Monorails to no longer operate during Evening Extra Magic Hours

[Computer Magic]

Is this leading towards the phasing out of EMH all together? They got rid of evening EMH at AK. The are getting rid of characters during MK EMH. Now they will make it more inconvenient to get 'home' after EMH or hard ticket parties.

They tried to get rid of EMH before with the character van going to resorts. That didn't work out and went back to EMH.

 

[Pioneer Hall]

They tried to get rid of EMH before with the character van going to resorts. That didn't work out and went back to EMH.

That was slightly different. They used to just have the early opening for resort guests and the parks never stayed open past their closing time. There really was no hiding the fact that they made that change after 9/11 because the tourism industry took a nose dive. When attendance went up again the EMH hours were back in the largest form they ever had been.

 

[spaceghost]

This may have been covered up-thread already, so I apologize if it has already been answered, but does anyone have any insight as to how busy the monorails were during EMH? It is an...interesting...decision.

 

[CountryBearFan]

This makes good sense for cost and maintenance reasons. But people are going to have the usual reactions. From my perspective though, decisions like this are absolutely essential to how the resort can best function in the future. In this economy something has to give.

Gotta go.

I concur.

 

[TP2000]

It's really hard to maintain them when MK hours are 8am-3am (with EEMH) because they have to run from 7 in the morning to 5 the following morning. That leave all of an 1 1/2 hour of time to perform maintenance.

You say that as if they would be running all 12 trains at a time on the Magic Kingdom loop. :veryconfu

You would only need 3 or 4 trains running on the Resort Line to service Magic Kingdom EMH for the big-spending guests staying at the Poly, Grand and Contemporary, while the majority of the fleet is back in the roundhouse for overnight maintenance. By 3AM you are pulling the last 3 trains offline, and they are next to be serviced in the early morning hours before the morning ramp-up procedures begin to the full fleet.

And if you've got a new 21st century 20-hour day operation due to EMH that wasn't considered back in 1971 when the system was planned, then purchase an extra train or two to allow for easier cycling of trains back to the roundhouse while still maintaining full service for paying customers.

This decision to cut monorail service from EMH is obviously a cost-cutting move, likely attributed to the rapidly aging condition of the entire WDW monorail system.

 

[CountryBearFan]

Well, if DLR starts performing better fiscally, and WDW starts performing worse fiscally, it should send a message that maybe the DLR business-model is the one that should be followed at both parks. I realize that it's highly improbable that this one event will cause that to occur, but it could occur over time. Just like if ticket sales were $300m for Cars 3 but only $30m for Pirates 4 (obviously not the actual case, used for illustrative purposes only). Which one do you think would get the "future investment" of another sequel?

Of course, the problem is that if it did occur at the parks, Disney would likely just concoct some survey to explain away why it happened and bring the same cuts to DLR.

As for this news in general, I think it's very indicative of "Declining By Degrees," and regardless of whether Disney expressly advertises "full-time monorail service at the Deluxes," guest perception is what matters. If this causes a decent number of guests to jump ship and stay at the Swlaphin or even a Disney moderate, then it was a bad (business) decision. If bookings don't really change, and only a few fanboys online (many of whom probably don't stay at Deluxe resorts anyway--so truly their opinions don't matter) complain, it's a victory.

We've never stayed at a MK Deluxe, anyway, so I really can't get too up in arms over this. It does re-affirm my decision to stay at the Epcot Deluxes, though.

A little advice... Stay away from MiceAge.

 

[kangaand2roos]

Ok so I admit I haven't read thru all the replies but I'm a bit confused. We are staying at the Poly in Sept. We in general don't go to EMH b/c the kids would be grumpy so that won't affect us too much at this point but.... there are a few days the MK (as of now) closes at 7pm. If we are having dinner at the CR that night and we hang around the CR afterwards until 8:30 or so, will we have to take a bus back to the POLY? Are they stopping the resort monorails too? And what about the night we are going to MNSSHP, will the monorail be running then or just up until the hour after the regular park hours are? If they aren't running the monorails, including the resort ones, I will NOT be happy. We decided on the Poly because of the convenience of the monorail, otherwise I would have choosen a cheaper hotel.

 

[Computer Magic]

deleted

 

[Mr Bill]

I thought EMH was for hotel guests only still

 

[DanStat]

I was really looking forward to staying at Poly in October. However, we stay in the parks long hours, and the monorail is a huge benefit. With that being said, we're changing our plans and most likely staying at AKL, WL or the Swan and Dolphin. They've got great deals through Starwood Perferred Guest. Sorry, WDW.

 

[Computer Magic]

I thought EMH was for hotel guests only still

You are correct, i mis spoke. :hammer:

 

[COProgressFan]

I believe if you review printed material, staying on property gives you access to use Disney Transportation. I do not believe, but I may be wrong, that there are any guarantees what transportation it is or when it is available.

Of course, no one ever GUARANTEED 24/7 monorail access. But the expectation is that when the parks are open, and there is a monorail track running through your lobby (in the case of the Contemp) you would be able to use the monorail for transportation. It is absurd to suggest otherwise, and it is absurd to think that this is the "legendary guest service" WDW used to claims it provides.

Disney doesn't promise anything, there are always exclusions, or rights to change hours, attractions, etc. Sometimes those changes are reasonable. Shutting down monorail access to the MK and Epcot for resort guests who paid for (for cost savings reasons or because it strains the system too much) it is not.

 

[COProgressFan]

Ok so I admit I haven't read thru all the replies but I'm a bit confused. We are staying at the Poly in Sept. We in general don't go to EMH b/c the kids would be grumpy so that won't affect us too much at this point but.... there are a few days the MK (as of now) closes at 7pm. If we are having dinner at the CR that night and we hang around the CR afterwards until 8:30 or so, will we have to take a bus back to the POLY? Are they stopping the resort monorails too? And what about the night we are going to MNSSHP, will the monorail be running then or just up until the hour after the regular park hours are? If they aren't running the monorails, including the resort ones, I will NOT be happy. We decided on the Poly because of the convenience of the monorail, otherwise I would have choosen a cheaper hotel.

I would assume the monorail will run as scheduled during all MNSSHP nights (all of which have a 7pm close). Looking at the new schedule, it would appear that monorail service will be til 1am.

 

[WDWFigment]

A little advice... Stay away from MiceAge.

I'm not quite sure I get your joke.

For what it's worth, I read and post on MiceAge quite frequently. As a lifelong WDW fan who visited DLR (somewhat 'unenthusiastically' as we only went because we were in SoCal for a friend's wedding) for the first time last year, I have quickly become a huge DLR fan. It has certainly made me realize the shortcomings of a lot of WDW's offerings.

 

[Kamikaze]

Ok so I admit I haven't read thru all the replies but I'm a bit confused. We are staying at the Poly in Sept. We in general don't go to EMH b/c the kids would be grumpy so that won't affect us too much at this point but.... there are a few days the MK (as of now) closes at 7pm. If we are having dinner at the CR that night and we hang around the CR afterwards until 8:30 or so, will we have to take a bus back to the POLY? Are they stopping the resort monorails too? And what about the night we are going to MNSSHP, will the monorail be running then or just up until the hour after the regular park hours are? If they aren't running the monorails, including the resort ones, I will NOT be happy. We decided on the Poly because of the convenience of the monorail, otherwise I would have choosen a cheaper hotel.

Park transportation runs one hour after park closing.

 

[Frau Farbissina]

Any thoughts on whether they'll run during Mickey's Very Merry and Not so Scary?

 

[Scuttle]

No.



The CMs you talk to on the phone are very often less informed than those who post here. Clearly, she didn't know what she was talking about. 'Down for maintenance' would mean that it was, you know, down. Not just down during EMH, but operating fine the rest of the time.

She was actually informed very well. She knew about it but didn't have exact details. She made me wait like 3 minutes and she went and pulled up the official transcript about the monorail service. She said I assure you it is a maintenance repair and that it will be back running until after extra hours. I understand what you mean because I have spoken to many cast members on the phone who knew absolutely nothing, but she was very knowledgable.

 

[BrittanyRose428]

Question -- (apologies in advance if it's a stupid one) -- Do the Shades of Green buses still run for Extra Magic Hours? I just found out today that we're going in December, and we usually just take the monorail to the Poly and walk. :shrug:

 

[Pioneer Hall]

You say that as if they would be running all 12 trains at a time on the Magic Kingdom loop. :veryconfu

You would only need 3 or 4 trains running on the Resort Line to service Magic Kingdom EMH for the big-spending guests staying at the Poly, Grand and Contemporary, while the majority of the fleet is back in the roundhouse for overnight maintenance. By 3AM you are pulling the last 3 trains offline, and they are next to be serviced in the early morning hours before the morning ramp-up procedures begin to the full fleet.

And if you've got a new 21st century 20-hour day operation due to EMH that wasn't considered back in 1971 when the system was planned, then purchase an extra train or two to allow for easier cycling of trains back to the roundhouse while still maintaining full service for paying customers.

This decision to cut monorail service from EMH is obviously a cost-cutting move, likely attributed to the rapidly aging condition of the entire WDW monorail system.

Just to remind everyone of my disclaimers from earlier in the thread...I'm not a fan of this change and I don't have Disney's data to make a decision one way or another. However, as a business and financially minded person I can understand the change from their perspective if this is indeed a maintenance related issue and the trains are suffering from overuse. In the above bold statement, you make it sound like Jim Vendur can just hop over to Walmart and purchase a few extra trains for a cheap price. Monorail trains don't come cheap, and purchasing another one would have to come with some big reason. However, since they have had the same number of trains for quite some time now I don't believe we will see any new ones until they start changing all the trains (and that won't affect the total number).

 

[Thrill]

I'm not a fan of the move, but I do understand it. I wonder if above average monorail breakdowns have caused this policy to come about. Running those things for 18+ hours a day cannot be good for them.

There is a more effective solution that wouldn't cause a severe inconvenience to guests staying at some of the most expensive resorts on property: Get new monorails.