Monorail broken down on Epcot line.

[Hooked On The Mouse]

I'm curious if they talked to the passengers at all while they were on there waiting. Like made continuous announcements, to let them know what the hold up is, how long it's expected to be, offered words of comfort, etc. I would feel like I needed some info from the outside world lol.

I agree. If it was me on there for 3 hours and there was no announcement in that time, I would assume it was the apocalypse or a nuclear strike and I'd be going all Lord of the Flies.

 

[25eels]

I'm just seeing this post. I wasn't on that train, but my two children (9 and 14), brother and his girlfriend were. I'd left them at Epcot to make a BoG ADR with plans for us all to meet up at MK that evening. (Though BoG wasn't much better than a broken monorail train, IMO!)

My brother and his girlfriend are very easy-going and I'm sure they were doing an especially exceptional job of holding it together for the sake of my kids, who reportedly were also very patient and cooperative throughout the ordeal. They said the air conditioning never went off and that they appreciated the water. To my knowledge, no one was offered FastPasses or anything else, but they didn't ask for them either.

Their philosophy was that these things happen, and while it was not exactly fun, they weren't up in arms about it. Reading this now, though, it seems like WDW could have been more proactive about making sure everyone was taken care of afterward.

 

[WEDWDW]

They said the air conditioning never went off

I think that's what really helped the Guests "survive".

I was stranded on the Monorail just outside the Contemporary one time for about 20 minutes and it was MISERABLE.

I hate to think what it would have been like in this situation without AC.

 

[mattsdragon]

Anyone who felt they deserved further compensation should have gone to guest services at the park or their resort and asked for it. I have no doubt they would have received it. Could you imagine the bottleneck, confusion etc there would have been if all of the passengers on that train had been polled right then and there to ascertain what their individual compensation needs would have been? They SHOULD have been directed to guest services by whomever was handing out the water and FP.

This. . .absolutely. The water and FP wasn't meant to be the final consolation for this. I guarantee that if you contact guest services, you will be comped a free day in the parks.

To think they are going to be there at the exit point handing out things like that is a bit unrealistic. But a quick contact and they will take care of you.

Why is everyone so quick to attack corporations for being cheap? I get the frustration, and to be handed a bottle of water and a FP would have ticked me off, but I would have gone immediately to Guest Relations, not passing Go. If you say something, they WILL take care of you, and be very good about it. I've had great experience with them in this regard.

ETA. . .make sure you talk to a MANAGER. WDW is the largest single site employer in the state of Florida. The standard CM at GR is used to handing out birthday buttons. They don't know about, nor do they particularly care about every glitch that occurred throughout the entire complex. The managers are the ones that will ensure you get taken care of.

Case in point, at SWW in May, as the disaster of the line at Darth's Mall carried on, there was a poor girl that was telling people that from her point on, the wait time was an hour. . .she was off. . .badly. She didn't know the entire situation. But the GR manager I spoke with on the phone the next week sure did, and completely understood not only my frustration, but was able to compensate my family because of WDW's SNAFU.

As to the person's loss of their O'Hana meal. . .I won't get into my feelings on that other than to say that it's a shame, we love that place. But my feelings are that the entire ADR system and Free Dining promotion need to be addressed. It's stupid that some restaurants have absolutely ZERO walk ups available.

 

[JanaDee]

GPS is often less than helpful on property. What IS helpful is knowing the area you are in and the area you are going to. If trying to go somewhere in the Epcot area, first find those signs, follow them, then narrow it down to the exact place you are going. The signage is incredibly good in our opinions, as long a you aren't being confused by GPS telling you other things.

The signage is great, if you can read it fast enough as you drive by (as many as five or six things on one sign) and hope a big ol' bus isn't in the way.

 

[JanaDee]

Your experience is anecdotal; chances are you've never experienced a monorail problem either, but even if you have it's relatively rare. I think that if car delays got the kind of attention around here that monorail problems do we would see a lot more reports of them. There was a thread here recently about someone who drove to AK for rope drop but found the parking lot to be late opening and watched bus after bus drop off people ahead of them while they watched, and other people reported that to be a common problem.

That is part of the problem. Monorail problems are becoming almost an every-day occurrence. I know we had monorail issues every day we tried to use it last month.

 

[Csaks]

GPS is often less than helpful on property. What IS helpful is knowing the area you are in and the area you are going to. If trying to go somewhere in the Epcot area, first find those signs, follow them, then narrow it down to the exact place you are going. The signage is incredibly good in our opinions, as long a you aren't being confused by GPS telling you other things.

I find some who use GPS turn off their brains and just do what it tells you to do, even though the signs say different. Getting around Disney property is easy, never understood those that say its hard.
As for the monorails, we were stuck for 15 minutes last trip. Never again, we take the ferry all the time now. Nothing better than watching the Magic Kingdom get bigger as you cross the lake.

 

[larryz]

Your experience is anecdotal; chances are you've never experienced a monorail problem either, but even if you have it's relatively rare. I think that if car delays got the kind of attention around here that monorail problems do we would see a lot more reports of them. There was a thread here recently about someone who drove to AK for rope drop but found the parking lot to be late opening and watched bus after bus drop off people ahead of them while they watched, and other people reported that to be a common problem.

The longest Monorail delay we've experienced was 20 minutes or so, whereas we've waited as long as 40 minutes for a bus from our resort to the park we were headed.

 

[shyjade]

The longest Monorail delay we've experienced was 20 minutes or so, whereas we've waited as long as 40 minutes for a bus from our resort to the park we were headed.

Waiting for a bus is much different than being trapped in a monorail, IMO. You can always get out of the bus line if nature impatiently calls, but not on a monorail!

 

[lucas]

Waiting for a bus is much different than being trapped in a monorail, IMO. You can always get out of the bus line if nature impatiently calls, but not on a monorail!

Exactly!

 

[maxiesmom]

Anyone else thinking they may need a Monorail Preparedness Kit for their trip to WDW? Just in case of a breakdown? A bottle of water, a deck of cards, a few granola bars, and maybe a few black garbage bags? I'm only kind of kidding.

What else would you toss in your kit?

 

[Meshell2002]

Anyone else thinking they may need a Monorail Preparedness Kit for their trip to WDW? Just in case of a breakdown? A bottle of water, a deck of cards, a few granola bars, and maybe a few black garbage bags? I'm only kind of kidding.

What else would you toss in your kit?

I would add this....use it with the bottle left over after drinking the water

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B5J0AA0...e=asn&creative=395097&creativeASIN=B00B5J0AA0

 

[GrumpySue]

I agree. If it was me on there for 3 hours and there was no announcement in that time, I would assume it was the apocalypse or a nuclear strike and I'd be going all Lord of the Flies.

I've often wondered about this, I have never heard any annoucement on the Monorail, do they have an intercom to talk to the passengers ?? I would definately need to know what was going on, can anyone confirm ??? Going in a few months a have pretty bad anxiety about close spaces, but would hate to avoid the Monorail.

 

[mesaboy2]

I've often wondered about this, I have never heard any annoucement on the Monorail, do they have an intercom to talk to the passengers ?? I would definately need to know what was going on, can anyone confirm ??? Going in a few months a have pretty bad anxiety about close spaces, but would hate to avoid the Monorail.

They do. I've heard it many times during a pause when they often explain they're waiting for traffic ahead to clear.

 

[JanaDee]

I've often wondered about this, I have never heard any annoucement on the Monorail, do they have an intercom to talk to the passengers ?? I would definately need to know what was going on, can anyone confirm ??? Going in a few months a have pretty bad anxiety about close spaces, but would hate to avoid the Monorail.

The pilots do make announcements, but if it isn't the pre-recorded type, they are typically so garbled you can't understand a word they are saying. We typically listen, look at each other, shrug our shoulders and say "I have no idea what they just said."

 

[erincon23]

We once had a very serious issue. Our now 25 year old son was 4. At that time, when it was time to exit the busses, they opened front and back doors. We started to go out the back door, and the bus driver shouted and swore at my son. He slammed the door shut, which caught my son's leg. Then he started to drive. The other passengers pried the door open and freed my son. The bus driver was. Still swearing.

We marched to guest services and got a lackluster response. We went to the front desk at the GF, where we were staying, and got a lackluster response.

We demanded the hotel manager, and got him. And then things started to happen. The bus driver was fired (and rightfully so. As there could have been a fatality).

By the next morning, every bus on property had a sign to only exit the front doors, and there was a safety spiel.

A giant Pooh and a letter from Mickey appeared in our room. And a night was comped on our package.

Going up the food chain sometimes is essential.

The same thing happened to me when I was a child (not at Disney, but a Chicago CTA bus). It's VERY scary! Glad your son was ok.

 

[Fire14]

Ok dumb question from me. How the heck do I get from Epcot to MK if monorail should decide it wants to break? Do buses run to CR, GF, Poly. I honestly don't think I've ever thought about this. I know we had heck of time getting from DHS to YC for a dinner when boats went down, and than WE had no choice but to take boat or hoof it where ever we were off to after that ( probably Epcot). and How the heck do you get to Poly or GF from MK if monorail isn't running, is there boats I've missed in my trips to WDW.

 

[mesaboy2]

Ok dumb question from me. How the heck do I get from Epcot to MK if monorail should decide it wants to break? Do buses run to CR, GF, Poly. I honestly don't think I've ever thought about this. I know we had heck of time getting from DHS to YC for a dinner when boats went down, and than WE had no choice but to take boat or hoof it where ever we were off to after that ( probably Epcot). and How the heck do you get to Poly or GF from MK if monorail isn't running, is there boats I've missed in my trips to WDW.

There are boats, and they're quite nice.

 

[Fire14]

There are boats, and they're quite nice.

ok I will have to check them out. Have done from MK to FW or WL but never other resorts in MK area.

 

[njmom76]

Wow! Glad that was our AK day. We stayed at the Poly expressly because of the monorail to MK and EPCOT with our double stroller and 2 little ones. Luckily, we only experienced one problem during our 8 days and we just took the ferry from the MK to the TTC. The boats to the Poly are nice, but would have required folding up the stroller that my 8 month old was asleep in.