The Walt Disney World Monorail is iconic and the fact that it still looks futuristic being installed over 50 years ago in 1971 is quite the feat. If you’ve been to Las Vegas you’ll know it has a monorail too that looks quite similar to the Disney one and these two systems are indeed related and some old retired Disney World trains even found their way to Vegas! However, that was just the beginning of the journey of these former Disney World trains.

From 1995-2002 there was a shorter free version of the Las Vegas monorail that only ran between Bally’s (now Horseshoe) and the MGM Grand which used retired Mark IV trains from Walt Disney World when they upgraded to the Mark VI trains. The Las Vegas Monorail website even talks about this history and isn’t bashful about it. Strangely enough the MGM Hotel and Casino even had a theme park back then while Disney’s now Hollywood Studios was known as Disney-MGM Studios, but that’s a different story for a different day. With the opening of the extended paid monorail in 2004 the Mark VI eventually replaced the Mark IV in Las Vegas as well and hence the journey of these trains continued.

The two original Vegas monorail trains were nicknamed Bally’s and MGM for their color scheme and the hotel they represented. After their retirement from the Las Vegas monorail the trains were in storage for a while near the Las Vegas strip where they were vandalized and eventually sold off. A few years ago one of the old monorail trains resurfaced in the Nevada desert near a house and was featured in a YouTube Video by the great team at Theme Park Shark. The train was in Sandy Valley, Nevada (about an hour from the strip) and looked quite odd sitting on the desert floor, almost like modern art. It was the former Bally’s train that the family had purchased and was essentially using one as lawn decoration at their desert home. If you want more info check out this great YouTube from Theme Park Shark showing the train in detail and also showing some of the remnants of the Mark IV maintenance garage still on the strip. Thanks to Theme Park Shark for use of the images of these trains below.

That same video also has a short sad clip from a monster truck rally showing the other original Vegas monorail train, the MGM train, being crushed at Monster Jam World Finals XV. That event was held in 2014 in Vegas and apparently those cars were sold off for the event. Thanks to Movielover on WDWMagic.com for use of the image from a video of the Monster Truck Rally.

The story doesn’t end there though for the Bally’s car and here’s where it gets even more interesting. If you do a little Google Maps search of the coordinates of the Bally’s train in the desert you’ll find it’s no longer there! That got me wondering, where did they go now as it appears the cars had been sold yet again? A little more digging online and you can find as of 2023 Youtuber Adventure Stop had located the front of the Bally’s train at a metal fabrication shop in Southern California. We can only hope that this time it’s found a home to be preserved and restored. The video also shows that a couple cars ended up on eBay years ago. I embedded Adventure Stop’s excellent short documentary below recounting the history of these Disney turned Vegas trains through 2023. Is this the end of the journey? Who really knows at this point, but these monorails are iconic Disney and important history that hopefully can be preserved in some way.

The monorail might be the first “ride” or “attraction” many people experience upon arrival to Disney as it takes them from the Transportation and Ticket Center (TTC) to the Magic Kingdom. For many this “free” experience is one of the highlights of the day before even entering the gates of a park. The monorail was such a favorite that when our son was 2 years old we spent one evening at the resort doing a few laps around the lagoon waiting for a dinner reservation at the Polynesian. I think he had more fun on the monorail ride than he did on any of the park rides at that age.

The Las Vegas Monorail and Disney Monorail both use train systems were built by Bombardier. They have also both used two different Bombardier train types (sometimes referred to as rolling stock), the Mark IV and the Mark VI. The Disney Monorail predates the Las Vegas Monorail be several decades, but the Las Vegas version was the first to use automated trains with Disney following in 2014. Note that you’d still find a “driver” in the Walt Disney World Monorails, but they’re primarily there for safety and security with the computer actually doing the driving!

There is much rumor and speculation about the future of both monorails. The trains and spare parts are no longer being made making upkeep expensive and difficult. However, both systems provide a vital transportation option at their location. At Disney you can take a boat or bus instead of the monorail and in Las Vegas an Uber or taxi is an option, but both monorails absorb large amounts of travelers lessening the strain on the other services. Disney transports about 150,000 people/day while Las Vegas is around 12,000. In fact for years Disney was the world’s busiest monorail until being passed by one in China.

If either the Disney or Las Vegas monorails were to ever cease operations something significant would surely need to take its place to absorb the passenger capacity. In Las Vegas that’s rumored to the be the Tesla Underground Loop by Elon Musk’s Boring Company. Perhaps in Disney World a further expansion of the Skyliner could be coming. However, I fear the loss of the Disney monorail would be felt far more significantly than the Las Vegas monorail. The monorail at Disney is a 50+ year icon of Walt Disney World and is one of the first things that comes to mind for so many when picturing the resort. My son even bought a remote control monorail on our last visit. Alternatively, the city of Las Vegas constantly reinvents itself, imploding one landmark to make room for a new one, so change is a constant.

It’s funny to think that the same trains that transported guests to the Magic Kingdom found new life in another tourist mecca. We do not know what the future holds for either monorail, but hopefully no more trains find their way to the desert or crushed by monster trucks anytime soon.