My thoughts of no Mono after MNSSHP

[morethananyonex]

Okay, if not now, when? During all the years where the parks were open until midnight to 2 AM (when you include special events, EMH's, etc.)? There aren't many hours between 2 AM and 7 AM to do this maintenance, and the parks are open 365 days a year. During summer months, MK is regularly open until 11 PM or midnight, without EMH.

Yes, it's inconvenient, but I don't see how doing this work earlier would have made any difference in the impact (and I don't discount the impact). I honestly think they've probably been operating on very thin safety margins for the last decade or so (or whenever EMH's started occurring, in addition to all the special events that rob them of what little "down time" they might used to have had in the winter months). Shutting them down at 10:30 PM seems very reasonable to me, hard-ticketed parties or not.

I guarantee they're saving money shutting down the monorail by 10:30. That doesn't change the fact that it's also a much better move for guests' safety.

It would be nice if they offer alternative means of getting to the TTC from MK during these non-monorail hours, and I've seen many indications that they're doing this (buses, an extra ferry or two when they're available), but complaining on here and to Disney isn't going to change the fact that safety concerns trump those of guest convenience.

It does scare me that they've been operating on (what I consider to be) thin safety margins for so long on this system, but I'm glad they're doing something about it now, even if it gives them a public black eye for a while. Better that than a tragedy later. Lambast them all you like for poor decision-making, but I applaud them being responsible, even if they're late in doing so.

If they had started regular maintenance early enough, logically it wouldn't have to be done as frequently correct? Maintaining the beams once a week versus every day of the week, for example. There are slower times of the year where the parks closed much earlier then 2 a.m., so why could they have not taken advantage of that regularly in past years as opposed to allowing it to get this bad?

Like you, it scares me that they've let it get to this point where maintenance is lacking so much that they need to cut hours frequently or it becomes a safety concern.

 

[SOnotLayuh]

I'm not sure I believe the maintenance story either... but we still had fun on our last trip to CR

 

[grimley1968]

If they had started regular maintenance early enough, logically it wouldn't have to be done as frequently correct? Maintaining the beams once a week versus every day of the week, for example. There are slower times of the year where the parks closed much earlier then 2 a.m., so why could they have not taken advantage of that regularly in past years as opposed to allowing it to get this bad?

Like you, it scares me that they've let it get to this point where maintenance is lacking so much that they need to cut hours frequently or it becomes a safety concern.

There really aren't the slow periods like there used to be. With MNSSHP, MVMCP, EMH's, etc. they are regularly open until midnight or later even in the slowest times of year, with a promise of running late enough to get the last stragglers out of MK. October through mid-December used to be largely dead periods. Not any more. Even in mid-winter months, the park can be open until 11 PM or midnight with EMH's. Otherwise, that might be about the only time of year when MK closes by 9 or 10 at night. But that is literally just parts of January and February now. March is busy again. I can remember when MK used to close by 9 or 10 PM just about every night. That's just not the case any longer. That is now a rare exception.

They've been doing maintenance all along, though probably more extensive a long time ago. It's just that 4 or 5 hours they got recently in the wee hours of the morning isn't very much maintenance time versus having a hard shut down by 10:30 PM nightly.

With a system like that, I would hope they're doing track and train maintenance of some sort every single night. Shutting down the system by 10:30 every night allows for that to be more complete.

 

[flicx]

So basically because disney is going for a bigger money grab(MNSSHP,MVMCP) etc,the customers should have to deal with less service?

 

[Laketravis]

Technically, no they didn't. I am sure that another family gladly filled the vacancy you left at CR. I know that CR, Poly & GF are "monorail" hotels, but there are other features and amenities that draw in guests.

You chose another Disney resort. They are still getting $ from you and they will still get $ from another family who decides to stay at CR.

The DIS is the vast minority of people that visit WDW annually. We aren't even really a blip on their radar.

I do believe the maintenance story. The monorails have been breaking down far too frequently in the past year or two.

Technically, they did, even if another person was waiting in line behind me.

And I've got $2400 more in my pocket.

Maybe I'm not much of an impact, but if 1,000 or even 10,000 others did the same, somebody just might notice.

 

[NLD]

I'm really concerned about these reports. I have a conference in Orlando next month and the only thing stopping me from buying a MNNSSHP ticket for while I'm down there are these reports of it taking an hour or more to get back to the TTC.

Is there one common thread somewhere with multiple people reporting their experiences on this?

 

[mom2rtk]

Technically, no they didn't. I am sure that another family gladly filled the vacancy you left at CR. I know that CR, Poly & GF are "monorail" hotels, but there are other features and amenities that draw in guests.

You chose another Disney resort. They are still getting $ from you and they will still get $ from another family who decides to stay at CR.

The DIS is the vast minority of people that visit WDW annually. We aren't even really a blip on their radar.

I do believe the maintenance story. The monorails have been breaking down far too frequently in the past year or two.

Then can I assume you don't vote? Becuase one vote REALLY doesn't matter, right?

 

[A Mickeyfan]

I do. It has to be maintained sometime. When those tracks were built (as well as the trains), there was no such thing as EMH, Halloween parties, Christmas parties, etc. (at least not going until 12-2 AM or so). Those events put a ton of extra stress on that system that didn't exist in the past. Asking monorail maintenance crews to maintain tracks and trains between 2 AM and 7:30 or so AM is asking the nearly impossible. 10:30 PM is still pushing it, but it's at least a more realistic window of opportunity to perform maintenance than 2 AM to 7:30 AM. The only way to maintain trains right now is to take them out of service while other trains run during the day. Closing the whole system at 10:30 might mean trains run more often during the days, and of course allows for better track maintenance during off hours.

I'm sure it saves Disney a little bit of money to close the monorail earlier, but IMO it was a necessary step to ensure the future survival of this system. It could be only a temporary measure, but if it's necessary to make this permanent in order to make sure it's safe, I'm all for it.

Actually when they were built, you are correct, there were no parties such as the MNSSHP and MVMCP or EMH.. but the parks were open till midnight more often than they are now.. they used to be opened till midnight and 1am many many years ago.. before all these extra hard ticket events started Resort EMH... that is when it started closing early. I can remember it being opened late every night in the summer

 

[flicx]

Actually when they were built, you are correct, there were no parties such as the MNSSHP and MVMCP or EMH.. but the parks were open till midnight more often than they are now.. they used to be opened till midnight and 1am many many years ago.. before all these extra hard ticket events started Resort EMH... that is when it started closing early. I can remember it being opened late every night in the summer

Yes you are correct my wife and I stayed in the parks until midnight in 1985the year we went on honeymoon in Florida.I remember going back to the hotel outside the park in the late afternoon to eat and then coming back later in the evening to stay until closing.This was in early March of that year.There were many other times in the 80's and early 90's we did the same in other months too!

 

[xbonnie38]

I worry about to many people at once on the ferry, I mean they dont keep track how many people they are loading on them and well isnt it a recipe for disaster? Kinda makes me think of the titanic without the iceburg! So when someone gets hurt due to overcrowding or if something happens to a boat load of people then maybe they will see that this is a bad move,, I know I will be there in 7 days and the thought of this makes me uncomfortable. Freak accidents happen.

 

[brockash]

Not everyone believes the "maintenance" story.

Add me to the list of "non-believers." I'm honestly pretty shocked that anyone really believes that the new monorail policies are only/or at all because of maintenance. For all these years, Disney's been able to keep up the maintenance of their monorails without cutting service to their guests, and now all of a sudden, that's impossible?? Give me a break, there's no way.

 

[mom2rtk]

I worry about to many people at once on the ferry, I mean they dont keep track how many people they are loading on them and well isnt it a recipe for disaster? Kinda makes me think of the titanic without the iceburg! So when someone gets hurt due to overcrowding or if something happens to a boat load of people then maybe they will see that this is a bad move,, I know I will be there in 7 days and the thought of this makes me uncomfortable. Freak accidents happen.

Maybe it could be a tie-in to the new Titanic-land I proposed on one of the countless Avatar threads!

 

[swarlock]

They already had a tragedy, and that could be part of why they implemented the change.

I was about to say that too.

 

[M5ward]

I believe there really is a monorail maintenance issue. There have been far too many breakdowns recently, and the beams are aging. However, I don't believe that maintenance is the only reason for the early shutdown of the system. I think there has to be some monetary savings even though additional buses and boats have to pick up the slack.
I also don't believe for a single second that this change will be temporary. We are staying at BLT in January, and it may be our only " monorail resort" stay due to the monorail issue. My husband uses an ECV, and returning from Epcot EMH or late dinner reservations just got more difficult. Oh well..

 

[mickeyonasticky]

I worry about to many people at once on the ferry, I mean they dont keep track how many people they are loading on them and well isnt it a recipe for disaster? Kinda makes me think of the titanic without the iceburg! So when someone gets hurt due to overcrowding or if something happens to a boat load of people then maybe they will see that this is a bad move,, I know I will be there in 7 days and the thought of this makes me uncomfortable. Freak accidents happen.

...Except that they do keep track. There are turnstiles at the ferryboat dock for a reason.

The amount of people that can fit on the dock is the amount of people that can fit on the ferryboat. So even if for whatever reason the turnstiles weren't working, they can still keep track.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

1) People, maintenance is maintenance.
. . . Would you rather be stuck on the monorail in a breakdown?
. . . Would you rather the monorail be down during the day?
. . . Would you rather a major breakdown and 2-3 days down?
2) Let them do the maintenance.
3) There are other ways back to the resort.
4) You are on vacation, so what is the rush? *

* And, no, sleeping/crabby children is not an excuse. If they are
that tired, you should have left hours ago. IMHO

I understand it's maintenance and that's what a Club Level Cast Member told me and he even use to work as a Monorail Cast Member.

However last month when my family and I were visiting the Grand Floridian we over heard a Monorail Cast Member saying the Resort Monorail line was down and they wouldn't know when it would be operating again. Well whatever maintenance they are doing isn't working since it's still breaking down only a few weeks after the decision was made to stop the Resort Monorail 1 hour after the Magic Kingdom had closed.

 

[pampam]

I worry about to many people at once on the ferry, I mean they dont keep track how many people they are loading on them and well isnt it a recipe for disaster? Kinda makes me think of the titanic without the iceburg! So when someone gets hurt due to overcrowding or if something happens to a boat load of people then maybe they will see that this is a bad move,, I know I will be there in 7 days and the thought of this makes me uncomfortable. Freak accidents happen.

FWIW

I had a ferry captain tell me once that if it sank, the top floor would not be below water. The Seven Seans Lagoon is quite shallow since it is a man made lake to serve at an entrance and one step to entering the MK. There are of course life preservers and flotation devices on board, but those on the top floor would not get wet.

 

[Laketravis]

When I called to switch my reservations from the CR to CSR, I asked the CM if he had a field to note my reason for doing so. He said he really didn't, but asked what the reason was.

I explained to him that my decision was based solely on the fact that the evening operating hours for the monorail were being disrupted, and for me the CR had lost it's premium advantage (to the tune of $2400 in our case) if we had to take a bus or other form of transportation other than the monorail back to the CR, and that other resorts - even offsite - were now a notch or two higher for purposes of comparison.

He said he really did understand, alluded that my comments weren't the first that he or others had heard, and said he would definitely "run it up the ladder" because anywhere he could note something like that on the reservation record wouldn't be seen by the appropriate audience.

My point is that I would encourage everyone to express your opinion to Disney. Don't be dismayed by anyone who tries to tell you that your opinion doesn't matter. It does, and I'm sure that Disney would appreciate hearing it.

 

[flicx]

I applaud you for telling disney about the situation and not just dismissing it.They need to hear the good and the bad.How else are they ever gonna remedy it?

 

[BlueChariot]

We were also at MNSSHP on 9/16 and had a similar problem getting back to the TTC. While buses may have been running to the TTC, we saw no signage and no CMs told us this option was available (if in fact it was available).

We had with us our 14 month old DD. My problems with getting back to TTC are multiple:

1. While DD was fine in the park with lots of things to grab her attention, the tiredness didn't set in for her until we left the park. In a cramped crowded, hot, space with lots of people pushing and no where to go, this made for a very rough 1+ hour taking the ferry back to the TTC. DD was crying and screaming, and there was absolutely nothing to do to console her. Thankfully, when I made a comment about "if I had a place to sit, I could nurse DD to help calm her down," another family sitting on a bench was nice enough to allow me to sit and nurse DD while we waited. It still isn't easy with a child, regardless of their age or how tired they are. Even the adults got restless and cranky...

2. What happens in the event of an emergency when they have to clear out the park completely with speed. For instance, a threatened bomb or terrorist attack... there's no way they could quickly evacuate that number of people with only the ferry running.

3. While they have three ferries, only two were running when we attempted to leave the park. If you choose to run only the ferries, at least have all three of them operating.

4. If you do have buses running to the TTC, let people know. Have CMs tell people on their way out of the park, have signs pointing in the correct direction, and by god, have numerous buses running (not just a few).

Okay... I feel better now getting that off my chest.