Monorails to no longer operate during Evening Extra Magic Hours

[Robo]

A family of 4 has saved for years to take their kids on their first Disney trip. They are paying what it would cost to send little Susie to college for a year, just to stay at the CR because it is a monorail resort. They have planned their trip around those EMHs and riding the monorail back to their room at 3am. "It's OK Susie, I know you are in melt down mode and Tommy is sleep walking, but we will catch the monorail to our room and you will be in your bed in a few." "WHAT?" "We have to WALK back to our room?" "We paid $9000.00 for a week at Disney and we have to WALK back to our room at 3am?" "NEVER AGAIN!!!"

That's just not realistic.

Change the resort to Poly or Grand Floridian, and maybe they'd balk at taking a bus, but the 8 minute walk from MK to CR would unlikely be a deal-breaker.
(Many guests choose CR BECAUSE of the walkway.)

If "no monorail for PM EMH" was gonna throw 'em, they'd find something else to be a "never again" situation, anyway.

 

[Dznefreek]

"WHAT?" "We have to WALK back to our room?" "We paid $9000.00 for a week at Disney and we have to WALK back to our room at 3am?" "NEVER AGAIN!!!"

Bus . . . . .

 

[Robo]

Bus . . . . .

This was in reference to the Contemporary Resort.
There (very likely) won't be a bus to/from the Contemporary.
It's just across the street from the MK bus loading area.

 

[racefanof88]

That's just not realistic.

Change the resort to Poly or Grand Floridian, and maybe they'd balk at taking a bus, but the 8 minute walk from MK to CR would unlikely be a deal-breaker.
(Many guests choose CR BECAUSE of the walkway.)

If "no monorail for PM EMH" was gonna throw 'em, they'd find something else to be a "never again" situation, anyway.

My point is with two tired kids, at 3am, it might as well be an 8 mile walk. Crossing the street, dodging umpteen busses, carrying two exhausted kids, in the pouring rain, after paying that amount of money would be a deal breaker for most, if not all, new Disney guests.

 

[JimmyV]

The orlando sentinel posted an article quoting Disney saying it was just cut back for maitenance and they'd look at things after the year long maitenance time frame is over. Saw this on a DVC board.

This appears to be the "current" position. But it did not start out that way. It was initially announced as a "permanent" schedule change applying to EMH and Events with an invitation to contact guest services to register thoughts/comments/complaints. Then it was changed to "permanent, but could be revisited" and would apply to EMH and Events, and is now stated to be "indefinite due to maintenance" and applicable to EMH with a decision forthcoming as to Events. I think that there was every reason to vent over the course of 55 pages, and I have no doubt that those 55 pages along with the thoughts/comments/complaints sent to guest services has caused an instant revisitation of the whole plan.

I have a strong suspicion that "maintenence" is the corporate cover that they are using to justify a public relations nightmare, though I have no doubt that they could fill the extra downtime with some needed repair work. The notion that this is purely for maintenance doesn't hold water. If the monorails and rails were in such disrepair, shutting them down for an extra 2 or 3 hours each night would simply be a band-aid. Imagine if alligators were detected in a local swimming hole that was open from 8:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. each day. Would you close down the lake to get the alligators, or would you restrict swimming to 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. to give the workers a few extra hours to track down the alligators? If there is a serious safety issue, then the system would shut down. And if the problems are less serious, then they could get by with a cutback in service after 8:00 p.m. until the problems are addressed.

Relax everyone!

I think we will all relax when we know that Disney has heard us loud and clear. I think that without all the complaints they have no doubt received in the past 72 hours, we would still be hearing that this is a permanent change. I can't count the number of times that Disney has changed things for the worse and then tried to justify the change by saying: "Guest response and comments strongly indicated that this change was necessary." This time, they miscalculated the outcry.

 

[notnothin]

My point is with two tired kids, at 3am, it might as well be an 8 mile walk. Crossing the street, dodging umpteen busses, carrying two exhausted kids, in the pouring rain, after paying that amount of money would be a deal breaker for most, if not all, new Disney guests.

I don't think that most will agree with you. As Robo said, many choose CR because of its proximity to MK and the fact that walking there is a trivial event, day or night.

 

[1971DBday]

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

 

[shebubbles]

So how late will they run at night?

 

[notnothin]

So how late will they run at night?

See the first post in the thread, 1 hour after regular park closing.

 

[phinz]

The orlando sentinel posted an article quoting Disney saying it was just cut back for maitenance and they'd look at things after the year long maitenance time frame is over. Saw this on a DVC board.

If this turns out to be the truth, it clinches it for me.

It's cheaper to fly from Tennessee to Honolulu, rent a convertible for 8 days, stay at a resort on the North Shore with a water view, free breakfast and tickets to the Polynesian Cultural Center for a luau than it is to drive ourselves 10 hours, stay in a hotel and ride buses to get back to our hotel. I'll watch to see how it turns out, but as of right now I'm backup planning a real Polynesian vacation.

 

[DJSMOM]

After reading 57 pages, I feel like I have to chime in. I am booked to stay at the Contemporary beginning the Sunday after Thanksgiving. The 3 days prior, we are staying at Kidani. Although, I booked my stay with a 40% PIN, I am spending more than what would usually for the convenience of the monorail for Epcot and ease of travel after EMH. I will be traveling with a 9 year old and a 2 year old. We have done the bus with stroller thing in the past. Not something I wanted to do again. The week I am at the Contemporary, MK closes early 3 nights. I planed some dinners at other resorts on the monorail loop. Now I will have to rearrange a lot of things. My main gripe though is the amount of notice...I booked my trip in January. It is already paid off. Refurb dates are posted well in advance in most cases. i know which water park will be closed when I am there. this is not a decision that was made last week. I would most likely have made a different decision if I knew at the time I booked that this "indefinite" policy was going to go into place...I would have stayed at AKL for my entire stay. Now I have a 9 year old who has his heart set on the Contemporary, so I although I could change it, I won't. It just won't be as magical for me getting on a bus with the stroller.

just my 2 cents...

 

[raider97]

I hope they decide to keep it open on hard ticket nights!! Otherwise I need to make other plans, our first night there I had planned to eat dinner at the resort and then take the monorail shopping and looking at decorations. That won't be possible, if they don't have the monorail running for MVMCP!!

 

[PharmerJan]

Im not a super huge fan of the monorails (talk about clostraphobia!!) However, I have always dreamed of staying at the Poly for the convenience of the Monorail. This passed trip was at POFQ and the buses were quite efficient, but I digress.

Without use of the monorail, I would not pay to stay at the Poly (or other deluxe resort). Period. Even a moderate room at disney perfectly meets my needs (POFQ is great!). I wouldnt waste my money.

I think Disney will quickly figure this out and amend this, or be offering steep discounts to keep there monorail resorts full.

 

[kaytieeldr]

My point is with two tired kids, at 3am, it might as well be an 8 mile walk. Crossing the street, dodging umpteen busses, carrying two exhausted kids, in the pouring rain, after paying that amount of money would be a deal breaker for most, if not all, new Disney guests.

Without getting into a discussion about tired/overtired kids... crossing the street shouldn't be a problem, nor should 'dodging buses' if one sensibly uses the long-installed traffic light; meteorological conditions at 3 AM in Central Florida are generally not conducive to pouring rain; and has been indicated several times, new visitors are the ones least affected by a change like this - they weren't there before, so they have nothing to miss.

 

[racefanof88]

I don't think that most will agree with you. As Robo said, many choose CR because of its proximity to MK and the fact that walking there is a trivial event, day or night.

And I, as a Disney veteran, would say it wouldn't bother me because I am aware of these things, and my youngest is a teen, but my example was for a first time family. When most first timers choose a resort they aren't thinking of walking proximity to the parks, especially if one of the resort selling points is the monorail. And when you have to carry an exhausted 40lb child, in the pouring rain, day or night, it isn't a trivial event, been there done that .

 

[TLSnell1981]

. Or do they need to wait until a few more tickets have been sold?

I'm betting they will still be "undecided" until the very first MNSSHP...when they can see what a disaster or not it is...

 

[racefanof88]

Without getting into a discussion about tired/overtired kids... crossing the street shouldn't be a problem, nor should 'dodging buses' if one sensibly uses the long-installed traffic light; meteorological conditions at 3 AM in Central Florida are generally not conducive to pouring rain; and has been indicated several times, new visitors are the ones least affected by a change like this - they weren't there before, so they have nothing to miss.

I guess you and I have never been in Florida at the same time because 2 years ago it rained for days on end, nonstop, during our trip, due to a stalled front off the East Coast, so it isn't unheard of. And yes new visitors will miss it since it was a selling point to them when they booked the vacation 2 months ago.

 

[creativeamanda]

I, for one, agree, that this is the beginning of doing away with PM EMH. I think the start was the loss of Animal Kingdom PM EMH, which seemingly went without anyone really complaining. Then, the lack of monorail use during PM EMH. No characters during pm emh. Last month, I saw restaurants that in the past were open during PM EMH were closed and even some stores.

I think Disney is testing the waters to slowly do away with PM EMH.

 

[lovethattink]

We were at the MK today. Took these pics of the signs.

 

[yooperfan]

If the issue is maintenance, why don't they at least run the resort monorail? Have guests show there room keys when they get on (make them a distinct color so they wouldn't have to look to close.)

It's going to take forever if a lot of guest with wheel chairs have to take the bus. Guests are not always understanding or polite about this and it's not like they can take the small boats to monorail resorts when water levels are low.

I agree with those who feel they are paying for the convenience of the monorail, sure they could take a bus, but that's not what they paid for.