DeSantis moves to bring state safety oversight of the Walt Disney World Monorail including suspending the service for inspections

Apr 24, 2023 in "Walt Disney World Monorail System"

Posted: Monday April 24, 2023 5:50pm ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Acting on orders from Governor Ron DeSantis, Florida legislators have added an amendment to a Florida Department of Transportation bill to include state inspections of Walt Disney World's monorail system.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is now moving to target Disney's monorail system

Following the recent pattern of behavior by DeSantis, this latest bill attempts to cause further inconvenience to Disney's operations and increase the state's interference in as many aspects of Disney's business as possible.

The amendment targets Walt Disney World's monorail by referencing "any governmentally or privately owned fixed-guideway transportation systems operating in this state which are located within an independent special district created by local act which have boundaries within two contiguous counties"

The Walt Disney World monorail is located within a special district, and has boundaries in Orange and Osceola counties - fitting into the not-so-subtle specification in the amended bill.

Notably, the amendment includes the requirement that the monorail must be suspended during safety inspections.

The monorail is a critical part of Walt Disney World's daily operations, and although Disney has backup transportation in place, including buses and watercraft, an extended "safety inspection" could cause significant inconveniences to guests.

It isn't clear if this latest move will also impact Disney Skyliner, which by FDOT definition is also a "fixed guideway transportation system."

Here is the full text of the amended bill.

Section 13. Paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of section
373 341.061, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
374 341.061 Transit safety standards; inspections and system
375 safety reviews.—
376 (1)(a) The department shall adopt by rule minimum safety
377 standards for governmentally owned fixed-guideway transportation
378 systems, and privately owned or operated fixed-guideway
379 transportation systems operating in this state which are
380 financed wholly or partly by state funds, and any governmentally
381 or privately owned fixed-guideway transportation systems
382 operating in this state which are located within an independent
383 special district created by local act which have boundaries
384 within two contiguous counties. Standards must be site-specific
385 for fixed-guideway transportation systems and shall be developed
386 jointly by the department and representatives of the affected
387 systems, giving full consideration to nationwide industry safety
388 norms relating to the development and operation of fixed
389 guideway transportation systems. The department shall conduct
390 structural safety inspections in adherence with s. 335.074 for
391 any fixed-guideway transportation systems that are raised or
392 have bridges, as appropriate. Inspectors must follow
393 departmental safety protocols during safety inspections,
394 including requiring the suspension of system service to ensure
395 safety and welfare of inspectors and the traveling public during
396 such inspections.

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peter114358 days ago

It’s rarely the entire monorail system and even when its just partial, it puts tremendous strain on the rest of the transportation system.

MickeyLuv'r8 days ago

I am not trying to get in the middle of this debate, but factually speaking, the monorail has gone down many times. When it does, WDW is able to swap to buses. I have experienced this a number of times, though most often it is only one monorail line down at a time.

monothingie8 days ago

Exactly, we can respectfully disagree on the people and reasons behind the regulations, but politics does not factor in for people conducting this work at FDOT.

flynnibus8 days ago

I'll repeat... "The concern was always the POTENTIAL for abuse" Potential doesn't mean something is going to happen everytime. And just because something DIDN'T happen doesn't mean it can't/won't in the future. The smoothness I was referring to is about the world we are focusing on now and forward. The truce that was negotiated means the motivation to abuse is not present.

Disstevefan18 days ago

In my opinion, because of the near perfect safety record the WDW monorail had for over 50 years, FDOT getting involved does NOT make the WDW monorail system any safer. My hope is that FDOT does not make enough trouble to make Disney say the heck with it and shut down the monorail. Again, the wild card is, will Disney resume charging for the currently free transportation. To be honest, if it would save the monorail I would pay presuming its a small enough charge. We all got to remember if they begin charging again, this will be something in effect, "money for nothing" as they were running all the WDW transportation for free to guests for decades.

Disstevefan18 days ago

Disney's finance team is cranking up the spreadsheets now. History may repeat itself. At the very beginning of WDW folks paid to use the transportation that is currently free. Lets see what happens.

monothingie8 days ago

You have centuries old infrastructure that is being maintained and is actively used. The key consideration on whether it continues to be used is if it is cost effective to continue to maintain for use.

Disstevefan18 days ago

No one knows. To me not obvious as they got rid of magical express which was a HUGE perk to stay on site. Lets see what happens.

Blobbles8 days ago

Im not an insider. But I think it’s pretty obvious because it sells hotels at MK area. I could be wrong, I could be wrong, but idk.

DisneyCane8 days ago

Nothing can operate safely indefinitely. It might have been designed to operate for a very long time but there is still some amount of wear on the beam every time a train passes over a section.

monothingie8 days ago

I think it's very important to point out, for people who are concerned about the infrastructure, that the beam ways while over 50 years old, have been continually maintained, are inspected frequently and are not exposed to corrosive salt or seawater. Other than potential issues with sinkholes and issues with the beam's footers, the system was very well designed and built and likely can operate safely indefinitely.

monothingie8 days ago

While there were field visits by FDOT. I would guarantee that the majority of the "inspections" were handled through Disney providing documents, engineering, and inspection reports to FDOT. This provided information and reports likely were done through a third-party licensed engineering firms Disney contracted with to do the work to get FDOT the analysis and information they need.

monothingie8 days ago

I probably feel a little better knowing that an independent regulatory agency performed an independent assessment and inspection of the monorail system infrastructure. It's good to know that Disney has someone looking over them on this. Other than Disney having their government relations lobbyist present, which seems unusual to me, the inspections appear to have been carried out professionally, in a non-political manner, with little to no interruption in operations.

JohnD8 days ago

But then what would be what occurs afterward due to a normal inspection, not malicious intent. It wouldn't be their fault if they found deficient beams as part of their inspection.