Monorail Update January 2015

Figment2005

Figment2005

Well-Known Member
ptaylor said:
Because it once again just shows how management does not care about the condition of the monorails.

I just saw monorail black yesterday, and it remains in a very poor state, despite the carpet replacement (that should have been done 10 years ago). There is still mold around the fixtures, cracks throughout the trim, missing fasteners, and general dirt and grime throughout.

Some retro logos on some new carpet does not make things right. The monorails need massive investment both behind the scenes, and where guests come into contacts with the system everyday - inside the cabins. The condition is a disgrace.
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I see the trains EVERY DAY. I know what there condition is, and I know more about their condition than a guest who visits a few times a year. The guests are the primary reason the trains stay in the condition they are in for as long as they do. Disney is being gracious by making sure the guests have transportation to and from the Magic Kingdom and Epcot, and when the trains are down the guests get angry.

Those trains go though hell every single day because the Magic Kingdom is open all the time for the guests. Guests leave trash, stain the carpet with various fluids, scuff up the moldings, tear up the seats, etc. The management does not do that, the cast members do not do that, only the guests. If you want the trains in the condition they were when new, that will never happen unless the trains go out of service for an extended period of time, and once again if you following the pattern, guests will complain constantly in the parks and on this very website. Disney can't win.

So when Disney IS investing money into the trains, in more ways that you know, instead of complaining that the carpeting isn't perfectly straight, enjoy what you have because I guarantee you that the carpets won't look new once summer comes.
 
P

ptaylor

Premium Member
Figment2005 said:
I see the trains EVERY DAY. I know what there condition is, and I know more about their condition than a guest who visits a few times a year. The guests are the primary reason the trains stay in the condition they are in for as long as they do. Disney is being gracious by making sure the guests have transportation to and from the Magic Kingdom and Epcot, and when the trains are down the guests get angry.

Those trains go though hell every single day because the Magic Kingdom is open all the time for the guests. Guests leave trash, stain the carpet with various fluids, scuff up the moldings, tear up the seats, etc. The management does not do that, the cast members do not do that, only the guests. If you want the trains in the condition they were when new, that will never happen unless the trains go out of service for an extended period of time, and once again if you following the pattern, guests will complain constantly in the parks and on this very website. Disney can't win.

So when Disney IS investing money into the trains, in more ways that you know, instead of complaining that the carpeting isn't perfectly straight, enjoy what you have because I guarantee you that the carpets won't look new once summer comes.
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I'm sorry I don't buy that excuse. Plenty of public services manage to keep things in better condition than the WDW monorails, and they are services that have nowhere near the resources that Disney have. Airlines for example manage to keep the interior of planes in good condition, despite the constant abuse and use that passengers put them through.

Do we just extend that excuse to other parts of WDW? Do we say its OK for Main Street to be a complete disgrace just because 18 million pass through it a year. Nope, and somehow Disney manage to keep it in pristine condition. Why not the monorails?

Disney make an obscene profit - how about putting some of that money into keeping the monorails in great condition for those guests that are paying ridiculously high rates in resorts to use them?

Yes it will require proper management of the fleet to take a train out of service to repair - that is exactly what the airlines do.

It is only due to poor management and lack of investment that there is no capability to take a train out of service to properly maintain it.

Just to be clear, my issue is not with the Cast that run the system on a day-to-day basis, my issue is with the management who make the decisions to under-fund and neglect the monorail.
 
Figment2005

Figment2005

Well-Known Member
ptaylor said:
I'm sorry I don't buy that excuse. Plenty of public services manage to keep things in better condition than the WDW monorails, and they are services that have nowhere near the resources that Disney have. Airlines for example manage to keep the interior of planes in good condition, despite the constant abuse and use that passengers put them through.

Do we just extend that excuse to other parts of WDW? Do we say its OK for Main Street to be a complete disgrace just because 18 million pass through it a year. Nope, and somehow Disney manage to keep it in pristine condition. Why not the monorails?

Disney make an obscene profit - how about putting some of that money into keeping the monorails in great condition for those guests that are paying ridiculously high rates in resorts to use them?

Yes it will require proper management of the fleet to take a train out of service to repair - that is exactly what the airlines do.

It is only due to poor management and lack of investment that there is no capability to take a train out of service to properly maintain it.

Just to be clear, my issue is not with the Cast that run the system on a day-to-day basis, my issue is with the management who make the decisions to under-fund and neglect the monorail.
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Its all about budgets. Those other transportation systems that you mention all cost something to board. The resort beam is the only one that has any funding, and that is because of the resorts. Those resorts do not pay as much as you might think into the monorail fund, and being a non-profiting department means they can't just spend millions of dollars refurbishing everything every night to keep them looking new. They have to pick and choose what to fix and what can be tolerated until the funds become available.

Millions of dollars are going into the new train control system, and once that is completed maybe they can afford to spend the money else ware. Until then, they are trying to make the passenger cabins look better by replacing the carpets and hopefully the seats, and replacing the motors and other running gear to make the trains smoother and more reliable. This all takes time, and complaining that the carpets are not perfectly straight is just wanting to cause trouble.
 
articos

articos

Well-Known Member
Figment2005 said:
Its all about budgets. Those other transportation systems that you mention all cost something to board. The resort beam is the only one that has any funding, and that is because of the resorts. Those resorts do not pay as much as you might think into the monorail fund, and being a non-profiting department means they can't just spend millions of dollars refurbishing everything every night to keep them looking new. They have to pick and choose what to fix and what can be tolerated until the funds become available.

Millions of dollars are going into the new train control system, and once that is completed maybe they can afford to spend the money else ware. Until then, they are trying to make the passenger cabins look better by replacing the carpets and hopefully the seats, and replacing the motors and other running gear to make the trains smoother and more reliable. This all takes time, and complaining that the carpets are not perfectly straight is just wanting to cause trouble.
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Sadly, this is what is at the crux of the problem. Transportation used to have a budget that did not need to come from somewhere. When that was the case, there was never any worry about being able to fund projects on a need-only basis - maintenance and cleaning was on a rotating schedule. For a company like Disney, the monorails not having adequate funding for any reason is wrong and inexcusable. That said, this is the way it is, for the moment, because at a point in time in the past, managers who are no longer there decided to run things the way they knew from other business practices, not realizing they were messing with something that wasn't broken and breaking it in the process. For now, you do the best with what you have until that changes in the future.
 
Figment2005

Figment2005

Well-Known Member
articos said:
Sadly, this is what is at the crux of the problem. Transportation used to have a budget that did not need to come from somewhere. When that was the case, there was never any worry about being able to fund projects on a need-only basis - maintenance and cleaning was on a rotating schedule. For a company like Disney, the monorails not having adequate funding for any reason is wrong and inexcusable. That said, this is the way it is, for the moment, because at a point in time in the past, managers who are no longer there decided to run things the way they knew from other business practices, not realizing they were messing with something that wasn't broken and breaking it in the process. For now, you do the best with what you have until that changes in the future.
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I will also say, custodial crews are much more common now than they were a few months ago. The immediate management knows the problem and is trying to fix it, but once again it just takes time. Those trains, at least now, do actually get cleaned every night. If they don't, then custodial management tends to get a nasty call from monorail management.
 
articos

articos

Well-Known Member
Figment2005 said:
I will also say, custodial crews are much more common now than they were a few months ago. The immediate management knows the problem and is trying to fix it, but once again it just takes time. Those trains, at least now, do actually get cleaned every night. If they don't, then custodial management tends to get a nasty call from monorail management.
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GOOD. As it should be. ;)
 
BrerJon

BrerJon

Well-Known Member
Figment2005 said:
I will also say, custodial crews are much more common now than they were a few months ago. The immediate management knows the problem and is trying to fix it, but once again it just takes time. Those trains, at least now, do actually get cleaned every night. If they don't, then custodial management tends to get a nasty call from monorail management.
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The Tokyo Disneyland monorail runs the whole time and is *spotless*, always in tip-top shape, so the idea that it's not possible to keep a high-usage monorail looking good is ridiculous.

Maintenance is a part of the operating costs, and if Disney can't afford to allocate enough money to operate them properly, it can't afford to operate a monorail and should close the system down, simple as that.

If Disney sees value in the system, it should cough up the cash, instead of trying to get away with standards more at home on the New York subway.
 
P

ptaylor

Premium Member
Figment2005 said:
Its all about budgets. Those other transportation systems that you mention all cost something to board. The resort beam is the only one that has any funding, and that is because of the resorts. Those resorts do not pay as much as you might think into the monorail fund, and being a non-profiting department means they can't just spend millions of dollars refurbishing everything every night to keep them looking new. They have to pick and choose what to fix and what can be tolerated until the funds become available.

Millions of dollars are going into the new train control system, and once that is completed maybe they can afford to spend the money else ware. Until then, they are trying to make the passenger cabins look better by replacing the carpets and hopefully the seats, and replacing the motors and other running gear to make the trains smoother and more reliable. This all takes time, and complaining that the carpets are not perfectly straight is just wanting to cause trouble.
Click to expand...
Yep and I understand that. But it all goes back to my point that the monorails are being improperly managed. As a guest, I don't care where the budget comes from, and how it is being funded. All I know is that I pay a fortune to visit Disney, and that Disney make a huge profit, and that I should expect a great monorail service. And that is not currently the case.
 
L

Lipinski82

Member
Monorail yellow has to be the worst of them all. Aside from the usual mold, grime, paneling around and on the doors falling off, and seating vinyl tearing apart, that monorail has air conditioning 50% of the time. This weekend, no air yet AGAIN. I rode a dozen times last summer and three out of those times there was no air. IN THE SUMMER. The first time they had to power down and restart the train, so I had to sit there stuffed like a sardine in the 100 degree weather hardly able to breathe. I have never been so close to passing out in my life. If nothing else fix the air for pete sakes, Its Florida. I also went halfway around the resort track with a two inch gap in the door a few months ago.

I have always been a huge fan of the monorail, but the state they have currently been in for the past year keeps me away from them as much as possible. They're absolutely disgusting. These trains are over 20 years old and have never been even close to this terrible until the past year or so.
 
MonorailMan

MonorailMan

Active Member
The first thing I said is "Holy ****. Why can't they at least install carpet straight?!?!" Aside from that, I love the design of it and I'm surprised they hadn't come up with an idea like this sooner. And I agree, why can't the pink stripe inside the car match the color stripe on the outside.
 
Figment2005

Figment2005

Well-Known Member
ptaylor said:
Yep and I understand that. But it all goes back to my point that the monorails are being improperly managed. As a guest, I don't care where the budget comes from, and how it is being funded. All I know is that I pay a fortune to visit Disney, and that Disney make a huge profit, and that I should expect a great monorail service. And that is not currently the case.
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It's not monorail management, lets end that right here. It is the transportation management that oversees Busses, Watercraft, and Monorails that makes those decisions. I know there are good things coming for the trains, but cannot disclose anything here.
Also, great service is much different than great condition. The majority of the time, yes downtimes happen, the monorails get the guests to and from the parks. This is their job, to transport guests to and from the parks.
BrerJon said:
The Tokyo Disneyland monorail runs the whole time and is *spotless*, always in tip-top shape, so the idea that it's not possible to keep a high-usage monorail looking good is ridiculous.

Maintenance is a part of the operating costs, and if Disney can't afford to allocate enough money to operate them properly, it can't afford to operate a monorail and should close the system down, simple as that.

If Disney sees value in the system, it should cough up the cash, instead of trying to get away with standards more at home on the New York subway.
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Everyone on this site knows that TDL is the exception to the Disney rule when it comes to the parks. That park is completely funded by a private company, and Disney only supplies the creative talent. I'm not saying Disney is right for their current record, but comparing the U.S. parks to the Japan parks is like comparing Apples to Orangutans.
 
Figment2005

Figment2005

Well-Known Member
Lipinski82 said:
Monorail yellow has to be the worst of them all. Aside from the usual mold, grime, paneling around and on the doors falling off, and seating vinyl tearing apart, that monorail has air conditioning 50% of the time. This weekend, no air yet AGAIN. I rode a dozen times last summer and three out of those times there was no air. IN THE SUMMER. The first time they had to power down and restart the train, so I had to sit there stuffed like a sardine in the 100 degree weather hardly able to breathe. I have never been so close to passing out in my life. If nothing else fix the air for pete sakes, Its Florida. I also went halfway around the resort track with a two inch gap in the door a few months ago.

I have always been a huge fan of the monorail, but the state they have currently been in for the past year keeps me away from them as much as possible. They're absolutely disgusting. These trains are over 20 years old and have never been even close to this terrible until the past year or so.
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The trains are pushing 26 years with Blue being the oldest.
 
networkpro

networkpro

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
Yes
ptaylor said:
Yep and I understand that. But it all goes back to my point that the monorails are being improperly managed. As a guest, I don't care where the budget comes from, and how it is being funded. All I know is that I pay a fortune to visit Disney, and that Disney make a huge profit, and that I should expect a great monorail service. And that is not currently the case.
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The departments don't get what they request always, they get a number and they have to make do with whatever they actually get. It's like any other business in that respect. Boss wants a new X (like automated control system) but still has to staff and maintain as well for the year, something else has to give.
 

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