ORLANDO, Fla. — When Brightline begins constructing its extension beyond Orlando International Airport to Tampa during the next decade, the route won’t include a station on Disney World land or other direct Disney participation.
But the Miami-based passenger rail operator and Orlando business interests continue to plan a South International Drive station in close proximity to Disney, Sea World, Universal Studios Florida, and other attractions for the combined SunRail-Brightline “Sunshine Corridor.”
In a paywalled story, the Orlando Sentinel reports Disney spokesman Avery Maehrer said Monday that “the new route configuration does not support a Disney Springs station and as a result, we don’t anticipate being part of this project.”
The fact that Disney is not donating land for a station, however, only means that a nearby replacement along Interstate 4 won’t be captive to one attraction.
“Our original plan was to have one intermediate stop between Orlando and Tampa,” Ben Porritt, Brightline’s Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs, tells Trains News Wire. “With the Sunshine Corridor plan, we will not only have two stations but a link to frequent SunRail service that will extend Brightline’s reach to the entire Orlando area.”
The east-west Sunshine Corridor will serve both the Orange County Convention Center and a South International Drive station following Florida Highway 528 to Interstate 4, rather than a more direct southwest route Brightline originally proposed. The availability of public money from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for commuter rail systems attracted the attention of civic leaders who saw a way to reduce nagging highway congestion through improved local transportation options.
The budding partnership has resulted in pledges of financial support for the revised route and likely played a role in winning federal funds [see “Florida receives $15.875 million engineering grant for Brightline route,” News Wire, June 2, 2022].
Porritt says the exact placement of the tracks and station locations will be determined by the environmental and engineering project design now underway. “What’s unique is that you are going from one [Orlando area] stop at the airport to three with a commuter rail component, and it is now possible for us to serve multiple locations because everyone came together.”
Disney’s property and they can do what they want with it. Why give up a bunch of their land that’s going to benefit other attractions that take money out of their pocket. More than likely the new location is a much better decision which Disney will just have free shuttles to fetch their guests. When the Tampa to Orlando extension is complete Disney may look into it again. Their pretty smart and didn’t get to where they are now by giving stuff away and besides they’re p****d at Gov. DUH right now. They just cancelled moving 3,000 employees from California to a new facility under construction in Orlando.
As for the Disney employee move to the new Lake Nona office campus, this was deferred, not cancelled. The contractor for the campus is running behind schedule due to supply chain issues. But it does have several employees in the lurch since they were house shopping and enrolling kids in schools.
As for the “ObamaRail” proposal in Florida, Gov. Rick Scott vetoed it because the feds were only going to fund the capex, not operations. FDOT was going to have to make up for what they couldn’t collect at the farebox. Plus it didn’t connect with a general network and provided no service to other large Florida metros. The Governor saw no purpose for the Feds to build a line between 2 locations and then have the entire state prop it up. Rick Scott wanted to see if a private approach could be managed instead and provide more connectivity. It wasn’t politics, it just didn’t make sense.
I think everyone here knows that roads are not free. I am not sure why this comes up so often, but it seemingly does.
Recall previous attempts for the State of Florida and Feds to create HSR between Tampa and Orlando was shot down by FL (I think Rick Scott administration). Fear of Fed control over a ton of grant money offered to FL was the issue as well as concerns of the “density” questions. Asking someone on this thread to enhance my understanding on this matter. Thanks.
Yes Dick Scott shot it down just like Snot Walker up in Wisconsin. They made claims about everything under the Sun with the money but in the end it basically was because the money was coming from the President Obama administration and god forbid they should take any money from him.
No Mark, ‘Scott’ Walker turned down the federal money because once the line was up and running, it would have been Wisconsin taxpayers (like me) who would have been faced with paying the ongoing bills for a line which wasn’t the advertised ‘high speed’ and which would have run to a location in Madison where no one needed/wanted to go.
Coincidentally, as soon as I finish writing this, I’m hopping in my car to drive from Milwaukee to Madison. I expect to be at my destination on the southwest side of Madison in approximately 90 minutes. If I were instead driving to a Milwaukee station, waiting for the train, riding to Madison, and catching an Uber, I expect I’d add a minimum of an hour to that time.
I like trains too – there’s frequently a live railcam on in the background on my TV. That doesn’t mean they all make sense.
Andy, have you ever considered that it’s taxpayer money that makes your 90 minute drive possible? All transportation is taxpayer supported. Your governor turned down the money for rail because of politics.
Yes, Thomas, and I’m fully in favor of that taxpayer support where it makes sense. Spend money for additional Hiawatha frequencies? Go for it. Add a second daily round trip from Chicago to Minneapolis? Seems worthwhile. Perhaps investigate a Chicago to Madison train (not via Milwaukee)? I’d be interested in those results. A train from Milwaukee to somewhere east of downtown Madison? No thanks.
For all those just tuning in, the previous iterations of passenger rail from Orlando to Tampa died on the vine when the House of the Mouse withdrew their support. The previous plan was funded, this new plan is not. It’s deja vu all over again.
The You Tube video from last month has several maps showing the route changes through Orlando. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJgEyVpk6SM
The way the mouse is behaving it is the best thing for Brightline to do there own thing.
My people any where Orlando are getting very discusted with Disney. Fl residence pass a joke. Disney’s plan to always have a line to any attraction is another item. That so takes more days to go thru all the attractions.
I kind of figured Disney might take a dump on this. They have never liked anyone other than themselves controlling how people come and go from their parks. They would rather run a bus (or build yet more parking garages) from the airport or myriad hotels than give up control of access.
Also the placing a station on I-Drive and facilitating those hotels by the convention center was a non-starter for the Disney folks. They want it to be *hard* for people not staying on the Disney property to get there or people staying at Disney to see other parks.
This was not a political thing related to DeSantis and all, this was a simple decision based on their long drawn biz strategy. That Disney is the *only* attraction worth ones money and no one else exists.
They have plenty of real estate in and around Disney Springs for a welcome center/train station for Disney guests, they just don’t want to do it.
Honestly, as long as it brings Brightline closer to where I live (which happens to be in the Central Florida area), I’m happy. I would love to take a train trip to Miami for a weekend.
Also joke’s on Disney, I prefer Seaworld anyway. Also the Kennedy Space Center, but I think that’s less relevant to this conversation.