Brightline: I-Drive (International Drive) and Universal Connection

They want in on any extension from the airport as well: https://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/new ... drive.html

The future Orlando-to-Tampapath of the multibillion-dollar Brightline intercity rail system still is being determined, and business leaders are working feverishly to figure out how International Drive can be connected to it.

Stakeholders such as the I-Drive business chamber of commerce and Universal Orlando Resort have been meeting or plan to meet with Brightline after a March presentation with the Central Florida Expressway Authority showed a potential path to the corridor, sources told Orlando Business Journal.
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Meanwhile, Universal Orlando Resort will make its own push in a future meeting for I-Drive to have a Brightline connection, said sources with close knowledge of the ongoing activity. A rail system connecting to I-Drive would benefit Universal's future Epic Universe theme park that's now under construction.
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What are the I-Drive landowners willing to pay to buy access? (Including funding what is a potentially longer and more expensive route between MCO and WDW?

An excellent editorial (not op-ed) this week in the Sun-Sentinel gives an idea of the politics involved: If I-Drive merchants want to help workers, they’ll stop being so greedy with tourist tax money. "Universal, SeaWorld and International Drive hotel owners are using their political muscle to make sure Brightline’s proposed Orlando-to-Tampa train route includes a stop at the Orange County Convention Center."

Among the beneficiaries of a convention center train station, these tourist businesses say, are commuters who work on the International Drive corridor. Color us skeptical that Brightline — a high-speed system starting in Miami — is designed or priced to help low-paid restaurant and hotel workers get to and from their jobs every day.

Not Brightline, Sunrail would be able to operate over the route and offer workers an affordable link to MCO, Orange County Convention Center, I-Drive, Universal, Disney. Sunrail is the only option to provide sufficient frequencies between the airport and Disney. Similar to what Tri-Rail and Brightline are working towards with Tri-Rail's Downtown Miami and Coastal Link service over the FEC. Similar to how NJ Transit, Metro North, SEPTA, MBTA, LIRR work in conjunction to Amtrak services in the Northeast.

Someone needs to explain that to the editorial board.

The editorial board would agree with you. They are knocking what "these tourist businesses say" as insincere claptrap. The businesses want Brightline to feed the convention center with visitors, not low-paid workers. They figure it's a free way to get a deluxe non-stop rail connection to the airport. Somebody else pays the $1b.

Or there's always the option of paying Brightline. Besides floating tax-free government bonds, BL wins various small grants. It's a twist on private-public partnerships, where the private part does the planning. It's doing an impressive job ob the easy ground of FLA. And if it improves Amtrak indirectly, good.

Miami-Dade paid $76m for Brightline to build an Aventura station on the current BL segment ( https://www.southeastcorridor-commission.org/ ). The station will have a skyway to the high-end Aventura mall. Roaming Railfan has a thorough and informative Youtube of construction starting at Aventura.

The Southeast Corridor Commission mentions BL repeatedly in its document linked above, adjusting plans in central Florida to consider it. SECC also suggests as an option Amtrak sharing BL's and FEC's corridor between Orlando and Melbourne. That would be another payout to BL.

Sunrail Universal Discussion:sunrail-stop-at-universal-studios-t175111.html

https://www.masstransitmag.com/rail/new ... brightline

After listening to a presentation extolling the benefits of the proposed Sunshine Corridor passenger train, Seminole commissioners on Tuesday agreed to support a study on the costs, ridership and feasibility of expanding SunRail and Brightline from Orlando’s airport to the region’s tourism hub.

“We’re not talking about dollars right now, we’re talking about endorsing studies,” Commissioner Lee Constantine said. “And I for one feel very strongly that we need to do that.”

For now, it’s only a concept. But after Brightline Trains begins its expected service from South Florida to the Orlando International Airport this year, its next plan is to continue extending the tracks from the airport to Tampa.
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Those supporting the project say SunRail riders from Seminole would be able to connect to a passenger train to the airport, the convention center, Universal Orlando resort and other attractions along the International Drive area.
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Wasn't it formerly a case of Disney saying "if you do I-Drive, forget Lake Buena Vista?" But I wonder if the instrument for that determination was Disney itself, or Reedy Creek which is now a very different entity. Maybe both could now happen, assuming the new RCID (or whatever it's called) Board isn't totally consumed with other matters.

I believe that was originally the scuttlebutt after Universal said they'd donate land for a station following the Disney Springs station announcement, but I don't think anyone really knows the whole truth aside from Bob Chapek (good riddance). I don't think Reedy Creek/Whatever Long Ass Title DeSantis Made Up will be involved in anything but court cases for the foreseeable future (at least until Disney waits Ron out in court).

Honestly the I-Drive routing is the better choice for the Orlando area, at least for the other businesses and parks. I consider myself a Disney Adult and even I think trying to connect to resorts and parks through Disney Springs would be a nightmare on multiple levels. The only way a train to Disney would really work would be if it went to the Ticket & Transportation Center which is actually set up for multi-modal transfers, not Disney Springs which is already a traffic congested mess. There's a reason I take the boat to and from Riverside!