Monorails to no longer operate during Evening Extra Magic Hours

[worldfanatic]

If this decision helps the monorails run more consistently during normal hours..............fine.
But that better be the case.

For me, it's just one more reason EPCOT RESORTS > MONORAIL RESORTS

 

[djkidkaz]

The MK has emh one night a week. Is 3 hours of maint gonna make that much of a difference?

 

[flynnibus]

This is not a budget cut:wave:

When you don't have enough equipment to run your service as required.. and won't spend the money to expand your equipment or make it reliable enough.. it is a budget issue.

Disney could have rationed the hours trains serve to continue working throughout the entire demand window.. which I'm sure they do already. If it's an uptime issue, then they need to invest more to reduce turnaround on service work.

During the day Disney is running 3 service loops - they have enough trains to run all three at varying levels of capacity. Why not run less train-hours during the day to allow the train so there is capacity left to run while the park is still open.

They have 11 trains currently - they don't need all the trains (nor could they run and fit them all well) on the two MK loops.. so it's not like they are holding up all trains from service when the MK is open late.

When the rumor of this started.. they were talking about not running the EPCOT loop based on the MK's hours. That is reasonable. It's not Disney level of service - but it is a compromise I think people would get accustomed to.

Not running the MK loops at all? That is just insane. I could see not running the express loop.. as the majority of guests will have direct MK bus service or be at monorail resorts. But not running the monorail loop at all? That is spitting in the face of the deluxe resort customers and I don't see that lasting. They will lose so much customer satisfaction over that. Longer walks, others requiring transfers, etc.

Try convincing a family who is paying 400+ a night, hauling their 2-3 children who are wiped out isn't a big deal to take a walk, ride another bus, etc.

I can only hope this is somehow still a misunderstanding and that it's just the EPCOT loop impacted and not the express and resort monorails. That is just beyond dumb.

Stop running EPCOT so late.. that will free up at least 1 train.
Stop running EXPRESS loop.. that will free up what.. 2 maybe 3 trains?
Add to the RESORT loop one of the EXPRESS trains during the peak areas.. and maybe ramp back the # of trains if you need to

But to unplug all together? This won't last...

Disney needs to either add more maintenance shifts and/or add more capacity so more trains can be off-line for maintenance while still providing the service for customers.

 

[flynnibus]

The MK has emh one night a week. Is 3 hours of maint gonna make that much of a difference?

2 nights a week, and 2 mornings a week

 

[Condorman]

let me get this strait. So if a person, not me, decides to pay 1000 a night for a room they can't make a monorail available to take them back to it? I guess this is why I stay at the four star Hilton parc soleil for 105 a night

And that's why you waste 45+ mins coming and going to the parks while the rest of us are already on the rides? You can always make more money. The one thing you'll never get back in this lifetime is time. When you're on vacation, time is an even more valuable commodity, and the deluxe resorts all provide buses and boats to the MK. You might want to re-think your strategy there, pal.

Disney FTW.

 

[DonaldDoleWhip]

The MK has emh one night a week. Is 3 hours of maint gonna make that much of a difference?

Yes, and I'm saying that from experience. I always plan to take advantage of MK evening EMH. By the 2nd and 3rd hour, the park really isn't too crowded, and it's dark and I can do quite a few rides. Now, by paying the premium for convenience to MK in the first place, I'm being punished.

Or, for example, I'm dining at Citricos while staying at CR. MK closes at 9 but has EMH, so I think the monorail will be running. My dinner is done at 10:20 because it was a peaceful 2-hour meal and we dressed up a little. So now you're telling me that instead of taking the monorail 2 stops to CR as I've been able to do for decades, I have to walk to GF's boat dock, wait for the boat to stop at Poly and then MK, and finally walk all the way back to CR? No way. If this is exactly what it sounds like, I'm not fine with it at all.

And I've never gotten worked up over the yeti, Splash Mountain, or anything like that. But this directly affects my experience, and I don't think I'm okay with it.

 

[Rob562]

I thought I'd throw out another possibility for this discussion: The Grand Floridian Villas.

Based on the earlier site plans, the GF Villas building will be rather close to the beam at one corner. Perhaps the nighttime beam shutdown is a necessary evil so that they can operate heavy machinery in close proximity to the beam.

And since DVC seems to hate announcing new on-site DVC until they're half built, they're unable to put out the real reason for the overnight shutdowns.

-Rob

 

[puntagordabob]

Please do not forget the parties at MK (private or ticketed) that will shut the MK down really early.... If you think they plan to keep the line running longer on these nights I have a bridge to sell you in NY City!

They never promised that the monorail would be availble all the time to get to/from the MK. Do you say you won't be staying when its broken down or off-line for any other reason?

First I would say that is False since for nearly 40 years of operation this has been PRECISELY what has been true.

Also your comment regarding occassional breakdowns, and the like are TOTALLY irrrelevant to this conversation as they are two totally different things.

After an entire day of walking through the parks, a 10-20 minute walk to your hotel doesn't seem so bad.

We certainly PAY a premium though for the monorail resorts....and as has been the case for 40 years we have had reason to believe a nice A/Cd and quite spacious monorail was waiting to taking us back home after a long day at the parks....

So you'll walk from the Swan & Dolphin to DHS and Epcot, but you won't walk from the MK to the Contemporary?.

You pay one heck of a lot less in money to stay at the Swan & Dolphin than you do to stay at the Contemporary, Grand Floridian, or the Polynesian Resorts.... and lets be honest the Swan & Dolphin Resorts are almost pretty darn nice...so its not like the comparison is of a Marriot to a Motel 6 either.....

All and all... this is a disappointment to me.... Disney has taught all of us to "EXPECT" more of them than "the other guy"...and this move is quite a spit into the face of that particular quality expectation.

 

[cwtigerlily]

Handicapped Assecibility?

If the boats are the only transportation that takes people back to the Polynesian and Grand Floridian after hours from MK, how does a handicapped person enjoy extra magic hours and then return to their hotel? I have never seen one of those boats that can have a wheelchair/ECV roll onto them. Would I be forced to get a car that could take a wheelchair?

 

[puntagordabob]

I thought I'd throw out another possibility for this discussion: The Grand Floridian Villas.

Based on the earlier site plans, the GF Villas building will be rather close to the beam at one corner. Perhaps the nighttime beam shutdown is a necessary evil so that they can operate heavy machinery in close proximity to the beam.

And since DVC seems to hate announcing new on-site DVC until they're half built, they're unable to put out the real reason for the overnight shutdowns.

-Rob

I dont buy into that.... they would simply announce an addition to the GF resort without ever mentioning DVC.....

 

[balletgirl2]

Just got off the phone with Disney and the CM said it is for routine maintenance only for 1 month. :shrug:

 

[Scuttle]

Yes, and I'm saying that from experience. I always plan to take advantage of MK evening EMH. By the 2nd and 3rd hour, the park really isn't too crowded, and it's dark and I can do quite a few rides. Now, by paying the premium for convenience to MK in the first place, I'm being punished.

Or, for example, I'm dining at Citricos while staying at CR. MK closes at 9 but has EMH, so I think the monorail will be running. My dinner is done at 10:20 because it was a peaceful 2-hour meal and we dressed up a little. So now you're telling me that instead of taking the monorail 2 stops to CR as I've been able to do for decades, I have to walk to GF's boat dock, wait for the boat to stop at Poly and then MK, and finally walk all the way back to CR? No way. If this is exactly what it sounds like, I'm not fine with it at all.

And I've never gotten worked up over the yeti, Splash Mountain, or anything like that. But this directly affects my experience, and I don't think I'm okay with it.[/QUOT

Agree. This is beyond the Yeti. This is a convenience issue and trasportation issue. As much as I want this the Yeti to be fixed this is a way bigger issue.

 

[DMC-12]

Just got off the phone with Disney and the CM said it is for routine maintenance only for 1 month. :shrug:

*fingers crossed* :king:

I hope this is the case... cause I was gonna start to get all ranty... and possibly nerd-rage. :lol: :lookaroun

 

[puntagordabob]

I called DVC member services (our home resort is the Contemporary) and will be following up with a Guest Relations call....

For the record, not one Cast Member said anything about this change being a one month only.... though I do hope the previous poster is correct.

 

[disney fan 13]

ignore this post

 

[Testtrack321]

I dont buy into that.... they would simply announce an addition to the GF resort without ever mentioning DVC.....

Do you forget when Disney didn't acknowledge BLT for TWO YEARS as it was being built?

DVC construction seems to be a level headed explanation for this change, but count me in the not happy with this decision column.

 

[DonaldDoleWhip]

If the boats are the only transportation that takes people back to the Polynesian and Grand Floridian after hours from MK, how does a handicapped person enjoy extra magic hours and then return to their hotel? I have never seen one of those boats that can have a wheelchair/ECV roll onto them. Would I be forced to get a car that could take a wheelchair?

I think you're right. The boats that serve GF and Poly aren't wheelchair or ECV accessible. That's outrageous and appalling, IMO. Very rarely, Disney uses the bigger boats for GF and Poly that are accessible, but if they don't, this is a literal F-you to people who literally couldn't step down into one of those tiny rocking boats if they wanted to.

 

[wdwmagic]

Just got off the phone with Disney and the CM said it is for routine maintenance only for 1 month. :shrug:

It's a permanent change unfortunately. As permanent as things can be that is, things can always change.

 

[wdwmagic]

If the boats are the only transportation that takes people back to the Polynesian and Grand Floridian after hours from MK, how does a handicapped person enjoy extra magic hours and then return to their hotel? I have never seen one of those boats that can have a wheelchair/ECV roll onto them. Would I be forced to get a car that could take a wheelchair?

There will also be busses on the routes which will be wheelchair compatible.

 

[unkadug]

.
Stop running EXPRESS loop.. that will free up what.. 2 maybe 3 trains?


so for us who have annual passes and want to get back to our cars fast and try and make it home before it gets to late we would have to wait for all of the deluxe resorts to offload and then go all the way back to the TTC is that fair:shrug:

i understand if it is matinence. and if it is budget cuts then it better be going back into the parks.

P.S i blame meg crofton

I can't believe you just said that.

Waiting for people to get off the same monorail as you will take you all of an extra 15 minutes tops.

How precious is your time compared to everyone else's ?

Why do you feel that as a pass holder that Disney is more beholden to you than to those spending more money than you by staying at a resort?

Do you really feel that pass holders need their own monorail loop?