Is Monorail Reliability Enough To Make You Skip Poly/GF/Cont?

[rosiebean]

Just back from a stay at GF and have stayed at Poly twice. I've never, in those three trips, experienced issues with the monorail (and we used it extensively all trips).

Poly is a good location if there is an issue with the MK loop monorail (which seems to be the one with the most issues anecdotally). You can catch a boat to MK from Poly and can walk to the TCC for access to Epcot as well. When I stayed at Poly the first time, it was my dream resort too, so I'd say go for it!

 

[TomorrowlandKD]

This thread has officially made me more excited about my trip! haha

 

[Disneylover99]

The monorail makes me nervous. I've been stuck a few times on it for 10-15 minutes in between the Poly and the GF. That really doesn't sound like a very long time, but it seems like an eternity when it's packed and hot and you feel like there is no air to breathe. That being said, I love the Poly and I suck it up and get on the monorail when I need to. I would never skip the Poly because of the monorail.

 

[allsaintsatx]

Monorail had no bearing on our decision to stay at Polynesian. We always stay Beach/Yacht club and have grown tired of it. We also wanted to be closer to Magic Kingdom this trip. And we wanted a more "lively" deluxe this time with a fun atmosphere. Loooking forward to being able to see the fireworks and water parade from the beach. There is just a different feel at the MK resorts than at the Epcot resorts (which we still love, just needed a change).
We are actually more excited to take the boat to MK than the monorail. Then walk to TTC for the Epcot monorail.

While I'm not worried about it (we were stuck on it before), I will say that I will definitely visit the restroom before we board. Besides, you can always grab an Uber if you are worried, probably less than $10.

THE BOAT IS AWESOME!!!

 

[Aurora0427]

Hey everyone!

First time poster here. I've been a DisUnplugged fan for quite some time though.....

I'm headed to the Poly January 1-7. This is probably my 25th or so time down in WDW and couldn't be more excited to finally stay at the Poly. HOWEVER, I've been reading quite often lately the reliability of the monorail and it shutting down a lot. Is this truly the case lately? Also, if one is booking Poly/GF/Cont for the ease of not needing a car and using the monorail to get to MK and EPCOT, should I be concerned with the shut downs of the monorail all the time? Or is there a good chance there won't be an issue.

I can save a few hundred dollars on the trip and switch the Boardwalk Villas or Yacht Club (obviously with walking distance to the IG), so I'm curious if I should just switch over.

Any help would be great.

Love this board! Thanks guys

-Kyle

We just spent 11 nights at the Polynesian and experienced ZERO issues with the monorails. And we rode them all the time.

 

[Apopper74]

I have stayed at both Cont and Poly on separate trips and both trips had inconsistent running of the monorail. There are so many options for transportation I wouldn't change plans because of it. If you would prefer to be in the Epcot area and saving money than switch, I wouldn't base a decision on the unknown.

 

[Nancyg56]

I love the monorail and consider it one of my favorite "attractions." I would book the Poly or the Grand even if the monorail was taken down my entire trip, though. No resort has perfect transportation, so book the resort you want and you will be happy. If you book solely for ease of transportation you may be setting yourself up for disappointment becuase there is always the potential for a glitch.

 

[Silvermist999]

We've stayed at the monorail resorts for all of our trips. We've never experienced the delays or issues that some people warn about. Sure, there's a wait or sometimes it can get crowded, but that's with any mode of Disney transport. Enjoy the Poly, we love it there!

 

[AngiTN]

Monorail issues alone? No.
Combine that and the fact that I don't care for the 3 monorail resorts as much as I do others (WL or BWI) then it is enough to push them over the top and I will opt to stay elsewhere and the monorail is a significant factor. I could get past some of the things I like less about the resorts and stay on the monorail line if I knew when I stayed there it wouldn't ever be down.

 

[Leelo]

We were there in May for 8 days and the monorail worked every time for us. You aren't completely stranded though since you can ride the boats or walk to the TTC and ride the ferry. We LOVED the Poly!!

 

[quandrea]

Monorail had no bearing on our decision to stay at Polynesian. We always stay Beach/Yacht club and have grown tired of it. We also wanted to be closer to Magic Kingdom this trip. And we wanted a more "lively" deluxe this time with a fun atmosphere. Loooking forward to being able to see the fireworks and water parade from the beach. There is just a different feel at the MK resorts than at the Epcot resorts (which we still love, just needed a change).
We are actually more excited to take the boat to MK than the monorail. Then walk to TTC for the Epcot monorail.

While I'm not worried about it (we were stuck on it before), I will say that I will definitely visit the restroom before we board. Besides, you can always grab an Uber if you are worried, probably less than $10.

When we were at the Poly in August, the Monorail broke down at mk park close time. Total chaos. We simply walked to the Contemporary and grabbed a cab. Seven dollars. Stay at the Poly. Take an uber or even a cab if disaster strikes.

 

[spiceycat]

the ferry (you can walk to it from the Polyn) is my back up if the MK monorail does not work.

you can walk over to TTC and ride the monorail to Epcot - if the Epcot monorail is broken then you will ride a bus to Epcot.

you can still visit GF or CR - with GF I think the same small boat goes to GF. for CR you ride the ferry (if the monorail is down) to the MK and walk over to BLT/CR

 

[BK2014]

Last December, we were staying at the Boardwalk and had dinner reservations at the Grand Floridian. Bus from Boardwalk to MK was fine. The monorail was down so the only option to GF was boat. Unfortunately, it was a party night at MK and we were caught in the great flux of people leaving MK and party goers arriving. Waited an hour and a half for the boat to GF. Luckily, we had been planning on exploring GF before dinner, so we ended up being on time. But waiting for the boat was the longest wait for a ride all trip.

We love the monorail, but above is a recap of our experience in December 2016. The resort monorail was down multiple times that trip without warning. While there are other transportation options if the monorail goes down, it will likely still cause a delay.

 

[TomorrowlandKD]

We love the monorail, but above is a recap of our experience in December 2016. The resort monorail was down multiple times that trip without warning. While there are other transportation options if the monorail goes down, it will likely still cause a delay.

Thanks!

 

[melanielll]

We have stayed at The Contemporary for years. We have all but given up on the monorail. We walk to MK and drive everywhere else. It is unreliable and does not smell the freshest inside. It's failures of late do not make us not stay at The Contemporary, but we used it once on our last trip, zero times on the trip before that and once on the trip before that. These trips have all been within the past year. We are going again in December and plan on not using it at all.