Disneyland Monorail System

The Disneyland Monorail System is a monorail that operates at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. It has been operating since June 14, 1959. It was the first monorail system to operate in the western hemisphere.

History
The monorail originally opened as Disneyland-ALWEG Monorail System on June 14, 1959, and was not a transportation attraction. It was only a sightseeing attraction in Tomorrowland. In 1961, the track was extended to 2.5 miles to transport guests to and from the Disneyland Hotel.

In 1999, the monorail began lengthy closures and limited capacity due to the construction of the new Disney's California Adventure theme park, which already existing monorail tracks passed through. In 2001, the monorail began running full capacity again and passed through the new park, as well as the hotel within the park, Disney's Grand Californian Hotel & Spa. The Disneyland Hotel station was converted to the Downtown Disney station, themed to the adjacent Rainforest Cafe. In 2004, Monorail Orange was taken off the line and taken to Walt Disney Imagineering in Glendale to be reverse engineered. Monorail Blue was removed from service in September 2006 and was shipped away to also be rebuilt. The monorail was closed from August 21 through late December 2006 to prepare for the opening of Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage in 2007. For the opening of Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage on June 11, 2007, the livery of Monorail Red was changed to almost completely yellow, with the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage logo on the middle car. Monorail Red was then changed to promote the Year of a Million Dreams promotion.

Mark I
The Mark I trains were built by ALWEG and were the first trains to operate, and ran from 1959 until 1961, when the track was extended to the Disneyland Hotel and the attraction became an actual transportation system. These trains only consisted of three cars.

Mark II
The Mark II trains were also built by ALWEG, and replaced the two-year-old Mark I trains in 1961. As the system was now transporting guests between Tomorrowland and the Disneyland Hotel, each train had four cars. The bubble dome on the top of the end cars was made larger.

Mark III
The Mark III trains were built by WED Enterprises, and began operating in 1969, and the rolling stock was increased to five cars per train. The trains' lengths were increased to 137 feet long. Although these trains were not built by ALWEG, they still resembled the earlier trains. The lettering on the sides of the train still initially read "Disneyland-ALWEG Monorail System", however.

Mark V
The Mark V trains were built by Ride & Show Engineering of San Dimas and Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm of Germany, and replaced the Mark III trains one by one in 1987, as the Mark V's run on the chassis of the Mark III's Instead of the trains consisting of one color, these trains were simply white with a colored stripe on the sides to resemble the Mark IV trains of the Walt Disney World Monorail System.

The Mark IV trains hold a total of 145 passengers per train, with 32 each in the two end cars and 27 each in the three middle cars. Currently only one train is still running, Monorail Red, as the other three are being upgraded to Mark VII.

Mark VII
The Mark VII trains are being built by TPI Composites, and will somewhat resemble the Mark I-III trains. These trains will use a new seating configuration.