Monorail line repairs at EPCOT today

[photomatt]

Hmm, at 6pm we waited in front of lots of taxis at the bus stop to DAK Lodge. The lines for the busses back to TTC seemed reasonable and organized too.

A few minutes after my post about 10 taxis showed up. I didn't have time to say anything until now. When I pulled out of the parking lot the line for the Epcot buses stretched back to the gift shop next to the ticket booths. They were loading two buses at a time, so I think it moved quickly.

 

[Polydweller]

That's now 4 breakdowns on the Epcot track this week. One was probably weather related, but like orange having to do a systems reset yesterday, the others were breakdowns. I'm now convinced, time to replace the fleet and they have no time to spare. Definitely past the best before date.

 

[Admiral01]

ummm, that would mean that they are filling at Epcot and returning to MK(cause you get the circle tour of future world before disembarking), and not allowing the return trip so they can more quickly move the backed up lines, at least that is what the observations are telling me

Yeah, that is what I figured was happening. Even until closing, it looked like there were no guests onboard any of the Monorails doing the keyhole through EPCOT. I would have expected packed trains with the delay, but once they were running, I didn't see anyone onboard.

 

[Figment2005]

Even though it's bad for people needing transportation today, it's pretty cool to see the tractor out on the track. Also, while its reactive, instead of the better proactive, atleast they're fixing the monorails.....

How would you be proactive to a bent buss bar?

 

[MonorailLover]

How would you be proactive to a bent buss bar?

I don't know..... I guess replace them every couple of years, If it was just wear and tear... Yet I know that's not feasible for such a system.

Build a custom seat for a tractor where a employee is seated near the bus bar, where he is able to check every weld, and repair them if needed?

 

[iluvMainStMagic]

I've also noticed a lot of non-Disney busses running the routes this week. I've even been on one to the MK and noticed many more charter type busses. Not sure why

Disney transportation - gotta love it

When we were there in early Sept we saw at least one of the charter-type buses each morning, we even rode one a couple of times to our park for the morning. I asked a CM if they were due to some bus mechanical problems, or if they were for "overflow"- even though it wasn't a time of year that crowds would warrant that, and was told that they were using them every morning (at that time) - no comment about crowds, just that there wasn't a problem. The ones we saw were all either all black or all white. It was strange to see them instead of the usual WDW buses.

 

[Goofyernmost]

The problem with that is that many, many things are not broken until they are broken. You cannot guess when or if it's going to happen. Something that is predictable, can be proactively handled, but, for every one thing that is predictable, there's probably a thousand that aren't. I agree that it is probably time to upgrade the Monorail fleet, but, mechanical things break down with no warning even if they are new. It is not within any touch of reality to think that all breakdowns can be prevented. They can be minimized, but, not stopped completely.

Now to put that into perspective, when you consider how many miles those trains have on them even the slightest thought that maintenance isn't being done on them is close to pure drivel.

 

[Goofyernmost]

I've also noticed a lot of non-Disney busses running the routes this week. I've even been on one to the MK and noticed many more charter type busses. Not sure why

Disney transportation - gotta love it

I would guess that probably since day one WDW has been using charter buses owned and operated by Mears. Probably not much in the beginning because bus usage at the time was fairly limited and the equipment was all new. But when the Resorts went up and the free ride from the airport started, they have been using charter service for that and the Cruise connection. They use the charter for onsite tours (sometimes the cruise buses, since they might be not busy on that day), but, they are as much a part of Disney Transportation as the ones with Disney painted on the side and are strictly onsite transport buses.

 

[GhostHost1000]

I would guess that probably since day one WDW has been using charter buses owned and operated by Mears. Probably not much in the beginning because bus usage at the time was fairly limited and the equipment was all new. But when the Resorts went up and the free ride from the airport started, they have been using charter service for that and the Cruise connection. They use the charter for onsite tours (sometimes the cruise buses, since they might be not busy on that day), but, they are as much a part of Disney Transportation as the ones with Disney painted on the side and are strictly onsite transport buses.

These busses weren't mears. Can't recall the name but they weren't mears from what i could tell

 

[Goofyernmost]

These busses weren't mears. Can't recall the name but they weren't mears from what i could tell

I'm sure that they have backup in the event that Mears has all it's buses in use. So, that really doesn't matter. I guess I'm not sure of your point. Surely you don't think that Disney should have excess buses and drivers on the clock in the event that they need some extra's do you? Is there anything wrong with using the local businesses to help out when necessary?

 

[GhostHost1000]

I'm sure that they have backup in the event that Mears has all it's buses in use. So, that really doesn't matter. I guess I'm not sure of your point. Surely you don't think that Disney should have excess buses and drivers on the clock in the event that they need some extra's do you? Is there anything wrong with using the local businesses to help out when necessary?

Actually yes. Disney knows exactly what they need resource wise to handle the crowds well in advance and should have enough of their own busses in my opinion to accommodate.

The crowds this week were not bad so what do they do during major holidays?

Would guests be ok with resort staff or CM's in the parks being randomly outsourced to something like temp agencies when they need extra?

Don't get me wrong I think the charter busses were a nice ride...but it's in no way part of the Disney norm and shouldn't be

If Disney doesn't have enough busses or drivers they need to get more and run more busses, or find a new mode of transportation to accommodate resort guests

 

[lazyboy97o]

Actually yes. Disney knows exactly what they need resource wise to handle the crowds well in advance and should have enough of their own busses in my opinion to accommodate.

The crowds this week were not bad so what do they do during major holidays?

Would guests be ok with resort staff or CM's in the parks being randomly outsourced to something like temp agencies when they need extra?

Don't get me wrong I think the charter busses were a nice ride...but it's in no way part of the Disney norm and shouldn't be

If Disney doesn't have enough busses or drivers they need to get more and run more busses, or find a new mode of transportation to accommodate resort guests

Especially since Disney has invested Billions in getting this information. Despite having more information weeks in advance, operations just get bumpier.

 

[j0e1306]

Actually yes. Disney knows exactly what they need resource wise to handle the crowds well in advance and should have enough of their own busses in my opinion to accommodate.

The crowds this week were not bad so what do they do during major holidays?

Would guests be ok with resort staff or CM's in the parks being randomly outsourced to something like temp agencies when they need extra?

Don't get me wrong I think the charter busses were a nice ride...but it's in no way part of the Disney norm and shouldn't be

If Disney doesn't have enough busses or drivers they need to get more and run more busses, or find a new mode of transportation to accommodate resort guests

Couldn't agree more, sadly charter buses have been in use (at a minimum on and off) since the beginning of May.

 

[ford91exploder]

How would you be proactive to a bent buss bar?

Periodic ultrasonic inspection of the buss bar to check for fatigue cracking and loose/damaged fasteners like every other transit system in the world which uses some variant of a third rail system

 

[ford91exploder]

Couldn't agree more, sadly charter buses have been in use (at a minimum on and off) since the beginning of May.

The we don't give a hoot cuz we are going out of business vibe grows stronger every day

 

[rucifee]

Couldn't agree more, sadly charter buses have been in use (at a minimum on and off) since the beginning of May.

Magic their way.

 

[Uncle Lupe]

Is checking the beam and supporting infrastructure part of routine maintenance? A wait till it breaks position is putting penny pinching above safety.

 

[MonorailLover]

Is checking the beam and supporting infrastructure part of routine maintenance? A wait till it breaks position is putting penny pinching above safety.

That's what I'm saying, if they actually monitored the system more proactively, with manual labour or ultrasonic systems that @ford91exploder talked about, it might actually save them from issues like this.....

Especially since Disney has invested Billions in getting this information. Despite having more information weeks in advance, operations just get bumpier.

We are definitely in an age right now where we're spending imense amounts of money for just information. My dad works in automobile with laser/robotic systems and says that all of his customers are investing in sensors for EVERYTHING, so they can store information for use on a later date.

It atleast seems that Disney actually knows somewhat how to use the information that they invested in getting, although it doesn't seem like they're using it efficiently enough. Atleast upgrade or introduce more busses to the fleet, if you think that more are needed....

 

[GhostHost1000]

I think the answer for the future WDW is NOT busses...maybe as one of the options but something monorail-like needs to be available to all parks all resorts. Yeah I know I know but...

 

[MonorailLover]

I think the answer for the future WDW is NOT busses...maybe as one of the options but something monorail-like needs to be available to all parks all resorts. Yeah I know I know but...

^He said it first! He said it first!^

It wasn't me for once...