Yesterday, I spoke with someone from Meg Crofton's office about the changes to the monorail hours. She informed me that this is not a permanent change. They are refurbishing the monorail track, so they need time at night to do so. The monorail hours should return to normal once the refurbishments are complete.
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New WDW Monorail System hours
- Thread starter robw1997
- Start date
Well depends how you classify permanent. At the moment it is as permanent as permanent can be in an ever-changing WDW. It is not a temporary refurbishment in the same way that attraction refurbishments are. An FAQ went out to Disney Cast that even answered that specific question. The answer was "it's a permanent change".
Scuttle
Well-Known Member
The information I have is that it is NOT a permanent change and that there is no refurb end date because the beam is in horrible condition, as I said earlier the beam has been eating the tires away at a tremendous rate. So TDO just decided to make it sound permanent since they have no clue when it will be done.
MissM
Well-Known Member
Just got back. There are signs EVERYWHERE saying that the monorail closes up to 1 hour past normal park closing and other transportation will be available.
There is an Epcot one at the TTC, one at the bottom of the ramp to the express monorail at the TTC, at the TOP monorail platform at the TTC, when you exit at the MK station AND at the ramp heading down from the MK station to the front of the park.
No one can say there weren't signs up.
There is an Epcot one at the TTC, one at the bottom of the ramp to the express monorail at the TTC, at the TOP monorail platform at the TTC, when you exit at the MK station AND at the ramp heading down from the MK station to the front of the park.
No one can say there weren't signs up.
Monorail_Orange
Well-Known Member
Firmly with Steve on this, I saw the same FAQ with my own eyes. According to that FAQ issued to CM's this is a "permanent" change. Again things can always change, and maybe the plan is as you laid out, but that is not the current communication to CM about what to inform guests.
BigThunderMatt
Well-Known Member
Uh, Disney Reservations flat out lied to you. I work at the Magic Kingdom and I can tell you this change has been in effect for several weeks. Also, just for reference, DRC is based in downtown Orlando, and in Tampa. Neither of them work anywhere near property nor are they privy to anything that's going on operationally at the resort other than the updates they get in their e-mail.
boufa
Well-Known Member
I would go with they were wrong. Lied denotes that they had something to gain from giving you the information.
Lets not ague over word choice however, even in perm vs temp. The beam needs maintenance. O.k. It may take them a year or even 2 to get the beam up to speed. So even if they plan on putting the hours back, it would seem perm. They certainly don't want to advertise a 2 year (or however long) refurb to the monorail. People would think that the system was completely down. ie "Why stay at a monorail resort? I heard it was being refurbished."
On the other hand, to all the arm chair executives who called BS at the reasoning for the reduced hours, if they are doing cement work, that would definitely mean that they need the hours to get the spot, cleaned, patched, and have the time for the cement to set.
Scuttle
Well-Known Member
Who knows really. I'm just relaying information I recently got about it from a pretty credible source. But it's TDO so who knows.
BigThunderMatt
Well-Known Member
How about a booked reservation at a monorail resort? DRC cast get commission payments, I'm pretty sure a few of them are unscrupulous enough to lie and say things just to get a booking at a deluxe made.
tell him/her to read the letter on the wall by CDS from Nick Blackwell clearly stating 1800 feet of bus bars and over 100 insulators have been replaced since the change in operating hours. That certainly didn't come during the daytime
RunnerEd
Well-Known Member
That sounds like they are moving fairly quickly.
TP2000
Well-Known Member
Meg Crofton is notoriously and infamously out of touch and has very, very little working knowledge of the property she oversees. So I'm not sure why a low-level phone clerk in Meg's office would have any real insight into the current operation of Walt Disney World Resort.
Scuttle
Well-Known Member
Meg Crofton is notoriously and infamously out of touch and has very, very little working knowledge of the property she oversees. So I'm not sure why a low-level phone clerk in Meg's office would have any real insight into the current operation of Walt Disney World Resort.
I didn't get my information from a low-level phone clerk. You think I would say a low-level phone clerk is a credible source?
Keep in mind that there's a hair under 78,000 feet of beam (which I believe means there's a roughly equal length of bus bar). At the current pace, and making the (possibly unwarranted) assumption that the entire length of bus bar is being replaced, that puts completion somewhere in 2015.
But yes, considering the time restrictions they're under for when they can do the repairs, they're moving reasonably quickly. It'd be done quite a bit faster if they shut down one full section for a few months and worked on it 24/7, then moved to the next section, but the customer complaints that would provoke would make the current "bawww I can't use the monorail during EMH" look tame by comparison.
mikeymouse
Well-Known Member
Maybe this refurb is the result of them having so many power issues lately.
Rob562
Well-Known Member
It depends on whether they're counting linear bus bar feet or linear beam length feet.
If it's linear bus bar, then take your total and double it (one bus bar on each side of the beam).
-Rob
peachykeen
Well-Known Member
Exactly. It's 26+ miles of buss bar, one on each side of each beam.
COProgressFan
Well-Known Member
I think the main issue is not that monorail resort guests are whiners, as you are suggesting, but that the lack of information as well as inconsistency of information is the issue.
If Disney just came out and said because the monorail track needs maintenance, it must be done at night, and as a result EMH monorail service will be suspended until next March (whenever) while the work is complete, then people would be more responsive. Especially if all the channels of WDW communication all clearly stated that fact (including the reservation lines, operator, email guest communications, etc) and the information was publicized well in advance of the change.