Is there any news on the Epcot monorail?

flutas

Well-Known Member
Only bad news if you choose to not be vaccinated. If you choose to not be vaccinated and are concerned about COVID - well, perhaps going to Disney World is not your best choice.

And if you're concerned about your kids who can't yet be vaccinated getting COVID. Well, um, perhaps going to Disney World is not your best choice.

Wow talk about a quick jump.

First of all, no one said anything about vaccinations.

Second of all, I would say a lot of people would take that as bad news. Solo parties in the skyliner was a nice relaxing way to be transported. Now it's basically going to be back to a cramped bus.
 

monothingie

Proxy War 2024: Never Forget
Premium Member
Social Distancing and Separation aren’t the issues anymore. Labor is. They are subbing out bus operations to third parties because they can’t get people. Monorail is exactly the same. They’re operating with minimal staffing already. CP will help. But that is at least several weeks if not months away.
 

peter11435

Well-Known Member
Social Distancing and Separation aren’t the issues anymore. Labor is. They are subbing out bus operations to third parties because they can’t get people. Monorail is exactly the same. They’re operating with minimal staffing already. CP will help. But that is at least several weeks if not months away.
Labor is a huge part of the problem, but social distancing is part of the equation. Due to physical distancing requirements they currently need significantly more buses and drivers than would normally be needed for these attendance levels. Buses are still running with no standing room and carrying less than half the number of guests they are designed for.
 

Disone

Well-Known Member
Hate to be the bearer of bad news...

Okay thanks for the "bad news". I know how much it must have pained you to share that:)

Between no internal notification and my own personal experience I did miss that they were doing this. But I will take it at face value, though with a grain of salt, this blog report.
 

Dranth

Well-Known Member
Only bad news if you choose to not be vaccinated. If you choose to not be vaccinated and are concerned about COVID - well, perhaps going to Disney World is not your best choice.

And if you're concerned about your kids who can't yet be vaccinated getting COVID. Well, um, perhaps going to Disney World is not your best choice.
Forget COVID, one group per Gondola was one of the best parts of our last trip. Going to miss it.
 

Phicinfan

Well-Known Member
Wow talk about a quick jump.

First of all, no one said anything about vaccinations.

Second of all, I would say a lot of people would take that as bad news. Solo parties in the skyliner was a nice relaxing way to be transported. Now it's basically going to be back to a cramped bus.
At least it may help reduce some of the wait times to ride the Skyliner. Gotta look for that golden lining :D
 

Horizons '83

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
Forget COVID, one group per Gondola was one of the best parts of our last trip. Going to miss it.
There were several times we had our own gondola pre-pandemic, just depends when you ride. After Epcot closes? Not so much but if you are leaving mid-day to Epcot, there is a good chance you will have your own.
 

monothingie

Proxy War 2024: Never Forget
Premium Member
Labor is a huge part of the problem, but social distancing is part of the equation. Due to physical distancing requirements they currently need significantly more buses and drivers than would normally be needed for these attendance levels. Buses are still running with no standing room and carrying less than half the number of guests they are designed for.
They’ve removed queue markings everywhere (including monorail stations), no one is enforcing any distancing in the queues, and ride vehicles are being loaded again to almost max capacity. Gondola is now seating different parties together.

Disney could flip the switch tomorrow to return it to normal. If they had the people to do it.
 

PirateFrank

Well-Known Member
You know, I'm fine with it.

The way Disney, Univseral and etc did the cast dirty.. let them struggle a bit to find good qualified folks.
Laying them off or something else? If its the former, see my comment below. I'm not sure we can fault them for making that decision.

Yes WDW does have challenges ahead, but did one really expected to keep the bus drivers on the payroll instead of laying them off last year?

Seems like it may have been a good idea to do just that....
I don't know. People tend to charge in with torches lit when WDW does things like layoffs. Honestly, no one knows what the right move was except WDW. There was someone here who clearly had an accounting/econ background, cant remember who...but he was dropping some convincing posts explaining Disney was bleeding a near fatal amount of cash last summer. When something like that happens, you stop the bleeding first. Then you worry about whether or not your business is going to be hampered by a decision you make while saving the business.

All of this hinges on how serious the bleeding was. I'm not saying it was right or wrong to trim staff....but I'm not sure any of us were equipped to say what was a good idea or not.

One thing's for certain. It's now going to cost more to shuttle guests around the resort......

.....Actually, let me rephrase that. It's going to cost guests alot more for WDW to shuttle them around the resort (because we all know that cost increase will be passed to us somehow)

One word... Staffing. You think the busses are the only transportation method that is short on cast? If the Epcot monorail were to open up tomorrow it would cut deeply into the cast that are needed for the other stations. So instead of being able to efficiently move guests from MK/Resorts to the TTC consistently, it would be a barebones operation at all the stations and then you would be complaining about the poor guest experience there.

So train new pilots right? Yeah, not going to happen until distancing and time constraints in a confined space are removed. 2 weeks of being in a train cab with another person for 8 hours a day isn't possible right now.

Epcot will reopen when Epcot reopens. Simple as that. You can agree or disagree with the reasoning, but your stance on the matter is completely pointless in the grand scheme of the situation.

I almost mentioned this yesterday, but held back. Largely because I don't know enough about how WDW's transportation team is staffed. I had the thought that maybe the lack of trained bus drivers on WDW's payroll is impacting other aspects of Disney's Transportation dept. Perhaps CMs working the water shuttles and the monorails are now needed to get the busses running. You know....all hands on deck.

But I held back, because I don't know how cross-trained the transportation CMs are. Can the monorail and water shuttle CMs actually drive the busses? (I legitimately dont know - anyone care to comment?). Maybe its cheaper/easier to cross train them than people off the street.



All I can say is that I find this fascinating. It speaks to the fact that economic forces aren't straight cause/effect lines with no intersections or unintended consequences. For example. I'm a guitar player. I'm also a bit of a DIYer - I build guitars, guitar tube amps, pedals, etc. So during the pandemic, while working from home -- all those hours not spend commuting had given me a great deal of time to take on some projects. So I started building some stuff. A few amps, a few guitars, a gaggle of pedals. Problem is, all of my usual sources of parts, whether it be amp chassis/transformers, guitar bodies/necks, hardware like tuning keys or bridges.....all of those sources were bone dry on stock and they had lead times going out 8-12 weeks, when it was usually 1-3 weeks. What was the reason? The pandemic caused alot of guys like me to be stuck home with idle time. I thought I was the only one. Turns out, there are alot more like me than I originally thought.
 

TrainsOfDisney

Well-Known Member
Disney was bleeding a near fatal amount of cash last summer. When something like that happens, you stop the bleeding first. Then you worry about whether or not your business is going to be hampered by a decision you make while saving the business.

Eh. Since we are playing the “I know how to run a business game” it varies quite a lot.

Disney knew the parks weren’t going to close permanently and even Chapek said in the first investor call that they knew the demand would be there when they reopen.

At no time was Disney in danger of bankruptcy.

So then it seems sensible to hold on to skilled staff and staff that have been with the company long-term so you’ll have the talent you need when you reopen and to promote good will and loyalty among cm’s.

Instead they laid off even seasonal help which makes 0 sense unless it was an order that came from above from someone who has no knowledge of theme parks. (Who could that be?).
 

CAV

Well-Known Member
No boats to Disney Springs!
No monorail to Epcot!

Next you're going to tell me that there's no dole whips.
Not yet. Just hollow Dole Whips.
dole wip.jpg
 

castlecake2.0

Well-Known Member
Eh. Since we are playing the “I know how to run a business game” it varies quite a lot.

Disney knew the parks weren’t going to close permanently and even Chapek said in the first investor call that they knew the demand would be there when they reopen.

At no time was Disney in danger of bankruptcy.

So then it seems sensible to hold on to skilled staff and staff that have been with the company long-term so you’ll have the talent you need when you reopen and to promote good will and loyalty among cm’s.

Instead they laid off even seasonal help which makes 0 sense unless it was an order that came from above from someone who has no knowledge of theme parks. (Who could that be?).
They’ve wanted to get rid of seasonals for a long time, they do cost Disney money behind the scenes. When I was at Disney store we had to get rid of the position years ago.
 

PirateFrank

Well-Known Member
Eh. Since we are playing the “I know how to run a business game” it varies quite a lot.

Disney knew the parks weren’t going to close permanently and even Chapek said in the first investor call that they knew the demand would be there when they reopen.

At no time was Disney in danger of bankruptcy.

So then it seems sensible to hold on to skilled staff and staff that have been with the company long-term so you’ll have the talent you need when you reopen and to promote good will and loyalty among cm’s.

Instead they laid off even seasonal help which makes 0 sense unless it was an order that came from above from someone who has no knowledge of theme parks. (Who could that be?).
:rolleyes: if you actually read my post, you'd know that I wasn't playing the "I know how to run a business game" - I actually stated quite the opposite by detailing that I was *not* privy to WDW and Disney's internal metrics....I was paraphrasing someone's comment that they felt Disney was bleeding a fatal amount of cash and if that were true, then a decision to lay off people then and there seemed plausible. I continued to qualify my statements saying that I dont have access to their metrics (and unless you work as an internal accountant or analyst for Disney's upper management, you don't either) and wouldn't have been able to make such a statement.

It continues to surprise me how quickly some people are willing to jump down another's throat with an assumption-loaded charge based on what they think they read or interpreted.
 

Figment2005

Well-Known Member
Laying them off or something else? If its the former, see my comment below. I'm not sure we can fault them for making that decision.




I don't know. People tend to charge in with torches lit when WDW does things like layoffs. Honestly, no one knows what the right move was except WDW. There was someone here who clearly had an accounting/econ background, cant remember who...but he was dropping some convincing posts explaining Disney was bleeding a near fatal amount of cash last summer. When something like that happens, you stop the bleeding first. Then you worry about whether or not your business is going to be hampered by a decision you make while saving the business.

All of this hinges on how serious the bleeding was. I'm not saying it was right or wrong to trim staff....but I'm not sure any of us were equipped to say what was a good idea or not.

One thing's for certain. It's now going to cost more to shuttle guests around the resort......

.....Actually, let me rephrase that. It's going to cost guests alot more for WDW to shuttle them around the resort (because we all know that cost increase will be passed to us somehow)



I almost mentioned this yesterday, but held back. Largely because I don't know enough about how WDW's transportation team is staffed. I had the thought that maybe the lack of trained bus drivers on WDW's payroll is impacting other aspects of Disney's Transportation dept. Perhaps CMs working the water shuttles and the monorails are now needed to get the busses running. You know....all hands on deck.

But I held back, because I don't know how cross-trained the transportation CMs are. Can the monorail and water shuttle CMs actually drive the busses? (I legitimately dont know - anyone care to comment?). Maybe its cheaper/easier to cross train them than people off the street.



All I can say is that I find this fascinating. It speaks to the fact that economic forces aren't straight cause/effect lines with no intersections or unintended consequences. For example. I'm a guitar player. I'm also a bit of a DIYer - I build guitars, guitar tube amps, pedals, etc. So during the pandemic, while working from home -- all those hours not spend commuting had given me a great deal of time to take on some projects. So I started building some stuff. A few amps, a few guitars, a gaggle of pedals. Problem is, all of my usual sources of parts, whether it be amp chassis/transformers, guitar bodies/necks, hardware like tuning keys or bridges.....all of those sources were bone dry on stock and they had lead times going out 8-12 weeks, when it was usually 1-3 weeks. What was the reason? The pandemic caused alot of guys like me to be stuck home with idle time. I thought I was the only one. Turns out, there are alot more like me than I originally thought.
Not without the training of course. That leads to another issue regarding cannibalizing staffing from one department to supplement another. Many cast have transferred from their original location to busses, but that still isn't enough and leaves the other departments short handed.
 

ABQ

Well-Known Member
I have news about a Disney Monorail but its not the EPCOT one..

Hope you enjoy it as much as I do when I saw it on twitter!



I assume that was one of the old MGM shuttle trains used way back when the Vegas monorail ran just back and forth between the MGM Grand and Bally's.?
 

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