I visited the Disney Resort line for the first time in a year and a half. What's new with this monorail line in the dream and magic kingdom?
Let's take a quick look at the Disney Resort line to start. It's a straddle type monorail line opened in 2001. The route is a looped single track running through Disney amusement facilities, official hotels and JR East Maihama station. The electric system is 1,500V DC. There are four stations over the total operating length of 5.0 kilometers. 6-car trains run counterclockwise throughout the day.
Let's get down to the main topic. Which do you prefer? The good news first or the sad news first? The good news is starting operation of “Duffy and Friends Colorful Happiness Liner”. This year is the 20th anniversary of Duffy and Friends in Tokyo Disney Resort. In commemoration, a special poster train named Duffy and Friends Colorful Happiness Liner debuted on April 8th using Set 101 of the EMU 100 series (Type-C). You can see the characters of Duffy and Friends on the side bodies.
The sad news is the retirement of the EMU 10 series (Type-X). Type-X was the first model on the Disney Resort line, which debuted in 2001. 19 years later, a new model namely Type-C debuted in 2020, and had been replacing Type-X. The final survivor of the Type-X train, namely Set 4, was retired from the track in September last year, while it was missed by rail-fans. Thank you and good-bye to the Type-X trains.
