Why they are closing monorail earlier

[FoxwithEars]

Does anyone know why they dont run the monorails in late EMH anymore? Now they just shut down after one hour regular closing time. Why is that??

 

[StitchSpawn]

to save money...supposedly

 

[dipity]

I'm speculating it has to do with this:

http://www.wesh.com/news/19955188/detail.html

We recently stayed at the Poly for a few nights and went to Epcot evening magic hours. We arrived by monorail and were a little annoyed we couldn't return the same way (knew ahead of time, but still annoying). The bus from Epcot at midnight was no worse than any of the buses, so no big deal I guess.

There were MANY signs stating the monorail would only run until 10PM, one hour after normal park closing.

 

[Jedi]

it has nothing to do with the crash....I wish that would stop being brought up for every monorail incident....the "admitted to reason" is for some work that needs done on the track, and it is only a temporary measure

 

[dipity]

Hope you're right that it's temporary, but the crash did happen after magic hours, late at night. Makes sense to me. You may very well know better, though.

I'd hate to think the monorail won't go back to the old schedule, but I won't be surprised either.

 

[Jedi]

it was running normally AFTER the crash until a few months back when they changed it

 

[dipity]

And the OHSA investigation (and fine) takes a while to conclude. I really hope it's temporary.

 

[dipity]

I guess I should have done more searching before our trip. The fines don't seem high enough to force modifying the monorail hours, but who knows.

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com...1190070_1_monorail-trains-osha-monorail-crash

You've won me over Jedi.

 

[keholman15]

haha, must be save money

 

[mom2rtk]

Disney has already announced this change as permanent, which in my mind negates their attempt to label it a maintenance issue. I can certainly understand them needing more time to maintain the monorails than a 3 AM EMH close gives them. But then why are they still considering a FAR earlier end time for the monorail on hard ticketed party nights?

Sorry folks, in my mind this is a cost saving issue for Disney.

This was debated ad nauseum in a very lengthy thread this summer.

 

[MonoManBlue]

really? You 'think' its because of a crash from 2 years ago..........

 

[kamik86]

Disney has already announced this change as permanent, which in my mind negates their attempt to label it a maintenance issue. I can certainly understand them needing more time to maintain the monorails than a 3 AM EMH close gives them. But then why are they still considering a FAR earlier end time for the monorail on hard ticketed party nights?

Sorry folks, in my mind this is a cost saving issue for Disney.

This was debated ad nauseum in a very lengthy thread this summer.

A permanent change for maintenance I could see if the rule was something like it would stop running "1 hour past park closing or 12PM whatever is later" As that would mean at least 6 hours (I don't believe the monorail ever starts running before 6) of down time on most nights for maintenance , safety checks, cleaning, and whatever else they feel is necessary. (although I think the parks normal hours are midnight sometimes so it may be only 5 hours then).

I would even be ok with them saying that at least one night a week they need a full 8 and closing by 10 (even if the park is still open if its only one night a week). However an hour past closing during off season is going to mean closing at 9 most nights during the off season. Hard ticket events could mean an 8:00 closing.

 

[Belle-To-Be]

One of the perks of staying at Poly or GF was the convenience of the monorail and especially late at night. With the changes and the added aggrivation of taking the busses from MK late at night, are the deluxes still worth the additional cost?

 

[FireDancer]

I have not yet seen an official announcement that the change in permanent and cast member rumors are not an official announcement. I think as of right now the change in indefinite which isn't the same as permanent but if someone has a link to an official press release I'd love to see it. This is the only official report I've seen.

The monorails (both cars and tracks) are old and pieces occasionally fall of of them. A fire was started in July by a piece that fell off of the track. They need to not only run them less often to save on wear and tear but also need to have car-free tracks for maintenance. The trains were not designed to work the number of hours they are now.

Whether or not the deluxe resorts are still worth it is a value judgment that each guest has to make. I think some people will whine here because that is what people do, whine, but in the end the occupancy of the monorail resorts will not be effected because the monorail runs a few less hours a week.

As of right now there is also no confirmation that the monorails won't be running for the hard ticket events. At least none that I've seen.

 

[AndyFL]

The new schedule does take some getting used to. Last week after watching Illuminations we walked around the world showcase because my daughters love how it looks at night. By the time we got back around and went to the monorail station they were preparing to rope off the entrance. I asked a CM and he said that we were catching the last one. One extra bathroom stop and we would have missed it.

 

[ilvdisney1234]

We were in Disney 8/19 through 8/28 and having the monorail only run one hour after park closing was horrible! We paid a considerable amount of money to stay at a monorail resort and we ended up having to walk home at 2am on more than one occasion. The walkway was always deserted and one night we were scared silly by an armadillo that decided to walk in the bushes and jump out in front of us near the parking lot. My 73 year old mom who has bad knees and asthma couldn't even enjoy the extra magic hours because she could never make the walk. On the late openings the cast members told us not to even bother waiting for a bus - we'd be there all night and there was no boat to our hotel. We had to rush to eat when we went to Konas at the Polynesian so we could make the last monorail and not get stuck on the endless bus ride from hell. I ended up driving to Epcot each time we went for fear of missing the last monorail. Getting from monorail hotel to another monorail hotel by bus after the monorail shut down was pure craziness. There was no rhyme or reason to any of it! I was very disappointed in the monorail this trip - it almost wasn't worth paying the money we paid to stay at a monorail resort. It isn't that much of a draw anymore to me after this experience!

 

[honeymo78]

Disney will not leave you stranded if you miss the last monorail. The pp should not have had to walk as there are buses running to CR during evening EMH. Not every CM knows about transportation. Another CM or supervisor would have found you transportation. When we were the last people to leave Epcot one night last fall, the CMs made sure we had transportation back to our resort.

 

[mom2rtk]

We were in Disney 8/19 through 8/28 and having the monorail only run one hour after park closing was horrible! We paid a considerable amount of money to stay at a monorail resort and we ended up having to walk home at 2am on more than one occasion. The walkway was always deserted and one night we were scared silly by an armadillo that decided to walk in the bushes and jump out in front of us near the parking lot. My 73 year old mom who has bad knees and asthma couldn't even enjoy the extra magic hours because she could never make the walk. On the late openings the cast members told us not to even bother waiting for a bus - we'd be there all night and there was no boat to our hotel. We had to rush to eat when we went to Konas at the Polynesian so we could make the last monorail and not get stuck on the endless bus ride from hell. I ended up driving to Epcot each time we went for fear of missing the last monorail. Getting from monorail hotel to another monorail hotel by bus after the monorail shut down was pure craziness. There was no rhyme or reason to any of it! I was very disappointed in the monorail this trip - it almost wasn't worth paying the money we paid to stay at a monorail resort. It isn't that much of a draw anymore to me after this experience!

You really need to send a letter or email to Disney and outline your experience. ...... and the fact that you might not spend the money on a monorail resort in the future if that is indeed the case.

 

[goofyernmost]

Logically, the accident could not have had anything to do with it. The same maneuvers that were involved with the wreck still have to happen regardless of what time they shut them down.

If it was just to save money, it would have been far wiser to just not have EMH run so late. They have provided an alternative and that is the bus system. Not ideal for Monorail resorts, but isn't that an after market phrase anyway. They were the MK resorts that happened to be served by Monorails. The Epcot, DHS and AK resorts manage just fine without monorails.

Long story, short...If it isn't a maintenance issue than it is anybody's guess what it was for...cost savings seems logical, but those buses don't operate for free either.

 

[AndyFL]

You really need to send a letter or email to Disney and outline your experience. ...... and the fact that you might not spend the money on a monorail resort in the future if that is indeed the case.

Very true!! It has heavily impacted our future decisions as to where we will stay. If you have to take the bus anyway, why pay extra