Monorail Upgrade Warning

[JanaDee]

If they think they are giving out the correct information they are not going to double check. And it would be a huge waste of their time and the guest's times if they did. I don't want CMs who have to refer to someone else first every time a guest asks them a question.

No wonder Disney doesn't seem the least bit concerned about their CS going down the toilet.

 

[maxiesmom]

There was no excuse for this, Disney had already been taking the resort monorail down during the day for weeks. She wasn't busy with someone else and clearly wasn't doing something more compelling. I don't know if she was driven by sloth or pride but she had no problem giving me wrong information that would leave me scrambling (and probably late for an ADR) rather than looking it up.

I know it's your natural reaction to defend Disney but you should cut your losses on this one. The customer service in this case was 100% bad, 0% magical.

That comment was in reference to no person's exact situation. But rather to the suggestion that every CM double check everything they tell a guest, every time. My point was that the CM probably thought they were giving out the right information, so why would they double check? I wasn't arguing that they screwed up. But sometimes mistakes are honest mistakes, and not "driven by sloth or pride".

 

[Fantasmic303]

I understand what you're saying and agree that if they think they're telling you the right thing, there's no need to confirm the information, but at least two of us on this thread shared experiences where we questioned the information and still the CM insisted otherwise. That's when I think the CM should take a moment to confirm what they're saying.

In my case at BLT, the CM actually told me at least twice to take the monorail (at 8:15, when it wasn't running) before he finally gave up and got a times guide to check what I was telling him. Then when he DID see that he was wrong, he told me the only way to get there was to take a cab, which I thought then and know now wasn't true.

Basically, I think of it like the grocery store. I don't expect the cashier to double check every single price tag, but if I notice the toothpaste rang up the wrong price, I hope they'll at least call someone else to go check the sign, rather than insisting to me that I'm wrong about the sale.

We're Disney veterans, and it always makes me sad when things like this go on because I feel pretty informed, and if I'M confused, I can't imagine how stressful it would be for a family who doesn't know the right questions to ask.

 

[minniemouse803]

Did you share buses with any of the other monorail resorts?

We did as there were people on them when they got to the GF but mostly there were very few people. Often people would get off at the GF for presumably a breakfast ADR.

We went in a group of 9 and 4 of them got on a bus before us to the Poly and we got on the next bus. We beat them there as our bus when straight to the Poly and their's stopped first at the TTC. I think they do a variety of patterns as we sometimes went straight to the MK, sometimes stopped at the Poly or the Contemporary before MK. Either way it didn't take exceptionally long to get there and we arrived in plenty of time.

 

[pogopossum]

the MK buses are shared routes. for the most part they are paired with another resort. usually the CR and Poly are linked together and the WL and GF are linked together. that is also the order that they run from resort to resort. so if you are at GF the bus will be coming from WL then on to the parks. we usually did not have trouble in the morning getting buses or seats at the GF. but as was stated earlier, going to AK or BB or TL was a bit of a wait compared to other parks.

 

[pogopossum]

we actually thought about taking our car to the water parks, which would have been ok at BB, if we were just going there, but we had afternoon adr at T Rex and didn't want to hassle with the construction at downtown. as far as TL, the only drawback to bus is having to get back from epcot in the afternoon. for us the day we went that was fine since monorails were running and we staying at GF. otherwise you have to ride the bus back to the resort.

 

[pogopossum]

The monorail was hit or miss. It seemed to run fine sometimes but mostly we had extra long waits at each stop or "pausing for maintenance checks." Also it seemed that no matter what time of day we got on it was usually packed.

The one night it started storming so the mass exodus of people began leaving MK. Unfortunately they weren't running boats because of the lightning and the Express Monorail was busted down. So everybody was on the Resort loop. Ugh! The line of people stretched down to the bag check area in the pouring rain.

Disney, in my opinion, has very much accommodated the lack of early monorail access with superb bussing. Maybe they had directed their resources to that area and pulled back on the AK busses? I don't know but they were elusive! The monorail is great when it works but wow was it busy, slow and busted down more than I have ever noticed!

We must have been at the GF just ahead of you, and if i had to guess we were at the WL on the night of the storms' since half of the boats to WL and FW were shut down due to not being equipped with lightning gear, the big enclosed boats were able to run.

They seemed to have a new plan in effect after the monorail was struck by lightning as far as the express train, it seemed to be affected more by the lightning than the other lines, although there were times that all three were shut down due to lightning in the area, it seems that the express shut down every time lightning was detected. and when i say detected i mean that company policy is within 8 miles. i know that is the boundary for when i am working for espn/abc for sporting events, and cm that i talked to said that he thought that it was the same for their worksite.

 

[soniam]

Buses seem to be running early for the MK monorail resorts. I saw buses for every park from the Poly before 7am. However, the bus for the park that has morning EMH seems to run slow or less frequently. DH and DS went to the Poly stop by 7:15am, and the MK bus (morning EMH) didn't come for 45 minutes. The Epcot and HS buses took a while. It also took a while to get an AK bus from Epcot. I saw transportation people at several places trying to get buses to the needed areas. I guess that's good.

This has probably been posted, but this is from the hotel times guide.

Resort Monorail: 8:30am-midnight
Express Monorail: 9:30am-11:30pm
Epcot Monorail: 9am-11pm

 

[RobinEJ]

Does anyone know when the monorails will return back to their normal schedule?

 

[ms tom morrow]

Does anyone know when the monorails will return back to their normal schedule?

I'm wondering the same thing. I'm staying CL at GF 9/28-10/5 and asked IPO hoping for good news since my trip is after the traditional "end of summer." The response I received was canned: "In regards to the Monorail operating hours, at this time we are unaware of a specific end date. It is our goal to have the normal hours of operation resumed as soon as possible, but we can not guarantee when that time will be. If the Monorail is running with modified hours during your stay, please be assured that we are prepared to provide alternate transportation to still assist with any transportation needs you may have."

 

[JanaDee]

Does anyone know when the monorails will return back to their normal schedule?

There has been no end date announced. This may be the new normal.

 

[RobinEJ]

Thanks, I was afraid of that!

 

[stky6]

Heading down in a week and guessing the monorail upgrade is still going on? So the ferry is probably the best way from TTC to MK?

 

[jengacpa]

We are staying at BLT in 10 days and have an 8:35 am breakfast at 1900 Park Fare in the GF during our stay. Can someone confirm that there will be busses at the Contemporary to take us to GF at 8 am since the resort monorail won't be running yet? If there is a bus from CR to GF, is 8 am a good time to get the bus or should we get it earlier? Thanks!

 

[Polyonmymind]

Buses seem to be running early for the MK monorail resorts. I saw buses for every park from the Poly before 7am. However, the bus for the park that has morning EMH seems to run slow or less frequently. DH and DS went to the Poly stop by 7:15am, and the MK bus (morning EMH) didn't come for 45 minutes. The Epcot and HS buses took a while. It also took a while to get an AK bus from Epcot. I saw transportation people at several places trying to get buses to the needed areas. I guess that's good.

This has probably been posted, but this is from the hotel times guide.

Resort Monorail: 8:30am-midnight
Express Monorail: 9:30am-11:30pm
Epcot Monorail: 9am-11pm

Based upon this comment about the EMH buses lagging behind at the Poly,thank you btw, would anyone know if the TTC buses are lined up around 7:00 to head to the parks?

If so... better option to walk to the TTC, catch the early bus there rather than waiting at the Poly?

 

[golden2323]

Heading down in a week and guessing the monorail upgrade is still going on? So the ferry is probably the best way from TTC to MK?

We are here now, and thought the same thing, but arrived at the TTC this morning at 8:15 and there was not only no monorail, but no ferry either. They put EVERYONE at the TTC on busses to go to MK. If I had realized there wasn't even the option of the ferry, I would have just taken the bus from AKL.

 

[RobinEJ]

That's terrible! Was it bad weather? I thought the ferry always started early.

 

[marie049]

My Family and I will be staying at the Best Western Lake Buena Vista, This is the first time we are not staying in one of the value resorts. I was told by front desk that buses come every half hour but, I was thinking of parking at one of the parks and taking the monorail to another park seeing that we have the park hopper option. not sure how much time I will be wasting, any input??

 

[ErinsMommy]

At least last time I went, only parks you can take the monorail to is MK and TTC which goes to Epcot. HS and AK you need to pick up a bus at a resort to get to them.

 

[marie049]

At least last time I went, only parks you can take the monorail to is MK and TTC which goes to Epcot. HS and AK you need to pick up a bus at a resort to get to them.

ok but, what about taking the bus/monorail from AK to Magic Kingdom or Epcot? can I leave my car parked at AK and take either or to another park?