Zoo Monorails

snowleopard

snowleopard

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It is interesting to acknowledge the fact that very few zoos have monorails currently in operation. There are a number of zoos that have closed down their monorail (Toronto, Philadelphia, San Diego Zoo Safari Park, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, Lion Country Safari, Six Flags, Miami Seaquarium, Minnesota Zoo, Monkey Park in Japan, Jurong Bird Park in Singapore, etc) as the systems are extremely expensive to operate and have become less popular over the past few decades. In fact it seems that it is just as easy to think of as many zoos that have closed down their monorails as those that still continue to maintain them!

Below are 11 zoos with monorails still in use, and the list includes 3 that are technically more of a theme park than a zoo or aquarium. Are there others that are missing from the list? If there is possibly a dozen zoos with monorails out of the perhaps 2,000 zoological facilities on the planet, that means that 0.006% of zoos have the feature. Maybe that tiny percentage of zoos should heavily advertise that aspect of their establishment in order to capitalize on their uniqueness. Would it make a difference in attendance?

Ueno Zoo - Japan
Chiang Mai Zoo - Thailand
Granby Zoo - Canada
Ouwehands Zoo - Netherlands
Chester Zoo - England
Bronx Zoo - U.S.A.
Dallas Zoo - U.S.A.
Zoo Miami - U.S.A.

Theme Parks/Zoos:

Flamingo Land - England
Chessington World of Adventures - England
SeaWorld - Australia
 
The one place where monorails are still tremendously popular are the Disney theme parks. Perhaps this is why I think they are fantastic in zoos too, as they give the feeling that you are in a very exciting place -- a real tourist attraction.
 
Zooplantman deserves the rare find award for that song.

The Minnesota Zoo no longer has a monorail??? :eek:
That is really disappointing.

Happy to say I have personally ridden the ones at Chester Zoo, Minnesota Zoo, Dallas Zoo, Bronx Zoo, Busch Gardens Tampa, Busch Gardens Van Nuys, San Diego Wild Animal Park.
 
I think that they are closing mainly due to high costs of operation as they age. When a roller coaster at a theme park gets older they replace it as they have the money but when a ride at a zoo gets older they dont have the money. The bronx zoo has a serious problem as If the monorail was closed it would be nearly impossible for visitors to access the exhibits. I could see them getting rid of the parking lot in wild asia and utilizing the current himalayan tahr exhibit for a asian animal trail. This area is 10 acres in size. In this area you could rehome the babirusas, rhinos, and hoof stock. The tigers could be sent to tiger mountain and this would be the time to sadly send the asian elephants away. I just hope that the rare hoof stock species are kept. Closing exhibits in the past has not altered attendance much at the zoo
 
Arizona Docent said:
Zooplantman deserves the rare find award for that song.

The Minnesota Zoo no longer has a monorail??? :eek:
That is really disappointing.

Happy to say I have personally ridden the ones at Chester Zoo, Minnesota Zoo, Dallas Zoo, Bronx Zoo, Busch Gardens Tampa, Busch Gardens Van Nuys, San Diego Wild Animal Park.
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Minnesota Zoo hasn't closed their monorail. Someone is just jumping the gun.
 
gerenuk said:
Minnesota Zoo hasn't closed their monorail. Someone is just jumping the gun.
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That is true, but as of September 2nd the monorail will be retired so if anyone is anxious to get one last ride in they have less than 5 months to do so. Here is the statement on the zoo's website:

Minnesota Zoo
 
ANyhuis said:
The one place where monorails are still tremendously popular are the Disney theme parks. Perhaps this is why I think they are fantastic in zoos too, as they give the feeling that you are in a very exciting place -- a real tourist attraction.
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Even at Disney they've proven to be problematic. At Disneyland they reverse engineered their existing cars to build a new fleet because the company that made them originally no longer exists. They've run into several design flaws in their new fleet.

At Walt Disney World the monorail system only reaches a small portion of the property with no plans of expansion while the transport system of choice is the good old fashioned bus.
 
Zoo Monorails in the United States

Here are pictures of the four (soon to be three) remaining zoo monorails in the United States.

Zoo Miami:
This is the only one with multiple stations (four) and acts like transportation around a majority of this huge hoofstock haven. Passenger seating is in-line with the direction of travel. Views of many exhibits are possible, but rarely any better than the views from the nearby visitor path that intertwines with the route.



Minnesota Zoo:
A single station serves this route that is a grand circle around much of the property; good views of several of the large hoofstock exhibits are featured, but mostly from the same vantage point as the visitor path. The exception is the impressive stretch over a lake in the musk-ox exhibit. Otherwise, few exhibits are seen. Passenger seating is enclosed and in-line with the direction of travel, similar to Zoo Miami. A second station should have been built at the far side of the route from the first to turn this system into a truly useful one for this large property; that is a moot point as this monorail will close September 2013 (34 years of service). Of the four discussed here, it is probably the one with the least benefit to its facility, although it runs throughout the cold months to provide exhibit viewing of the hoofstock.





Bronx Zoo's Wilds of Asia:
The monorail is the only way for visitors to view many exhibits of Asian hoofstock in one remote section of the zoo. A driver/tour guide offers live narration interspersed with recorded narration as passengers sit in open cars that face one side of the direction of travel. If this monorail was ever removed, it would be the greatest loss of these four.



Dallas Zoo's Wilds of Africa:
Similar to the Bronx Zoo system, this one is the exclusive way to see a portion of the zoo, in this case several hoofstock exhibits. It also travels around much of the area of the rest of this themed section available to pedestrians. Removal of this monorail would also be a great loss, although the Wilds of Africa section of the zoo also has extensive walking areas to view other exhibits, including the Giants of the Savanna section which features hoofstock as well.





All photographs taken by geomorph.
 
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Why are they closing down? They seem cool to ride on. I loved the one at Jurong. I didn't know it was closed now. I assume it's a cost thing, but didn't someone do their math before constructing it or was it a case of "build it and they will come"?
 
nanoboy said:
Why are they closing down? They seem cool to ride on. I loved the one at Jurong. I didn't know it was closed now. I assume it's a cost thing, but didn't someone do their math before constructing it or was it a case of "build it and they will come"?
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Jurong's Panarail operated for twenty years. Not bad.

If you meant Minnesota Zoo, yes they did a feasibility study in 1976. The train served for thirty years.
From the zoo's website:
The Minnesota Zoo will retire its monorail ride at the end of the summer. Although the ride has been part of the recreational Zoo experience since 1979, the monorail is an outdated system and is approaching the end of its useful life. We understand that for some guests, the ride was also a way to navigate a portion of the Zoo. We have always provided, and will continue to provide, transportation options to all guests requiring assistance. We sincerely appreciate your support of the monorail through the years. The Zoo will continue to provide monorail rides for guests through September 2, 2013.
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Minnesota Zoo

On a different note, this thread could enjoy this:
[ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_monorail_systems]List of monorail systems - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]
 
The world's oldest monorail (to the best of my knowledge) is in the city of Wuppertal, Germany. Although it is not inside the zoo, you can use it as transportation from the city center to the zoo.
Zoo Wuppertal: Anfahrt
 
Zooplantman said:
Jurong's Panarail operated for twenty years. Not bad.

If you meant Minnesota Zoo, yes they did a feasibility study in 1976. The train served for thirty years.
From the zoo's website:

Minnesota Zoo

On a different note, this thread could enjoy this:
List of monorail systems - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Thanks for posting. It looks like many of the monorails simply came to the end of their design lives and it was not economically feasible to continue upgrading and maintaining them.
 
Chlidonias said:
only a person without a tv would think a Simpsons clip was a rare find.... ;)
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I call the big one Bitey.

It does seem strange to see the Minnesota Zoo do away with their monorail. With their cold-weather species focus it seems that would have made sense to keep it for winter visits.
 
The best part of the article (besides the SnowLeopard quote of course) actually has nothing to do with the Minnesota Zoo. It is the brief quote at the end from Dallas Zoo stating they are in the planning stages of replacing their current monorail with a new one. So at least one of the two remaining zoo monorails will continue. Just one of many reasons I rate Dallas as the best zoo in the southwest.
 
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