Monorails to no longer operate during Evening Extra Magic Hours

[draybook]

Then please do tell us how this is not the removal of a service for which the Resort charges a premium.

While I only pay chicken scratch to stay at POP, I too pay for the usage of the monorails. I too will be stuck on the ferry or a bus when I leave the MK after EMH. I too will be affected by this change. If I had the funds available, I would stay at the Contemporary or BLT, and gladly walk back.

 

[Scuttle]

Wow, that thread literally exploded in the last 24 hrs, didn't it?

Yes this thread is out of control 300 posts in a day and half. Not bad! Maybe TDO will come across this thread and realize what an uproar this is causing.

 

[Kamikaze]

I haven't seen the "official" release that was given to Guests, but in the info that was given to CMs, under the FAQs if a Guests asks why this was done it is:

"From time to time, we make adjustments to our operations to accommodate for planned transportation maintenance. "

In the past, the Resort line stayed open until the park cleared. So even if there were 5 people in the park, those 3-4 Resort trains are still cycling. Usually it takes around 2 hours for the park to clear after closing. So that saves about an hour each night, and the Resort trains can have a little more time for maintenance.

I'm not saying its the BEST solution, but it will help the trains in my opinion. Nothing would make me more happy than to hear "J/K everyone, we're buying a new set of trains!" But I don't think that will happen soon

12 should be done soon, which will help.

You just said its the track that is causing this ... now its the trains? Is it both?

 

[draybook]

Monorail access has always been part of the unwritten promise by Disney for the last 39 years... changing it now is wrong...no Grey area what so ever.

With all due respect, if it hasn't been an actual promise, then yes, it is a grey area.

 

[peachykeen]

You just said its the track that is causing this ... now its the trains? Is it both?

If you re-read my post, the first word in the paragraph is "Both."

The trains are the main concern, but the beamway also needs attention.

edit: that first sentence comes off more terse than I meant it. My appologies, just making myself clear.

 

[rudyjr13]

If you re-read my post, the first word in the paragraph is "Both."

The trains are the main concern, but the beamway also needs attention.

edit: that first sentence comes off more terse than I meant it. My appologies, just making myself clear.

From your inside knowledge posts it Sounds like we should be complaining to management about replacing the ancient fleet of monorails rather then losing a couple hours a week. Take the system down for a week or 2 in January and replace the fleet/fix the beams assuming they can get new trains by then. Gives guests enough notice to adjust reservations if wanted.

No one can seriously claim Disney doesn't have the cash to invest in new trains, especially like someone else said it's all financed and paid for over years. Of course you will probably see some type of advertising on a new train to offset the costs.

I'm overpaying to stay at the GF in Sept BECAUSE of the monorail. Have 2 kids under 2 so it's a no brainer for us to be on the monorail, rather then Epcot resorts. Granted we won't be out too late this trip with the little ones so we shouldn't be affected this time.

Been a huge fan of the monorails since being a kid in the mid 80s and it's sad to see the state they are in. Scary to think what it would take for Disney to buy new trains. More deaths or injuries? Let's hope not.

 

[Olijimcha]

@peachykeen

That's a really interesting situation you've described, seems like maintenance are having to get along by simply patching things up with all aspects of the system most of the time, must be incredibly frustrating for you all.

I applaud the folks who complained to the VP and their superiors; are you able to give any insight as to how the lower/mid levels of maintenance management had been dealing with the situation prior to this?

 

[Thrill]

From your inside knowledge posts it Sounds like we should be complaining to management about replacing the ancient fleet of monorails rather then losing a couple hours a week. Take the system down for a week or 2 in January and replace the fleet/fix the beams assuming they can get new trains by then. Gives guests enough notice to adjust reservations if wanted.

No one can seriously claim Disney doesn't have the cash to invest in new trains, especially like someone else said it's all financed and paid for over years. Of course you will probably see some type of advertising on a new train to offset the costs.

This. Honestly, a temporary refurbishment over the course of a couple of weeks is understandable, so that they can make repairs to the tracks and repair/replace the trains. If they're going to do it right, three hours per line per week probably won't make it happen.

And from then on, plan to take out the monorail system for a week every 5 years and 2 weeks every 10 years (something like that) so that the tracks can be properly repaired. Do this instead of having the monorail system go down for hours or days at a time during regular operation. When it's happening, prepare accordingly. Send more boats, even add a temporary bus line around the monorail loop (maybe excluding Contemporary). And keep on doing rolling maintenance. Repair the track as needed, have more spare monorails than usual so that trains can be taken down for extended lengths of time.

Taking out the Monorail during EMH would be like if Disney were to take down Space Mountain during EMH so that they could maintain it for a couple extra hours at night, instead of doing a proper refurbishment. The first way will likely not eliminate the chronic downtime that both seem to have (it might decrease it, but I can't see it being a big enough difference), but the latter should, seeing as they both operated pretty consistently until maintenance took a dive.

 

[unkadug]

The way I understand it, each Monorail Resort pays a certain percentage of their income to cover transportation costs.

SO...since transportation is being removed from the guests amenities, then the resort should pay Transportation Department less....

THEREFORE....nightly rates at all Monorail Resorts will soon be going down! :sohappy:

 

[puntagordabob]

You just said its the track that is causing this ... now its the trains? Is it both?

The way I understand it, each Monorail Resort pays a certain percentage of their income to cover transportation costs.

SO...since transportation is being removed from the guests amenities, then the resort should pay Transportation Department less....

THEREFORE....nightly rates at all Monorail Resorts will soon be going down! :sohappy:

Hahaha as if THAT would ever happen!!!

It is the same for us in DVC that own at BLT...part of our dues also contributes to the monorail line (says so in the docs)....

The rather more important questions is with all these price increases WHY can we not simply fix or replace the monorails and end this unacceptable level of service... I mean folks do not be foolish here if the monorails are this bad then this situation will only grow worse over time and I suspect this will still happen resulting on more cutbacks and changes to the monorail service....

 

[zooey]

I haven't gone through the entire thread here, but I too must throw in my disgust at this very notion.

Disney is removing a huge perk to monorail loop hotel guests, as well as any guest who comes for extra magic hours with this.

This is a mere band-aid on the monorail problem. A problem that is not going away any time soon. They need to be refurbed or all out rebuilt. The track has to be maintained or even rebuilt as well. There is no getting around this.

 

[draybook]

Hahaha as if THAT would ever happen!!!

It is the same for us in DVC that own at BLT...part of our dues also contributes to the monorail line (says so in the docs)....

The rather more important questions is with all these price increases WHY can we not simply fix or replace the monorails and end this unacceptable level of service... I mean folks do not be foolish here if the monorails are this bad then this situation will only grow worse over time and I suspect this will still happen resulting on more cutbacks and changes to the monorail service....

I will say that this has me re-thinking on joining the DVC.

 

[Cosmic Commando]

Does anyone think that Disney thinks a fleet of Mark VIII monorails would be "cool" enough to wait to announce at D23? That's about the best case scenario I can cook up.

 

[TestTrack]

Does anyone think that Disney thinks a fleet of Mark VIII monorails would be "cool" enough to wait to announce at D23? That's about the best case scenario I can cook up.

Do they cost money? Then no

 

[rudyjr13]

Does anyone think that Disney thinks a fleet of Mark VIII monorails would be "cool" enough to wait to announce at D23? That's about the best case scenario I can cook up.

If they do, let's hope it isn't one of the things that they never do as Lee has warned us.

Considering sending an email to customer service.

 

[Frau Farbissina]

Do they cost money? Then no

Nice.:ROFLOL:

 

[mkt]

Fixing it could be more trains, rebuilt trains, new trains, infrastructure upgrades... but not cutbacks.

These monorails have been operating as long as, and likely logged more miles than, any monorails in Disney history. Nothing lasts forever. Fix it!

What if the cutbacks are the fix, at least temporarily?

Anyone who can defend what's going on at WDW now is an apologist of the highest degree.

Bilk the customer.

Offer less.

Maximize profits in the short term.

That's Disney's sound business strategy in Florida.

I'm not an apologist- I'm a realist. Am I livid that this is happening? Yes. Do I accept it as a necessary reality. Yes. 11 years ago, when the economy was in better shape, I'd be the first one here jumping on Disney to add more, fix more. The fact remains now that neither the US economy isn't stable enough to justify any long term investment in their US parks nor does the US consumer care about these things. If I were Disney, I'd be building in the BRIC economies, or in Australia/NZ (well, they are in China) and keep the US parks running while things improve.

The Disney that is romanticized by the internet fanbase should be better than that- however no company is exempt from the reality that right now, things are ________. Compared to others, Disney's cutbacks aren't many (putting Disney ahead of the curve as is standard).

At this point, I'm just happy that they haven't filed for bankruptcy protection at some point over the last decade.

 

[disneypearl]

I have never been able to stay at a monorail resort. I guess I should now say that I have never been able to stay at a sometimes monorail resort. That really is a shame for those staying at these resorts. I can't believe that this change will be well received by those not hearing of this change before their trip. How disappointing that will be to those guests.

 

[puntagordabob]

You just said its the track that is causing this ... now its the trains? Is it both?

Perhaps I misunderstood, but it sounded like the trains were hitting the rails and chipping them somehow.....???

I will say that this has me re-thinking on joining the DVC.

You would love BLT so I am sorry to hear that...BUT I would suggest you call DVC and tell them that you wanted to only buy into BLT and now because of this "new change" that will not be happening... I would be interested to hear their response to your comment since I am sure it is not on any questions-response list...

I have never been able to stay at a monorail resort. I guess I should now say that I have never been able to stay at a sometimes monorail resort. That really is a shame for those staying at these resorts. I can't believe that this change will be well received by those not hearing of this change before their trip. How disappointing that will be to those guests.

Disappointing indeed.

 

[PirateFrank]

Both. If you look off the roof of the Contemp, you can see a bunch of patches that have been done because pieces of the beam will fall off. It's not just there, but its easiest to see there. And the patches can't be made until after shut down. Say the park closes at 11, the beam will probably finally be shutdown at around 1:45am. Then the work tractor will need to make its way to the section of beam that needs patching. They will work on that, and by 5:15 the openers are showing up and that tractor has to be done and back at Shop by 6am at the latest. That only leaves about 4 hours for the work to be done AND for the concrete to dry. If it's not dry enough, the patch falls off a few hours later, the trains are reduced to "walking speed from Pylon x to Pylon y then resume normal speed" and the process repeats itself. If the park is open until 3am, the Resort beam stays hot throughout the night. The only maintenance the trains on Resort beam get that day is a quick check with a flashlight under the wheel-well covers (which are having a tendency lately to come loose and rip off trains as they enter a station) and they scan the AMVS and say "10-8, good to go." Generally, those Resort trains that never got a chance to go back to Shop don't make it through the next day without an unexpected trip back, with the ensuing downtime.

Also parts are literally falling off of the trains. Green's collector shoe ripped up a piece of buss bar on the 3rd of July which caused not only the train to go down but also the beam. Green also I believe was the train that caused a transmitter to fall off the beam between MK and GF and start a grass fire.

I have had a bus driver come up to me with a piece of a train that fell off into the bus loop and say "I think this is your guys." That's not embarrassing at all......

A few weeks ago I watched a Monorail shower down sparks on a group of Guests just as it enter MK on Express. That train went immediately to shop, but to add more drama to the scene, Security went running underneath the train all the way to the Switchbeam yelling "STOP STOP!" to any Guest who attempted to, heaven forbid, WALK underneath the Monorail as it was moving. That scene, to me, was the straw that broke the camel's back for my pride in that department.

Peachy....I am 100% in your corner here.

I do not believe these trains were designed for 24/7 operation...and frankly, EMH (something that has been brought into the parks after these trains were designed and built) seems to be really taking its toll on the trains.

I really think some of you that feel you're getting short changed because you sprung for the monorail resort but wont get to ride the mono home during EEMH.....need to be a little more reasonable here. We're talking reducing the train load by a few hours every day. To me, that's worth it.

It's called the magic kingdom....but that doesn't mean these trains fix themselves.