Brightline (All Aboard Florida) Orlando - Miami FL FEC fka Virgin Rail

I have no plans to go to Florida until Brightline is extended to Orlando.

daybeers wrote:Will this have any effect on operations or funding other than the rebranding of MiamiCentral back to Brightline?

Probably not.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

njtmnrrbuff wrote: ↑Mon Aug 10, 2020 6:29 pm I have no plans to go to Florida until Brightline is extended to Orlando.

It is gettig closer . MCO terminal c now opern

Vhttps://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/automated ... e5535d4db7

We're flying Jetblue BDL to MCO for a week in Disney in early December, so I'm excited to use the new terminal. We were last there in 2019 so it'll be cool to see what's changed. We also have TSA PreCheck this time around which I'm truly looking forward to. The only downside to the new terminal is going to be a longer APM ride from airside to the main concourse to check in to the Hyatt for our first night, but that's a minor grievance (if one at all).

I was hoping to go for a joyride on Brightline but that's not going to happen with their opening time-frame. At the very least I should be able to spot a couple of their trains from the new terminal and the rooftop pool/room patio at the Hyatt.

It also sounds like I'll be missing out on the steam trains at Magic Kingdom, but that's another story.

Mr. Naugy, I'm "going down" in both Jan and Feb. Jan is Miami (fly; no rent) and Feb is Boca (drive down, visit en route friends Ocala, Atlanta, Nashville).

I don't expect Brightline to be ready for either trip. On the Jan trip, for my second of the two nights, could do a Miami Central- W Palm, Dinner at a Ruth's, then back.

I don't know if the Boca stop will be open for my Feb trip - and I would want secure parking as "Lady Lex" is "not happy" with anything less (she "doesn't know what the street is for anything other than driving").

So, I fear a Miami-McCoy "joyride" will have to wait for another year - and I'm running out of those!!!

I have not completely parsed this information yet but it sounds like Universal Orlando Resort is contributing $125 million ("supporting financing of bonds"?), 13 acres of land and annual payments to support operating costs ($13 million per year) for an Orange County Convention Center station to serve Sun Rail on I-Drive. This route might also allow Brightline to serve the station, but the press release is not super clear about that. I have a hard time imagining Universal would spend all of this money just for Sun Rail passengers.

Interesting to see Disney get bypassed.

https://www.orlandosrightrail.com/new-c ... l-florida/

I would imagine Brightline having at least one station in the area.

I know they aren’t building a station on Disney property but they have mentioned they’d still like to build one as close to Disney as possible. Provided they do so, maybe Disney could hook their transportation system (e.g. Skyliner) into said station?

What does not make any sense is why not start Sun Rail service from TriRail Sandlake station - Orlando airport ? Last time I looked there are extra tracks at Sandlake that a shuttle service could run from there to the airport. The Stanton spur that goes from the Airport to the Staunton wye which is south of Sandlake and north of Meadow Woods station. The Stanton spur is ~~ 8 miles from the wye to the airport all single track. There is a ~~ 1000 foot 2 track siding about 1/2 mile east of the wye. IF the main track is also used for switching the siding tracks is unknown.

The present Sun Rail schedules at Sandlake would work great. North bounds are ~~ 15 and 45 past the hour. South bounds are ~~ on hour and on the 30s . A north bound can drop airport passengers and south bound can also drop on hour and then shuttle can leave just behind southboun taking north leg of the wye.. Inboud shuttle to Sandlake arrive at 10 after connecting to north bounds and south bounds on hour .

Somewhere along the spur shutttles could meet which will require a passing siding. The airport still requires the Sun Rail station platform to have tracks installed. As well PTC will require installation of same from airport to Sun Rail main line including the wye.

IMO Sun rail would need 3 DMUs to cover the shuttles . 2 to operate daily and one spare for PM sevicing at Sanford. This schedule gives time for initiation of PTC at each reversal.

Then when the funds for this whole line becomes built then service can start and will use souh leg of wye. .

Bracdude181 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 06, 2023 6:39 pm I would imagine Brightline having at least one station in the area.

I know they aren’t building a station on Disney property but they have mentioned they’d still like to build one as close to Disney as possible. Provided they do so, maybe Disney could hook their transportation system (e.g. Skyliner) into said station?

So if you had the choice of boarding a bus at the airport that would take you and your family and all of your luggage directly to your Disney hotel,

- OR -

boarding a train at the airport and taking it to a station somewhere near Disney/Universal and then again transfer your family and all of your luggage onto a different bus to get to your hotel,
what would you do?

Dedicated buses will bring you faster, cheaper (used to even be free), and a lot more conveniently with a stress-free one-seat ride. People will want to get to their hotel rooms as quickly as possible to start their vacations. I'm really not sure how well this is going to work.

I would think the appeal for Universal would be the tourist traffic from South Florida, not MCO.

The appeal of Brightline stations for both Universal and Disney (when Disney was considering a station on its property) was day trippers from outside the Orlando area. The appeal of a Brightline station for Orlando airport is that it can compete against Miami and Tampa for traffic from those markets.

Why did Disney back out of the Brightline plans anyway? Also, what is the route that Brightline/SunRail/etc would use to get to the convention center? Wikipedia says State Route 417, but that terminates a little far south of the convention center.

Disney management has been in a fine tuned chaosfor a fw years.. Disney just recalled a retired officer. It has sounded that there are too many cooks in Disney's kitchen. Disney probably had too many irons in the fire to concentrate anyone looking for a train station. So, Brightline, Orange county, Sun Rail, & others just gave up on trying to get any answers from Disney.

bostontrainguy wrote: ↑Sat Jan 07, 2023 12:01 pm So if you had the choice of boarding a bus at the airport that would take you and your family and all of your luggage directly to your Disney hotel,

- OR -

boarding a train at the airport and taking it to a station somewhere near Disney/Universal and then again transfer your family and all of your luggage onto a different bus to get to your hotel,
what would you do?

Dedicated buses will bring you faster, cheaper (used to even be free), and a lot more conveniently with a stress-free one-seat ride. People will want to get to their hotel rooms as quickly as possible to start their vacations. I'm really not sure how well this is going to work.

Generally agree with your position, but I do think there was a rail model that could have worked well for Disney guests. The original plan was a station at Disney Springs. My family almost always goes to Disney Springs for the first part of our trip, to fill the hours between arrival and our rooms being available. We drop our luggage with the concierge, then head over to the Springs. That's okay, but some hassle. If, on the other hand, there was a train directly to Disney Springs, and a luggage drop (with bell service handling the bag delivery to the hotel room), I'd much rather skip the hotel lobby until the room is actually ready.

I wouldn't have minded taking the train either. We stay at Riverside so it's just a boat ride from the Springs away anyways. Like HenryAlan said, if they offered bell services at the station then even better.

We'll probably go back in 4-5 years, I'd like to have an extra day to joyride Brightline and do a day in Universal. I'm not much into rides but my fiance is HUGE into Harry Potter.