News Return of the Walt Disney World tram fleet tracker

[dovetail65]

It most likely not Disney allocating anything, I am betting Disney knows they may not be able to fill the positions . All one has to do is look at the school bus driver shortage when some place are offering 25 bucks an hour and still schools rearranging entire school day hours because they can not find drivers. Look at Orlando area in general, there are help wanted signs everywhere. What do trams have to do with parades or popcorn stands anyhow? Drivers are a different set of employees, it's not like they can take a popcorn stand worker parade worker and have them start driving the trams.


Only now would I even start thinking there could be enough qualified drivers available for trams(people that wanted to work). If I was in charge I would think long and hard about waiting until the historical Covid hot spot time of Dec to Jan ended before I committed to starting the trams again. Otherwise they may find if the Covid number spiked again as they have the last two years in winter those drivers started started calling in sick or even quitting.
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One more thought, what if Disney found that the trams were not needed at least not as they were in the past. Possibly the complaints generated from having no trams were or are so small verse the money saved that they simply don't need to go back to them at full capacity or at all. I can say in over 100 trips since 1972 I never stepped on a tram. When we went with mobile impaired family the trams were useless. Waiting for a tram was malarkey, it was better I pushed mom or we had a scooter or we just dropped them at the front of the lot and I parked alone which are all far better options than putting kids or slow adults on a tram, at least for our family.

For me , if Disney gets though this winter and the Covid numbers do not rise as they have the last two winters, which hopefully means Covid is truly getting better, then I might set up trams in full force for Spring 2022. Spring 2022 may turn out to be record breaking crowds if Covid truly relents this winter and hopefully aligns with where people are finally needing or wanting to go back to work for entry level positions.

 

[peter11435]

No they really don’t matter at all. Not on a business perspective. There is a small set of the overall attendance at MK every day that use motorized assistance in the park. And of that subset some of them are staying at resorts ans are taking buses/monorails to the park. They by no means make up even a statistically significant portions of the let’s say 50K people who are visiting MK on a daily basis. Even if we give any credence to your 392 across four parks, which I don’t, that number isn’t statistically significant compared to overal park attendance.

You are significantly underestimating the number of guests with mobility issues in the parks. Also the number of guests across all four parks using scooters/wheelchairs each day is significantly greater than 392.

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

There is no limit to the time you can leave your vehicle at a resort after dining. You could even leave it overnight. Disney will tow in very, very few instances. If a vehicle is "out of place" which includes blocking a roadway, or a possible threat to public safety. Towing is not good Public Relations and is rarely used.

Then why is there a sign at some of the resorts saying not to leave your car? I'm sorry but Parking at a resort to avoid parking fees or to be closer is just poor taste.

 

[SoFloMagic]

Those have already returned, but no reason to let facts interfere with your temper tantrum.

Definitely no tantrum here. I'm saying I'm happy they brought those back and will sacrifice the trams to have some entertainment if that's where we are now.

 

[SoFloMagic]

You are significantly underestimating the number of guests with mobility issues in the parks. Also the number of guests across all four parks using scooters/wheelchairs each day is significantly greater than 392.

Right, but many of them are hotel guests or have disabled permits and thus aren't impacted by not having trams.

 

[peter11435]

There is no limit to the time you can leave your vehicle at a resort after dining. You could even leave it overnight. Disney will tow in very, very few instances. If a vehicle is "out of place" which includes blocking a roadway, or a possible threat to public safety. Towing is not good Public Relations and is rarely used.

You are not supposed to/allowed to do this. Just because you won’t get towed doesn’t make it ok. In years past they did give a temporary 3 hour parking pass for dining guests.

 

[Chi84]

My mom bygn

Then why is there a sign at some of the resorts saying not to leave your car? I'm sorry but Parking at a resort to avoid parking fees or to be closer is just poor taste.

People shouldn’t violate the rules. But if you park for a dining reservation, are not given a time limit, and you want to stick around for a few hours afterward, you don’t need to worry about your car being towed. That’s something that happens on these boards, not at WDW.

 

[roj2323]

I can't believe people are still using the "It's faster to walk" mentality... As if handicap folks, small children, and carrying toddlers/babies are not factors for the general public going to WDW. (I hesitate to mention, but also, the larger folks as well.)

None of which the trams are built to actually carry in ease or comfort. Actually most handicap folks don’t use the trams at all because the ADA parking is at the front of the lots and the trams don’t stop there.

 

[Bullseye1967]

You are not supposed to/allowed to do this. Just because you won’t get towed doesn’t make it ok. In years past they did give a temporary 3 hour parking pass for dining guests.

I have never been given any parking pass of any sort while dining at a resort I was not staying at including this year. What resort and year was this?

 

[Bullseye1967]

Then why is there a sign at some of the resorts saying not to leave your car? I'm sorry but Parking at a resort to avoid parking fees or to be closer is just poor taste.

I am not talking about avoiding fees. I am stating there is no time limit. We have always had APs so parking is free to us.

 

[peter11435]

I have never been given any parking pass of any sort while dining at a resort I was not staying at including this year. What resort and year was this?

It was done off and on throughout the 2000’s at all deluxe resorts except AKL. I still have one from WL and the Poly somewhere

 

[WondersOfLife]

except they don’t. There are numerous popcorn and snack stands that remain closed and most that are operating have less cast than would be typical.

Heavens to betsy.

 

[WondersOfLife]

Then why is there a sign at some of the resorts saying not to leave your car? I'm sorry but Parking at a resort to avoid parking fees or to be closer is just poor taste.

I think it is poor taste to fork up 25 bucks each day to park. I applaud folks who figure out how to beat Disney's greedy system.

Go park yourself at a resort or Disney Springs. You're not disrupting any system except for the money you're not giving to Disney. lol

 

[WondersOfLife]

It just seems when we go to the most magical place on earth, we have grown to want them and expect them.

Disney did that to themselves. Also, I would say that lots of people factor all of those as 'needs,' actually. Disney needs to have all of those services/perks/entertainment in order to live up to the price Disney is charging.

 

[WondersOfLife]

most handicap folks don’t use the trams at all because the ADA parking is at the front of the lots and the trams don’t stop there.

True. Except for MK. Lots of handicap folk don't get to the handicap section of parking, though. Like larger folks. And, again, handicap isn't the only demographic affected. Remember.

 

[MrPromey]

Popcorn stands make money. This is a calculated decision. If your staffing sucks, why use it to operate money-losing operations?

Yeah, I know it's "part of the experience" or "an expected offering", but it hasn't been for the past 18 months and the worst blowback has been a comedian doing a 15 second bit.

Note - I don't really agree with any of this, but it makes logical sense.

At $25 a car, that parking lot is not a loss-leader and personally, I've always considered the "courtesy" tram, something you were paying for when you paid to park.

You might compare this to that popcorn stand no-longer putting the butter flavored oil on the popcorn to increase profit. They're selling an inferior product for the same or more money.

Only in the case of the parking it's different because this can have a much bigger impact on guests' days yet at the same time, what are your alternatives if you go naively assuming the thing they've run since the place opened would still be there and realize once there that there are no trams?

That last part is what makes this so bad.

 

[peter11435]

I’m

Heavens to betsy.

listen. I’m in full agreement that trams should be back already. And if they wanted them back they could be. At this point (and this wasn’t always the case) the hold up is 100% financial. But let’s not pretend that WDW isn’t facing severe staffing challenges because they absolutely are in nearly every area.

 

[MrPromey]

Disagree- increasing prices has not reduced attendance and that is not Disney's objective, if they really wanted to reduce attendance and thin out the crowds sell a reduced number of park tickets/day.

They say they want to reduce attendance and increase per-guest spending to offset.

They say that because it sounds a whole lot nicer than the truth which is that they're perfectly happy with attendance and still want to increase per-guest spending.

Fewer people means fewer overpriced meals, less merchandise, fewer up-sells which are all things that amount to near-pure profit at a certain scale.

There is a limit to how much money you can squeeze out of guests without working for it, even if you do narrow your audince to people who are bad with money and who are willing to forgive engineered shortcomings. There isn’t growth there and no company has ever cut their way to long-term growth.

The truth is, Disney wants it both ways.

The stunts they're pulling right now are good only for short-term profit, though.

 

[peter11435]

Heavens to betsy.

listen. I’m in full agreement that trams should be back already. And if they wanted them back they could be. At this point (and this wasn’t always the case) the hold up is 100% financial. It’s really inexcusable now. But let’s not pretend that WDW isn’t facing severe staffing challenges because they absolutely are and in nearly every area.

 

[SoFloMagic]

At $25 a car, that parking lot is not a loss-leader and personally, I've always considered the "courtesy" tram, something you were paying for when you paid to park.

You might compare this to that popcorn stand no-longer putting the butter flavored oil on the popcorn to increase profit. They're selling an inferior product for the same or more money.

Only in the case of the parking it's different because this can have a much bigger impact on guests' days yet at the same time, what are your alternatives if you go naively assuming the thing they've run since the place opened would still be there and realize once there that there are no trams?

That last part is what makes this so bad.

I mean I get that, but they've done a LOT of ty things since reopening. What's the excuse for not having a parade? Fireworks at Hollywood studios? A dirt pit with no progress in the center of Epcot?