I realize why people complain about transportation...

[rob0519]

If there's people and machines involved things will not ever be perfect 100% of the time. That's an unrealistic expectation

I'll agree 100% uptime involving humans and machines of any kind is unlikely. However, it has been my experience, as well as that of several posters here, that the monorails and buses on any given day do not meet even realistic expectations. Two hours to get from Epcot to the GF is insane. The monorail trains are old and worn out and have been getting more unreliable by the year in my opinion.

 

[21stamps]

I'll agree 100% uptime involving humans and machines of any kind is unlikely. However, it has been my experience, as well as that of several posters here, that the monorails and buses on any given day do not meet even realistic expectations. Two hours to get from Epcot to the GF is insane. The monorail trains are old and worn out and have been getting more unreliable by the year in my opinion.

I haven't personally seen bus issues. When I take an Uber or Taxi it's because I don't won't to wait the projected 10 minutes from now for the bus, or because I'm running late, due to my own fault, and can't wait. Or because I don't want to deal with a crowded bus after a park closed.

I missed the part about GF originally.. if the monorail is down of course it would be frustrating, but- you could wait, or Uber, or walk to Poly and if monorail is still down just take the launch. Again, I'm not saying it's ideal, or that it's not annoying, but it's better than waiting for 2.5 hours when you're that close.

 

[mousehockey37]

I'll agree 100% uptime involving humans and machines of any kind is unlikely. However, it has been my experience, as well as that of several posters here, that the monorails and buses on any given day do not meet even realistic expectations. Two hours to get from Epcot to the GF is insane. The monorail trains are old and worn out and have been getting more unreliable by the year in my opinion.

Let's face it. Disney created the monster of the crowds they bring in. Festivals, sporting events, competitions, foreign deals, domestic deals, hard ticket parties, resort discounts, dining promotions, etc all play into this. The demand and abuse on the transportation equipment is monumental. For the mechanics to keep things running as well as they do, it's nothing short of incredible. People can come here and put things down or complain as much as they want, but as I said earlier, it could be far worse. They could not have any transportation at all. You could have to drive everywhere and walk. A bus being a little late due to traffic on the road? How about that bus driver had to board 2 scooters (which can take some time)? There's an infinite number of reasons things can be delayed or slow or down, but just think if none of that was in place at all.

It's easy to blast the company for the problem, but really, when you spend as much as we do for these vacations, you'd think some would use some common sense and see that if there's a problem that they find a different way.

 

[mousehockey37]

I haven't personally seen bus issues. When I take an Uber or Taxi it's because I don't won't to wait the projected 10 minutes from now for the bus, or because I'm running late, due to my own fault, and can't wait. Or because I don't want to deal with a crowded bus after a park closed.

I missed the part about GF originally.. if the monorail is down of course it would be frustrating, but- you could wait, or Uber, or walk to Poly and if monorail is still down just take the launch. Again, I'm not saying it's ideal, or that it's not annoying, but it's better than waiting for 2.5 hours when you're that close.

With the way people act regarding some of this stuff with transportation, this comes to mind:

 

[21stamps]

With the way people act regarding some of this stuff with transportation, this comes to mind:

That was great! I'm sharing on social media lol.
That line summed it up "Just get off the escalator". Seriously.

Annoying things happen, but you have a choice of how to deal with them when they do.

 

[mousehockey37]

That was great! I'm sharing on social media lol.
That line summed it up "Just get off the escalator". Seriously.

Annoying things happen, but you have a choice of how to deal with them when they do.

A really good example that Disney has, and we had to do this...

The ramp up to the Peoplemover broke. So you physically had to walk up the ramp to the Peoplemover. I'm sure there were fully healthy people who passed by the ride seeing that they had to do manual labor to get up to the ride.

 

[rob0519]

I haven't personally seen bus issues. When I take an Uber or Taxi it's because I don't won't to wait the projected 10 minutes from now for the bus, or because I'm running late, due to my own fault, and can't wait. Or because I don't want to deal with a crowded bus after a park closed.

I missed the part about GF originally.. if the monorail is down of course it would be frustrating, but- you could wait, or Uber, or walk to Poly and if monorail is still down just take the launch. Again, I'm not saying it's ideal, or that it's not annoying, but it's better than waiting for 2.5 hours when you're that close.

Not saying that I wouldn't do the same thing, take an Uber, take a taxi, take a launch, etc. However, Disney sells us the idea that staying on property is stress free. Take a bus from the airport to the resort, take a monorail, bus or launch to the parks or dinner. It's all included in the price of your Magical Disney Vacation. Yes, things break. Yes, there can be lots of traffic on the roads with the buses. It just seems that the transportation system is being over taxed by the sheer number of paying customers and is breaking down to what appears to be an unacceptable level. The number of complaints here and on other Disney forums seems to be growing by the month.

 

[21stamps]

Not saying that I wouldn't do the same thing, take an Uber, take a taxi, take a launch, etc. However, Disney sells us the idea that staying on property is stress free. Take a bus from the airport to the resort, take a monorail, bus or launch to the parks or dinner. It's all included in the price of your Magical Disney Vacation. Yes, things break. Yes, there can be lots of traffic on the roads with the buses. It just seems that the transportation system is being over taxed by the sheer number of paying customers and is breaking down to what appears to be an unacceptable level. The number of complaints here and on other Disney forums seems to be growing by the month.

I'm sorry, we're still all adults.. no one is going to "sell you" on the fact that mishaps can happen, that's just common sense that we all should have.
I don't care if I'm spending $3k or $10k..if a mishap happens I try to deal with it in the most efficient way possible. If I don't choose to do so, then I'm only hurting myself and my family. Sure, I'll probably mutter under my breath about it, and mildly complain about it to a friend or in a trip report..lol. But I deal with it then and there so the impact is much less than what it would be if I chose to act helpless. That way, the negative is very short lived.

I have never viewed Disney World as a magical bubble, it's real, sht happens in the real world.

 

[rob0519]

The monorail finally pulled into my stop. This is where I get off the loop.

 

[L.C. Clench]

Where is all this traffic that supposedly slows down the busses? Outside of Downtown Disney there aren't major traffic jams on property that are slowing down the busses 95% of the time.

As for the monorail the issues are mechanical with the engines. You don't have to shut down the whole system to work on them one at a time and make sure that they are operational. They can sure pull one out of service to put a wrap on it to advertise a movie when they can shift money around for "advertising". We've been there before when the monorails to MK were down and they only had one Ferry in service and were running 2 busses from the TTC to the front gate. Most of Disney's issues are their own making.

 

[L.C. Clench]

If there's people and machines involved things will not ever be perfect 100% of the time. That's an unrealistic expectation

When the problems are because of lack of maintenance that's a completely realistic concern.

 

[L.C. Clench]

The fact that Disney has thousands of visitors daily and is one of the heaviest traveled tourist destinations in the world, doesn't leave much room for them to take things out of service. Go look at the refurb threads about how rides only get touch-ups and such, when they should be shut down for much longer, but alas, people want those rides open.

It's a no-win situation honestly. If you have any better ideas as to how to operate a theme park, I'm sure the high brass would be all ears. And yes, people are taking their vacations in their own hands: hence taxis and Uber getting people around.

The OP was waiting for a monorail that was having issues. That should've been a sign there that it was time to find another way, but hey, if they wanted to wait, that's on them. If they were ON the monorail and stuck, that's a completely different thing, but the fact that they were NOT on the monorail and had the capability to find an alternative, I stand by no compensation. Also, the FP was good until 11:30... What time did they actually get to the park?

I'd be curious if they knew the monorail was having issues when they got in or were waiting in line. Disney is notorious for not advising people there are problems and then letting people pile in line and then once your in getting out can be quite the challenge.

 

[DuckTalesWooHoo1987]

I personally can't justify depending on the monorail. It seems like it's down far too often to be reliable if there's really something which can't be missed.

Yeah we are members at BLT and seriously hardly ever use it unless it is absolutely necessary. What's odd is obviously BLT being on a monorail was one of the major selling points to most people but to me it was actually the walking distance and proximity to the MK that done it for me. The monorail often gets held up and there's also usually a pretty good size line for it too. I pretty much just use it to get to Ohana and 1900 Park Fare but I do use it to get back and forth to EPCOT but leave a ton early in case of problems.

 

[Patcheslee]

The FP for Soarin ENDED at 10:30am sorry wasn't clear on that. And thought renting a car to rely very little on disney transport for the week was responsible. But at some point the person driving still needs a break from that.

 

[thomas998]

The poo thing? It's gross, but if you know nothing of the person that left the mess, you have no idea. As someone that has IBS, and travels with others that have IBD/UC, if your stomach turns and you can't make it, you can't make it. Again, I'm not defending the action of pooping on the sidewalk, but there's just sometimes that people with medical problems just can't make it. But, there are also visitors that are on vacation from home and abroad that think they can do whatever, wherever and it's ok.

Ever heard of Depends? And of course common sense... If you have medical problems where you can't control your bowels maybe doing high intensity rides like TT should be skipped or do you think having it forced out of you on a ride is a nice experience to have which is what your setting yourself up for if you start riding rides like TT.

 

[Patcheslee]

Ever heard of Depends? And of course common sense... If you have medical problems where you can't control your bowels maybe doing high intensity rides like TT should be skipped or do you think having it forced out of you on a ride is a nice experience to have which is what your setting yourself up for if you start riding rides like TT.

Hate to say it but have intestinal/bladder issues after childbirth, so if I have to deal with that every day of my life. Yes it's completely embarassing to wear a incontinence pad but they exist! I know I have problems and make sure I have a way to avoid further embarrassment.

 

[BigRedDad]

Since 2012, we have always had a car. WDW transportation is the worst. When they have supercomputers to operate everything, they have almost no technology to manage transport. With everyone having a MB, they can log when people arrived for a bus, how long they have been there, how many are there, and where to dispatch to.

It's like I have said. I would love to compare times on an entire week. Start the clock when you leave your room and the stop when you hit the Security check. On the way out, start it when you hit the Exit and stop it when you get to your room. People will be shocked at how much time is wasted on transportation in a week. Driving to DHS, Epcot, and AK, it is about 10-15 minutes (from WBC). MK is about 35-40 minutes.

 

[21stamps]

The FP for Soarin ENDED at 10:30am sorry wasn't clear on that. And thought renting a car to rely very little on disney transport for the week was responsible. But at some point the person driving still needs a break from that.

That makes sense.. if you arrived at the TTC at 9, then parked- tram- security- monorail problem-security again.. that could definitely take an hour and a half. What time did you arrive at Epcot?

What's the normal time it would take? I haven't driven to the TTC in years.. from GF lobby to inside of Epcot, (before the monorail security checks) was a little under 60 minutes according to my photos, But- we did stop for photo pass pics outside of Epcot.. so subtract some time for that.

How long was the line for security? That's one thing I worry about for next time. We enjoy the monorail to Epcot, but now it will be 3 security checks before getting inside the turnstiles.

 

[mousehockey37]

Ever heard of Depends? And of course common sense... If you have medical problems where you can't control your bowels maybe doing high intensity rides like TT should be skipped or do you think having it forced out of you on a ride is a nice experience to have which is what your setting yourself up for if you start riding rides like TT.

Ever had to get to a bathroom and you just made it? Also, it was not said that the pooper came off of TT. Mission Space is back in that area as well. A lot more people get sick on Mission Space. In all honesty, we don't know who they were or what they did or had happen before they missed the bathroom.

Nice to see you're discriminating against people with intestinal issues. Wanna throw people with other disabilities under the bus?

Hope you never develop any issues or have family members that may embarrass you with medical problems while visiting the parks.

 

[mousehockey37]

Hate to say it but have intestinal/bladder issues after childbirth, so if I have to deal with that every day of my life. Yes it's completely embarassing to wear a incontinence pad but they exist! I know I have problems and make sure I have a way to avoid further embarrassment.

Yes, but even still, accidents do happen. That's why they're called accidents.