Monorail problems

[Moxiepup]

On top of it's ongoing maintenance and operating issues at times .......... every time I see one I think of the 45 minute ride between stops .... These days I take the ferry or bus as a first choice if I can.

Is 45 minutes between stops normal even if the monorail is running properly? It's been many years since I last rode.

 

[ThornXBL]

Is 45 minutes between stops normal even if the monorail is running properly? It's been many years since I last rode.

Heh, no, thankfully. It's just how long it took when that video was made, because of the squirrel

 

[jhaig]

Too bad the unreliability of the monorail is not reflected in the prices you pay for staying at a monorail resort. It's not a benefit anymore, it's a detriment.

 

[Klayfish]

We've been riding the monorail since our first trip in Dec. 1971, when I was 8 years old.

I'm guessing somewhere along the line, they have to had replace them. I honestly don't remember what they looked like when I was kid, I only remember riding on them to MK from the Contemporary. Perhaps it's time to replace them again. I love to ride them still today, and although we are priced out of the monorail resorts these days, we still ride them for fun.

There is a narrative about the monorail system when you ride from Epcot back to MK (or is it the other way?) and it talks about how old the trains are. I don't remember the exact years, but the 1971 originals were replaced twice. Once in the early 80s and again in the late 80s/early 90s. So the current trains are pretty old. They definitely have some issues, but I think it's a bit overblown, kind of like the whole "1/2 of Hollywood studios is closed so don't bother" silliness. We stay off site and MK is our favorite park, so we ride the monorail often. Yeah, it's down way more than we'd like it to be, that stinks. It needs updating/upgrading for sure. But we've never been stuck on it for any real length of time. When it's not running, our experience is that they do a nice job of using the ferry and/or buses. The ferry can carry a ton of people and there are 3 of them, so they can get a lot of people back and forth. So while I completely agree with others that I'd love to see the system updated, but I don't at all see it as a detriment, I still see it as an attraction.

What I wonder is what the main problem is. Is it the cars, the track, or both? If it's the cars, is the fix as "simple" as taking off the old and putting on new? If it's the track, does the whole thing need to be torn down? I can't even imagine how much of a construction nightmare that would be.

 

[ErinsMommy]

Maybe the Disney engineers needs some guidance from those that built and work on keeping the NYC subway running 24/7.

 

[Eastern]

I think the monorail has been down at some point during every trip I have taken. Unfortunately, the transportation staff seems to be the least informed/most unhelpful/least courteous of the CM population. Maybe it's because of the stress level when things break down and everyone gets mad at them. I don't mind when they 'don't know' but I have been given wrong information more than once by transportation CMs.

 

[AngiTN]

There is a narrative about the monorail system when you ride from Epcot back to MK (or is it the other way?) and it talks about how old the trains are. I don't remember the exact years, but the 1971 originals were replaced twice. Once in the early 80s and again in the late 80s/early 90s. So the current trains are pretty old. They definitely have some issues, but I think it's a bit overblown, kind of like the whole "1/2 of Hollywood studios is closed so don't bother" silliness. We stay off site and MK is our favorite park, so we ride the monorail often. Yeah, it's down way more than we'd like it to be, that stinks. It needs updating/upgrading for sure. But we've never been stuck on it for any real length of time. When it's not running, our experience is that they do a nice job of using the ferry and/or buses. The ferry can carry a ton of people and there are 3 of them, so they can get a lot of people back and forth. So while I completely agree with others that I'd love to see the system updated, but I don't at all see it as a detriment, I still see it as an attraction.

What I wonder is what the main problem is. Is it the cars, the track, or both? If it's the cars, is the fix as "simple" as taking off the old and putting on new? If it's the track, does the whole thing need to be torn down? I can't even imagine how much of a construction nightmare that would be.

When you are staying in one of the monorail resorts and you loose your main form of transportation to the MK it is not overblown. These resorts on the monorail line charge a premium because they are on the monorail line. While the TTC does have the ferry and it is a good replacement for the monorail the resorts don't. They have a small boat that doesn't begin to replace the monorail. When they plan the outage and bring buses in it helps a lot but unplanned outages, which are too frequent, can really delay getting to the park.

 

[Klayfish]

When you are staying in one of the monorail resorts and you loose your main form of transportation to the MK it is not overblown. These resorts on the monorail line charge a premium because they are on the monorail line. While the TTC does have the ferry and it is a good replacement for the monorail the resorts don't. They have a small boat that doesn't begin to replace the monorail. When they plan the outage and bring buses in it helps a lot but unplanned outages, which are too frequent, can really delay getting to the park.

Yeah, I don't necessarily disagree there. I don't have any specific stats, so it's all anecdotal, but I don't think it's the resort monorail that's the biggest issue. The overwhelming majority of the time when we get to the TTC and the monorail is down, it's just the Express that's not running. The resort one seem to almost always be up and running....as does the MK/Epcot rail. It's the Express that seems to have major issues. If the resort one went down often, and unplanned, yeah that would not be fun. I just don't see that from our experience.

 

[danikoski]

Yeah, I don't necessarily disagree there. I don't have any specific stats, so it's all anecdotal, but I don't think it's the resort monorail that's the biggest issue. The overwhelming majority of the time when we get to the TTC and the monorail is down, it's just the Express that's not running. The resort one seem to almost always be up and running....as does the MK/Epcot rail. It's the Express that seems to have major issues. If the resort one went down often, and unplanned, yeah that would not be fun. I just don't see that from our experience.

Last week, it was both resort and express that kept going down. I know at least twice it was just the resort one that went down.

 

[AngiTN]

Yeah, I don't necessarily disagree there. I don't have any specific stats, so it's all anecdotal, but I don't think it's the resort monorail that's the biggest issue. The overwhelming majority of the time when we get to the TTC and the monorail is down, it's just the Express that's not running. The resort one seem to almost always be up and running....as does the MK/Epcot rail. It's the Express that seems to have major issues. If the resort one went down often, and unplanned, yeah that would not be fun. I just don't see that from our experience.

Oh, the resort one is down often. I've never stayed at a monorail resort and had it working 100% of the time. Especially early AM for rope drop. I've even had the TTC/Epcot line out, had to take a bus from TTC to Epcot. And gotten stuck on the monorail from TTC to Epcot, causing us to miss our Behind the Seeds Tour. It really only takes you missing something once to really sour you on the entire thing

 

[Accident]

Doesn't the multi-year refurb end on 2/28/2017???? (yes I googled to find reference) and many sites had 2/28/2017 as the date it would end.

 

[AngiTN]

Doesn't the multi-year refurb end on 2/28/2017???? (yes I googled to find reference) and many sites had 2/28/2017 as the date it would end.

Could be. That should end the planned outage times but I think we all know it won't fixed the unplanned ones. I am not sure which causes the more down time, planned or unplanned.

 

[gillep]

This is exactly why I do not consider the monorail a benefit at MK resorts. I really hate the thing.

Completely agree! I don't even factor the monorail in as a transportation option when we are in WDW. I will take it as a last resort if we are casually going back to MK at night after dinner at a monorail restaurant, but only if we have no real plans or FP, and am just trying to get in a little extra time at the parks with no real expectations.