This is the first entry in a blog series called “If I Ruled The World,” where I will explain what I would do to make Walt Disney World better. Of course, I know some of these things aren’t feasible or financially responsible but as the keeper of the Kingdom, I can do just what I want.
Some of these changes will be to make the guests’ experiences easier, and some of them are just my wish lists for better theme-ing.
So without further ado, here is the first entry in “If I Ruled The World: Transportation.”
Walt Disney World has excellent internal and external transportation. One can get from the airport to the property, around the property, to the parks, shopping, dinning, resorts and back to the airport with ease. But only if you travel in a set path. Want a high-speed option? I hope your staying at a Magic Kingdom resort. Want to get from Animal Kingdom Lodge to Fort Wilderness? Ha!
WDW Internal transportation was made to get you from your resort to a park or Downtown Disney. The busses are clean and are generally driven by courteous drivers. Disney says busses run about every 20 minutes and are limited to “Resort to Park” or “Park to Park.”
In addition to busses there are three monorails; the Magic Kingdom (MK) express (from the Transit and Ticket Center/Magic Kingdom Parking Lot (TTC) to the MK); MK resort loop (stopping at MK, Contemporary, TTC, Polynesian, The Grand Floridian); and Epcot loop (from the TTC to Epcot).
There are water taxis that can take you around the Seven Seas Lagoon and Bay Lake (making stops at MK, Contemporary, Polynesian, The Grand Floridian, Fort Wilderness and Wilderness Lodge). Also at the MK you can take a ferry boat to the TTC.
Friendships can take you from the International Gateway (Epcot) to Hollywood Studios making stops at the Swan/Dolphin, Boardwalk, Beach/Yacht Club.
If money is no object, the following map would be identifying the new monorail routes. If money is an object, this would be a hard rail map. This wouldn’t replace the busses, however, it would supplement them and make park and resort hopping faster and more convenient.
The Red Line would travel in a loop (in both directions). Stops will include:
• TTC
• Epcot
• Typhoon Lagoon
• Hollywood Studios
• Wide World Of Sports
• Blizzard Beach
• Animal Kingdom
• TTC
Blue Line:
• TTC
• Animal Kingdom Lodge
• Animal Kingdom
• Coronado Springs
• Blizzard Beach
• All-Star Sports
• All-Star Music
• All-Star Movies
• Wide World of Sports
Green Line
• TTC
• Wilderness Lodge Villas
• Wilderness Lodge
• Fort Wilderness
• Epcot
• Beach Club/Beach Club Villas
• Yacht Club
• Swan/Dolphin
• Boardwalk/Boardwalk Villas
• Caribbean Beach
• Pop Century/Art of Animations
• Wide World of Sports
Orange Line
• TTC
• Epcot
• Port Orleans Riverside
• Port Orleans French Quarter
• Old Key West
• Lake Buena Vista Golf Course
• Saratoga Springs
• Downtown Disney Area Resorts
You’ll notice the Orange Line doesn’t go to Downtown Disney’s Shopping districts. I’m keeping with Disney’s current philosophy that because the parking is free, they don’t want people to park there to get to the parks.
Yellow Line
• Palm Golf Course
• Magnolia Golf Course
• Oak Trail Golf Course
• TTC
• Wilderness Lodge Villas
• Wilderness Lodge
• Osprey Ridge Golf Course
• Eagle Pines Golf Course
• Port Orleans Riverside
• Saratoga Springs
• Lake Buena Vista Gold Course
• Old Wey West
In addition to the new monorail/hard rail lines above, I also see a place for a people mover. See below.
It is a pleasant walk from Hollywood Studios to Epcot and a long boat ride. I recently walked this twice and thought it would have been a great place for a people mover.
Stops are:
• Epcot International Gateway
• ESPN Zone/Boardwalk
• Swan/Dolphin Bridge/Boardwalk
• Hollywood Studios
There are a few other places in the world that can have people movers, but I’ll talk more about them in their parks.
Finally, there are the waterways. Of course, they are slow (the opposite of rail above), but I would like to be able to take boats to more places at WDW. Here are the new waterways I’d like to see:
In the new waterways boats would launch in a circular pattern – in both directions:
• Magic Kingdom (at the current MK dock at the front of the park).
• Epcot (at the current Epcot dock at the International Gateway).
• Hollywood Studios (at the current HS dock at the front of the park).
• Animal Kingdom (at a new dock in between The Oasis and Discovery Island).
This boat service would not replace the current Friendships that travel between Hollywood Studios and Epcot and make stops at Epcot area resorts. The new route would only stop at theme parks.
Returning to the busses, I believe Disney should have a “next bus” type system to help guests better judge the wait time, and now that there are multiple ways to get around, knowing the times would be very beneficial in planning the trip to your destination.
That’s what I’d love to see at the world in relationship to transportation.
What do you think? Comment below on any areas of transportation that the park could use.
And for your listening pleasure:
A song…sung to Ke$ha’s “Tik Tok”
Wake up in the morning feeling like Walt Disney
Grab my ears, I’m out the door, I’m gonna hit the Kingdom
Before I leave, brush my teeth with my Donald tooth-brush
‘Cause when I leave for parks, I’m in quite a rush!
