What's up with Monorail service?

[cedricandsophie]

We are staying at Bay Lake for a few days before moving over to Old Key west. We are not park people so we just use the monorail to go around to the resorts. recent incidents have concerned me.

we went to the Contemporary to catch the monorail to go to The Grand Floridian for dinner. Admittedly it might have been the wrong time, 730ish, but there were at least 100 people in line. One train went thru empty and we were told it was in its way for maintenance. Three successive trains came through, filled to the max. Approximately 25 to 30 people from our line crammed into those trains as they went through. We finally got on the third one, having waited over 30 minutes.

The train stops at the ticket and transportation center And the train takes several minutes to get situated properly. It goes too far forward, backs up too far and goes forward again, finally stopping.

We get to the Polynesian stop and our door doesn't open. We are in the last car. Everyone in the car just assumed that it was opening late. But it never opened! Some people who had dinner reservations st Poly begin pounding on the door but no one hears and the train moves on.

We get to the Grand Floridian and our door still doesn't open. I join in the pounding on the windows. Finally you can see some people from the car in front of us who hear our pounding tell one of the attendants to check on our car. He finally does and gets the door open. At least we are at our stop. The family that needed to get out at the Poly is still talking to the attendant as we are hurrying to get to dinner at Narcoosees. It was like being trapped in our own twilight zone! Should it take 40 min to ride the monorail from one resort to another?

We took the monorail again last night to go to trader sams at the Poly for a drink. Only about 20 people in line at the contemporary this time but once again an empty train goes through. Then it takes 15 minutes (I was keeping track on my watch) for another train, again packed. We managed to barely get on. At least the doors opened on this ride. But again it took over 20 min to get from the contemporary to the Poly.

We haven't stayed at a monorail resort for a while. Is this what to expect with monorail service from now on?

 

[goofy4tink]

The monorail system is very undependable lately. I no longer use it if I 'have' to be somewhere at a specific time. If I need to get to the Polynesian or GF, I just walk over to the MK and take a boat. It might take longer, but maybe not!!! Depends on what is going on with the monorail!!!

 

[Moxiepup]

Now I'm thinking it might be better to take the boat to the Poly for our luau show instead of the monorail! How long does the boat trip usually take?

 

[seashoreCM]

Funny how so many guests want the monorail system expanded while Disney can't keep the existing monorails running well.

In case of Disney transportation troubles or if the Animal Kingdom parking lot opens late in the morning, the restaurants should honor your reservation even if you are a little late. Seek out Guest Services if the concierge doesn't know how to handle the situation.

There is some threshold for how much time you should have allowed for the journey, I think it is 90 minutes for ordinary bus transportation from one resort to another resort and 60 minutes from resort to park, but I don't know what the threshold should be for the monorail.

The correct procedure is for them to remake your reservation for ten minutes after you get there if you were made late by transportation.

 

[LilyWDW]

It's an old and outdated system that needs some big time maintenance. But every single time Disney tries to do maintenance people whine and complain about the system being down and how much they spend to stay at a monorail resort. It is also a very expensive system to update and maintain which many people don't seem to want to understand.

 

[marauder]

I said this in another thread. The current Mark VI monorails have been in use since '89. I remember talking to cast members around the time of the replacements from Mark IV to Mark VI and they said that the old Mark IV monorails could be on fire and would still run. They said at the time that the Mark VI monorails, a bug could land in the wrong place and take them out. I can only imagine how hard they are to maintain and find parts for.