The MK transit situation is becoming STUPID!

[Cosmic Commando]

However (and I hate to contradict the man who started it all), the current set up is a logistical nightmare on a constant basis to get guests to/from the MK.

Don't feel bad. If Walt were alive and kickin' today, we would probably have some kind of different setup to get across Seven Seas Lagoon. I think he would have gotten more ferries to use at peak times, or better-designed ferries, longer monorail trains or those double-length buses with the bendy section in the middle... something.

I was wondering while writing this if I was just using Walt as some kind of messianic figure, but I believe at the heart of it Walt thought, "That's not right. How can we fix that?" and not "Does this make them mad enough that they won't come back?"

 

[Thomas morrow]

Teleporters are so 20th century. The new Disney Flying Time Machine Monorails will be launching next year, Guest will board the monorail and be transported not only to the park but will arrive at The Magic Kingdom before they left, so you will have your memories begin before you have them :veryconfu oh and that spur thats the launching spur they have to get them up to 88 mph you know

 

[Disney61]

We leave for WDW in 5 days. I've told the family to be prepared for possibly less than magical experience this trip.

 

[Hakunamatata]

We leave for WDW in 5 days. I've told the family to be prepared for possibly less than magical experience this trip.

And you pretty much guaranteed it will happen by telling them to expect it. Nice job.

 

[ScoutN]

And you pretty much guaranteed it will happen by telling them to expect it. Nice job.

Gotta love what forums do for people.

 

[Pioneer Hall]

We leave for WDW in 5 days. I've told the family to be prepared for possibly less than magical experience this trip.

Then why go at all? When I go on vacation, I expect it to be great, because I am spending a lot of money to go there. If you don't think Disney is going to live up to that expectation, then why are you going there? You don't owe them anything, so why give them all that money to have a subpar time?

 

[ScoutN]

Then why go at all? When I go on vacation, I expect it to be great, because I am spending a lot of money to go there. If you don't think Disney is going to live up to that expectation, then why are you going there? You don't owe them anything, so why give them all that money to have a subpar time?

Because someone on the internet said so. If it is on the internet them it is true!

 

[JimboJones123]

Because someone on the internet said so. If it is on the internet them it is true!

Careful, those foil hats will short out the beams.

 

[olinecoach61]

Listen the transportation situation needs to be addressed, but I would not let it ruin my vacation. I'm spending way too much money and the rest Disney magic will be in place. Be flexible and adapt to a fluid situation. Most of all have fun!

 

[Goofnut1980]

Wow... I can not imagine how cranky people must have been by the time they go to their destinations! I huge reason I avoid the parks in the summer. Just too busy and you can't enjoy it

 

[TP2000]

I know that Walt Disney hated the Anaheim set up where guests could park right up by the entrance. He really wanted a "show" where guests would anticipate and then see the park and be inspired by it.

However (and I hate to contradict the man who started it all), the current set up is a logistical nightmare on a constant basis to get guests to/from the MK. .

Actually, what Walt cared about most was the "clap-trap" and "mini Las Vegas" as he called it that grew up on the streets around Disneyland, mainly Harbor Blvd. and Katella Avenue.

In October, 1966, just about six weeks before his death, Walt filmed the now-famous EPCOT 1966 footage where he took viewers into the Florida Project Conference Room at Imagineering and showed the plans for his EPCOT project. The theme park that we now know as the Magic Kingdom was then, in Walt's final days, simply a cut and paste exact cloned copy of Disneyland circa 1966. And the area directly in front of it was mid-priced motor lodges surrounded by vegetation.

Here's the image of Walt in October, 1966 in front of the northern tip of his Florida property, showing the location that would become Magic Kingdom and Seven Seas Lagoon.

There's no lake, just motels. And that's Disneyland pasted onto the map there, right down to New Orleans Square and the Matterhorn and StorybookLand and the Autopia freeways over the Submarine Lagoon. He hadn't given much thought, if any, to what the theme park would look like, nor how the entrance process would appear to the tourists staying at the motels across from the Disneyland II main entrance.

It's revisionist history in the most amusing sense to think that Walt had all these grand plans for a different Disneyland. He had already done Disneyland, he was moving on, but he knew a copy of it would need to be the weenie to get folks interested in his EPCOT plans.The second theme park in Florida wasn't what interested him in his final days.

But you can't blame him for wanting all that land to surround his Disneyland II with. In 1966, Harbor Blvd. alongside Disneyland's entrance looked pretty trashy, even by the tackier standards of the 1960's.

Harbor Blvd. Circa 1966, street directly adjacent to Disneyland property

Luckily in the late 1990's the city of Anaheim underwent a Billion dollar makeover project to cosmetically unify and redevelop all of the streets and blocks surrounding Disneyland into a cohesive and heavily landscaped "Resort District". Anaheim today isn't exactly the Gardens of Versailles, but it's certainly a huge improvement over what it looked like in Walt's day.

Anaheim Resort District Streets Circa 2011

All that said, what Imagineering came up with several years after Walt's death with the placement of the Seven Seas Lagoon works beautifully. I think it's a better idea than the motels Walt had planned to plop in front of Disneyland II just before he died.

It's a shame though that the Seven Seas Lagoon and monorail system around it is now a stumbling block for the local management who are faced with insufficient funds to manage an aging infrastructure. They simply have to figure this out, and get the thing ready to continue on for another 50 years.

 

[puntagordabob]

And you pretty much guaranteed it will happen by telling them to expect it. Nice job.

Wow was your comment really required to be so harsh?

 

[Enchantâmes]

This yet another one of the many reasons I now visit DLR over WDW nowadays. DLR's set up is soooooooo much easier and takes a 15 minute walk to get from our hotel to the parks and vice versa. While at WDW it takes a good 45+ minutes to get anywhere you want to go. I love the Florida Parks and all but my family lost interest after they have refused to add anything major up until FLE. They keep raising the prices yet they haven't added anything to warrant the raise. Closing Pleasure Island was the last straw, and now we just head over to Cali for more fun, besides people at DLR are 100x more happy, relaxed, and polite.

 

[ToTBellHop]

As much as folks claim that the Seven Seas Lagoon doesn't work, it does. It has worked well for decades. The problem is that they have an old monorail system that needs to be updated.

 

[Hakunamatata]

Wow was your comment really required to be so harsh?

You think this is harsh? I didn't even include a :fork: or a or even a :brick:

 

[zulemara]

As much as folks claim that the Seven Seas Lagoon doesn't work, it does. It has worked well for decades. The problem is that they have an old monorail system that needs to be updated.

it's also the self entitlement of our society insisting everything has to be NOW.

I was in a large group setting with Disney Legend and Imagineer Bob Gurr. He worked directly with Walt and knew him well. I asked "with the increase in attendance and the sometimes logistical issues caused by the setup at MK, do you think, if Walt and the imagineers could do it again, they would hold the same structure." He said "absolutely. Their was the same problem at Disneyland getting people shuttled out via the trams. Walt was intent on having the approach to the Magic Kingdom the way it is"

So while the drawings might show something else, a 2nd hand source says otherwise, and I tend to believe the guy who worked alongside Walt.

Secondly, what on earth do people think adding more trains or more ferries is going to do? Aside from better maintenance rotation, it does nothing but slow everything down. Do you realize when we have 3 ferryboats running at close that there is always one waiting to come in? I've got news for you, there is nothing inefficient about the Ferries or the pilots that operate them. What's inefficient is guests loading and not following the instructions they are giving to help speed up the loading time. The same is true for the monorails. They hold enough for traffic clearance as it is because people dilly dally on the platform causing a delay in the cycle. Adding more trains to the line is just going to make it worse, not better.

The key to WDW in any aspect, transportation, attractions, dining, or anything else, is don't do what the crowds are doing. Watch the 2nd MSEP and exit the park and most of the time you will walk right onto a FB or the monorail because by that time the fireworks exit has passed. To that end, if you watch the fireworks pretty much anywhere on main street and exit immediately after, the line hasn't yet backed up and you can be on the boat quite quickly. I could go on and on but I think my point is made.

I have done trips when I had no info on transportation, but I never had an issue because I made it a point to be smarter than the rest of the people at WDW, some of whom don't even know what a fastpass is. USE the fact that you're on the internet, on message boards, ask advice, and you won't even run into the problem most of the time.

 

[TP2000]

This yet another one of the many reasons I now visit DLR over WDW nowadays. DLR's set up is soooooooo much easier and takes a 15 minute walk to get from our hotel to the parks and vice versa. While at WDW it takes a good 45+ minutes to get anywhere you want to go. I love the Florida Parks and all but my family lost interest after they have refused to add anything major up until FLE. They keep raising the prices yet they haven't added anything to warrant the raise. Closing Pleasure Island was the last straw, and now we just head over to Cali for more fun, besides people at DLR are 100x more happy, relaxed, and polite .

Well, this just got interesting. :lol:

It is intriguing that as a nearly overbuilt Disneyland is being matched by a suddenly blossoming DCA bolstered by a 1.2 Billion dollar extreme makeover, the total number of attractions in Anaheim is now within a half dozen of the total number of attractions in all four of the WDW parks combined. And that tally is about to get even closer 11 months from now when four additional attractions open at DCA, Radiator Springs Racers, Tow Mater's Junkyard Jamboree, Luigi's Flying Tires, and Red Car Trolleys. Epcot is fabulous, and keeps me coming back to WDW, but the other WDW parks are really weak on the attractions-roster compared to the two Anaheim parks.

And of course, all of those DLR attractions are within a leisurely 15 to 20 minute walk of each other.

And yet, at WDW, you'll never be able to move the four theme parks next to each other like they are in Anaheim, Paris, and Tokyo, and have been designed to be in the future in Hong Kong and Shanghai. The setup at WDW is what it is, and it does have its merits and benefits. That beautiful ferry ride across the lagoon to Magic Kingdom in the morning is one of my favorite examples. It's gorgeous!

I've said it before, but it's getting embarassing with all these monorails problems. The location of the WDW theme parks and all of the hotels sprawled driving distance away isn't going to change, so WDW management needs to figure out how they are going to continue moving people around property for the next 50 years. Patch jobs and weekly closures aren't going to cut it much longer.

 

[autigger]

Disney transportation is the least magical thing on site. We always drive to every park except, of course, the Magic Kingdom.

 

[devoy1701]

Which is why we know there will never be an expansion to the monorail system. When that thing goes down, it can be an absolute disaster. Buses might not be magical, but it only take a little while to recover from a problem with no problems for people who aren't on that bus.

I agree and don't agree at the same time. The expansion should have come years ago...probably 1989 with Hollywood Studios. When maintained properly the monorail system is very efficient. I do agree that an expansion is very unlikely though.

I know that Walt Disney hated the Anaheim set up where guests could park right up by the entrance. He really wanted a "show" where guests would anticipate and then see the park and be inspired by it.

However (and I hate to contradict the man who started it all), the current set up is a logistical nightmare on a constant basis to get guests to/from the MK. We live in Ohio, and are DVC members, so always stay on property and always take the bus. I feel bad for those who drive and get caught in the nightmare that is "MK to TTC transportation".

I love the show at MK and wouldn't want it any other way. Yes I dread the fact that it will take me 90 mins to get to my car sometimes (esp. during peak season) but it's still an amazing experience!

As much as folks claim that the Seven Seas Lagoon doesn't work, it does. It has worked well for decades. The problem is that they have an old monorail system that needs to be updated.

This. The monorail is the problem. It's efficiency has definitely waned over the past 10 years and I think it is in dire need of replacement. But if they were to increase the fleet to say 15 trains and instill an automated scheduled (ie: the trains only spend 2-3 minutes at the station during peak morning and evening hours), the system could easily move the increased amount of people if it's running with the Ferries and Bus system.

 

[drp4video]

We always rent a car and drive to the parks too. As for the MK, after the park closes, we generally get ice cream on main street and wait until all the monorail craziness is over, then hop a non crowded one to the TTC. I guess we will just take a boat in September (assuming they run late). If not, how late will buses run to the TTC?