Monorail is out of service

shernernum

Well-Known Member
I'm pretty sure Al Lutz didn't go on a message board and less than 10 minutes after there was a report of a "ride" being down immediately blame it on a specific maintenance issue without any further information having been given as to what happened. Hence the difference in criticism style.
 

ford91exploder

Resident Curmudgeon
I'm pretty sure Al Lutz didn't go on a message board and less than 10 minutes after there was a report of a "ride" being down immediately blame it on a specific maintenance issue without any further information having been given as to what happened. Hence the difference in criticism style.

His readers certainly did, If it had just been Al Lutz he would have been ignored, Al Lutz was the rallying point for those unhappy with DL's decline.
 

shernernum

Well-Known Member
The outage had NOTHING to do with a lack of maintenance.

Having said that, they still look horrible.
Herein lies the issue. If what wdw71fan says is correct, and based on their track record it probably is, then the initial criticism was baseless. Now, the fact that it took them as long as it did to fix the problem is a legitimate concern and could speak to maintenance in that they have handicapped their ability to respond quickly to legitimate issues (although even that would be speculation since we don't know what caused the problem). If that was the case then flame away at TDO. However, if the initial criticism has no basis in fact, the later criticism is hard to make credible.

Constant knee jerk noise is not a replacement and will never be as effective as credible criticism, even if we do live in the sound byte/ twitbyte culture.
 
We were there April 6-11 and the monorails were stopped or delayed multiple times at one point we were an hour and a half late for dinner at Ohana. We always left at least an hour and half for travel . The panels over the seats were almost all loose and my son touched one ( I almost killed him for that believe me I know he shouldn't have touched the loose panel ) and it came down on us. It was hanging by wires but the monorail had to be evacuated until it was fixed. There is a lack of maintenance on them for sure.
 

MissM

Well-Known Member
I don't know if it's related but we were there Saturday. A monsoon came in and everything got flooded and we had a torrential downpour. (There was a "special weather advisory" due to the intensity of the thunderstorms.) We - and most everyone else in the park - tried to leave around 10pm. It was absolutely pouring and had been for an hour. We were told the monorail was down. They were directing everyone to the ferry boat. We sloshed over there, loaded and eventually launched.

Then we waited. They would only dock a single ferry on the TTA side at a time. So we waited for over 30 minutes for clearance. Took us in total an hour and a half to get from the MK exit to our car in Zurg. It was insanity.

Again, not sure if it's a related issue, but the monorail was definitely out of commission for at least part of Saturday night too.
 

JediMasterMatt

Well-Known Member
And yet the constant negative commentary from the fan community is what got DL fixed, DL where maintenance was allowed to slide so badly it got people killed.

Most of us here me included would be very happy if WDW were maintained the way it was in the late 90's or early 00's instead of the constantly declining standard we see TODAY.

And therein lie the rub...

Anyone visiting this site, should be a big enough fan of WDW that they should step forward and say enough is enough.

But, instead we have people that continue to apologize for everything wrong or even worse - just accepting the current state of the resort as the best it is going to get.

Is the monorail system going offline and not coming up quickly the end or the world? No more so than the Hub refurb taking 1.5 years (so far). No more so than Pirates getting into the state it is in or Space. Or the current condition of DHS or the Yeti.

Any one of these things can be taken at face value and tolerated.

Advocates around these parts are simply doing the math and putting the pieces together and saying enough is enough.

Or course enough implies that there is something... which is more than what most things at WDW gets on average from Burbank.

WDW needs fans and tourists alike to be vocal advocates for change like what happened at DLR.
 

Goofyernmost

Well-Known Member
Because we KNOW WDW has cut way back on maintenance and they no longer tend to stock LOCAL spares due to a misguided application of so called LEAN theory, So equipment is operated closer to failure margins not that it's unsafe just that it is more likely to go 101 than a properly maintained machine and when it DOES break the parts are not 'on hand'.

So a failure which might of taken a couple of hours to resolve in the 90's now can take days to resolve, And when they DO fix something they fix ONLY what's broken not take the opportunity to overhaul nearby systems which are now accessible due to the dissasembly to repair the orginal fault.

Example one of my trucks is a diesel which has given excellent service needs a glow plug serviced, Considering that much of the repair expense is removing/reinstalling the plumbing for the turbocharger, ALL the glow plugs are being replaced along with all the injector seals, Allows inspection of everything and getting 'in front of' future failures.

I have spares on hand for common failure components for our vehicles and power equipment I may never USE them but I have used them in the past and probably will in the future and it keeps downtime to a minimum.

Penny wise pound foolish is the best way to summarize WDW's current maintenance philosophy.
IF all that is true, then I certainly agree with you. However, I don't think you know and I know that I don't, what happened. It is easier for us to sit judge and jury and convict with absolutely no trial. We are that good, apparently. We don't know what Disney's end plan is or if it is even possible to predict what will go bad on a piece of machinery that is used that much and for that long. OK, the next argument will be, buy new Monorails, like they only cost the equivalent to a Mickey Bar. Alright, continue to live in that dream world and while you are at it don't forget to call the rest of us "Pixie Dusters" because we are grounded enough to realize how things work in that real world that WDW actually sits in.

And therein lie the rub...

Anyone visiting this site, should be a big enough fan of WDW that they should step forward and say enough is enough.

But, instead we have people that continue to apologize for everything wrong or even worse - just accepting the current state of the resort as the best it is going to get.

Is the monorail system going offline and not coming up quickly the end or the world? No more so than the Hub refurb taking 1.5 years (so far). No more so than Pirates getting into the state it is in or Space. Or the current condition of DHS or the Yeti.

Any one of these things can be taken at face value and tolerated.

Advocates around these parts are simply doing the math and putting the pieces together and saying enough is enough.

Or course enough implies that there is something... which is more than what most things at WDW gets on average from Burbank.

WDW needs fans and tourists alike to be vocal advocates for change like what happened at DLR.
And once again... Apologize!?!? Where in the world of reality does that come from in context with what is happening? Just because a few have decided that WDW is their personal toy and they get into a chatter of Mine, Mine, Mine all the time? Are unwilling to ever consider that everything isn't run on the "pixie dust" that they are so deeply engrained in and DEMAND that Disney give the public something that they do not owe any of us? Why is that exactly? Because we spend a few hundred dollars every once and a while, they owe it to us to never let the real world enter into our protected little Fantasyland? If everyone just took a brief minute to think about the fact that everyone on this board, even if everyone one listed as a member were to complain tomorrow we only represent a tiny percentage of WDW's weekly business. We hold no power. You are in a minority in this case. The massive majority don't see things as world ending events and, if I know nothing else in life, I know that money is the only thing that talks. If enough people find it to be a problem and revenue suffers noticeably, then something might happen as a forced measure. Otherwise we might just as well pee in the ocean and wait for the flooding to begin.

For the one millionth time... DLR is for all purposes a local park. WDW is not. WDW is a Global Park. Most of the time the complaints of the DLR locals are viewed by us pixie dusting apologists as nothing more then a bunch of whiny little spoiled kids.

BTW, for the benefit of those that aren't aware of it. Pixie Dusting Apologists are nothing more then people that get a lot of enjoyment out of the parks, for their own personal reasons, and are grounded enough to understand that not everything goes perfectly all the time and that Disney owes us nothing as long as we don't leave feeling shorted on the entertainment we paid for. And if we do leave that way... we don't go back. In my opinion, if anyone feels that way then they really don't get out much and are way to focused on Disney for their own good. In this case the trees get in the way of their view of the forest. You wait, any minute now someone is going to post that Disney has cut down all the trees so there is no forest, because that is the way these discussion boards go.
 
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Figment2005

Well-Known Member
IF all that is true, then I certainly agree with you. However, I don't think you know and I know that I don't, what happened. It is easier for us to sit judge and jury and convict with absolutely no trial. We are that good, apparently. We don't know what Disney's end plan is or if it is even possible to predict what will go bad on a piece of machinery that is used that much and for that long. OK, the next argument will be, buy new Monorails, like they only cost the equivalent to a Mickey Bar. Alright, continue to live in that dream world and while you are at it don't forget to call the rest of us "Pixie Dusters" because we are grounded enough to realize how things work in that real world that WDW actually sits in.


And once again... Apologize!! Where in the world of reality does that come from in context with what is happening? Just because a few have decided that WDW is their personal toy and they get into a chatter of Mine, Mine, Mine all the time? Are unwilling to ever consider that everything isn't run on the "pixie dust" that they are so deeply engrained in and DEMAND that Disney give the public something that they do no owe any of us? Why is that exactly? Because we spend a few hundred dollars every once and a while, they owe it to us to never let the real world enter into our protected little Fantasyland? If everyone just took a brief minute to think about the fact that everyone on this board, even if everyone one listed as a member were to complain tomorrow we only represent a tiny percentage of WDW's weekly business. We hold no power. You are in a minority in this case. The massive majority don't see things as world ending events and, if I know nothing else in life, I know that money is the only thing that talks. If enough people find it to be a problem and revenue suffers noticeably, then something might happen as a forced measure. Otherwise we might just as well pee in the ocean and wait for the flooding to begin.

For the one millionth time... DLR is for all purposes a local park. WDW is not. WDW is a Universal Park. Most of the time the complaints of the DLR locals are viewed by us pixie dusting apologists as nothing more then a bunch of whiny little spoiled kids.

BTW, for the benefit of those that aren't aware of it. Pixie Dusting Apologists are nothing more then people that get a lot of enjoyment out of the parks, for their own personal reasons, and are grounded enough to understand that not everything goes perfectly all the time and that Disney owes us nothing as long as we don't leave feeling shorted on the entertainment we paid for. And if we do leave that way... we don't go back. In my opinion, if anyone feels that way then they really don't get out much and are way to focused on Disney for their own good. In this case the trees get in the way of their view of the forest. You wait, any minute now someone is going to post that Disney has cut down all the trees so there is no forest, because that is the way these discussion boards go.
I know what happened.
 

JimboJones123

Well-Known Member
I don't know if it's related but we were there Saturday. A monsoon came in and everything got flooded and we had a torrential downpour. (There was a "special weather advisory" due to the intensity of the thunderstorms.) We - and most everyone else in the park - tried to leave around 10pm. It was absolutely pouring and had been for an hour. We were told the monorail was down. They were directing everyone to the ferry boat. We sloshed over there, loaded and eventually launched.

Then we waited. They would only dock a single ferry on the TTA side at a time. So we waited for over 30 minutes for clearance. Took us in total an hour and a half to get from the MK exit to our car in Zurg. It was insanity.

Again, not sure if it's a related issue, but the monorail was definitely out of commission for at least part of Saturday night too.
90 minutes. Seems about normal. We have taken 90 minutes to get either into or our of MK about every dozen or so visits. Parking at 5:30 on a weekday usually means 7pm entry to the park. Leaving from the hub after fireworks, same thing every night.

MAKE THE LAKE A PARKING LOT!!!
 

bfox1183

Member
No but they're overused for what they were designed to carry.
There isnt much they can do to fix that issue though. The Monorails are a fan favorite, and that is what draws people to them. Disney has tried to add other ways to diminish the ridership on them like adding extra ferry docks and bus routes, the people still want to ride the Monorail.
If you think their answer to get more riders on the trains is to make newer bigger monorails, think about the fact the tracks would most likely need to be replaced to carry the extra strain and the stations would need to get larger to accommodate the new larger trains. That would mean billions spent on infrastucture, and a good section of the contemporary out of commission while they work their way through there.
 

PhotoDave219

Well-Known Member
There isnt much they can do to fix that issue though. The Monorails are a fan favorite, and that is what draws people to them. Disney has tried to add other ways to diminish the ridership on them like adding extra ferry docks and bus routes, the people still want to ride the Monorail.
If you think their answer to get more riders on the trains is to make newer bigger monorails, think about the fact the tracks would most likely need to be replaced to carry the extra strain and the stations would need to get larger to accommodate the new larger trains. That would mean billions spent on infrastucture, and a good section of the contemporary out of commission while they work their way through there.

They need more trains.
 

Goofyernmost

Well-Known Member
They need more trains.
Jeez, Dave... how many trains would you like to see on that single rail at the same time? If one breaks down what happens to the others? The unanswered question on this thread is... well, actually there are two. First, are they running again and if so, when did they start back up and, Second, How does one train on one track affect both the hotel train and the express train? Might this be a rail problem and have nothing to do with the trains themselves? (I guess that's three questions.) Never was good at math, I guess!
 

PhotoDave219

Well-Known Member
Jeez, Dave... how many trains would you like to see on that single rail at the same time? If one breaks down what happens to the others? The unanswered question on this thread is... well, actually there are two. First, are they running again and if so, when did they start back up and, Second, How does one train on one track affect both the hotel train and the express train? Might this be a rail problem and have nothing to do with the trains themselves? (I guess that's three questions.) Never was good at math, I guess!

As many as they currently have. Only new trains on the tracks while the older ones are in the barn and you have the time to do proper maintenance.
 

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