MONORAIL CLOSURE - What a BUMMER!

[FIRSTTRIPTODISNEY]

I am new here to the disboards and I need some advice.

Our family booked our vacation over 6 months ago and we are staying at the Contemporary Resort for 10 days in early March.

I just found out today that the monorail will be closed weekdays from 11:30AM-7PM during our stay. I have 9-month-old twins and we needed to rely on the monorail for our mid-day breaks. And feedings/naps. And for our transportation to the Poly and Grand Floridian for lunch & early dinner meals. And for park hopping to Epcot, etc. And my elderly parents needed to rely on the monorail too.

I don't want to take buses and boats. We are paying a premium for the convenience of the monorail at a DELUXE MONORAIL RESORT, which is why we selected a monorail resort over 6 months ago.

And I am confused why Disney hasn't notified us of this monorail closure information? A letter or an email or something. Anything. It was upsetting to read about it on another website.

And they just announced this closure 1 month ago? That is ridiculous considering they encourage customers to book dining reservations 180 days out and FP+ 60 days out.

Is anyone else affected by this? Have you complained? I understand the monorail needs maintenence. But the LACK OF NOTICE and SHORT NOTICE is frustrating and unacceptable.

We are considering cancelling our trip. Our infant twins won't remember the trip anyways.

 

[pellegirl]

Since it is the Contemporary you can always walk to MK and back for the breaks. I just found out our pool is closed when we are visiting but we aren't going to change resorts. The ADR's and FP+ selections aren't contingent on staying at any particular resort just as long as you are a resort guest. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

 

[wisblue]

That definitely is a bummer., and would make me mad too.

Obviously, deciding whether or not to cancel your trip is up to you. But, I would definitely be contacting Disney to let them know that access to the monorail all day was a very important part of your decision to book at the Contemporary, and that their alternative transportation will not work well for you. You might also want to think about what would be reasonable to compensate you for the inconvenience (if you would rather not cancel).

 

[kappyfamily]

I'm also at the contemporary in 35 days. I don't mind much because the walk to MK is SO easy. There is also a boat launch. Remember it is open on weekends, and really the only time we take the monorail is early in the morning and in the evening when it will be back on. The CR is worth it!

 

[morethananyonex]

We're in a similar situation to you. It sucks, and is disappointing, especially when your decision was based hugely on the ease of getting around the MK area. I completely sympathize. However, it may not be as awful as you are imagining.

When the monorail is down, Poly and CR are less inconvenienced than GF guests, so that's a positive for you (kind of). As a CR guest, you can walk from CR to MK. The walk is about 10 minutes. You won't be losing any time getting back to the room during the day with the monorail down. Epcot is a bit of a pain now, from what I've read there will be a bus that goes from the monorail resorts to the TTC, and from there you transfer to the Epcot monorail. The bus part is crappy with small children, no way around that. We're trying to minimize our back and forth during the day on our non MK days.

Your elderly parents are a more complicated issue. Can they do the walk from MK to CR? Keep in mind, even with the monorail running they would have to walk to the station and up the ramp. The walk to CR may still be doable.

To get to Poly and GF, the easiest way when the monorail is down IMO is to walk to the MK and take the boat launch. It goes MK, GF, Poly, MK. If there is a bus that exists that does the monorail loop, that is another option. I have read that last time the monorail was down that bus was slow though.

Do you know about the baby centers in the park? You can feed your babies in there if you want instead of taking them all the way back to the room.

As for Disney contacting people, I personally have heard nothing from them about the closure, but I did read on here that someone received a letter. As far as notice goes, I think this is actually one of their earlier announcements for a monorail closure, so there's that.

We're going in it with an open mind, but if it does negatively effect our trip enough I will go to guest services and complain. We chose to stay there because it's such a convenient hotel with a toddler, there was nothing desirable to switch to so we decided to stick it out and see what happens.

 

[mom2rtk]

I am new here to the disboards and I need some advice.

Our family booked our vacation over 6 months ago and we are staying at the Contemporary Resort for 10 days in early March.

I just found out today that the monorail will be closed weekdays from 11:30AM-7PM during our stay. I have 9-month-old twins and we needed to rely on the monorail for our mid-day breaks. And feedings/naps. And for our transportation to the Poly and Grand Floridian for lunch & early dinner meals. And for park hopping to Epcot, etc. And my elderly parents needed to rely on the monorail too.

I don't want to take buses and boats. We are paying a premium for the convenience of the monorail at a DELUXE MONORAIL RESORT, which is why we selected a monorail resort over 6 months ago.

And I am confused why Disney hasn't notified us of this monorail closure information? A letter or an email or something. Anything. It was upsetting to read about it on another website.

And they just announced this closure 1 month ago? That is ridiculous considering they encourage customers to book dining reservations 180 days out and FP+ 60 days out.

Is anyone else affected by this? Have you complained? I understand the monorail needs maintenence. But the LACK OF NOTICE and SHORT NOTICE is frustrating and unacceptable.

We are considering cancelling our trip. Our infant twins won't remember the trip anyways.

They haven't notified people because they don't want to lose business at some of the most expensive resorts on property.

I would be frustrated too. Yes, you can walk to the MK, but I would imagine you also planned on monorailing to Epcot.

Just make sure that if you decide to cancel that you let Disney know WHY you cancelled.

 

[DLFT]

I can understand why the monorail is in desperate need of maintenance. The system was designed over 40 years ago when WDW had a couple resorts and one park that was open the first month from 10am-6pm. Now, park hours are much longer, and during X-Mas week, the MK is on some days open as early as 7am and closes as late as 3am for resort guests (and they usually run the monorail during EMH on X-Mas week). Plus you have the extra Epcot guests that hop over to the MK monorail lines. I've heard this "refurb" is to make some improvements that may eventually allow the system to be partially automated or at least improved, and the monorail NEEDS it badly.

I could go either way as to whether or not you should reconsider your visit.

 

[FIRSTTRIPTODISNEY]

Thank you so much for all of the insightful thoughts & helpful suggestions.

I really, really appreciate it!

I just think it is UNACCEPTABLE that Disney has made ZERO effort to notify us and other arriving guests of the monorail closure. We are paying BIG MONEY for the perk/convenience/whatever you want to call it of staying at a Deluxe Resort on the Monorail line and having that convenience taken away is frustrating.

I can only imagine how many people will be showing up to the Contemporary, Poly, and Grand Floridian WITHOUT even knowing about the closure.

Again, thanks for sharing your $0.02 with me.

 

[princessallegra]

I am new here to the disboards and I need some advice.

Our family booked our vacation over 6 months ago and we are staying at the Contemporary Resort for 10 days in early March.

I just found out today that the monorail will be closed weekdays from 11:30AM-7PM during our stay. I have 9-month-old twins and we needed to rely on the monorail for our mid-day breaks. And feedings/naps. And for our transportation to the Poly and Grand Floridian for lunch & early dinner meals. And for park hopping to Epcot, etc. And my elderly parents needed to rely on the monorail too.

I don't want to take buses and boats. We are paying a premium for the convenience of the monorail at a DELUXE MONORAIL RESORT, which is why we selected a monorail resort over 6 months ago.

And I am confused why Disney hasn't notified us of this monorail closure information? A letter or an email or something. Anything. It was upsetting to read about it on another website.

And they just announced this closure 1 month ago? That is ridiculous considering they encourage customers to book dining reservations 180 days out and FP+ 60 days out.

Is anyone else affected by this? Have you complained? I understand the monorail needs maintenence. But the LACK OF NOTICE and SHORT NOTICE is frustrating and unacceptable.

We are considering cancelling our trip. Our infant twins won't remember the trip anyways.

Yes, everyone who is also staying at a monorail resort is affected. Your options are: cancel, make the best of it (5 min walk to/from MK, buses, boats), or switch to an epcot resort where you can walk to 2 parks.

 

[Marthasor]

I was in the same situation - had CR booked for mid-February at a great rate. Once I heard about the monorail maintenance, I decided to switch resorts and we are now staying at BWI. This completely affected our touring and dining plans and we will now spend more time in EP and DHS than I originally planned and I switched my dining reservations to that area as well, but I'm ok with the switch. It will just be a slightly different trip than I originally planned and I will be at a different, but equally wonderful resort.

If you are upset by it, you may want to consider switching. Would you consider the Wilderness Lodge? It's a boat ride to MK as opposed to the monorail, but with the monorail down, it may actually offer easier access to MK than the monorail resorts (except prior to 11:30 am).

Or you may consider changing your reservation dates to avoid the $200 cancellation fee. If you are going in early March, you must have paid the balance at this point?

 

[Angel Ariel]

I completely understand why you're upset - I would be to! If I were you, I would e-mail Guest Relations with your complaint about not being notified at all (whether you go on the trip or not, this is feedback they need to get).

I hope the others' suggestions on how to make it work are helpful for you if you do decide to go!

 

[rymahoney]

We just checked out of poly. If the monorail was closed I would not pay the price to stay there even at a discounted rate. It was nice but without monorail we enjoyed our stay at aoa just as much.

 

[summermac]

There is no way I would be paying CRs rate with the monorail down. No way.

 

[andyman8]

If I were you, I'd be pretty peeved too, but more for the reason that Disney's kind of deceiving guests (by not notifying them) to ensure they can fill those hotel rooms. Considering the number one reason (according to guest surveys) people stay at the Contemporary is the monorail, I'd imagine this will be very interesting to see play out.

Anyways, use the boats between 11am and 7pm and the monorail during the other times and hopefully it won't put too much of a damper on your trip.

 

[PAcpl]

They haven't notified people because they don't want to lose business at some of the most expensive resorts on property.

I would be frustrated too. Yes, you can walk to the MK, but I would imagine you also planned on monorailing to Epcot.

Just make sure that if you decide to cancel that you let Disney know WHY you cancelled.

Wow, very disappointing. We have a MK view booked at Bay Lake and it will be our first stay in a resort on the Monorail.

Yes, we planned on obviously using the monorail to Epcot as well. I assume there will be busses, but that just sucks.

 

[FIRSTTRIPTODISNEY]

AND, YES! I have already paid IN FULL for our vacation package of 10 days at the Contemporary Resort.

AND, YES - I JUST FOUND OUT ABOUT THE MONORAIL CLOSURE (on a website, NOT FROM DISNEY!) TODAY!

 

[heidijanesmith]

Thank you so much for all of the insightful thoughts & helpful suggestions.

I really, really appreciate it!

I just think it is UNACCEPTABLE that Disney has made ZERO effort to notify us and other arriving guests of the monorail closure. We are paying BIG MONEY for the perk/convenience/whatever you want to call it of staying at a Deluxe Resort on the Monorail line and having that convenience taken away is frustrating.

I can only imagine how many people will be showing up to the Contemporary, Poly, and Grand Floridian WITHOUT even knowing about the closure.

Again, thanks for sharing your $0.02 with me.

I understand your frustration, when we were at the Poly in Oct 2013 the monorail closed with out notice. We just got a note put under our door. We ended up taking the boat to MK.

We didn't mind taking the boat in a prior Poly stay (very busy July), but that is when the monorail was open and dispersed some of the guests using the ferry. When the monorail was down that caused a lot more people to take the ferry, ending up in full boats and quite a bit more wait time. Oct is a slower month than July, but we ended up waiting quite a bit for the ferries in Oct.

I would talk to the CR staff upon arrival, knowing they can't change the monorail schedule, but Disney should be aware of your concerns.

We talked to the Poly club staff and a CM passed on our concerns to a manager at the Poly.

 

[bbak3030]

We are going in March too and I desperately wanted to stay at the CR. Until I heard about this and coupled with the $$, I booked POR. I don't blame you for being upset. No way would I pay those price if the monorail was down.

 

[jk and ek]

in the same boat over here. booked our first monorail resort for a portion of our trip because of the convenience of being able to go to/from the resort with our baby. tickets and flights were booked long before we learned of the closure, so canceling our trip is 100% not an option. it really sucks and would have 100% influence our decision to book there if we had known.

 

[Angie789]

Obviously, you have to weigh out your options, but for me personally? I'd cancel. (And I have two young kids & mobility impaired parents, too, so I get it.) The prices at the monorail resorts are astronomically high for the quality of what you are getting - the only thing that makes that price point make sense is the easy access to the monorail.

FWIW, I totally understand the need to refurb the monorail. But shame on Disney for not giving guests full disclosure about an issue that they know is a huge factor in choosing to stay there.