Monorails to no longer operate during Evening Extra Magic Hours

[G00fyDad]

It will if we're driving our rental car to the TTC. And yes, we're making that choice, before Kamikaze or one of those other fellows comes in here saying that I'm making it difficult on myself.

We rent a vehicle each trip too. I just cant stand Disney Transportation.

....attendance is low so it should be pretty seamless leaving the park after 10:30

:ROFLOL::ROFLOL: Last trip the monorails broke down and everyone leaving after Wishes was stuck taking buses or ferry boats. Insane. That's the best way to describe it. People pushing and shoving trying to be the first one on the ferry, and they're all the way in the back of the crowd. :ROFLOL: Yes, I said crowd, because the loading docks were jammed full of people and the line stretched far back out of the loading area back onto the main walkway for MK. A sea of people. And the bus stations looked the same. We thought very seriously about walking back to the TTC. No joke.

 

[zulemara]

We rent a vehicle each trip too. I just cant stand Disney Transportation.



:ROFLOL::ROFLOL: Last trip the monorails broke down and everyone leaving after Wishes was stuck taking buses or ferry boats. Insane. That's the best way to describe it. People pushing and shoving trying to be the first one on the ferry, and they're all the way in the back of the crowd. :ROFLOL: Yes, I said crowd, because the loading docks were jammed full of people and the line stretched far back out of the loading area back onto the main walkway for MK. A sea of people. And the bus stations looked the same. We thought very seriously about walking back to the TTC. No joke.

I was talking about during the MNSSHP. They only sell like 25k tickets until each night is sold out, and only the last couple actually sell out. Most of the time, especially the early parties, there's only 10k in the park.

 

[G00fyDad]

I was talking about during the MNSSHP. They only sell like 25k tickets until each night is sold out, and only the last couple actually sell out. Most of the time, especially the early parties, there's only 10k in the park.

Ahhh, my mistake. You mean during the parties and with just a normal flow of traffic. I thought you were talking about at park closing or something.

 

[EvilQueen-T]

heard lots of grumbling this week at epcot and wdw re the lack of monorail, the heavy rain may have been part of what brought out peoples frustrations for everyone to hear. an example was when leaving epcot it was raining really heavy, the new free standing signs on the ground that have the info stating that the monorail bla bla bla then at the bottom says those resorts affected need to take buses to xxx...the problem was in the rain people were running up to the signs that list all the other resorts and weren't finding theirs and because of the rain weren't taking the time to read to the bottom of the sign (IMO).

i also noticed the monorail drivers talking (very quick/monotone voice to get through the spiel) over the standard monorail loop with people riding the monorail saying "what what".

seemed to be most people still took "running until one hour after park closing" to mean 1 hour after emh not 1 hour after regular park closing. we heard lots of people as they were getting turned back from the monorail grumbling as we stood in line for the boat to the poly.

also took time to listen in on conversation between our 2 boat captains and a monorail driver. boat guys kind of grumbling that so many people were backed up at the boats. the monorail worker said at the end of the 1 hour there had still been way more people on the monorail deck areas than they'd thought and they were told (by those in charge) to turn them away.

 

[zulemara]

Monorails have been down since about 4pm. Lightning struck a substation. 3 ferries have been running since 5 pm and been keeping up with the crowds. They r expected to b down all night and possibly down tomorrow.

 

[Thurp]

They've been running 3 ferries all day actually, well before the storm.

Buses have been taking people between the TTC and the MK all afternoon long. Waits for boats between resorts were crazy long. Every monorail was left parked at a station. Epcot monorail was running this evening.

Big mess overall.

 

[Pioneer Hall]

They've been running 3 ferries all day actually, well before the storm.

Buses have been taking people between the TTC and the MK all afternoon long. Waits for boats between resorts were crazy long. Every monorail was left parked at a station. Epcot monorail was running this evening.

Big mess overall.

Definitely was a mess, but you can't do much about mother nature unfortunately.

 

[Computer Magic]

Wonder why they don't have reduncy built into their system?

 

[Kamikaze]

Wonder why they don't have reduncy built into their system?

Like what? A second set of tracks? A second set of power rails? That's just not possible.

 

[Computer Magic]

Like what? A second set of tracks? A second set of power rails? That's just not possible.

do you know what is out? Power can be rerouted if its a substation.

 

[Tom]

do you know what is out? Power can be rerouted if its a substation.

Depends on whether it was actually a substation or simply a distribution station. I'm not sure how the monorail system's power is gridded out, but if the strike was downline of an actual substation, it could affect an entire grid.

Or, since it's such an old system, it could just be that the lightning strike hit at a place where there isn't any redundancy. Or, even worse, the surge could have affected components at another substation, by traveling through the busways. Even worse, a train or computer system could have been shorted, meaning they can't run even if power was restored. Lightning can infiltrate pretty deeply.

 

[zulemara]

The thing that was hit was just outside the monorail station at MK, causing powerloss at the MK station, thus no express or resort trains running. Apparently there isn't redundancy. I was told it will be back up tomorrow.

 

[Computer Magic]

Depends on whether it was actually a substation or simply a distribution station. I'm not sure how the monorail system's power is gridded out, but if the strike was downline of an actual substation, it could affect an entire grid.

Or, since it's such an old system, it could just be that the lightning strike hit at a place where there isn't any redundancy. Or, even worse, the surge could have affected components at another substation, by traveling through the busways. Even worse, a train or computer system could have been shorted, meaning they can't run even if power was restored. Lightning can infiltrate pretty deeply.

The thing that was hit was just outside the monorail station at MK, causing powerloss at the MK station, thus no express or resort trains running. Apparently there isn't redundancy. I was told it will be back up tomorrow.

Thanks for the clarification.

This hasn't been a good time for the monorail. It doesn't matter to guest if it's within WDW control or not. The end result is the monorail isn't running.

 

[KevinYee]

In the other thread it is being reported that the MAPO sensors, not the power, went out. So the trains were told to advance by MAPO override to the next station, unload, and then lock up.

 

[Cosmic Commando]

If they don't want to invest in the monorail system, how about more ferry docks and more ferries? There seems to be space at TTC and on the MK side. They have a big capacity. How often is there a situation where they can't run? Lightning maybe? You hear people say how they can't really put more monorails on the beams, but you can put more boats on the lake! Let the monorail be the pretty toy of WDW transportation, and let the ferries be the workhorses... even more so.

 

[BalooChicago]

I wonder how hard it would be to get a Friendship or two over to MK... And even if you could, would they "fit"?

Yeah, capacity at Epcot.... Do they really need them in the WS?

 

[Tom]

I wonder how hard it would be to get a Friendship or two over to MK... And even if you could, would they "fit"?

Yeah, capacity at Epcot.... Do they really need them in the WS?

The capacity of a Friendship boat wouldn't put a dent in the crowds waiting to exit the park, especially compared to a bus or ferry.

And they won't be able to use 3 ferries for long, since Potter is going to the dry dock very soon (this week I think).

They need a plan D pretty quick.

 

[zulemara]

If they don't want to invest in the monorail system, how about more ferry docks and more ferries? There seems to be space at TTC and on the MK side. They have a big capacity. How often is there a situation where they can't run? Lightning maybe? You hear people say how they can't really put more monorails on the beams, but you can put more boats on the lake! Let the monorail be the pretty toy of WDW transportation, and let the ferries be the workhorses... even more so.

Another ferry would be advantageous so we have a backup, but running more ferryboats at closing isn't going to help anything. It's not the number of ferries that is slow, its the guests who don't listen to us when we say go upstairs, it's quicker to load. It's also the fact that we have to unload before loading. This is where the monorails are better because they unload on one side and load on another. Having more ferryboats is just going to mean more waiting in the middle of the lake and will not actually cause us to move any more people in an hour than we do now.

 

[zulemara]

The capacity of a Friendship boat wouldn't put a dent in the crowds waiting to exit the park, especially compared to a bus or ferry.

And they won't be able to use 3 ferries for long, since Potter is going to the dry dock very soon (this week I think).

They need a plan D pretty quick.

Today I believe

 

[Cosmic Commando]

Yeah, it's unfortunate that people who wait in long lines at closing don't realize that they should use up all of the space on the ferryboat to lessen the wait for others behind them. But what about more dock space? Right now we have 3 ferryboats and 2 docks (right?)... what if it were 6 ferryboats and 4 docks? I think the traffic clearance would be similar to what there must be now; I'm assuming both docks can't launch at once, but still relatively close to one another. Does anyone know the capacity of the MK monorails versus the ferryboats?