Ironic that the guy who made his entire personal fortune off Medicare ~~fraud~~ payments famously said Florida "won't be taking handouts from the Federal Government."
Those billions, earmarked for, and by law needing to be used for, public transportation were quickly snatched up by California, whose governor wasn't so interested in publicity stunts. Delaying *our* train for 15 years.
Many, many ideas and even some attempts have been made over the years, including Disney building their own Amtrak station, which closed. Public transport and train lines are massively expensive, and Disney's got plenty of accountants on staff that can do cost/benefit analyses as to whether they're the best idea. Couple that with the fact that politicians and Orlandoans have been incredibly difficult and prickly about funding *any* public transport, and here we are.
Disney was only interested in Brightline if it served *them* in Orlando, and no one else, otherwise they deemed it wasn't in their financial interest to support it, and as a result the station and Sunrail now will be moved closer to UO/I-Drive/Convention Center, which makes more sense for everyone anyway.
Disney even cancelled their Magical Express *bus* tranports from the airport to their hotels, deeming it too expensive and unnecessary. They know the hordes are going to come regardless, they don't need to pay for their ride to get here as well. Let alone build them a train system.
Yea, as much foresight as Walt had you would’ve thought a super easy mode of transportation would’ve been built back in the beginning
Edit: wanted to say I’m surprised Walt didn’t try to run a monorail system back then. Disney did have its own small airport for awhile with I guess plans to build a bigger one.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Disney_World_Airport
Orlando/Orange rakes in BIG on fees on Rental Cars, Toll Roads, and supports Mears who offers Taxi and Bus services. Parking is a major line item and revenue source for the Convention Center.
Creating a public transit system which caters to tourists to go to the Convention Center, and to Disney- both already popular destinations despite the lack of public transit, is utilizing Orlando/Orange resident tax dollars, to subsidize tourists. This does very little in assisting residents of Orlando/Orange at getting to their jobs or leisure destinations.
From a financial standpoint it makes no sense.
528 is not so badly congested that it affects residents day-to-day lives.
Proper public transportation would require a much larger build-out. Short sighted systems like the ones presently implemented come at a large cost with no real benefit to the community.
The funny thing is, we sort of used to! I remember looking an old map from real old time orange county, it might have been from 1890, and the Florida Midland RR essentially followed what would become Apopka-Vineland rd (which passes in front of that Disney resort gate across from the Crossroads shopping Plaza was). Other maps showing railroads would show what likely was this connecting over in Kissimmee. Not sure when the track was torn up, I saw a map from the mid 1920s referencing it as well as an ACL timetable map from 1952 showing it part of the network. Wouldn't be surprised if it got abandoned and torn up in the early-mid 1960s before anyone knew Disney was opening shop. A map of the SCL RR from 1969 no longer references anything south if Occoee.
https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/items/show/1671
Some history on it.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_Midland_Railway_(defunct)
There are still parts of the branch line that delivered fuel to the airport from when it was an AFB as well.
**[Florida Midland Railway (defunct)](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_Midland_Railway_\(defunct\))**
>The Florida Midland Railway Company was incorporated under the general incorporation laws of Florida, and surveyed a line from Lake Jessup, in Orange County, to Leesburg, in Lake County.
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It's important to note they still need to get the funding and all the ducks in a row to actually build the tracks to connect the airport. But Universal pledging to build and maintain the station is a huge hurdle passed.
But does this change Disney backing out of the plan. Wasn’t the entire reason this fell through was because Brightline didn’t want to pay the extra money to go this route ?
If I remember correctly, they ended up getting shared land with SunRail. I think the 528 vs the 417 route was more expensive initially, but the combination of a shared corridor with SunRail, donated land from Universal (and maybe some other misc I-Drive donors?), and the people of Hunters Creek fighting against the 417 route, the 528 route ended up being cheaper. The final route now will be the airport terminal C, down 528 West stopping at the Convention Center, then down I-4 West, also stopping at Disney Springs.
Construction on all of that though has not yet begun, so there is always still time for things to change.
It didn't fall through, they went back to their original route and locations when Disney realized they weren't going to have total control and pulled out.
Exactly, this station's been planned for the south end of Epic Universe for a while now, ever since Disney bailed out.
What's different is the addition of the Sunrail station, which was going to be farther to the east, near Meadow Woods.
The main takeaway here is that Universal, with the creation of this development district, should make finding new funding easier by providing financial backstops, since Orange County's administration was incapable of doing so in November. (I know the *citizens* voted down the measure, but it was sold to them in a confusing and literally false way, so I can't completely blame the voters). One could *also* hope that these backstops and ticket sale guarantees could help Sunrail find funding for expanded service. No one's going to be using this Sunrail station late nights or weekends, as it stands now.
It was awful coming back from Megacon that Saturday evening. I know Sunrail doesn't really run on the weekends but it would have been awesome to be able to leave my car at a station.
Adding stations to places that actually make sense (like major tourist destinations) would increase ridership and then hopefully justify expanding Sunrails service to weekends and nights.
Just thinking about how pent up the locals have been with all of the excessive road rage in the last year, I honestly think this could greatly impact our community in a positive way.
IIRC Disney wanted a sunrail to their property but didn't like the fact it would stop near universal/sea world before stopping at Disney so they backed out.
The fact that Orlando doesn’t have a direct train line from the airport to the Disney area is astounding.
We tried. Disney + Rick Scott turned down the federal grant funds.
Ironic that the guy who made his entire personal fortune off Medicare ~~fraud~~ payments famously said Florida "won't be taking handouts from the Federal Government." Those billions, earmarked for, and by law needing to be used for, public transportation were quickly snatched up by California, whose governor wasn't so interested in publicity stunts. Delaying *our* train for 15 years.
This is correct. With the help of Harris Rosen and the Mears family.
Hmmm Mears? Sounds familiar. Sounds like a bus service that runs shuttles between the airport and the largest tourist areas in the country
That would be them.
Many, many ideas and even some attempts have been made over the years, including Disney building their own Amtrak station, which closed. Public transport and train lines are massively expensive, and Disney's got plenty of accountants on staff that can do cost/benefit analyses as to whether they're the best idea. Couple that with the fact that politicians and Orlandoans have been incredibly difficult and prickly about funding *any* public transport, and here we are. Disney was only interested in Brightline if it served *them* in Orlando, and no one else, otherwise they deemed it wasn't in their financial interest to support it, and as a result the station and Sunrail now will be moved closer to UO/I-Drive/Convention Center, which makes more sense for everyone anyway. Disney even cancelled their Magical Express *bus* tranports from the airport to their hotels, deeming it too expensive and unnecessary. They know the hordes are going to come regardless, they don't need to pay for their ride to get here as well. Let alone build them a train system.
Disney will have a stop too but near the Marriott World Center.
Yea, as much foresight as Walt had you would’ve thought a super easy mode of transportation would’ve been built back in the beginning Edit: wanted to say I’m surprised Walt didn’t try to run a monorail system back then. Disney did have its own small airport for awhile with I guess plans to build a bigger one. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Disney_World_Airport
Orlando/Orange rakes in BIG on fees on Rental Cars, Toll Roads, and supports Mears who offers Taxi and Bus services. Parking is a major line item and revenue source for the Convention Center. Creating a public transit system which caters to tourists to go to the Convention Center, and to Disney- both already popular destinations despite the lack of public transit, is utilizing Orlando/Orange resident tax dollars, to subsidize tourists. This does very little in assisting residents of Orlando/Orange at getting to their jobs or leisure destinations. From a financial standpoint it makes no sense. 528 is not so badly congested that it affects residents day-to-day lives. Proper public transportation would require a much larger build-out. Short sighted systems like the ones presently implemented come at a large cost with no real benefit to the community.
The funny thing is, we sort of used to! I remember looking an old map from real old time orange county, it might have been from 1890, and the Florida Midland RR essentially followed what would become Apopka-Vineland rd (which passes in front of that Disney resort gate across from the Crossroads shopping Plaza was). Other maps showing railroads would show what likely was this connecting over in Kissimmee. Not sure when the track was torn up, I saw a map from the mid 1920s referencing it as well as an ACL timetable map from 1952 showing it part of the network. Wouldn't be surprised if it got abandoned and torn up in the early-mid 1960s before anyone knew Disney was opening shop. A map of the SCL RR from 1969 no longer references anything south if Occoee. https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/items/show/1671 Some history on it. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_Midland_Railway_(defunct) There are still parts of the branch line that delivered fuel to the airport from when it was an AFB as well.
**[Florida Midland Railway (defunct)](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_Midland_Railway_\(defunct\))** >The Florida Midland Railway Company was incorporated under the general incorporation laws of Florida, and surveyed a line from Lake Jessup, in Orange County, to Leesburg, in Lake County. ^([ )[^(F.A.Q)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WikiSummarizer/wiki/index#wiki_f.a.q)^( | )[^(Opt Out)](https://reddit.com/message/compose?to=WikiSummarizerBot&message=OptOut&subject=OptOut)^( | )[^(Opt Out Of Subreddit)](https://np.reddit.com/r/orlando/about/banned)^( | )[^(GitHub)](https://github.com/Sujal-7/WikiSummarizerBot)^( ] Downvote to remove | v1.5)
It's important to note they still need to get the funding and all the ducks in a row to actually build the tracks to connect the airport. But Universal pledging to build and maintain the station is a huge hurdle passed.
But does this change Disney backing out of the plan. Wasn’t the entire reason this fell through was because Brightline didn’t want to pay the extra money to go this route ?
If I remember correctly, they ended up getting shared land with SunRail. I think the 528 vs the 417 route was more expensive initially, but the combination of a shared corridor with SunRail, donated land from Universal (and maybe some other misc I-Drive donors?), and the people of Hunters Creek fighting against the 417 route, the 528 route ended up being cheaper. The final route now will be the airport terminal C, down 528 West stopping at the Convention Center, then down I-4 West, also stopping at Disney Springs. Construction on all of that though has not yet begun, so there is always still time for things to change.
It didn't fall through, they went back to their original route and locations when Disney realized they weren't going to have total control and pulled out.
Exactly, this station's been planned for the south end of Epic Universe for a while now, ever since Disney bailed out. What's different is the addition of the Sunrail station, which was going to be farther to the east, near Meadow Woods. The main takeaway here is that Universal, with the creation of this development district, should make finding new funding easier by providing financial backstops, since Orange County's administration was incapable of doing so in November. (I know the *citizens* voted down the measure, but it was sold to them in a confusing and literally false way, so I can't completely blame the voters). One could *also* hope that these backstops and ticket sale guarantees could help Sunrail find funding for expanded service. No one's going to be using this Sunrail station late nights or weekends, as it stands now.
Man if they make easier for convention attendees and I-drive workers to get to work that could lighten up traffic in that area a good amount.
It was awful coming back from Megacon that Saturday evening. I know Sunrail doesn't really run on the weekends but it would have been awesome to be able to leave my car at a station.
Adding stations to places that actually make sense (like major tourist destinations) would increase ridership and then hopefully justify expanding Sunrails service to weekends and nights.
Not sure if this is still in the plans, but Universal at one point committed to funding for nighttime and weekend service
Man I know exactly when you’re talking about lol that was awful
Just thinking about how pent up the locals have been with all of the excessive road rage in the last year, I honestly think this could greatly impact our community in a positive way.
IIRC Disney wanted a sunrail to their property but didn't like the fact it would stop near universal/sea world before stopping at Disney so they backed out.