Air Strip WDW

[Irishrbetter]

What do you think about Disney rehabbing/expanding the airstrip and flying their own planes to and from select cities directly into the proberty? The only drawback I see would be the air plane noise aroung the parks, but I'm sure the imagineers could come up with a solution for that.

[Kari+Sam=Holly]

That might be cool but I think it would be too expensive. Tickets would have to be thousands of dollars for it to pay off on such a small scale. I do however forsee a Disney airline flying at major airports in the future after the success of Disney Cruiseline. How fun would it be to ride in a plane all decked out with EARS and have the inflight movie be fun and fancy free. I would pay for that.

[Irishrbetter]

It would be costly but they could use it as a loss leader. If people fly directly in and Disney doesn’t make rental cars easy to obtain or not give the option at all then people will spend their whole vacation on property instead of going to Universal, Sea World etc……..Plus the convince and magic of the airline would be worth paying a bit extra for.

[skiyalater]

yeah, but that would take so much money, and think about it, Disney = expensive trip. So the airfare would be expensive too, and people wouldn't fly their airline.

[disneydame2004]

Um, didn't Lou mention in the podcast and in the rumor section that they are going to build a resort on the old runway?

Also, would you really want planes flying in that close? Accidents happen. After the terrorist attacks of 9/11, WDW was a no-fly zone out of fear someone would crash a plane into the parks.

[skiyalater]

exactly, that too. I kind of forgot about that. The airspace is restricted near WDW, and they might be building that new resort. Besides, there Isn't enough room there to build an airport, at least I don't think so.

[Irishrbetter]

Ok, so this is a bad idea. What huge expensive pushing the envolope ideas would you suggest for the parks? Maybe more e-ticket rides @ epcot or expanding MGM, flying rollercoaster, etc..........

[bigbrian-nc.com]

If Disney did want to do an airstrip on property they would likly not want it in the old STOL port location as that is a bit close to the monorail line to Epcot, I likle the idea of an MK area DVC resort there. I wonder if they will be able to integrate the monorail into it somehow? Something done in a similar or the same style as the contemporary so that the monorail could be routed through is an idea I think I would like.

[skiyalater]

Yeah I hope that if they do build a DVC, that they do extend the monorail, because that would be cool for the people who own DVC and have kids to not just ride it for no reason.

[Irishrbetter]

That’s a good idea, a terminal on property but away from the parks. Despite the above arguments I still think that this is a good idea. Some who agrees please post so I don't look like a crazy person.

[jmoss1980]

Originally in Walt's vision of the 'Florida Project' , there was supposed to be an actual airport titled 'The Jet Airport of the Future' to be built on the south side of property, probably near where Wide World of Sports is now... Here is a grainy picture of what I'm reffering to.

[disneydame2004]

I think that's still a problem - I know they've got a lot of space, but with things spread out the way they are, is there still a place on property that would be far enough away from the parks and not in wetlands or protected space? I live about 2 miles from a regional airport and 15 from a major metropolitan one, and the constant air traffic is incredibly annoying. The large jets coming in for a landing arrive every 30 seconds during the day (believe me, I've timed them), and the small jets and helicopters headed for the regional airport regularly drown out conversation.

So for me, no thanks, the ride from Orlando is worth the lack of intrusion inside the World.

[skiyalater]

yeah I second what Pat said, I would be so annoyed if that ever happened, and it would take away from the magic a bit.

[bigbrian-nc.com]

To my mind a better idea would be a monorail from the airport to Disney, politically it would be tough to get through, and I think it would be tough even if Disney agreed to foot the whole bill. Perhaps if the folks at the Tampa airport wanted to get more business they could see if they could help Disney with Right-of-way between thier facility and the WDW property, that could be a win-win . That said since Disney sold its transportation arm in the early eighties thier options for expanding are the same as anyone elses... they'd buy one from an existing vendor and unfortunatly monorail companies in the USA seem to fall into two categories, wannabee's with no track record, or light rail manufactures who only sell monorail as a "premium product" (since light rail is what they really want to build) and price it accordingly. In other parts of the world monorails seem to be more of a real transit option. http://www.monorails.org

[Ilostmytail]

I dont think it would be a good idea for security reasons. I think the last thing people want to see is airplanes flying over the castle or the parks.