Monorails to no longer operate during Evening Extra Magic Hours

[TLSnell1981]

I was well aware of the 3 hour time limit, having learned this (and many other things) prior to our trip. Because I knew this, I made it a point to ask the guard specifically if we could leave our car in that lot while we toured MK until closing. If he had told me no, I would have happily taken our car from the Poly lot to the MK lot. But alas, he said yes and that's what we did. I can't speak as to what that or other guards allow on other days, but since DW has become a huge fan of Ohana, I'm sure we will be back and I'll see what the guards say at that point. What I found funny (and still do) is that some folks here on the Dis get up in arms over this issue and in reality, in my experience, the actual Disney employees who are the ones in authority on the ground, don't mind a bit.

I find it funny..many things worked smoothly for YEARS. I mean, the Poly is only 40 years old. And, yes, restricted parking has been around A LONG time. I really, think your situation was an anomaly...not the norm. Unfortunately, the numbers of " the rules don't apply to me crowd"' appears to have grown. They are entitled to everything..no matter if, they paid for the service or privilege. I see this in other areas, "but, it's a REQUEST, they don't enforce it" So, maybe, this is a large part of the downhill slide, regarding Disney?

Guests have different preferences and needs, thus the variety of resorts, park tickets, food, etc. I guess, some want to pay value prices, but have the perks, that are afforded to deluxe accommodations? Or, stay off property, and receive the same as onsite guests? Hmmm. Maybe, this explains a few things.

 

[snykymom]

I said this before and I will say it again. Even though the Resort Monorail line might look shorter, it's still faster for guests only going to the TTC to take the Express Monorail. Do those Cast Members forget the Resort Monorail will first stop at the Contemporary, so going that way is not any faster. Finally there was that one time I was on the Resort Monorail at the Magic Kingdom station when we were sitting there for a few minutes before leaving. Well I remember the line for the Express Monorail was very long, however in that time I saw 2 or 3 Express Monorail's arrive and leave before we had left. So any guests on the Resort Monorail at that time for the purpose of going to the TTC thinking it was faster because they had a shorter line were wrong.

Yes, I agree. It's faster to go to the Express monorail. However, we've already had people on this thread complaining about having to walk/stand/carry sleeping child/push stroller etc. to get to the Contemporary via the walkway and they'd rather sit on a monorail. I know there are people who park at TTC who would rather sit on an air-conditioned/heated resort monorail to get to the TTC than stand in the heat/cold/rain/whatever to get to the Express monorail even if it took a little longer. Time is not the only factor that could make a non-monorail resort guest want to use the resort loop.

I agree. We're considering our first offsite stay for fall so now I'm watching this with renewed interest because regardless of whether we rent a car or rely on the resort's shuttle we'll need some way to get back to the TTC well after MK's 7/8pm closing time. We have three post-closing dinners planned at MK area resorts and the resort shuttle runs late enough to work for all of them, but not if there's no way to get from the Contemporary or Grand Floridian or Wilderness Lodge to the TTC after the park closes. If the monorail loop continues to run until 11pm those dinners will all work just fine; if there's no way to get to the TTC later than 9pm, we'll have to rethink that plan.

Sure there is. Go back to your car, pick it up from the MK parking lot and go park at the resort with your ADR. Simple, and doesn't depend on the monorail.

No problem. That's what happens when my fat thumbs misspell on my iphone with autocorrect. I did mean perogative. I had to look up the other word too after pointing it out. Oops.

Actually, you meant prerogative. That wouldn't have autocorrected the same way!

 

[cindyfan]

Seriously..... I don't understand why if someone needs to go to the TTC they would ride the "Resort" monorail from MK?? That's what the express is for.

The resort monorail should be exclusive to those staying or dining at Poly, Cont, GF, BLT. That's kinda the reason it's called "resort monorail", right?
It is their option for transportation..... it takes the place of the buses! Buses are not as convinient with the amount of traffic, etc.

Personnally.... If I were staying at CSR I wouldn't get on the All Star bus!
So why would anyone be offended that they couldn't ride the "resort" monorail if not staying there???

 

[Wadecool]

I find it funny..many things worked smoothly for YEARS. I mean, the Poly is only 40 years old. And, yes, restricted parking has been around A LONG time. I really, think your situation was an anomaly...not the norm. Unfortunately, the numbers of " the rules don't apply to me crowd"' appears to have grown. They are entitled to everything..no matter if, they paid for the service or privilege. I see this in other areas, "but, it's a REQUEST, they don't enforce it" So, maybe, this is a large part of the downhill slide, regarding Disney?

Guests have different preferences and needs, thus the variety of resorts, park tickets, food, etc. I guess, some want to pay value prices, but have the perks, that are afforded to deluxe accommodations? Or, stay off property, and receive the same as onsite guests? Hmmm. Maybe, this explains a few things.

In the interest of full disclosure, we had previously been to MK earlier and had already paid to park for the day, so not trying to get away with anything there. I would have been happy to move my vehicle after dinner, but since the paid Disney employee on duty told me to go ahead and leave it at the Poly, I did. Sorry if you're upset that Disney security guards are allowing this to happen, but perhaps you should take that up with them, hmmm?

 

[Deb & Bill]

I only said the Resort Monorail should be for guests staying at the Contemporary/Bay Lake Tower, Polynesian, and Grand Floridian during the more busy times like before the Magic Kingdom closes. This way there will always be enough space for all of them and they can get on before the Resort Monorail shuts down at 11:00 PM. Plus during that time there is the Express Monorail that also goes to the TTC and it's faster then taking the Resort Monorail over there. Now if the Express Monorail has closed and the Resort Monorail is the only option for guests to access the Transportation & Ticket Center then they have no choice to let non Monorail Resort guests get on the Resort Monorail. No one including myself has ever said to make the Resort Monorail 100% exclusive from morning to the night for guests staying at the Monorail Resorts.

Now the difference with the buses for Saratoga Springs is that WDW is not stopping the bus service for any of the other resorts at a specifc time like what is happening with the Epcot Monorail and next month starting with the Magic Kingdom Express Monorail. The only reason Cast Members and other guests suggest taking the Saratoga Springs bus is because the Theme Parks don't have a direct bus to Downtown Disney. So being that SSR is very close to there it's easy for guests to use the walkway that goes to Downtown Disney. So you can't compare the Monorail to the Buses.

So SSR guests don't get priority service on the bus going to their resort in the evening when the buses start to fill up and there are long waits for the buses. They have no other way to get back to their resort unless they drove to the park. They have to wait for some guest who decides not to take their resort bus back to their resort and then catch a DTD bus from their resort. Or the SSR guests have to wait at the theme park because of all the offsite guests who decided to park for free at DTD instead of paying to park at the theme park.

Not different at all.

 

[maiapapaya]

Seriously..... I don't understand why if someone needs to go to the TTC they would ride the "Resort" monorail from MK?? That's what the express is for.The resort monorail should be exclusive to those staying at Poly, Cont, GF, BLT. That's kinda the reason it's called "resort monorail", right?
It is their option for transportation..... it takes the place of the buses! Buses are not as convinient with the amount of traffic, etc.

This debate initially started when we were presented with the scenario that with the new rules the express monorail would shut down early in the evening (on nights, such as party nights) when the MK might close quite early. There have been complaints about access, via monorail, to the monorail resorts (which charge a premium for the accessibility to this service) for guests & those with ADR's. A report surfaced on the DVC thread that WDW is considering (on these nights) running the resort monorail until 11:00, presumably as a compromise to deal with this situation. A debate ensued wrt whether boarding at the MK should be restricted to only those staying at monorail resorts if the monorail was to become swamped, under these circumstances, by people wanting to use the resort monorail to travel to the TTC. (not that I'm trying to reopen the debate here!! - it just seems that some people are coming in on the tail end of the conversation & have missed where/why this all started from)

 

[kaytieeldr]

The resort monorail should be exclusive to those staying at Poly, Cont, GF, BLT. That's kinda the reason it's called "resort monorail", right?

Wrong. It's called the "resort monorail" so anyone going from the MK or the TTC can use that line to get to any one of the three resorts at which that loop stops. If your premise were correct, it would be called the "resort monorail guests only" loop - which it's not, WDW not being as exclusionary or elitist as some of the posters here.

 

[Colleen27]

Seriously..... I don't understand why if someone needs to go to the TTC they would ride the "Resort" monorail from MK?? That's what the express is for.

The resort monorail should be exclusive to those staying at Poly, Cont, GF, BLT. That's kinda the reason it's called "resort monorail", right?
It is their option for transportation..... it takes the place of the buses! Buses are not as convinient with the amount of traffic, etc.

Personnally.... If I were staying at CSR I wouldn't get on the All Star bus!
So why would anyone be offended that they couldn't ride the "resort" monorail if not staying there???

Well, the conversation started with the premise that the Express monorail would shut down earlier than the resort monorail.

The resort monorail serves those resorts, but has never been a perk limited to guests actually staying at those resorts. People who are shopping or dining at monorail resorts have always been welcome too, and I don't see that changing. Disney isn't usually in the business of making it harder to part with your cash.

If you were staying at CSR you probably wouldn't have occasion to get on the All Star bus because the value resorts don't have amenities for visitors, but you might want to get on an Animal Kingdom Lodge bus to have dinner at Jiko. And you'd be welcome, because Disney wants you to spend that money even if it does mean that someone staying at AKL might have to stand on that bus ride.

 

[Cafeen]

Shouldn't you be off working on your plans for our alternate form of exclusive transportation rather than stirring the pot?

Multi-tasking!

Nope. Cafeen conceptualizes. It's up to other, less lofty thinkers to now invent the alternate exclusive transportation...

Yup . Those who can do, do. Those who can't do, design (or teach, or coach, or whatever else it fits with) .

Besides, I already came up with my idea as a resort monorail replacement .

If the train were to not stop at TTC, just slowly roll right through, that would solve the problem. Would they need to check resort ID? Not really. Would there be a few that would still ride anyway? Sure, so what.

The only issue I can see with this is the timing of the monorail itself. They'd either have to pull a train out of service before this starts, or have more open beam sitting time. To make the system work efficiently, they need at least 1 fewer trains than stations (2 is much more ideal). So, dropping 1 station out of the mix would effect the max number of trains they can run.

Not saying it's a bad idea or anything (and I agree with no stopping at TTC more than I agree with checking resort keys and disallowing non MK resort guests from riding), but it will affect train availability and wait times at the other stops (which may be also affected by 1 less stop... it's all some pretty tricky math).

As far as the parking branch that's going on. Chances are, the lot was relatively quiet that night, which allowed the guards to bend the rules a bit. Had the lot been busy, they would have been more pressed to keep with the 3hr rule. (Keep in mind, it's not like a certain other topic. If the rule was you could park all day but they suggested a 3hr cap, then it would be. But the rule is 3hrs, so parking all day is the exception.)

(I also realize that the situation for the PP who was allowed to park over 3hrs was not parking all day.)

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

So SSR guests don't get priority service on the bus going to their resort in the evening when the buses start to fill up and there are long waits for the buses. They have no other way to get back to their resort unless they drove to the park. They have to wait for some guest who decides not to take their resort bus back to their resort and then catch a DTD bus from their resort. Or the SSR guests have to wait at the theme park because of all the offsite guests who decided to park for free at DTD instead of paying to park at the theme park.

Not different at all.

Let's say it's past 11:00 PM, the stores and restaurants in Downtown Disney Marketplace has closed for the evening, can you honestly see people going from the Magic Kingdom and getting on the Saratgoa Springs bus because they want to go and visit Pleasure Island or West Side because they are still open, I highly doubt it. So Saratoga Springs guests won't have to worry about their buses being full of guests not staying there. Now during the afternoon when the buses aren't busy I am sure there will people who take their bus to access Downtown Disney, however I am sure it's not as bad as you make it sound. However I would say there are a lot more guests not staying at the Monorail Resorts who use the Resort Monorail compared to the Saratoga Springs buses.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

While a CM with a bullhorn would be very un-Disney, some signs with pictures of the GF, CR and POLY resort logos plus the words "Resort Monorail Only - No stop at TTC" would dissuade most guests. These signs could be pulled out at park closing and removed when the monorail shuts down for the night.

That actually sounds like a very good idea.

Another idea if they ever had Cast Members check for Key To The World cards is to change their design and have the backround be of the resort they are staying at. So it's a lot easier for the Cast Members to see pictures of the Contemporary/Bay Lake Tower, Polynesian, and Grand Floridian compared to reading the numbers that indicate what resort you are staying at. It's something I always thought would be interesting to see happen long before this news about the Monorail was ever announced.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Let's say it's past 11:00 PM, the stores and restaurants in Downtown Disney Marketplace has closed for the evening, can you honestly see people going from the Magic Kingdom and getting on the Saratgoa Springs bus because they want to go and visit Pleasure Island or West Side because they are still open, I highly doubt it. So Saratoga Springs guests won't have to worry about their buses being full of guests not staying there. Now during the afternoon when the buses aren't busy I am sure there will people who take their bus to access Downtown Disney, however I am sure it's not as bad as you make it sound. However I would say there are a lot more guests not staying at the Monorail Resorts who use the Resort Monorail compared to the Saratoga Springs buses.

Sure I can because they are going to their vehicles that they parked there earlier in the day.

Suppose it is 9:00PM right after an earlier closing of the MK, DTD is open until midnight or later (I know the movie theater shows movies at midnight). SSR guests are waiting to go back to their resort and they have to wait for non-SSR guests to get their seats on the bus??? This is already happening and not just a possibility.

I have ridden the resort monorail at 6AM on marathon Sunday. It stopped at the TTC, Polynesian, GF and CR. It did not stop at the MK until about 7AM (I rode it and the Epcot monorail at least three times until I could get off at the MK to watch my runners). So they can skip stations if they need or want to.

 

[Experiment_626]

I said this before and I will say it again. Even though the Resort Monorail line might look shorter, it's still faster for guests only going to the TTC to take the Express Monorail.

That's often true, but not always. If a train is just leaving on the Express Line and just arriving on the Resort line, I might make it to the TTC faster on the resort line (and I recently saw a case -- in late June -- where they had four trains running on the resort line. I'll bet that's about the practical limit, so you didn't have to wait long for a train in any event).

But faster isn't the only consideration at the end of a long day. If I can board the resort monorail faster, I can sit down sooner -- or at least my odds of being able to do so are about the same as on the express line. If I can sit down, I really don't care that it might take a few extra minutes to get to the TTC. At least I'm sitting watching the scenery go by. In fact, even if I could sit on either train, I'm able to sit a little longer on the resort train.

In the past, we usually left so late that the Express line had stopped running and all remaining guests were being directed to the resort line anyway (and the crowds were so low by that point that the trains were departing without being filled). It will be interesting to see how everything changes and to what degree, to say the least.

Scott

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Suppose it is 9:00PM right after an earlier closing of the MK, DTD is open until midnight or later (I know the movie theater shows movies at midnight). SSR guests are waiting to go back to their resort and they have to wait for non-SSR guests to get their seats on the bus??? This is already happening and not just a possibility.

Well at least anyone staying at Saratoga Springs knows that if they just miss the bus or don't want to get on because there are no seats, they have the option of waiting for another one to arrive. Once the Monorail's have are shut down for the evening those guests leaving the Magic Kingdom and staying at the Polynesian and Grand Floridian better hope there are more boats being added or buses so they can get back. So that's why it's not fair to compare the Monorail's to the Buses.

Also during the prime time hours like between 7:00 PM - 10:00 PM not only are a lot of guests getting on the Resort Monorail at the Magic Kingdom they are also getting on at the Contemporary, Transportation & Ticket Center Polynesian, and Grand Floridian. Well sometimes that means guests getting on at the other stops might need to stand or wait for another Resort Monorail to arrive because the lines are very long. So you can't just say guests standing on the buses for Saratoga Springs is a problem, because I would say it's a lot worse with the Resort Monorail.

Personally I don't mind standing on the Monorail so there will be no reason to flame me for thinking that I should always be allowed to sit down, I am just stating some facts about it.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Well at least anyone staying at Saratoga Springs knows that if they just miss the bus or don't want to get on because there are no seats, they have the option of waiting for another one to arrive. ...

So you can't just say guests standing on the buses for Saratoga Springs is a problem, because I would say it's a lot worse with the Resort Monorail.....

So what if it's the last bus to SSR? They do happen, you know. CR guest can walk. Polynesian and GF can take a boat.

As for standing on the bus to SSR??? Standing on the bus is a lot longer and less safe than standing on the monorail. There are a lot more seats on the monorail than on the buses.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

So what if it's the last bus to SSR? They do happen, you know. CR guest can walk. Polynesian and GF can take a boat.

As for standing on the bus to SSR??? Standing on the bus is a lot longer and less safe than standing on the monorail. There are a lot more seats on the monorail than on the buses.

On one of the earlier pages of this thread someone mentioned that in the past during PM Extra Magic Hours at the Magic Kingdom they didn't run the boats to the Polynesian and Grand Floridian. That's why I said WDW better add more of them for those guests or adding buses instead, because by that time the Resort Monorail would not be running for the rest of the evening.

The Monorail's might have more total seats when you take into account the six differen't loading areas where the guests get on, however each area is a lot smaller and when the Monorail is very busy those seats get taken up a lot faster.

As for what if it's the last bus to Saratoga Springs others have said WDW keeps runinng buses until no one is left waiting at the parks, so those guests won't get left behind.

 

[musicmama]

We went to PM EMH at Magic Kingdom on July 17th, when it was open til 3:00am. And we made it til 2:40am. There were still a lot of people in the park when we left, probably because it had been so hot during the day. We were parked in Donald Duck, as far out as you can get, because we hadn't arrived until mid-afternoon. (I admitted previously that we don't use Disney buses because of previous bad experiences.)

Upon leaving the MK we were directed to the resort monorail which, we already knew from having dinner at the GF, was running until 5:00am. There didn't seem to be any resort launches and there was no ferry at the dock. Maybe this will change after August 1st.

What was funny/sad, however, is that DD and I were the ONLY people on our tram. There were others who got off the monorail at the TTC with us, but were walking to either the handicapped or diamond parking areas. I'm sure they must have gotten more business after us because there were still lots of cars scattered through the parking lots.

 

[Traveliz]

We went to PM EMH at Magic Kingdom on July 17th, when it was open til 3:00am. And we made it til 2:40am. There were still a lot of people in the park when we left, probably because it had been so hot during the day. We were parked in Donald Duck, as far out as you can get, because we hadn't arrived until mid-afternoon. (I admitted previously that we don't use Disney buses because of previous bad experiences.)

Upon leaving the MK we were directed to the resort monorail which, we already knew from having dinner at the GF, was running until 5:00am. There didn't seem to be any resort launches and there was no ferry at the dock. Maybe this will change after August 1st.

What was funny/sad, however, is that DD and I were the ONLY people on our tram. There were others who got off the monorail at the TTC with us, but were walking to either the handicapped or diamond parking areas. I'm sure they must have gotten more business after us because there were still lots of cars scattered through the parking lots.

That sounds like business as usual - will be interesting to hear the MK reports after August 1.

Liz

 

[GadgetRick]

Just to clarify, because things get lost in all the back and forth ... I gave the Epcot example in response to a poster's comment that "I didn't realize you could just pay more for priority service on attractions with Disney now. Sorry, this is elitist BS." My intent in mentioning EMH (and the Epcot monorail) was to show him that at times guests can pay more - in this example staying on site - and get a priority service.

And again, you're talking about something which ANY guest has access to (EMH) so it's not quite the same argument.


QUOTE=maiapapaya;41948223]People are entitled to use Disney transportation. There is no specific mode tied to this, just transportation. However, given that there is a premium to stay at a monorail resort and that BLT was probably marketed with the cookie that it is the only DVC property on the monorail you could argue that these guests have paid extra for the service of the RESORT loop. [/QUOTE]
and guests who pay to go to WDW ares all also paying a premium for things like the monorail just by going. Again, the monorail resorts are expensive not just because of the monorail. If there were no monorail they'd still be expensive and probably just as expensive because of their proximity to MK.

QUOTE=maiapapaya;41948223]If guests are entitled to use of an amenity tied to their resort and crowding is deemed a problem by management there are examples where they do limit access. I didn't just come up with this idea because I am an elitist snob. The no pool hopping policy is an example. At BC & later Poly people who hadn't paid to stay at those resorts caused crowding problems at those resort pools. Management responded by requiring guests to show resort ID & wearing wrist bands. Another example is Wishes. Lots of people like to watch Wishes from the beach at the Poly. There are probably lots of people there who aren't Poly guests and it's not normally an issue. But on occasions when the beach becomes too packed and Poly guests are impeded from using the beach to view the fireworks (something all guests are welcomed to watch from various vantage points on the property) the management again requires resort ID. This happens specifically on New Years eve & July 4th.[/QUOTE]
I'm sorry but there's a huge difference between checking Ids for pool hopping and for going on a resort property than using the monorail. The monorail is for all WDW guests and there are valid reasons for people to need to ride the monorails during these times.

QUOTE=maiapapaya;41948223]
So I don't think I'm being elitist in saying under the scenario I described if the resort monorail boarding at MK is swamped with people trying to get to the TTC, and Disney's intent of running the resort loop at this time is to provide the monorail resort guests with the service they paid to receive, that they might check ID's.[/QUOTE]
Elitist or not, you are acting like people staying there are somehow more entitled than people who aren't. That's what it sounds like whether you mean it that way or not.

 

[disneydreamingdebby]

Someone reported on another thread that Disney announced the monorail will run until 11 pm...

updated monorail closure policy