Off-Ramps & People Movers & Monorails, Oh My…
Submitted by jaisuazo on 25 February, 2010 - 10:29am
Anaheim City Hall is certainly giddy about their Go Local project. Wait until you hear about the latest news from the OTHER Magic Kingdom.
Recently, our cohort Steven covered the various modes of transportation that the city was studying to connect the new ARTIC fortress with the rest of the Anaheim Resort, including (but not limited to) BRT, light rail, and a monorail. Knowing Anaheim officials and their “Shiny Ball Syndrome” (you know, like when a kid sees a shiny object and instantly becomes attracted to it and disregards whatever they were doing in the first place), the most favorable option was a monorail.
Meanwhile over at Mouse Headquarters, Disney officials are dealing with a real pain in terms of parking for the current Resort. As more people seem to drive cars to the Resort, parking has become a nightmare on a daily basis, so much so that Disney has now begun to direct guests over to satellite parking lots located on Disney Way and Harbor Boulevard and rent charter buses to bring them to the park.
Too bad people don’t realize they can use the 24 hour bus service on Harbor and Katella, along with the somewhat frequent service on Katella to travel to and from the Train Station and Angel Stadium. Oh wait- I just realized March in is a few weeks.
Do you smell a solution coming?
This past Tuesday, Al Lutz, a notable blogger in the realm of Disney fans and news from the Anaheim kingdom, reported this gem of a story on his recent update:
“The grand plan being hatched by TDA (Team Disney Anaheim), in partnership with some pro-Disney forces in Anaheim city hall, is to build a massive new parking facility north of GardenWalk with direct access to and from the Santa Ana Freeway. This 10,000+ space structure would also include a transit depot on its southern flank for the monorail system Anaheim wants built by the middle of the decade to connect the new ARTIC high speed rail station with the Resort District and the Convention Center. Visitors either arriving to this giant facility via private car off the freeway, or via monorail from ARTIC, would then be whisked on moving walkways across a sweeping bridge over Harbor Blvd. and deposited near the current tram loading area.”
Photo Credit goes to www.miceage.com.
Woah! Heavy stuff, man. Hope you didn’t blink there! Hmmm… “pro-Disney forces in Anaheim City Hall.” Three guesses as to who is wearing the Mickey ears in this relationship. (hint: he has “High Speed-Shiny Ball Syndrome” and it’s not Lorri Galloway, that’s for sure.) So now it seems that Anaheim is a love affair with the monorail (despite the fact that the structure will house 10,000+ vehicles). But I digress. Let’s let Mr. Lutz finish:
“The city of Anaheim plans on launching a city owned website detailing this grand vision later this spring, and Disney's team of lawyers and developers are also working on finalizing the plan before going public with it and publicizing it as a jobs generator for the local economy. You can bet that some of these same folks have taken a keen interest in the foreclosure auction planned next month for the struggling GardenWalk mall across the street from this planned parking/transit facility.”
Well, Disney’s PR team should have no problem with this. I’m sure it will help them distract attention away from their labor pains currently growing on.
I’m a big advocate for local businesses (or in the case, conglomerates) to work with their local cities to help plan and execute great Transportation accommodations, especially in Orange County. I understand the massive significance of Disneyland in the Anaheim economy, and I’m sure Anaheim residents are grateful for it. (Have you seen their bus shelters!?) But if I lived in the city, I would definitely feel a bit cheated out of a great transit system to benefit actual daily commuters. Well, I actually will feel cheated while I wait down Harbor Blvd. with 25 other people at a bus stop for a bus that’s 15 minutes late and now bunched with the next one, while I know that a few blocks away, a transit system to rival LA’s Metro Rail is being constructed.
Man, and whoever said life was fair.
James Suazo is a contributing writer and full-time student at California State University, Long Beach. He resides in the city of Santa Ana.
Comments
"As more people seem to drive
"As more people seem to drive cars to the Resort, parking has become a nightmare on a daily basis"
Specifically, Disneyland is catering to annual passholders so that they can offer a poorer quality experience (you won't expect world-class entertainment if you are paying $8/month for your annual pass and are coming from Stanton). Gone are the days where the majority of guests arrive four, five or six to a vehicle. Annual passholding guests now come in twos or alone, meeting up with other people in the parks. This is what is creating the parking nightmare.
Put the rapid bus stop on
Put the rapid bus stop on Katella/Harbor. If tourists are so fucking lazy that they can't walk to the parks, then install the moving walkway there.
Improve the transit system so locals AND tourists can use it.
Big and Flashy
I find it insulting to say the least that Anaheim is interested in spending public dollars to build a system to support a limited number of favored businesses while ignoring the needs of the general public. Monorails, mag-lev etc. are expensive ways
to go about this. There is tried and true technology that could be used for everybody and much less expensively. As I have told them repeatedly if it can't do what this video shows I am not interested. By the way it is only 2 minutes of a much longer trip!
Tony
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0Z_xP5sWGk&feature=related
Disneyand transportation
Maybe Disney could use some of their Imagineering to extend their Monorail along Katella to the Anaheim Transit Center only a couple of miles away. This gives visitors a fast and easy access to Disneyland from San Diego, Los Angeles or any ware on the MetroLink network or Amtrak. For Anaheim and Disney this would appear to be a no brainer, but it is not even on the map. Where is the imagination of either to come up some better ideas of getting people to Disneyland with out having to build more roads and parking?
I live in Long Beach and have an annual pass but normally come with a full car. But a Park and ride lot at Harbor and the 22 freeway with a monorail would sure serve me and a lot of other South Bay residents happy and keep us from clogging the streets around Disneyland and parking. Just a thought.
"I live in Long Beach and
"I live in Long Beach and have an annual pass but normally come with a full car. But a Park and ride lot at Harbor and the 22 freeway with a monorail would sure serve me and a lot of other South Bay residents happy and keep us from clogging the streets around Disneyland and parking. Just a thought."
Better yet, have Route 50 serve Downtown Long Beach. This would give you a single bus ride to the park.
Get rid of the fucking spam!
Steven,
Either get rid of the spam or shut down the site.
If you don't, I'm going to turn you in for allowing the site to be used for child porn.