Highway in the Sky: The Story of the Monorail 

Irony is Richard Nixon would make his 'I am not a crook' speech in the contemporary resort which has a monorail going through it.

Bob Gurr is the definition of a Disney Legend! If it moves in Disneyland, he probably designed it......AND he kidnapped the Vice President of the United States and never served a minute in prison! ABSOLUTE BEAST!

I drove that monorail through at 43 mph... Legend.

I wish we had a Disney CEO who was even half of the futurist that Walt was. We could get so many cool new things at the parks/resorts. Now they all just play it safe and throw IP at everything. Imagine a complete monorail network at WDW instead of the awful bus system! (I’m a fan of the Skyliner, but it’s not the same)

Bob Gurr: I just think riding a monorail through a modernist building is neat

I actually met Bob Gurr and I jokingly asked him about when Disney is going to make a new Monorail for Disneyworld. He just laughed and agreed they are getting pretty old and do need a replacement.

One of my happier childhood memories is of sitting in the last car of a Mark V monorail with only my best friend--we were both about 11 years old--and watching an extraordinarily beautiful sunset through those wraparound windows, high enough up that it felt like we were IN the sky. It was probably the most magical experience of that trip.

Former WDW monorail pilot here... the most fun I ever had was taking Monorail Black back to shop from the EPCOT line "ASAP." Nothing was wrong, it just needed to get done quickly. So, after going through the switches putting me onto the Express Beam, I was facing "backwards" towards the Polynesian. Central cleared me IN REVERSE all the way to the Magic Kingdom station. Having to pilot in reverse meant I was cleared to manually override the speed governor... I hit just over 25 mph (~40 kph) while going through the Contemporary. It was honestly such a thrill.

Do you know how much people would be willing to pay to blast through the Contemporary that fast? They could replace the whole system just with the ticket sales.

The monorail at WDW is more of an attraction for a kid but the older you get, the more you see it as a mode of transportation. My best memories at Disney as a kid were riding around on the monorail and getting off at the Contemporary to collect pins at the gift shop

So awesome to hear Bob Gurr talk about the monorails! Fun fact: Dallas, TX almost got a monorail system, but instead, we got light rail. 😢 Councilman Max Goldblatt (RIP) was a proponent for many years!

I could listen to Bob Gurr talk shop all day. As far as the Monorail itself at either park, Disneyland could definitely use a main entrance station, and Disney World needs to have an alternate route to Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom. That place is so spread out and difficult to navigate.

The Mark IV was my favorite. Everyone had a seat. And you could ride up front with the pilot.

i can and will actively defend that the monorail is my favorite attraction. very excited for this video!

"...UNTIL MICHAEL EISNER BROKE IT!" is something that all of the Disney fans have shouted at least once. 😂🤣

How cute that is "everyone got to go home because it's labor day..." yeah polar opposite today.

I could listen to Bob Gurr's stories all day.

Back in the 80s, were were staying at the Contemporary Hotel, The day we checked in we didn't have park tickets for that day. After dinner my brother and I just road the Monorail for hours. It was our entertainment for the evening. It was really fun.

Outstanding! Nearly avant guarde, and utterly entertaining (part 1) of "the monorail story". Please do go on!

Knowing Chapek, soon the monorail will require a reservation and boarding fee

Bob Gurr is an absolute legend. Glad he was featured here. Also one of the nicest people around.

My favorite Monorail is "Monty", the now privately owned Mk iV red that has actually visited the resort (specifically, the Polynesian parking lot) on a flatbed to pose for pictures with it's successor.

I can’t help but smile from pure nostalgia seeing these monorails.

Best video check list: - Walt and trains - Eisner mention - Speeding monorail test - Kidnapping Nixon

Thank you Bob Gurr. Most people don't know you, but all of our lives are better because of you!!!

It should be noted that, for it's age and capacity, the Monorail has a decent safety record with only one fatal crash.

Great video! The Bob Gurr clips were entertaining. Also, I love the background theme park music that you use in your videos, they transport me to the parks and make me happy.

Wow this was super informative. I used to work at the Seattle Monorail which was built for the 1962 World's Fair, so monorail lore has really been an interest to me. (our trains are red and blue Alwegs)

The Disneyland Mark VII is my favourite model based on its exterior, but the Type-C monorail at Tokyo Disney Resort has a nicer interior. My ideal monorail set would combine the design elements of both of these monorail sets.

Magic Candle Monorail scent?!

I like the Lyle Langley definition mono=one rail=rail

Walt took many cues from Europe travel - Tivoli Gardens and of course, Allweg Monorail. Walt was literally a "World's Fair" guy - seeking the latest technology around the world. He was bestvat marrying technology, story telling, and urban planning. One cool thing I did once was a "Transportation-Palooza" experience: took bus from Wilderness lodge to TTC; took paddle wheeler to MK. Then took train around. Then got on horse-drawn Street car up Main Street & back. Took monorail to EPCOT & back to MK. Then small boat back to Wilderness Lodge. So cool.

I love the monorail and recently went to MK with my "Please stand clear of the doors" shirt, and rode Blue to the park and they didn't play it. Yellow on the way out did play it so I was happy, but I didn't realize some play the sound bite, and some let the pilot/driver talk.

mono meaning one and rail meaning rail

I agree the mark four was a pretty design. But the Mark II & Mark III were always my favorites. This was mostly because they had the upper cockpit for the driver. Whenever there was a child in that Forward cabin. They asked if a child would like to go into the cockpit. I was able to do that three times. An amazing memory.

I can’t stop thinking about the mark 6 with the open door

Bob Gurr was a seismologist? AND he worked on the monorail?? He's my favorite human

"But Main Street's still all cracked and broken" "Sorry Mom, the mob has spoken." "Monorail!"

My best memory of the mark 6 is riding at the front with the pilot as a kid when it was allowed(before the accident). It’s crazy that for a 4 year old boy after a day at MK the most fun I had that day was to ride the monorail in the driver’s cab from Grand Floridian to my beloved noodles establishment (I mean Poly). It was so cool I still remember it vaguely all those years ago. Today only the pilot is allowed at the front and me nor my family can afford any of the monorail resorts’ super inflated price tag, so I’ll make sure to hold on to that memory since there isn’t experiencing that again. At least I have a video of it. It’s funny but personally today when visiting I often like to take the ferry. The monorail takes ages to load. I usually try to make sure I do both. Thanks for the video mister Offhand

I was watching this on the Disney world monorail when they had so much traffic, they had to shut it down

Mark IV's .. the clicking of the doors, and thud of when the cast members came and closed them....ahh memories....

I would LOVE to see WDW get MK8 Monorails even though Bob Chapek hasn’t been exactly giving a lot of stuff to us, for instance taking away Fastpass, increasing prices, and more

I rode the Mark IV as a kid at WDW (84) so love that look (and Mark VI), but over the years really come to appreciate the classic look of the DLR Mark VII’s. So I guess I love them all 😬

If I listen to my heart, it will admit that the monorail is my favorite anything by far, THE essential ride of any Disney visit. Thanks,

The mark 6 design of the monerail are great where they are... sure they need some patching up but otherwise they are great. Thanks for this amazing video of the monerails.

My favorite has to be the Tokyo Disney monorail. I did enjoy the recap of the US monorails ;)

My favorite is the Mark III because my brother and I got to ride up in the dome next to the pilot in 1972 on our first family vacation to DL. (And Dallin, we rode the people mover, too. :-)

I wish the Monorail covered the entire Walt Disney World property. At least covering the 4 theme parks and maybe Disney Springs. I think it’s still possible to this day but it would be harder considering the property is littered with resorts.

The W in German is pronounced like the English V, so it sounds like "Alveg"

Our family nearly missed a Monorail ride last week at Disneyland. We managed to get on board in the last day!!! That was almost a disaster. Great video! Thanks so much.

I ride the Seattle Monorail to and from Kraken games. they’ve been there since 1962, and they aren’t as nice as the Disney ones but it’s still cool.

Bob Gurr is an absolute beast of a human, & this was a beast of a video. Ty Dallin!!

Hello. I was a Monorail Operator at WDW opening. I am confused by the "CAST MEMBERS ONLY." Not there when I was. Also, the door could be opened manually, only if you had to open one door for something. The doors were opened by pushing the Black Buttons outside just behind the operator's door. One opened all doors, and there was one for each individual car. The telephones were not there. I left in late September 1974 and five others were selected as Trainers and Lead to open Space Mountain. It was in the last 90 days of the construction site. Wrote a training SOP, trained ourselves, and then began training 180 cast members for opening on January 15, 1975. There were "soft" or unannounced openings for a few hours during December. Lots of testing. Monorails again. When I left for Space Mountain, there were ten trains. The last one was Monorail Black. In fact, we had one African American supervisor, Josh Sledge, who brought it out of the Monorail Roundhouse, as it was called, even though it was not round. It only had five places for train maintenance. There was a few schedules that were overnight so that we could move the trains in and out as needed. We were all crazy. The stories are all true. I left Space Mountain and went to Cash Control. Then on April 7, 1979, I left Disney and spent thirty-seven years, and retired from Amerian Airlines. As of today, January 22, 2023, I am back in the Orlando area in a very quiet area living with my husband, a retired American Airlines Captain. He was one of the first openly gay pilots at the airline. I am still friends with some of the opening Monorail Drivers. The youngest of us cannot be less than 69 or 70 years old. I have not been to WDW in over 25 years and do not plan on ever driving past it in I-4. Be well, my friends. I will you all the best. Oh, I was able to entertain families, even on long-haul flights traveling to WDW by naming all of the Seven Dwarfs. That is all I can admit to.

So grateful I got to ride in a Mark III and stand in the bubble. That's the iconic one. Kind of surprised that Japan's aren't on this video but as you said "a brief...". That could be a whole 'nother video.

While i was living in Florida, I literally went to the park to ride the monorail once. It was closed. But I also like the ferry.

Gotta say if you look at the spaghetti loop the Disneyland monorail does to get back into Tomorrowland the only thing that comes to my mind is "that is taking up SO MUCH ROOM for future Tomorrowland refresh/refurb/rebuild"

Thanks for the excellent run-down! My son's favorite ride at Disneyland is the monorail, so much so that we bought him the momorail sign from Ye Olde Proppe Shoppe to hang in his room. I will definitely share this video with him.

Im a central florida local and i go to disney more often than I can recall- and every single time I’m scared the monorail is going to break down. With the traffic disney has received recently… its needless to say we need an upgrade.

Went on them last week... had to take them from my shuttle drop off to Magic Kingdom and back. Was pretty cool doing through the Contemporary.

Thanks for the post. yes, we want more monorail videos. 👍 I would also watch an Offhand history on Bob Gurr

I 💟 Bob Gurr!! I could listen to his stories all day!

We once had the chance to ride the front of the Disneyland monorail in the evening. We were very surprised that as we rounded the park that we had a front row seat to the fireworks show. That was once in a lifetime. We couldn't have planned it if we tried.

6:09 made me spit my drink everywhere 😂

Mark 6 is my favorite because it’s just so sentimental to me and it symbolizes the beginning of returning to the magic and leaving after a beautiful day.

Early on in the video you asked about which station could be added to the Monroe at Walt Disney World. The station I see is critically missing is a station near the Epcot station off the Epcot line that we connect directly to the Skyliner system which is back near the United Kingdom and France pavilion at Epcot it seems like just a huge missed opportunity to not have the two systems linked together.

I miss the monorail. I miss WDW! Thanks for sharing this video.

While growing up watching Disney creating magic, I patiently dreamed and awaited the time when I could board a monorail and travel to my destinations world wide...... I'm now 64 years young and that dream is dead.

This video was awesome! Please do more monorail videos! Fun fact: Seattle has the same Alweg monorails running through a portion of downtown. There was an initiative to expand monorails throughout the city, however that plan got rejected last minute.

Highway in the skyyyy 💓 Honestly, it used to terrify me when I was small.

Great video! Monorails are our favorite! Always and forever!

When I hear the guy on the monarail say please stand clear of the doors in Spanish I know I'm home! Hate to say it but that's hella nostalgia for me no lie !

Iknow EXACTLY what you mean about the smell! As I was watching this video, I was recalling the smell in my mind. Also... I wish they would extend the monorail to Wilderness Lodge, and maybe the EPCOT area premium hotels.

It's a good day when offhand Disney uploads. I'm a new fan, so hello!

15:31 That's insane 😂😂 I remember hearing about this!! I was so shocked.

I am a HUGE monorail fan from way back. I used to ride in the "domed" monorails on visits to D'land as a kid. I love the look of the Mark 7 but have only had the opportunity to ride it once. I was surprised to find that it wasn't open between noon and 6:00 on the summer day we visited and that when it did open I found it didn't seem to have air-conditioning. Having worked at WDW for 15 years, the idea of a non-air-conditioned monorail seems crazy to me, however, the weather is generally milder in California so maybe it's just not an issue there. I grew up in So Cal (so you'd think I'd remember the weather better) and we didn't have AC in our house and it was totally fine - so maybe it's not usually an issue with the Mark 7. What has everyone's experience been? Is the lack of AC an issue - or maybe it has AC and it just wasn't working that day. Just throwing it out there. *Offhand Disney is a favorite channel! Thanks!

Another great vid, thanks for your work man!

More Monorails!! 😊❤️

I'd love to learn more about the Tokyo Disney monorail. It looks really cool from what I've seen.

I got to ride in front of the Monorail a couple times, it was a great experience

The editing on this video was EXCELLENT

@offhand Disney, Please Post more on how Michael I . Broke the people mover!

My fave was my original at Disneyland, the Mark IV…and they smelled really good too…like what you’d figure The Future smelled like 👑

At Disneyland I wish they'd put a stop in the Grand Californian, and maybe in California Adventure. But, because one station is inside the park, it would be hard to do. Right now they can check tickets at the one Downtown Disney station because the only destination is inside the park. So adding more stops would really complicate things.

Another amazing video. Great job!

The Eisner part got me 😂😂

I once had a giant cockroach crawl on my foot on a monorail

More monorail vids! As a monorail CM, I love sharing about our 12 girls at WDW. ❤️

Gotta love any Bob Gurr story.... For me, the Mark l, Mark ll and Mark lll. They have the classic Tomorrowland look from when Walt was alive, and he's the main man of Disneyland.

I love Mark VII because they’re so pretty and have nice air conditioning, but the Mark V was my first one so nostalgia.

I want to ride the monorail through the Contemporary at 40mph, that sounds amazing!

this video needs to be updated because they fixed the monorail for disney world. I hated how slow the monorail was in 2018 and didn't want to go but disney kind of forces you to go. (unless you are on the ferry or have a reservation at the contemporary) As of Feb 2022, I can say the monorail has been fixed and rides smoothly. Also most importantly, ITS FASTER. I live in the city and our trains are slow but not that slow. It gets you where you need to be and isnt bumpy at all.

yep. those Mark 6's are getting pretty rough around the edges but hey! there's always the Skyliner

I want the Perfect Epcot

The trams and busses are so depressing. I wish I could take the monorail to Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom.

Greetings from New York City! I just discovered your channel - you're very funny and charming (as well as informative). Keep up the good work!

The mark 4s at WDW is my favorite. Everyone could sit down.

UNTIL MICHEAL EISNER BROKE IT quotes from Dallin, so funny u fill me with joy

I was a contractor working on them at Wdw in the mid 2000 or so. I thought they were made by Bombardier? At least that’s what I remember seeing on some of the parts. I know the Plc hmi was a Allen Bradley.

0:17 Who does Dallin think he is, Drax?😂😂😂

What would the Mark VIII look like? Maybe there's a reason it would be wrong, but I'd assume the new ones at Tokyo Disney Resort are Mark VIII? That monorail line was the elephant in the room for this video, for me.