Monorails to no longer operate during Evening Extra Magic Hours

[larryz]

The AP only gets you free parking during regular park hours. On a party night, MK closes at 7:00, so if you arrive after 7:00 it is no longer regular park hours. Your AP does not give you admission to a party and will not give you free parking to a party. If you arrive before 7:00, MK is still open to regular guests, your AP would be valid for admission (until regular closing) and valid for free parking.

Ah, but doesn't the TTC parking lot also serve as parking for those guests taking the monorail to Epcot?

Will they deny me entrance and tell me to take my AP to the Epcot lot?

 

[Lou Holtz]

In that case then you are driving to one of the resorts and are not going to have to pay at the toll booth regardless...now if you are just saying that to get through the toll booth ...well that is not ok.

Liz

We are talking about parking at the TTC to get to the monorail resorts. If the parking lot is open, you are not going to have to pay for parking if you have an AP. There's no logic behind anything else being the case.

 

[nytimez]

Why don't you guys get that by "dinner reservations", he means at the resorts?

Either that, or he meant this:

not if you know people

I'll go with that, since that's straight from him...

Obviously, you can park at the resorts if you have a dinner reservation at the resort. However, previous posters were referring to parking at MK (TTC) during hard-ticket events, which does have a fee even for AP holders.

Unless, of course, you "know people."

 

[kaytieeldr]

Doesn't answer the question exactly. Other deluxe guests take indirect bus transportation or personal vehicles because that is the only way

Well, not exactly. You've got the Yacht and Beach Clubs and the Boardwalk - true Deluxe resorts as WDW defines and plpricrd the category, yet lacking the monoail proximity.

 

[doconeill]

No way, doc. The Animal Kingdom Lodge is a deluxe. There is no difference in context between the Contemporary Resort and the Yacht Club Resort. And so on... You're just simply completely off-base with this line of reasoning.

Well, AKL and WL are often referred to as "modeluxe" because they have less amenities than the others. WL does have the boat launch direct to MK, but not the monorail like the others, and the AKL does not have direct access to any park at all. That is why they are regularly priced lower than any of the other deluxes.

My point is that this is actually an amenity being removed from their top-of-the-line resorts (not just that they are deluxe category, but within that category they are tops). Guests at those resorts will need to do something they haven't had to do before and transportation hop between their brethren.

And the "unknown" in my summary is whether there will be replacement service, not whether there is another way.

 

[bicker]

Well, AKL and WL are often referred to as "modeluxe" because they have less amenities than the others.

AKL doesn't. It has first class rooms and deluxe rooms. There is no way to classify AKL as anything other than a full-fledged deluxe resort.

And surely the Yacht Club is a full-fledged deluxe resort.

Again, I believe you've barked up the wrong tree, here.

My point is that this is actually an amenity being removed from their top-of-the-line resorts

It's a minor amenity (affecting basically three hours, most weeks) and it is not being removed from all the "top-of-the-line resorts".

 

[fbb]

I stay at the Polynesian about twenty nights a year, and, like many, avoid EMH. However, I see this move as chipping away at the romance and adventure that the resort holds in my mind, and I'm really considering trying out the Waldorf. I didn't expect to feel this way, but I do.

 

[doconeill]

Well, not exactly. You've got the Yacht and Beach Clubs and the Boardwalk - true Deluxe resorts as WDW defines and plpricrd the category, yet lacking the monoail proximity.

BC/YC/BW/AKL/WL are all considered "Deluxe" resorts by category, but AKL and WL are generally considered less than that, but also that GF/Poly/CR are also generally considered a step above as "monorail" resorts.

I did not actually mean to include the Epcot Deluxes under the "modeluxe" tag, although I did write it that way (didn't actually complete the sentence I was attempting to write...) as they have direct and convenient park access to Epcot.

 

[larryz]

My point is that this is actually an amenity being removed from their top-of-the-line resorts (not just that they are deluxe category, but within that category they are tops). Guests at those resorts will need to do something they haven't had to do before and transportation hop between their brethren.

Let's look at the scope of this, OK?

It's not like the monorail is being dismantled -- yet. They're only reducing the evening hours to one hour after park closing.

Those staying in the monorail resorts can still use the resort loop all day long, the day guests can use the express, and everyone can use the Epcot loop until it quits.

I've never seen the entire population of ANY MK hotel at an EMH, and I'm guessing neither has WDW management. They're certain they can handle the crowds. Have a little faith in management here...

Does nobody remember the days when the only EMH was getting in an hour early? Remember how much maintenance got done overnight? How fresh and clean the parks looked?

I think management finally cracked open their continuity books and realized that the evening EMHs were killing the parks, raising costs more than warranted, and hurting CM morale.

If it will make the daily monorail service better, I applaud the move, and hope they're going to remove the evening EMH and offset that move with another perk -- like daily FPs, one per ride, for each guest in a WDW resort.

 

[bicker]

... but also that GF/Poly/CR are also generally considered a step above as "monorail" resorts.

Your argument is getting pretty close to self-defining.

Since there is clearly a disagreement about this, defer to Disney:

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/hotels/?sortBy=nG:hasResortCategoryFacet&fv_78513=on

Even the Wilderness Lodge is deluxe. It just is. These resorts are sold and marketed together, by the people who have the most incentive to differentiate between them, to get greater revenues from those resorts that would allegedly be significant "stepped above" the rest. They don't.

 

[Lou Holtz]

The monorail resorts are the most expensive at Disney. That's the distinction. There's no argument.

 

[Traveliz]

We are talking about parking at the TTC to get to the monorail resorts. If the parking lot is open, you are not going to have to pay for parking if you have an AP. There's no logic behind anything else being the case.

But if you are going to a monorail resort for dinner or whatever why would you not just park there rather than having to park at the TTC and take a monorail. When I am going to a monorail resort for breakfast or dinner I just park there.

Liz

 

[lovethattink]

So only the express monorail and not the resort monorails will be shut down? I read it as all monorail loops ceasing operation an hour after park close.

 

[Traveliz]

Ok just talked to my daughter who works in attractions at Epcot (not parking or monorails or watercraft..just plain old Attractions) and I mentioned this to her. She said she all ready knew about it from her morning meeting at work. She said that they were told it was a permanent change so maintenance had enough time overnight to do their work. She said they were also told that many complaints from guests were starting to come in. She said among themselves they didn't think it would be permanent. Keep in mind, she knows absolutely nothing and is just a CM that everyone on the board would consider as giving out bad information in every other post but it is what she was told this morning.

She recommended that I complain to Guest Services as well next time I am down.

I thought that was interesting.

 

[larryz]

I read it as all monorail loops ceasing operation an hour after park close.

Correct, as stated in the quoted clip, the resort loop will also shut down after park closing. But you can always use the busses (put on to replace the monorail) or drive to the other resorts.

But that raises an interesting point -- if someone is staying at CR and uses the monorail to Epcot, with MK closing at 7:00 pm, and Epcot open 'till 9:00 pm, I'd expect they'd keep the resort loop running until at least 10:30 to accommodate those pax who left Epcot between 9:15 and 9:30. "Park Closing" should also include Epcot.

The express loop could shut down at 8:00 since MK closed at 7:00.

 

[Lou Holtz]

But if you are going to a monorail resort for dinner or whatever why would you not just park there rather than having to park at the TTC and take a monorail. When I am going to a monorail resort for breakfast or dinner I just park there.

Liz

I wouldn't have any idea how to get to the Poly or Grand Floridian other than parking at the TTC, but it was the other guy's example. Maybe you are going to more than one resort, so you want to park centrally?

 

[Traveliz]

I wouldn't have any idea how to get to the Poly or Grand Floridian other than parking at the TTC, but it was the other guy's example. Maybe you are going to more than one resort, so you want to park centrally?

Follow the signs, its super easy and the toll booth people will tell you how as well. Additionally the Poly would be more centrally located and easier to get to and from your car than the TTC if you were resort hopping (in your three hour window, if you got a pass).

Liz

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

So only the express monorail and not the resort monorails will be shut down? I read it as all monorail loops ceasing operation an hour after park close.

We are assuming it is both as what I've read indicates "... or, in the case of the Magic Kingdom, ferries to travel back to their resorts or the Transportation and Ticket Center." and "At that time, watercraft (where applicable) and additional buses will be available to transport guests to their destination."

 

[Lou Holtz]

Follow the signs, its super easy and the toll booth people will tell you how as well. Additionally the Poly would be more centrally located and easier to get to and from your car than the TTC if you were resort hopping (in your three hour window, if you got a pass).

Liz

But you still have to go through the MK gates, right? So they'd be taking your word for it and letting you go through without paying? How do they know people aren't just saying that and then going straight to park?

 

[lovethattink]

Correct, as stated in the quoted clip, the resort loop will also shut down after park closing. But you can always use the busses (put on to replace the monorail) or drive to the other resorts.

Thanks for the clarification. The more I am reading the more confused I am getting.

If MK closes at 7, that would meant the resort monorail will stop there until 8pm. After that, the resort monorail would bypass the MK on its loop until 10pm when service to and from Epcot stops?