Monorails to no longer operate during Evening Extra Magic Hours

[MoonFaerie]

honestly whats the big deal? it affects 2 nights a week. Mk and EP don't usually have 2 EMH nights in one week. this is not a deal breaker. just seems to have stirred up a lot of bad feelings. they have provided you other options for getting back to resorts- get back to being upset over line cutters.

kate
just my 2 cents worth

2 nights I could handle. We'll be there 8 nights in Dec. 5 of those nights are MVMCP, and 1 is EEMH at MK. That's 6 of our 8 nights!

Before I start cancelling all the signature dinners at the monorail resorts, I'm going to see how it plays out. We don't have any mobility issues, so for us taking a bus isn't a huge deal. If they don't either have buses running between the monorail resorts and/or the resort monorail running until 1 hr after Ecpot closes (an hour after 9:30 is plenty of time to eat and head back, an hour after 7, not so much).

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

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?

As I interpret it, no ... in that case I believe the resort monorail will not be running after 8 pm and you would need to take the ferry to the TTC if you are not staying at a monorail resort, or a boat to the GF and Poly, and walk to the Contemporary. The only monorail that would be running would be the Epcot monorail until 1 hour after Epcot closes.

 

[Tink rules]

Not good...

Time to send another email... letter... phone call...

they do listen... and read these boards...

If enough people complain, they do change things. I think it's going to cause HUGE problems with people traveling between resorts, etc.

& I too have several in my family who have mobility problems. That's one of the reasons I stay on the monorail line.

 

[Oglet]

This thread has exploded quicker than Nancy Graces mouth after the Casey Anthony verdict.

I have to admit this thread has kind of become my guilty pleasure for some reason

 

[phinz]

this is not a deal breaker.

Actually, it is. My wife and I have started researching other vacation options, or may just stay off property instead. She even mentioned just staying at Universal all week and spending all of our time there instead. We hate the bus system that much.

We'll wait to see if Disney gets their heads out of their nether regions on this, but if they don't, there's a very good chance we'll cancel our ADRs, cancel our 7 day park hoppers, cancel our MVMCP passes, cancel our Segway tour of EPCoT and cancel our Poly CL/Theme Park View rooms.

 

[JimmyV]

honestly whats the big deal?

The big deal will vary from person to person. For me, it has little to do with getting home after EMHs (though once this procedure is put into practice, I may change my view.) For me, the big deal is that some of my favorite things to do when I am at WDW is have a late dinner at the California Grill, Victoria & Albert's, or Citricos. It is having a nightcap at the Poly out by the pool. It is a single malt at Mizner's. All knowing that when the evening is over, that I can hop on a monorail, take a nice ride around Seven Seas Lagoon, and get back to my Deluxe resort without traveling over half of God's creation. Now, if they run a dedicated resort bus that makes essentially the same trip, then I can get over it, but if I had a mobility issue, this would still tick me off to no end. But if they don't run a resort bus and I have to go from the GF to some intermediary drop-off point only to change to another bus to get back to my hotel, then I am not getting what I paid for at a monorail line deluxe. If I want transportation headaches, I have plenty of other, cheaper hotels to choose from.

 

[FireDancer]

2 nights I could handle. We'll be there 8 nights in Dec. 5 of those nights are MVMCP, and 1 is EEMH at MK. That's 6 of our 8 nights!

Before I start cancelling all the signature dinners at the monorail resorts, I'm going to see how it plays out. We don't have any mobility issues, so for us taking a bus isn't a huge deal. If they don't either have buses running between the monorail resorts and/or the resort monorail running until 1 hr after Ecpot closes (an hour after 9:30 is plenty of time to eat and head back, an hour after 7, not so much).

The only guests who would be inconvenienced 6 of 8 nights in your scenario are those that are going to all 5 MVMCP. Since most guests will go to one evening party (or two if they are there close to the transition of MNNSHP and MVMCP) they will only have to worry about 3 nights at most and even then if going to evening EMH both nights.

I think Disney will increase the number of buses to offset the monorail being down and will most likely have a bus that goes between the Contemporary, Poly, and GF to provide service for restaurants.

Disney has to do a lot of monorail maintenance and it has become apparent that there isn't enough downtime to do it with the current schedule. I have yet to hear an alternative that would provide more time for maintenance of the monorail from the people who are so upset about the way in which Disney addressed this very important topic.

 

[JimmyV]

The only guests who would be inconvenienced 6 of 8 nights in your scenario are those that are going to all 5 MVMCP. Since most guests will go to one evening party (or two if they are there close to the transition of MNNSHP and MVMCP) they will only have to worry about 3 nights at most and even then if going to evening EMH both nights.

This makes absolutely no sense to me. If you are staying at a monorail resort for 8 nights and go to a party on one of those nights, what do you think that you are doing on the other 7 nights? Eating room service? If you are staying on the monorail line, chances are, you are eating at other monorail resorts. And if you have an ADR at 7:00 or later, getting back to your home resort will be impacted on almost every one of your nights. Not just the night you go to the party.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

The big deal will vary from person to person. For me, it has little to do with getting home after EMHs (though once this procedure is put into practice, I may change my view.) For me, the big deal is that some of my favorite things to do when I am at WDW is have a late dinner at the California Grill, Victoria & Albert's, or Citricos. It is having a nightcap at the Poly out by the pool. It is a single malt at Mizner's. All knowing that when the evening is over, that I can hop on a monorail, take a nice ride around Seven Seas Lagoon, and get back to my Deluxe resort without traveling over half of God's creation. Now, if they run a dedicated resort bus that makes essentially the same trip, then I can get over it, but if I had a mobility issue, this would still tick me off to no end. But if they don't run a resort bus and I have to go from the GF to some intermediary drop-off point only to change to another bus to get back to my hotel, then I am not getting what I paid for at a monorail line deluxe. If I want transportation headaches, I have plenty of other, cheaper hotels to choose from.

That's basically what I posted before. During the times when I have stayed at the Contemporary I enjoy going to the Polynesian to eat at the Kona Island Sushi Bar, so having the Resort Monorail made it very easy to get there and back. Well when the Resort Monorail is not running what options do I have to get back there?

 

[lilasmom]

Tell me if I've got this right. This Oct we are staying at CR. We have an ADR for Ohana at 7:30pm on a MNSSHP night, so MK closes at 7pm that night. We get out of the Poly by 9pm and we will have to boat it over to MK then walk to CR. Is this correct ?

 

[JimmyV]

Tell me if I've got this right. This Oct we are staying at CR. We have an ADR for Ohana at 7:30pm on a MNSSHP night, so MK closes at 7pm that night. We get out of the Poly by 9pm and we will have to boat it over to MK then walk to CR. Is this correct ?

Unknown right now. That would be one option, for sure. But they might run a bus that goes from resort to resort. If so, you would take that bus which would probably stop at the GF, then the MK, then the CR. Or maybe it would skip the MK.

 

[si-am]

Okay so here's a hypothetical situation: if you're there in December and the MK closes at 7pm for the MVMCP... and Epcot is open til 9pm.... what are the monorails going to do then?

Will the resort loop close at 8? So from Epcot, you'd take monorail to TTC and then bus from there?

I'm just so confused as to how this will all work!

 

[doconeill]

Can someone speak with authority as to how late the resort monorail operates currently? If it is later than one hour after MK close, then all this "it only affects people one or two nights" is false.

 

[puntagordabob]

The monorails have been having more and more mechanical issues that need to be addressed. I have a feeling that the only options are to either run them less and address the issues one at a time or shut the entire monorail system down for an extended period of time and address all of them at once.
.

One problem...this is not being announced as a temporary period where they are fixing the issues... but rather this is their solution to curtail service.

 

[Oglet]

Disney has to do a lot of monorail maintenance and it has become apparent that there isn't enough downtime to do it with the current schedule. I have yet to hear an alternative that would provide more time for maintenance of the monorail from the people who are so upset about the way in which Disney addressed this very important topic.

I've been giving this a lot of thought and the more I think about it, the more I believe that maintenance is just a cover and part of the real reason.

There are currently 11, soon hopefully to be 12 working trains.

The resort Monorail can get away with running 3 trains, especially during lighter periods and EPCOT runs only 2 quite frequently. That is only 5 of the possible 11 trains being used.

If you leave 5 trains out at night and send the other 6 back to shop, then the next day send the other trains back and leave the ones that were serviced the previous day out they would be getting plenty of time in shop.

To take it further, even if you took out 4 trains for express the following day or 3 express and added another to the resort line you would still have 1 train back in shop that can be worked on all day.

Now lets say the argument is beam maintenance, you can still choose to do maintenance on select nights of the week when ample time is available.

 

[MoonFaerie]

The only guests who would be inconvenienced 6 of 8 nights in your scenario are those that are going to all 5 MVMCP. Since most guests will go to one evening party (or two if they are there close to the transition of MNNSHP and MVMCP) they will only have to worry about 3 nights at most and even then if going to evening EMH both nights.

Actually, we've got 4 late dinners planned at monorail resorts. We were going to just hop on the monorail back to MK (which would be open for MVMCP), and catch a bus back to BWI/Dolphin. Then we're also going to the EEMH at MK. The Epcot EEMH won't be a problem, since we'd have to walk or boat back anyway. That's 5 of our 8 nights.

 

[Oglet]

Can someone speak with authority as to how late the resort monorail operates currently? If it is later than one hour after MK close, then all this "it only affects people one or two nights" is false.

The resort monorail currently runs until security has emptied MK, this is done by a security guard walking up the resort ramp and informing the monorail CMs that there are no more guests. The pilot then notifies monorail central that monorail (insert color here) has cleared the park. That is when Monorail ops start the process of closing down service. Usually its about 1 1/2 hours after parks close that the monorail starts to shut down.

Let me add in that the Resort Monorail will run for 1 1/2 hours after Epcots close, so on nights where Epcot closes later than MK the resort monorail will continue to run even though MK is empty.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

The resort Monorail can get away with running 3 trains, especially during lighter periods and EPCOT runs only 2 quite frequently. That is only 5 of the possible 11 trains being used.

Well sometimes when the Resort Monorail runs a few more trains then what you described and one goes down while it's on the track, then that causes a back log of lines at the various Resort Monorail stations once the others can resume service. For example that happened to me when I stayed at the Contemporary in December 2009, well when one Resort Monorail went down the lines over there got longer and I waited for three Monorails until I finally was able to get on one.

 

[FireDancer]

This makes absolutely no sense to me. If you are staying at a monorail resort for 8 nights and go to a party on one of those nights, what do you think that you are doing on the other 7 nights?

I would be in a different park those nights. I almost always stay in one park until closing or end my night at DTD. I think they will add a monorail resort loop bus and would have no problem taking that if I were to eat a restaurant at a different resort.

In the grand scheme of things I can't get all that worked up about a slight inconvenience done in the name of safety since I think this is to allow more time for much needed monorail maintenance. Once I start letting these kinds of things bother me enough to ruin my vacation I will star reassessing my priorities in life.

 

[Planogirl]

We like to go to Fort Wilderness via boat from MK to eat and so on in the evening and I'm wondering how all of this will affect even things like this. It would be nice if more info was forthcoming.