Brightline to no longer open train station at Disney Springs, company says

Plans for guests to catch a train ride to and from Disney Springs have been canceled as Brightline said it will no longer open a train station there. Brightline said a station is still planned near the original Disney Springs site, though not on property owned by Disney. Additionally, Brightline said it will also open a new train station at the Orange County Convention Center. Both of those proposed stations would connect to the airport station, located in the South Terminal at the OIA.

FOX 35 Orlando delivers breaking news, live events, investigations, politics, entertainment, business news and local stories from Orlando, Florida and across the nation.

Follow FOX 35 News on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @fox35orlando

[commodoresbank]

You know it makes sense that building one station directly in Disney Springs would’ve been ridiculous, because other parks wanted in for that idea to help shift it closer to them instead. There should be a center place where you could transit closer in between all of Florida’s popular theme parks/landmarks all over.

[millie]

Disney could extend their monorail system to whatever station Brightline builds that's closest to them, and provide a direct rail connection that way.

[antoinelee-thomas]

It's not that big of a deal. Yes, the Orange County Convention Center is still quite a few miles away from Disney Springs, but when did taking Uber or Lyft prevent people from not getting where they want to go if they're not renting a car?

Maybe it's something Lynx or the I-Drive Trolley will look into so that they can detour one or a couple of their bus routes to make a couple of additional stops whenever that happens.

Who's really losing out? On one hand, you could say no one because the project never got started and broke ground so that saved money for Brightline to push the Tampa project up earlier. On the other hand, you can say Disney is losing out because by the train stopping at Disney Springs, those who do not want to rent a car at Orlando International Airport or did not want to wait a cab, Uber, or Lyft, or the Mears bus to any Disney properties, those people could've got off at Disney Springs and got on the Disney buses that all go to Disney Springs and took the Disney Buses to any of their hotel properties for free from Disney Springs after getting off of the train.

Now that I think about it a bit more, it is more of a Disney loss because they contract Mears Transportation with Mears's stagecoach buses and they want to get that cut (their portion of the money) made through Mears by people paying to get off at the airport and ride the bus to the Disney properties. If the Orange County Convention Center goes through which will likely be another good choice because Orlando is just convention crazy, I guess the convention center is going to be raking in the dollars after those parking structures are full to the tee. More people won't have to worry about paying for parking when their favorite convention is in time.

[OhioCentralModeler]

I'm guessing it's because the original route would have only served the airport and Disney, they don't want to support the new route and convention center station that would benefit anyone other than themselves. It's not exactly secret that Disney is as petty as they are greedy.

[lyndakorner]

Disney would have been crazy to allow the station to be built in the way that the alignment was being proposed.

[Patrick-yhyd]

Getting from the station to a hotel might be more costs.

[anitrain]

I'm glad brightline chose the better route. I'm disappointed in Disney for being petty about it, but maybe they will come around in time.

[lac]

Man, what an astute, savvy move by Universal to swoop in and take away this opportunity from Disney.

[AshTheNimbat]

The real reason is just because Disney is kind of against the state government since they are greedy with past business practices and Disney is "screw you". Sure, they wanted Brightline because there was another project earlier but that rail project was pretty much scrapped. but again, i think Disney also did the right. but I wish we would've had Brightline to Disney directly.

[cynant]

When people think of Orlando, people think of Disney which is fair. However, Disney have to understand that their are not the only tourist attraction in Orlando as Orlando have expanded over the years. So yes it does make sense.

[melojeffrey]

Make a train stop near by and b
Provide bus to