out that it's because the doors opening in the back must've reminded me of the sound that the old Mark IV monorail doors used to make when they popped open. They told me that they laughed, and one of the EMTs said to the other at the time, "She thinks she's in DISNEY WORLD!"

more stories later...this is really great guys, thanks.

hugs all around
bru