Brightline Expansion - Tampa

That sort of thinking is decades out of date. The smart way is to make it easy for guests to get to WDW and on site hotels. And to encourage longer stays even if there are days when you go off site to other attractions because the hotels should be pretty profitable. Right now, getting to WDW, especially from MCO, is very painful and expensive and time consuming. But also, people are known to go to both WDW and other places in Florida, many of which are or will be serviced by Brightline.

ALL the Orlando Parks' pricing shows how many days they think the average customer wants to "do" the park.

Disney's 2nd, 3rd, & 4th day costs about as much as the first day and then the price drops for Day 5 and then really drops beyond day 7. This suggests that Disney thinks you'll naturally "do" about 4 days, and that they're more motivated to keep you for Day 5 , 6 and 7 (see https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/admis ... eme-parks/)

They want a monopoly on airport transfers and to get it they'd much rather put you on the bus (Disney's Magical Express should come back soon).

SeaWorld, at the other extreme is more like: Pay for Day 1 and get Day 2 for free. They are self-aware enough to know that they're so unlikely to get you back for Day 2 that they're willing to give it to you for Free.

In between is Universal, which is more like a 2-day place. They are going to work real hard to "take" it from the "back half" of your week at Disney.

Disney "wins" days 1 2 3 4 Universal wins days 6 7. And there's a fiercely-fought battle around Day 5.

The point is: if they think you've taken a 5 to 7 days vacation, they are strongly motivated to keep you on-property every night you're in Florida, and also know there's a real "danger" that you'll leave to "do" Universal or Sea World if it was as easy as hopping on a train.

I suspect they even have data on how Disneyland Paris' TGV is a mixed blessing--on the plus side, making it easy for car-lite European households to *get* to Disneyland Paris, but also making it easy for them to be whisked away--back home (day trip only) or to split time with Paris itself.

SlowLayne wrote: ↑Wed Jun 29, 2022 3:37 pm Their business model has always been to keep guests on property for their entire stay.

Had relative who figured that out over 40years ago. He really got upset when he took his kids.

I suspect this is going to feel like "why doesn't the Vegas Monorail go to the Airport" Not that it is exactly similar, but that the stop-locations are not the same as the usual transit demand nodes--the various facilities "free market" incentives and interest-group incentives are not the same as what a transit-planner's list of demand nodes.

Tampa Extension: Orlando Weekly

Brightline is 'making tremendous strides' toward an Orlando-to-Tampa route

Although questions have been raised over Brightline’s financing and ticket prices, the company is planning to grow
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But Christine Kefauver, senior vice president of corporate development for the Brightline rail service, told a state House panel last week that the company is “making tremendous strides” toward an Orlando-to-Tampa route after completing a project connecting Miami and Orlando.

“It is complex to get to Tampa, but we're up to the challenge,” Kefauver told members of the House Transportation and Modals Subcommittee.
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While questions have been raised over Brightline’s financing, ticket prices and when the company can operate solely on fares, Kefauver said the company is planning to grow, with 30 passenger cars ordered from Siemens Mobility to “accommodate that growth.”

Meanwhile, with the 2024 legislative session ready to start Jan. 9, Rep. Karen Gonzalez Pittman, R-Tampa, has submitted a $50 million proposal (House Form 1989) for rail improvements in the Interstate 4 corridor, where Brightline plans to roll in the median at speeds up to 150 mph.
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In her proposal, Gonzalez Pittman pointed to an anticipated $50 million in federal funding for the I-4 link. She also tied the state money to the Moving Forward Florida program, a wide-ranging transportation initiative that includes three I-4 projects.
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