How a Disney World Monorail Train Ended Up in the Middle of the Nevada Desert

Disney World is known for their iconic monorail transportation system which runs between Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, and even various resorts. The Disneyland Resort also has their own monorail which takes guests between the Downtown Disney District and the Tomorrowland area of Disneyland. Disneyland's monorail was built in 1959, while Disney World's was opened in 1971 along with the Magic Kingdom.

As expected, many of the Disney World monorail trains are often replaced, upgraded, or sold to be used for other types of transportation. In fact, two Disney World monorail trains were actually used by the Las Vegas Monorail system!

As lovers of the Disney World monorail system, we wanted to dig deeper into this story to learn what actually happened to these Disney World monorail trains and perhaps where they could move on to next!

Disney Monorail Significance

Despite being built over fifty years ago, the monorail systems exemplify Walt Disney's futuristic dreams of making the Disney parks ahead of their time with their attractions. Even though the Disney World monorail was primarily built to transport guests throughout the property, it has become known as a well-loved attraction that guests love to experience even if they don't actually need transportation between the parks or resorts.

This extremely interesting story of what happened to these Disney World monorail trains after they were retired from the Las Vegas monorail system caught our eye as Disney fans. One of the trains ended up in the middle of the Nevada desert over an hour away from the Las Vegas strip, while the other has an unfortunate story of being used in a monster truck rally to be crushed.

Surprising Connection Between Las Vegas and Disney World

If you've ever visited both Disney World and the Las Vegas strip, you may have noticed a surprising connection between the two popular, but very different, tourist destinations. Two of their original Bombardier Mark IV monorail trains for The Las Vegas Monorail Company were actually once used on the Disney World monorail! These Disney World trains were used on a route between the Bally's (now called Horseshoe) and MGM Grand hotels between 1995 and 2002. MGM even once had a small theme park, coincidentally at the same time when Disney's Hollywood Studios park was also called MGM Studios! The Disney World monorail trains were nicknamed Bally's and MGM due to their colors and the hotels that were destinations on their route.

The route between Bally's and MGM Grand was originally built in 1955, a few years before Disneyland debuted their monorail in 1959. This route was built in order to transport guests between the hotels and measured just under one mile in length. It was a convenient option for guests as it was completely free and helped guests avoid walking in the Nevada heat or paying for a taxi. This route was very successful, and the Las Vegas monorail system was eventually extended to various stops along the Las Vegas strip in the early 1960s. Although the two Disney World trains have since retired from the Las Vegas monorail system, both Disney World and Las Vegas currently use the same Mark VI trains.

Comparing the Las Vegas and Disney World Monorail Trains

Both the Las Vegas and Disney World monorail systems were built by Bombardier of Canada, which is a popular aircraft manufacturing company. Both monorails currently use Mark VI trains which are updated versions of the original Mark IV trains taken from Disney World and used on the route from Bally's to MGM Grand. The Mark VI trains reportedly cost approximately $3.5 million each, and Las Vegas currently operates nine trains while Disney World operates twelve trains on three separate lines of service.

A big difference between the Las Vegas monorail and Disney World monorail is that the Las Vegas trains are fully automated and do not use pilots inside their cabs. Their trains became fully automated in 2014, while Disney World has kept employees inside the cabs of their monorail trains in case of emergencies.

Another difference between the Las Vegas and Disney World monorail systems is the amount of cars used on each train. Las Vegas uses four cars on each of their nine trains, while Disney World has six cars on each of their twelve trains. Disney World's monorail cars have a passenger capacity of up to 20 seated passengers and 40 standing passengers, with a total capacity of 360 passengers per train. According to the Las Vegas monorail website, their trains have a total capacity of 222 passengers per train, including up to 72 seated passengers and 150 standing passengers.

Overall, both the Las Vegas and Disney World monorail systems have become staples in their respective destinations and are convenient transportation options in lieu of driving in traffic, walking long distances, or paying large amounts of money for a taxi or rideshare car.

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What Happened to the Disney World Trains After Retirement from Las Vegas?

This is when the story gets more interesting. After Las Vegas retired the Disney World Mark IV trains and upgraded to the Mark VI trains, they both took their own separate journeys. Both trains were first kept in storage areas near the Las Vegas strip where they were both unfortunately vandalized by Las Vegas residents and sold to different sellers. The MGM train was unfortunately spotted as a prop in the Monster Jam World Finals XV in Las Vegas in 2014. The train was crushed during this event and their journey ended there.

However, the Bally's train was sold to a family located in Sandy Valley, Nevada, which is about an hour away from the Las Vegas strip. In 2021, the creators at Theme Park Shark drove to Sandy Valley and got to look inside the abandoned train that was obviously not in operation but still in decent shape considering it being removed and transported from the Las Vegas storage area. In Theme Park Shark's YouTube video, they describe the Bally's train as a former Monorail Lime-colored train that was repainted white and blue for the Las Vegas line. Along the cockpit door reads “A Touch of Class” which was also added after the Disney World train was sold to Las Vegas. However, the cockpit door still contained the words “Cast Members Only.” This sign was clearly left over from it's use at Disney World, since they refer to their employees as cast members!

Inside the Monorail Cockpit

As you can see in the photo above, the monorail's cockpit was still in tact despite it being transported to the middle of the Nevada desert. The pilot seat, control console, and additional seating in the front of the cockpit all remained in tact within the abandoned train. You could still see the pilot's microphone and phone used to communicate with other Disney World cast members – it's pretty amazing! Theme Park Shark explained the only major items removed from the train included the engines and wheels which were sold for scraps.

Another feature of the abandoned monorail train that we don't see today were rows of multiple benches inside the train. If you've ridden the Disney World monorail recently, you probably noticed that there's not much seating inside the train and each car only includes a few benches. Inside each car in the abandoned Bally's train, there were 8 rows of benches with little room to stand in between them. Disney World monorails now have less bench seating, likely to allow more room for passengers to board, including those with wheelchairs or strollers.

Monorail Specifications

During their visit to the site of the Bally's monorail train, Theme Park Shark found the Mark IV train's specifications, including the following:

• Date of manufacture: 1985-1986
• Date of refurbishment: 1994-1995
• Ride speed: maximum 35 miles per hour
• Passenger capacity: 240 adults weighing 170 pounds on average with 5 per seat
• Maximum ride weight: 18,000 pounds empty and 24,000 pounds loaded

As noted in Theme Park Shark's YouTube video, there seemed to be several outside modifications to the train so that the Las Vegas trains weren't identical to the Disney World trains. For example, the front of the monorail had additional black stripes as well as a slightly modified light beacon at the top of the cockpit car.

Where is the Bally's Monorail Today?

Although the Bally's monorail was discovered in the Nevada desert in 2021, it was discovered at a new site in 2023 by a YouTube creator called Adventure Stop. Adventure Stop identified that the abandoned Disney World monorail train was yet again moved to a metal fabrication shop in Southern California. The YouTube video also indicated that a couple of the cars on the train were being sold on eBay, which is another crazy plot twist to this train's story.

Although the Bally's monorail has been somewhat disassembled and sold to various buyers, it is crazy to know that it still exists in various forms. It will be interesting to see if we learn where the abandoned train ends up after the metal fabrication shop, and in what condition it could be in! It would be very cool if the trains were restored, preserved, and displayed as a part of history for years to come.

Uncertain Futures of Both Disney World and Las Vegas Monorails

Although the Las Vegas and Disney World monorails are iconic and efficient modes of transportation, the future of both remain somewhat uncertain. The major issue that both Disney and Las Vegas face is that the trains and spare parts for both monorails are no longer being manufactured. Therefore, upkeep and maintenance of the trains are extremely difficult and expensive.

Currently, the Disney World monorail transports approximately 150,000 passengers per day, while about 12,000 passengers use the Las Vegas monorail each day. As many know, the monorail is one of two methods of transportation for guests to enter the Magic Kingdom from the parking lot. If Disney World ever got rid of the monorail system, it would be a huge project of figuring out how to replace it!

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