Brightline Station Coming to Orlando

[Happytycho]

I have a hard time believing that Disney is going to just watch this be built to send people straight to their competitor without them having a stop on the line. I have to think they'll pony up to not be left out of this. It also won't help Sunrail/Brightline for Disney not to be on the line since that's where at least half of the tourists are heading anyway.

The best possible rail line we can hope for is one that stops on I-Drive/OCCC, Universal, and Disney. It would hit up any place tourists are looking to go (for the most part) and have the highest likelihood at being profitable. Also being connected to MCO, Cocoa, West Palm Beach, Ft Lauderdale, and Miami also helps. Future potential Tampa and Jacksonville connections would only strengthen the system.

Certainly one would think that Disney wouldn't want to be left out of a new transportation option, but I don't exactly have much trust in Disney's decision making right now.

I just have this bad feeling that Disney never wanted an MCO to Disney Springs train for guests to start with, and said train now having an I-drive stop isn't going to make it more appealing to them given the risk of guests using it to add Universal days to a WDW trip.

Having the station at Disney Springs is obviously optimal from a transportation perspective, but I'm not optimistic about that happening right now.

It says they'll be giving 13 acres for the station. That's probably a big chunk of it.

Universal giving the 13 acres is nice, but it's land with basically no development potential so it's actually a really low value donation.

 

[Nick]

Certainly one would think that Disney wouldn't want to be left out of a new transportation option, but I don't exactly have much trust in Disney's decision making right now.

I just have this bad feeling that Disney never wanted an MCO to Disney Springs train for guests to start with, and said train now having an I-drive stop isn't going to make it more appealing to them given the risk of guests using it to add Universal days to a WDW trip.

Having the station at Disney Springs is obviously optimal from a transportation perspective, but I'm not optimistic about that happening right now.


Universal giving the 13 acres is nice, but it's land with basically no development potential so it's actually a really low value donation.

I don't have much trust in their decision making either, but I do think long-term they will regret it if they don't fight to be a part of this transit connection to MCO.

 

[SailwiththeTide]

Brightline is Tic Tok Famous

TikTok - Make Your Day

 

[Nick]

Brightline Receives $15.8 Million Federal Grant for Central Florida Rail Project Connecting MCO, Disney Springs, and Tampa

Walt Disney World news, photos, and reviews! We provide you with daily news from the Walt Disney World theme parks and beyond

blogmickey.com

 

[GAcoaster]

SO (NOT) SHOCKED!

Once again Disney is pulling the "If it's not JUST us, we don't want it" and now won't have a station at Disney Springs:

Disney opts out of SunRail-Brightline expansion, but project moving ahead

SunRail partners, International Drive, Universal Orlando and Brightline trains described on Monday surging efforts to extend a rail corridor for commuter trains to the tourism district and intercit…

www.orlandosentinel.com

 

[HandsomePete]

Not surprised at all - it never made much sense for a family to pay for train tickets and wait for a train schedule when you can Uber for less.

Frankly, the I Drive stop makes even less sense.

 

[tielo]

As long as this isn't build and open I would temper any enthusiasm you have over this project.

As I said in 2013 about this narcissistic corporation who doesn't want a potential cleaner form of mass transportation if they aren't the only one who can profit from it. It's sad.

 

[frank_1991_]

This is a major win for the business on the route. Screw Disney. I know I will be using this service once it’s open. I long for the day when I can board a train in Miami and get off at Universal.

 

[Nick]

As much as I hate to say it, this does hurt the train's propects as one of the main selling points was obviously going to be having a connection from MCO to Disney.

 

[OLSinFLA]

Not surprised at all - it never made much sense for a family to pay for train tickets and wait for a train schedule when you can Uber for less.

Frankly, the I Drive stop makes even less sense.

There's a lot of conventioneers who fly into Miami and Tampa. This gives them a way to ride directly to the OCCC

 

[JoeCamel]

There's a lot of conventioneers who fly into Miami and Tampa. This gives them a way to ride directly to the OCCC

With a Lowes/Universal hotel across the street from the station......

 

[GAcoaster]

Not surprised at all - it never made much sense for a family to pay for train tickets and wait for a train schedule when you can Uber for less.

Frankly, the I Drive stop makes even less sense.

The I-Drive stop makes perfect sense. People coming to Orlando are going to Disney, Universal, the Convention Center, or all of those and more. Disney is being short sighted with this and I think it will come back to bite them. If they really wanted the exclusive stop then they should could have said they'd open the station as a hub at Disney Springs not just for their hotels and parks, but for all of the Orlando area attractions. The I-Drive proposal has Universal giving the land and the station available to everyone, not just for the use of Universal guests. BIG difference.

Yes, an Uber is cheaper (at the moment) but I don't think gas prices will ever drop down to where they were, and the roads keep getting more congested. America is terrible when it comes to mass transit because the car makers and oil companies purposefully made it that way by destroying the railways we used to have. We are the only industrialized country in the world that is so completely dependent on cars to get anywhere.

Brightline will bring people from all over South Florida without having to take I-95/I-75/Florida's Turnpike/etc which are already strained with traffic and the population keeps growing. I-4 is a miserable mess much of the time because we have too many cars and not enough alternative transportation. I LOVE going over to Tampa/St. Pete/Busch Gardens, but rarely do because traffic is horrible. I would LOVE to get on a train at I-Drive that could take me to Tampa (or Ft. Lauderdale, or Miami) because those are all horrible places to drive just like Orlando is.

 

[Nick]

The I-Drive stop makes perfect sense. People coming to Orlando are going to Disney, Universal, the Convention Center, or all of those and more. Disney is being short sighted with this and I think it will come back to bite them. If they really wanted the exclusive stop then they should could have said they'd open the station as a hub at Disney Springs not just for their hotels and parks, but for all of the Orlando area attractions. The I-Drive proposal has Universal giving the land and the station available to everyone, not just for the use of Universal guests. BIG difference.

Yes, an Uber is cheaper (at the moment) but I don't think gas prices will ever drop down to where they were, and the roads keep getting more congested. America is terrible when it comes to mass transit because the car makers and oil companies purposefully made it that way by destroying the railways we used to have. We are the only industrialized country in the world that is so completely dependent on cars to get anywhere.

Brightline will bring people from all over South Florida without having to take I-95/I-75/Florida's Turnpike/etc which are already strained with traffic and the population keeps growing. I-4 is a miserable mess much of the time because we have too many cars and not enough alternative transportation. I LOVE going over to Tampa/St. Pete/Busch Gardens, but rarely do because traffic is horrible. I would LOVE to get on a train at I-Drive that could take me to Tampa (or Ft. Lauderdale, or Miami) because those are all horrible places to drive just like Orlando is.

I think we need to just wait and see a bit on Disney. They are saying it is because of the new route and it being more expensive. I think they're bluffing. They're trying to submarine the project by detaching themselves from it and once they realize that they're going to build it even without Disney, I think there's a good chance that they change their tune on not being a part of this.

 

[GAcoaster]

Disney doesn't care about the cost, they're not paying for any of it. They've done this before with transit proposals-- they want all or nothing. I think they're over estimating their grip on the Orlando marketplace and on the local and state governments. They're not the only game in town anymore. City or Orlando and Orange County probably see a bigger benefit if they don't exclusively stop at Disney.

 

[Nick]

Disney doesn't care about the cost, they're not paying for any of it. They've done this before with transit proposals-- they want all or nothing. I think they're over estimating their grip on the Orlando marketplace and on the local and state governments. They're not the only game in town anymore. City or Orlando and Orange County probably see a bigger benefit if they don't exclusively stop at Disney.

I'd say that the project wouldn't happen with Disney pulling out if the funding was more tenuous. Disney can't really submarine this project too much as there's a ton of money from the infrastructure bill going towards this project.

 

[Jakemeister]

I think the unspoken discussion that isn't happening as well is that this will give more economic growth to Disney's competitors in the Cruise Line industry. Being able to get swiftly to 4 ports to Central Florida when you have a the potential to have a very small slice of that pie is also not enticing, and only 2 of those ports have Disney Cruises at all.

Do I think this was a poor choice on DPR's end in the sense of they wanted "All or Nothing"? Absolutely.
Do I think that this would have been viable mass transit from MCO to Disney Springs? No, but that "No" has a huge asterisk.

 

[GAcoaster]

Do I think that this would have been viable mass transit from MCO to Disney Springs? No, but that "No" has a huge asterisk.

My understanding is that the line being built would be shared between Brightline and Sun Rail, with Brightline giving the long service, and Sun Rail servicing the local (MCO-I-Drive-Disney) more frequently. It COULD fill the void left by the buses if it's done right.

 

[HandsomePete]

There's a lot of conventioneers who fly into Miami and Tampa. This gives them a way to ride directly to the OCCC

The number of people on an expense account flying into Miami to then immediately board transportation to OCCC, and then returning to MIA for a flight home, is in the single digits. And I would include 0 in those single digits.

I mean, I think I'm more pessimistic about public transportation in this area - it's not just a function of building a train because this city isn't walkable and you're always going to have to cross over to another mode of transport that you could just use from the beginning. I'm struggling to see how anyone is going to fly into MCO, pay for a train ticket, wait for a train, ride the train, and either trudge 1-2 miles to their hotel on I Drive or wait to presumably get on a bus to ride over to Endless Summer/Royal Pacific/fill in the blank when there are faster and cheaper alternatives. Leisure guests coming up from South Florida makes some sense, but there's still a lot of inefficiencies compared to driving it.

I was shocked Disney even agreed to it in the first place because it's dependent upon increasing their bus fleet (especially given that people + suitcases take up more space than people alone) or calling Mears back to outsource it.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

The main target audience for Brightline is South Florida residents/tourists and eventually Tampa residents who don't want to deal with I4.

 

[GAcoaster]

OK, interesting detail here: Disney Springs no longer a stop on Brightline’s Miami to Tampa route

“In addition to the airport, one new station will be located at the Orange County Convention Center and an alternative station will be placed near the original Disney Springs site, albeit not on land owned by Disney. Taken together, the three integrated stations provide access to the largest economic and employment centers in Central Florida and offer the best opportunity for the success of Brightline and SunRail,” Ben Porritt, Brightline SVP of corporate affairs, said in a statement.

So coming to just outside of Disney. So get there then take Uber/Lyft/Taxi (or maybe Mini Van) to your Disney destination. I'm guessing the thought on Disney's part is to make it harder for their guests to go to Universal by creating an extra step.