Monorail security checks

[Lou'sMommy]

Hi all! I always appreciate your help when planning our Disney trips!

My daughter and I are super excited about our upcoming trip to DW during her Christmas vacation from school. We have ambitious plans on Dec. 30 (our first day in the parks). We are starting the day with early magic hours at HS then hopping to Epcot for the afternoon. From what I have read, that is the last day of the Epcot Christmas festivities which we really are looking forward to. However, we also want to see the special new years fireworks at MK at 6:30 that night....

Our plan is to ride the monorail from Epcot to MK in time to see the fireworks then head back on the monorail to Epcot for the rest of the evening. My question is about the bag check lines. Since my daughter has type 1 diabetes, traveling without a bag is not an option for us. Of course, we are hoping to minimize our time in the bag check. How does bag check work on the monorail travel between Epcot and MK and then back again?

Thanks for any advice you might have!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

How old is your daughter? Will you have a stroller?

Ambitious is right! Given that it's the busiest week of the year, I think you are going to be standing in a LOT of lines and probably not getting a whole lot of enjoyment of park time given that you are essentially visiting four parks that day! (Which is harried on even a moderately busy week.)

We traveled from Epcot back to Wilderness Lodge on a regular ole' Friday night last month and it took us an hour and a half - one way. Granted, the boat from the Contemporary to WL probably added 20 mins or so between the wait and the ride itself, which is only three minutes, so the journey from Epcot to the CR on the monorail took over an hour. It was crowded, too. Remember you have to change monorails at the TTC, so it's not just one train, it's two. Crowd levels impact lines there, and everywhere. Lines at the TTC to change monorails were all the way down to the pavement.

I was with you until the part about leaving Epcot to go to MK to see fireworks btw, lol. I think if you bag that idea, you should be ok, there is so much to see at Epcot at Christmastime. Or if you must do it, go out the International Gateway and take a cab from the BW to the MK or Poly beach or CR 4th floor ledge, etc., and back.

Is all this activity going to be tough on your DD given her Type 1 diabetes? On our Epcot day last month my pedometer registered 7.5 miles, and that was just going to one park, the journey there and back, and a little walking around our resort.

To answer your question, bag checks on the monorail are just like at the parks.

 

[thegales]

Pea-n-Me raises some great points. If you go forward with your plan, one positive is when you leave Epcot to go to MK via TTC, you don't have to go through the security bag check between Epcot and MK. However, coming back, you will be able to get to the monorail at MK, then switch at TTC with no bag check. But once you exit the monorail at Epcot, you are outside the security zone, and will have to go through bag check again at Epcot.

 

[Gehrig1B]

You might want to reconsider your plan and stay longer at Epcot then head to MK as the park is open until 2:00 am on the 30th! You could see the MK fireworks at midnight if you and your daughter are able to make it that late...

 

[Lou'sMommy]

Thanks for all your good advice. DD is 14 so she will be able to make it late into the night - in fact, better than I can! We had just read so much about the crowds at MK on NYE that I was nervous about going to see the special fireworks at MK on 12/31. I thought seeing them on 12/30 might be much easier. However, now that we found out the last day for the Epcot Christmas festivities is 12/30, we need to revise our plan - and just deal with being at MK on NYE.

Our revised plan is to spend the morning of 12/30 at HS then move to Epcot for the rest of the day. We can eat at the special holiday booths, see the decorations and enjoy the holiday storytellers and entertainment before it disappears! The next morning we will take the bus from the Swan to MK for EMH on 12/31 at MK and stay until we see the early fireworks at 6:30. Then monorail back to Epcot, walk/boat to the Swan to rest up until around 11:00. Then we will head back to Epcot for their special NYE fireworks.

I think this new plan will be a lot easier and will cut down on time wasted going back and forth between the parks. It also fits with the fastpasses and dining reservations we already had set up. Thanks again for helping us clarify the best ideas for this.

Also, thanks for the bag check info. We haven't ridden the monorails since riding them involved bag checks. I really appreciate knowing that if we monorail from Epcot to MK we do not have to go through another bag check line. It's too bad that in reverse order we do have to do the bag check when we arrive at Epcot.