Monorails to no longer operate during Evening Extra Magic Hours

[FireDancer]

Really!!?? I've been on them a LOT and been under them MANY times and have never been hit by a part flying off. I think you exaggerate just a wee bit here.

If anyone was there on July 3rd and noticed the monorail not running it is because a part fell off (part of the electrical infrastructure). There have also been reports by the CMs that operate the boat that there have been fires started by electrical parts fall off in the past.

Of course they could be full of it but the July 3rd incident seems to be true.

 

[TDC Nala]

I am not sure that I disagree with you. My wife? Not so much.

And you can't be so quick to discount the bad weather issue. It's not like it never happens in Central Florida.

I read a post once from someone who said they would never walk to the Contemporary because you have to cross "a busy highway" to get there. They saw a busy highway, I see a two-lane road with a traffic signal. So I'm aware that there will be those who for whatever reason don't want to walk the path. Am also aware that there are those who do not want to take any sort of transportation other than the monorail, but if you're going to be at the parks more than an hour after they close it looks like you won't have a choice. I also see some folks talking like Disney's stranding them - because they don't want to take any transportation other than the monorail. That's their choice and they'll decide what to do. It won't change anything I plan - I'll take whatever transportation is available. Not going to complain to Disney either because I'm not sure it would do much good yet, nor do I know anything about the transportation they are going to provide.

 

[JimmyV]

Oh how I miss E-ticket nights!!!!!

I really don't see the EMH as being long for this world. I absolutely agree with the PP who said fewer people will now stay becuase of the extra hassle getting back at the end of a VERY late night when they are most tired. Then somewhere down the line they will decide demand has diminished and they will end it.

Moving on to COMPLETE speculation....if p.m. EMH were done away with completely, (as they already have been for AK), do you think that it would be more or less likely that E-Ticket Nights would return? Additional revenue from a hard ticket event suggests that this could be viable.

 

[mom2rtk]

Removing Flynn from the Tangled meet and greet was announced as a way of dealing with the huge lines they had attracted. But it also saved Disney some cash, giving them the cover make said change. There were other ways they could have dealt with it, but they chose the one that also offered a cost savings.

Having a maintenance issue on the monorail could also be giving them some cover to make cutbacks to save them longterm capital. There is NO way for any of us to know if the problem described on 7/3 required the cutback just announced. In fact, I think it's a big leap to assume so.

Honestly, if it's a safety issue, just say so. If it's that serious, call out the cavalry and just close the dang thing for a short time and and fix it if needed.

But once again, all indications are that they are calling this a permanent change, and why would that be the case if this were a safety/maintenance issue?

 

[mcd2745]

The need for maintenance, and the fact that they are making this change does not mean that one caused the other. Or that they will in fact be making additional repairs that could not have otherwise been done without the reduction. If that were indeed the case, this change would not have been classified by Disney as a permanent change. It would be temporary until said maintenance was complete.

I think when you consider the fact that this came about just after them removing the characters at EMH and taking Flynn out of the Tangled meet & greet you see a pattern of them currently looking for ways to cut corners.

I really don't see the EMH as being long for this world. I absolutely agree with the PP who said fewer people will now stay becuase of the extra hassle getting back at the end of a VERY late night when they are most tired. Then somewhere down the line they will decide demand has diminished and they will end it.

Ultimately though, they still have a LOT of rooms to fill on a daily basis. And EMH has always been a great way of doing that. So it will be interesting to see how it all works out for them.

Sounds very similar to what happened with Pleasure Island, doesn't it? They make changes they know will diminish attendence and then they cite the diminished attendance for shutting it down altogether.

 

[FireDancer]

Moving on to COMPLETE speculation....if p.m. EMH were done away with completely, (as they already have been for AK), do you think that it would be more or less likely that E-Ticket Nights would return? Additional revenue from a hard ticket event suggests that this could be viable.

I think if Disney could justify having a hard ticket event every night of the year they would. They haven't really replaced the Pirate & Princess parties.

 

[fishacura]

Has there been an official announcement yet?

Well I posted a link to a transcript from a WDW agent so I feel pretty good that it's a done deal.

 

[Toad_Passenger]

Removing Flynn from the Tangled meet and greet was announced as a way of dealing with the huge lines they had attracted. But it also saved Disney some cash, giving them the cover make said change. There were other ways they could have dealt with it, but they chose the one that also offered a cost savings.

Having a maintenance issue on the monorail could also be giving them some cover to make cutbacks to save them longterm capital. There is NO way for any of us to know if the problem described on 7/3 required the cutback just announced. In fact, I think it's a big leap to assume so.

Honestly, if it's a safety issue, just say so. If it's that serious, call out the cavalry and just close the dang thing for a short time and and fix it if needed.

But once again, all indications are that they are calling this a permanent change, and why would that be the case if this were a safety/maintenance issue?

I don't think it is a strictly a "maintenance" thing in that that they need to fix something and be done with it. I really think it is more of a "wear and tear" thing. Cutting the hours on the monorails, even by a little bit, can save a lot of problems, since the current trains are pretty old, and I don't know if we've heard anything about when new ones may be showing up!

 

[mom2rtk]

Moving on to COMPLETE speculation....if p.m. EMH were done away with completely, (as they already have been for AK), do you think that it would be more or less likely that E-Ticket Nights would return? Additional revenue from a hard ticket event suggests that this could be viable.

Like I said earlier in the thread......... if E-ticket night were to return........ I don't believe for a moment it would be like it was. That's just not like Disney. The price would be much higher and their "limited" number of tickets sold wouldn't be much better than the "limited" number they sell for the hard-ticketed parties.

 

[mom2rtk]

I don't think it is a strictly a "maintenance" thing in that that they need to fix something and be done with it. I really think it is more of a "wear and tear" thing. Cutting the hours on the monorails, even by a little bit, can save a lot of problems, since the current trains are pretty old, and I don't know if we've heard anything about when new ones may be showing up!

Then if that's the case, I bet they could make them even safer by cutting service at noon each day.

That would be extremely short-sighted. If that's the case then they should cut a busier hour (I think they could cut a lot of wear and tear by delaying their start time until 10 every day!). I'm thinking maybe late at night they aren't used as heavily or as often anyway.

FWIW....... I also thought they could make the wait time for the Tangled meet & greet even shorter by eventually removing Rapunzel too.

 

[SaraJayne]

Does anyone else find the timing of this curious, considering walls went up this morning around the area that the proposed DVC construction at the Grand Floridian? The construction wall runs back to all the way underneath the monorail line.

I don't think the DVC construction has anything to do with it.

Do you mean they'd be shutting down trains early to work construction under the monorail line?

 

[MikeandReneePlus5]

I bet the taxi/livery businesses are thrilled! This is great news for them. And the rental cars agencies to a certain extent also.

 

[TisBit]

While that does make some sense, it does gloss over some critical aspects of this. Buses can be scheduled much more flexibly, and rerouted in-the-moment, to adjust to changing demands. You can send three buses or one bus; your choice. The monorails can only do one thing, and running a monorail train incurs the entire cost of running that train, even if you only need one car's worth of capacity. Beyond that, bus and road maintenance is a continual cost, true, but that obscures the true cost of the monorails since much of the cost of the monorail infrastructure is easy for guests like us to ignore until the maintenance is needed, and it is much more expensive when the infrastructure needs to be remediated (read: a comparatively higher drain on available resources all-at-once).

While you make good points, the monorail maintenace costs for running the trains additional hours in a day does not necessarily create much of a cost (same as I was not adding in costs of road maintenance, because the additional wear and tear on the roadways is negligible with a few extra buses.

I also agree that there is additional flexibility with the busses vs monorail, but again it is not clear that any of it would create a "savings" for WDW. I am a bit surprised that monorail service was not just severely cut...as in only two trains running on the resort route....

 

[JimmyV]

Has there been an official announcement yet?

I'm not sure what, exactly, you are expecting? A press release that touts a cut in services? A press release that touts the disrepair of the trains and track?:

Great news everybody. Disney is proud to announce our new, truncated monorail schedule. Instead of taking a monorail back to your resort after dining at one of our Signatrure restaurants on a night when we have p.m. EMH at the Magic Kingdom, or we have one our "can't miss" hard ticket events, guests will have to find new and exciting ways to get back to their rooms. You'll enyoy taking a watercraft from Victoria & Albert's in your fancy clothes all the way back to the Magic Kingdom where you will wait for another watercraft to whisk you away back to the Contemporary resort. There will be plenty of opportunities while waiting in line to make new friends! Don't feel like waiting for that second boat? No worries! You'll enjoy the causal stroll from the Magic Kingdom back to the Contemporary, especially if you are wearing stylish, high-heeled shoes. And don't worry if your blazer gets wrinkled in the rain. Just contact guest services to arrange for on-site dry cleaning services to get your clothes looking fresh and clean again!

Nope. You're just going to see new schedules of operation times, very much under the radar.

 

[disney_bob]

This thread is hilarious.

<Insert Speculation>
<Insert wild rant>

Everyone is getting all worked up with very little confirmed information. I'm pretty sure all that's been "confirmed" is that it will be closed an hour after regular hours. It hasn't been "confirmed" why or for how long. Lets wait to freak out until we have firm information.. I know that might be asking a lot.

 

[JimmyV]

Everyone is getting all worked up with very little confirmed information. I'm pretty sure all that's been "confirmed" is that it will be closed an hour after regular hours. It hasn't been "confirmed" why or for how long. Lets wait to freak out until we have firm information.. I know that might be asking a lot.

CMs have been told that the change is, for now, to be considered PERMANENT. What part of that is specualtion? What part of that is difficult to understand? You aren't going to get any additional information unless and until this issue is revisited. You can wait for "firm information". But I am not sure what you think you are waiting for, or how long you think you will have to wait to get it.

 

[disney_bob]

CMs have been told that the change is, for now, to be considered PERMANENT. What part of that is specualtion? What part of that is difficult to understand? You aren't going to get any additional information unless and until this issue is revisited. You can wait for "firm information". But I am not sure what you think you are waiting for, or how long you think you will have to wait to get it.

Honestly you must not "understand" that "permanent" doesn't always mean forever.

I guess I'll wait for actual 'doom and gloom' information and how its actually affecting guests before going on tirades about Disney's quality, how this can't possibly be for maintenance, and how they should just man up and pay the cost to keep it running. I guess thats why I find this thread so funny.

 

[MikeandReneePlus5]

Honestly you must not "understand" that "permanent" doesn't always mean forever.

I guess I'll wait for actual 'doom and gloom' information and how its actually affecting guests before going on tirades about Disney's quality, how this can't possibly be for maintenance, and how they should just man up and pay the cost to keep it running. I guess thats why I find this thread so funny.

They brought F! back full time for this summer after cutting that back for a couple of years.

 

[Toad_Passenger]

I'm not sure what, exactly, you are expecting? A press release that touts a cut in services? A press release that touts the disrepair of the trains and track?:

Great news everybody. Disney is proud to announce our new, truncated monorail schedule. Instead of taking a monorail back to your resort after dining at one of our Signatrure restaurants on a night when we have p.m. EMH at the Magic Kingdom, or we have one our "can't miss" hard ticket events, guests will have to find new and exciting ways to get back to their rooms. You'll enyoy taking a watercraft from Victoria & Albert's in your fancy clothes all the way back to the Magic Kingdom where you will wait for another watercraft to whisk you away back to the Contemporary resort. There will be plenty of opportunities while waiting in line to make new friends! Don't feel like waiting for that second boat? No worries! You'll enjoy the causal stroll from the Magic Kingdom back to the Contemporary, especially if you are wearing stylish, high-heeled shoes. And don't worry if your blazer gets wrinkled in the rain. Just contact guest services to arrange for on-site dry cleaning services to get your clothes looking fresh and clean again!

Nope. You're just going to see new schedules of operation times, very much under the radar.

Two words...Easy Spirit...looks like a pump, feels like a sneaker.

 

[kaytieeldr]

But how feasible is it to do that work at night, especially in the areas immediately around the resorts? Not very. That why this feels to me like a move to lighten the load so that maintenance can be further deferred rather than a change intended to actually allow for those repairs to happen.

When the problem is the track or infrastructure, and is located immediately around a resort, that's the only physical location any work can be done. You can't cut out a span of track, take it backstage, repair it, and safely get it back in place. Not overnight, anyway.