Monorail contruction- significant impact on my trip- fyi

[DisneyHomework]

I may have missed it- but I was shocked to have not seen this on the disboards prior to my most recent trip. Paid an obvious premium to be on the monorail at BLT, booked all dinners on monorail (traveling with 1yo for the first time), and monorail is NOT running from 11:30am-7:00pm for several months. I was told I should have received a call about this from reservations, but did not. This meant that for afternoon naps, no monorail. For 6pm dinner reservations 1 stop away at poly, no monorail, etc etc.

Obviously you have no choice but to deal with it, but I really wish I had known to prepare myself, or potentially choose a different villa, if the whole point of being on the monorail wasn't going to be an option. Please feel free to contact with questions, it was a significant impact for us given our needs on this particular trip.

 

[drew64]

It was posted and discussed for quite awhile here and on multiple sites.

 

[DisneyHomework]

Ok... just posting incase it helps others. I missed it, and I do an above average amount of research for a trip, maybe less than people on this site, but more than the average planner I would say. The resort's site also prominently displays the monorail as their primary method of transportation, with no mention of the closures. It needs to be disclosed. In my opinion, you don't choose Contemporary for the décor or theme, you're clearly picking it for the monorail option as a primary driver, so not having that is very frustrating.

 

[HairyChest]

I agree with you. The problem is you have to search for this type of information. Disney should be posting this right next to the hotel info when you are booking and have a confirmation pop up.
When you are booking these deluxes it says monorail is a form of transportation, but they really need to put the monorail bieng down information right there.
This isnt just with the monorail either. Its also with the construction going on at the polynesian. You have to dig up this information and much of it speculation when most people are saving for years to take once in a lifetime trips. We are lucky since we are proactive and on these boards but im sure there are tons of people out there not in the know.

 

[Disneylvr]

How much longer is this construction going on?

 

[dansdad]

How much longer is this construction going on?

I'm pretty sure until the end of March.

 

[patty57]

It's really too bad that you missed all the discussion here about it. You would have had the option to change resorts. I agree with you that this should be coming from WDW. Why should resort guests have to comb through other websites for this information when they should be hearing it directly from their resort? WDW telling you that you should have received a call when you didn't, is just beyond ridiculous. I, for one, am grateful to the DIS for all the information that we don't get from WDW.

 

[kaytieeldr]

But the transportation options for each Magic Kingdom-area property do include "bus". Granted, it's not typical to expect to take a bus from the Contemporary to the Polynesian, but it can be necessary.

Just a guess, but most likely the information isn't on the affected park/resorts pages on the Disney website because
The work is temporary (less than two months)
The monorail isn't unavailable all day, just part of the day
No planned closures at all on weekends

 

[patty57]

But the transportation options for each Magic Kingdom-area property do include "bus". Granted, it's not typical to expect to take a bus from the Contemporary to the Polynesian, but it can be necessary.

Just a guess, but most likely the information isn't on the affected park/resorts pages on the Disney website because
The work is temporary (less than two months)
The monorail isn't unavailable all day, just part of the day
No planned closures at all on weekends

While I agree that this is all true, I also think people pay the premium to be on the monorail...to use the monorail. It's a very big part of why they stay where they do, and they should be informed. Wanted to add that it doesn't matter if the work is temporary if it's happening during your vacation.

 

[kmb584]

While I agree that this is all true, I also think people pay the premium to be on the monorail...to use the monorail. It's a very big part of why they stay where they do, and they should be informed. Wanted to add that it doesn't matter if the work is temporary if it's happening during your vacation.

I agree. The markup for monorail resorts can sometimes be hundreds more per night simply because that resort is on the monorail line and most people who pay those rates do so because of that fact.

I think Disney needs to be more proactive in letting their guests know of monorail closures too. No one should have to come to a message board for a pertinent piece of information. It should be readily available and easily seen when one goes to book a room at a monorail resort during a maintenance stretch.

 

[hsmamato2]

While I agree that this is all true, I also think people pay the premium to be on the monorail...to use the monorail. It's a very big part of why they stay where they do, and they should be informed. Wanted to add that it doesn't matter if the work is temporary if it's happening during your vacation.

I agree this is extremely poor customer service not NOT notify guests staying during those times. They don't notify anyone, because most guests would do exactly what I would do, stay elsewhere. Those hotels are VERY high priced, based on that one thing. ( I firmly believe this, there are nice views in a lot of places,these are called monorail hotels)Buses (especially at those hotels noted) are NOT the same at all. What OP described meant a difference of a 5 minute ride vs. a long and harried bus route...ugh. It should be more public.

 

[kneedeep]

I may have missed it- but I was shocked to have not seen this on the disboards prior to my most recent trip. Paid an obvious premium to be on the monorail at BLT, booked all dinners on monorail (traveling with 1yo for the first time), and monorail is NOT running from 11:30am-7:00pm for several months. I was told I should have received a call about this from reservations, but did not. This meant that for afternoon naps, no monorail. For 6pm dinner reservations 1 stop away at poly, no monorail, etc etc.

Obviously you have no choice but to deal with it, but I really wish I had known to prepare myself, or potentially choose a different villa, if the whole point of being on the monorail wasn't going to be an option. Please feel free to contact with questions, it was a significant impact for us given our needs on this particular trip.

OP, how long was your stay, and was this closure in effect each day? We are staying at BLT the last week in March, and I had heard some speculation that the closures would be intermittent, but could happen anytime between 11:30am-7:00pm. Was your experience that there was no monorail service at all on any day during those hours?

FWIW, I agree that the closure info should have been provided to you when you booked your stay. (Or, if you booked prior to its announcement, an email update should have been sent to you.) But there doesn't seem to be any consistent protocol for this on Disney's part. A similar thing happened to us a couple of years ago when we stayed at the Beach Club and it turned out the boats were not operational during our stay. We never received any advance notice (it was not even mentioned upon check-in, just a sign at the boat dock). At least at that location walking was still an option...

 

[morethananyonex]

OP, how long was your stay, and was this closure in effect each day? We are staying at BLT the last week in March, and I had heard some speculation that the closures would be intermittent, but could happen anytime between 11:30am-7:00pm. Was your experience that there was no monorail service at all on any day during those hours?

FWIW, I agree that the closure info should have been provided to you when you booked your stay. (Or, if you booked prior to its announcement, an email update should have been sent to you.) But there doesn't seem to be any consistent protocol for this on Disney's part. A similar thing happened to us a couple of years ago when we stayed at the Beach Club and it turned out the boats were not operational during our stay. We never received any advance notice (it was not even mentioned upon check-in, just a sign at the boat dock). At least at that location walking was still an option...

We stayed at BLT for almost 2 weeks in early February. We had also read here before we went the closures could be intermittent, in our experience they were not. We talked to a CM "guarding" the entrance at CR (yes, they had 2 CM's whose job it was to stand there all day telling people why the monorail was closed lol), and he said this closure is likely to take up the full 1130-7 scheduled time on weekdays, as it's contractors they have hired to work directly on the monorail line. It's not the same situation as previous closures, like when they were working on VGF and had to close the monorail.

As far as we noticed, the hours are pretty accurate.

 

[MuggleMamaX4]

Just got back from a stay at the Contemporary 2/23-3/1, it was a complete debacle not having the monorail running.

I too had no idea, my jaw literally dropped at check in when I was notified. My mother has bad arthritis and wanted to head back to the resort mid day with our stroller sleeping child and had to fold up the stroller, and carry the child. Not a minor blip, but a huge deal for us. We paid significantly more to stay at a monorail resort so that we did not have to fold up the stroller. It was a hassle and often I walked back to the resort instead, my feet were already killing me. Very, very upset that they did not notify us ahead of time.

It was Monday - Friday, what kind of company does repair work during the day??? I thought for sure she had mis-spoke and meant 11:30 pm - 7:00 am.
Just ridiculous.

 

[LvsTnk]

I may have missed it- but I was shocked to have not seen this on the disboards prior to my most recent trip. Paid an obvious premium to be on the monorail at BLT, booked all dinners on monorail (traveling with 1yo for the first time), and monorail is NOT running from 11:30am-7:00pm for several months. I was told I should have received a call about this from reservations, but did not. This meant that for afternoon naps, no monorail. For 6pm dinner reservations 1 stop away at poly, no monorail, etc etc.

Obviously you have no choice but to deal with it, but I really wish I had known to prepare myself, or potentially choose a different villa, if the whole point of being on the monorail wasn't going to be an option. Please feel free to contact with questions, it was a significant impact for us given our needs on this particular trip.

Thank you for posting! Nothing substitutes a first hand acct. as things change so much from one day to the next. I have been able to plan better transportation due to these reports. Apparently the bus service to TTC isn't great either it's taking a really long time to get from place to place.

I am using my pts for a DVC stay this trip so due it being peak season I am pretty much locked in. I really appreciate people who come back and post.

 

[LvsTnk]

On a side note I was looking for this info a few days ago and if I didn't know what I was looking for I wouldn't have found it.

It doesn't take much for something to slip out of sight back a couple of pages.

 

[morethananyonex]

Thank you for posting! Nothing substitutes a first hand acct. as things change so much from one day to the next. I have been able to plan better transportation due to these reports. Apparently the bus service to TTC isn't great either it's taking a really long time to get from place to place.

I am using my pts for a DVC stay this trip so due it being peak season I am pretty much locked in. I really appreciate people who come back and post.

It really does take much longer than normal to get anywhere on the monorail routes when the resort one is down. If at all possible change monorail resort dining to early breakfasts that will end before 11:30, dinners that start after 7, or weekends. Schedule your Epcot days on the weekends or stay there between 11:30 and 7.

Being at BLT the monorail going down isn't a big deal for MK unless you have mobility issues. Walking to MK is faster than taking a monorail there, and walking back isn't too much longer than the monorail back. Consider yourself lucky you booked at BLT not VGF. I think GF guests get hit the hardest.

 

[LvsTnk]

It really does take much longer than normal to get anywhere on the monorail routes when the resort one is down. If at all possible change monorail resort dining to early breakfasts that will end before 11:30, dinners that start after 7, or weekends. Schedule your Epcot days on the weekends or stay there between 11:30 and 7.

Being at BLT the monorail going down isn't a big deal for MK unless you have mobility issues. Walking to MK is faster than taking a monorail there, and walking back isn't too much longer than the monorail back. Consider yourself lucky you booked at BLT not VGF. I think GF guests get hit the hardest.

Thanks again! I have a son with special needs and it's usually just the 2 of us. I am really lucky DD is coming down since there will be alot more pushing and breaking down his wheelchair. I was really looking forward to having that monorail convenience.

 

[Dis703]

Oh wow, OP so sorry you missed that info. I would have been so upset if it were me. I do agree they should have done more to make sure their guests during that time were well aware. The monorail is a huge part of why people pay more money to stay at those resorts to have it out of commission for such a large part of the day would have likely changed a lot of people's minds about whether it was worth the cost to stay there. Or would at least potentially change how they did their trip with ADRs etc.

I hope you were still able to enjoy most of your trip.

 

[abner1776]

I guess it pays to be a Disboard regular because I was very much aware of the monorail closure for some time prior to my stay at the GF earlier in Feb. It also pays to have a DD who is a WDW nut and knows everything going on at WDW but as I recall, the closure was common knowledge on the Disboards.

I was staying at the GF on convention rates so I can't complain too much but the transportation substitutions for the monorail were terrible and required much more time than the monorail....I mean really...45 minutes to go from the boat dock at the GF to MK ??...the monorail would have taken 45 seconds !!

My guess for why the work could not be done in the off hours is because it would be too noisy while people are sleeping...the workers were replacing the ceramic standoff supports that attach the live rail to the concrete columns and there are a zillion of these supports on each of the loops and from what I could see, they were going about 200' per day.