Monorails to no longer operate during Evening Extra Magic Hours

[Wish Upon A Star]

Maybe they are also planning to do away with EMH in the evening . . .it just doesn't make much sense really. Apparently they've never witnessed the huge lines to get on the ferry and busses after the park closes . . .And I would think it would be more cost efficient to run the monorail then fuel busses . . .

 

[kaligal]

???? what does the ferry have to do with me walking from a park to the parking lot?

You have been to the MK, right? You can't walk.

 

[rie'smom]

Pretty soon Disney will have a new attraction:

GATOR ENCOUNTER
NOW SWIM WITH THE ALLIGATORS-don't forget your fastpasses!
Yes, we cut back on our monorail service and now we're cutting back on buses. This will allow our guests to swim in Bay Lake to get to the parking lot! You'll have the chance to meet an actual Florida alligator on your swim. Meet the real Louis, Carmine and Stan! Imagine the experience of telling all of your friends you played chase with a gator! Photopass photographers might be available depending on their ability to out swim our reptilian friends.

 

[mom2rtk]

Isn't there a green czar somewhere we can report them to? Seriously..... diminishing the role of the electric system in favor of all those carbon emissions?

I'm sure this is all just in preparation for their big announcement soon that because of low demand for EMH hours, they have been discontinued.

I just hope they're prepared for the high vacancy rate as everyone opts to stay offsite.

People complain about the high cost of staying at a monorail resort. I always say it's not about the room, but the location. The realy value of that location was the convenience of the monorail. Anything that diminishes it diminishes the value of those rooms. Yet I somehow don't think the rates are going down.

 

[Queen2PrincessG]

I wonder though if they will run the mona-rail during the MNSSHP and MVMCP nights because of the larger crowds it brings.

While my dream is to stay at the Grand Floridian for two weeks that's not happening for a while so maybe things will change by then.

 

[Colleen27]

By the time GFV is finished there will no longer be evening EMH, so it will not matter anyway.

Now that would probably be the end of Disney vacations for us. We're night owls and might hit 3 or 4 evening EMH in a week's stay. There's no way I'd pay Disney prices if they're shutting the whole place down at 7 or 8, which would pretty much the case at the times of year when we visit if not for evening EMH.

 

[Lou Holtz]

AM EMH is way less popular than PM EMH. If they're getting rid of either, it would be AM.

 

[DebbieB]

Yes it does. You and a lot more people will be trying to get onboard the ferry to the TTC instead of the monorail. As if crowds weren't bad enough...

Until someone posts new information from the hub, I'm going to believe what was posted in #90:

During Magic Kingdom Extra Magic Hours or Events, the Resort Monorail runs 1 hour after regular park hours. Return service from evening Extra Magic Hours in the parks will be supported by watercraft (where applicable) and bus transportation

Source for CM's (THE HUB)

There's no way they are going to shutdown the express monorail with thousands of cars sitting at the TTC during MNSSHP or MVMCP. It would be a disaster.

 

[crostorfer]

Pretty soon Disney will have a new attraction:

GATOR ENCOUNTER
NOW SWIM WITH THE ALLIGATORS-don't forget your fastpasses!
Yes, we cut back on our monorail service and now we're cutting back on buses. This will allow our guests to swim in Bay Lake to get to the parking lot! You'll have the chance to meet an actual Florida alligator on your swim. Meet the real Louis, Carmine and Stan! Imagine the experience of telling all of your friends you played chase with a gator! Photopass photographers might be available depending on their ability to out swim our reptilian friends.

I just choked on my water laughing.

 

[DonaldDoleWhip]

There's no way they are going to shutdown the express monorail with thousands of cars sitting at the TTC during MNSSHP or MVMCP.

Now that makes no sense at all to me. The express monorail covers even more mileage than the resort monorail (due to the numerous stops that the resort monorail has to make). So if this was a "maintenance" based decision , why would they keep the express monorail going? The resort one stops at TTC anyway (and in the past during EMH, the express monorail has been closed. Anyone trying to get to TTC has been forced to take the resort monorail. So I think this is in addition to that.)

I think both monorails will go down one hour after park closing. That's what WDWMagic implies.

 

[disneydreamingdebby]

I am trying to reason how big of an influence this will have on my family's vacations...dh and I both thought the location of BLT was its selling point. It wasn't a big enough selling point for us to add on there, though. We did, however, book a couple of nights (using points) for our August trip.

We have nine year olds who agree to take a nap 7 to 10 pm or so to go stay at MK until 2/3 am. The idea of hoping on the monorail at 3 AM sounds much better than walking (my kids will be exhausted.) If we can take a bus - that's fine.

One point I haven't heard mentioned is that if the monorail stops one hour after regular hours, people at a monorail resort who want to go back to the MK at midnight for the EMH will not be able to take the monorail...

Also, will the Poly/GF/C then bus people to the MK? If we are staying at AKV and have dinner at O'hana, we will need to take transportation to a park to get back to our resort. This is seemingly very problematic in the winter months.

I don't see this having a huge impact on my family. (We always use Disney transportation.) We will plan around the changes, but I think it is just another way Disney is sadly reducing the magic.

 

[Colleen27]

One argument that I never seem to buy even though 1000's of dissers here swear to it, is the "cutbacks" every where mentality. I truly don't see this in other vacation venues. Cruises, beach packages, Vegas, all seem to offer way more quality for the same dollar spent.

I agree. Everywhere else we go, from the local weekends to other longer vacations, we seem to be finding resorts, restaurants, and attractions looking for ways to offer MORE value for the money in this economy, not less. I'm getting offers left and right from places we've visited in the past offering "free" extras or other incentives (kids stay/eat free, free kids admission for each paid adult, 'partner' offers with discounts for other local businesses, etc). When there are fewer vacation dollars to go around companies have to work harder to attract them, not hike prices by 5-10% or more while cutting services and perks.

 

[HallsofVA]

Pretty soon Disney will have a new attraction:

GATOR ENCOUNTER
NOW SWIM WITH THE ALLIGATORS-don't forget your fastpasses!
Yes, we cut back on our monorail service and now we're cutting back on buses. This will allow our guests to swim in Bay Lake to get to the parking lot! You'll have the chance to meet an actual Florida alligator on your swim. Meet the real Louis, Carmine and Stan! Imagine the experience of telling all of your friends you played chase with a gator! Photopass photographers might be available depending on their ability to out swim our reptilian friends.

They used to have that encounter - It was call River Country! Until they had to close it for safety reasons...

 

[Sammie]

I wish they would go back to paid E-Ticket nights. Where you had to purchase a seperate ticket and actually limit them. It was so much better than what they have now.

I really think this is due to the monorails being outdated and needing to take them off line as much as possible. There are only two EMH late nights per week so this while inconvenient might possibly allow them enough down time to keep them running longer in the future.

 

[DebbieB]

Now that makes no sense at all to me. The express monorail covers even more mileage than the resort monorail (due to the numerous stops that the resort monorail has to make). So if this was a "maintenance" based decision , why would they keep the express monorail going? The resort one stops at TTC anyway (and in the past during EMH, the express monorail has been closed. Anyone trying to get to TTC has been forced to take the resort monorail. So I think this is in addition to that.)

I think both monorails will go down one hour after park closing. That's what WDWMagic implies.

The purpose of the express monorail is to get a large amount of people quickly from MK to the TTC & back. Stopping at the resorts would slow it down. I could see both being down for EMH but not MNSSHP & MVMCP. Not only do people pay for party tickets, they also have to pay for parking if offsite (AP's are not accepted after 7:00pm for parking). If word gets around of huge transportation problems, their ticket sales will go way down.

 

[DonaldDoleWhip]

The purpose of the express monorail is to get a large amount of people quickly from MK to the TTC & back. Stopping at the resorts would slow it down. I could see both being down for EMH but not MNSSHP & MVMCP.

Well I'm talking about EMH, which occurs once or twice a week and many people try to incorporate into their trip. We don't know what will happen in the fall/winter with those ticketed events, but starting next week people will begin saying what happens during Epcot EMH. I have a trip planned in August, and this certainly impacts where I would stay, so I have to assume the worst for now.

 

[asta]

Now that makes no sense at all to me. The express monorail covers even more mileage than the resort monorail (due to the numerous stops that the resort monorail has to make). So if this was a "maintenance" based decision , why would they keep the express monorail going? The resort one stops at TTC anyway (and in the past during EMH, the express monorail has been closed. Anyone trying to get to TTC has been forced to take the resort monorail. So I think this is in addition to that.)

I think both monorails will go down one hour after park closing. That's what WDWMagic implies.

I had forgotten this but now that you mention it last summer the Express monorail wasn't running for evening EMH. Everyone had to use the Resort monorail or travel by boat or bus. I think this means that neither monorail will be available for EMH.

 

[Oglet]

Until someone posts new information from the hub, I'm going to believe what was posted in #90:



There's no way they are going to shutdown the express monorail with thousands of cars sitting at the TTC during MNSSHP or MVMCP. It would be a disaster.

I really don't see them running the express monorail to service the guests parked at TTC. The managers of the Contemporary, Polynesian and Grand Floridian would be slammed with massive amounts of complaints.

If you were going to run anything it would be the resort monorail as it services both resort and non resort guests. Based on what was written earlier I am going to go out and say that its highly unlikely that the express beam will stay up any longer than 1 hour after park closing.

Actually, the express monorail only runs for 1 hour after MK closes anyway so there isn't any real change there.

 

[asta]

I wish they would go back to paid E-Ticket nights. Where you had to purchase a seperate ticket and actually limit them. It was so much better than what they have now.

I really think this is due to the monorails being outdated and needing to take them off line as much as possible. There are only two EMH late nights per week so this while inconvenient might possibly allow them enough down time to keep them running longer in the future.

Amen! EMH doesn't even compare to E-ticket nights. Every evening EMH that I have attended has been much more crowded than E-ticket nights were. I would gladly pay for E-ticket if WDW would bring this back.

 

[mom2rtk]

Amen! EMH doesn't even compare to E-ticket nights. Every evening EMH that I have attended has been much more crowded than E-ticket nights were. I would gladly pay for E-ticket if WDW would bring this back.

But we all know if they went back to E-ticket night, the price would be a lot higher, as would be their "limited number". Just witness the evolution of the hard ticketed parties.