#9 - The Monorail

Category: Transportation
Category Rank: 1

Park: "Rest of the World"
Park Rank: 2

It is no surprise that the monorail makes the list, as it is easily one of the most identifiable symbols of WDW.  There are actually about 12 monorail trains, riding on one of three routes.  Two are express routes going from the Transportation and Ticket Center to either Epcot or the Magic Kingdom, and the 3rd is the resort route going to Magic Kingdom.  As mentioned already, the monorail travels through the Contemporary Resort, but even though it is closely identified in nostalgic lore with that resort, it gets its own spot on our list.

I wish I could talk extensively about all the science that goes into the monorail, as I have to assume it is quite interesting.  Alas, I cannot.  There is electricity and magnetism involved.  Don't touch the middle rail, you will die.  Yeah, that's about it.  Otherwise, it is a very lovely, clean, and quiet train ride.  And a busy one.  It holds more passengers than any other monorail in the world (although, not the record, which was set by a Chinese line).  How many, you ask?  150,000 on most days.

The monorail itself, in addition to being one of the most recognizable landmarks in all of WDW, also serves as a chief symbol of one of its most important themes.  The progress towards tomorrow theme, which is highly prevalent in both Magic Kingdom and Epcot, is tied together with the monorail.  It is strange to think that the monorail still gives that futuristic-vibe despite having been in operation for more than 40 years.  Much like the Contemporary Resort, its style remains futuristic.

There isn't anything uniquely special about the monorail for us.  We enjoy it as most do, as a famous landmark within the World.  It doesn't serve as anything more than that, which leads actually to a pretty short entry here.  Still, it makes it to #9 on our list because of how famous a symbol it is for WDW.

Number 8 is equally as big a symbol.  We go back to the "landmark" category, which if the monorail was not doubling as a mode of transportation, would probably be the best category for it as well.  We will talk a bit about the unique nature of landmarks within WDW, which do exist, but don't seem to rank very high for some reason (other than #8 and one more to come).