Monorails to no longer operate during Evening Extra Magic Hours

[DebbieB]

I don't get all the doom and gloom (no point in staying at a monorail resort? can't go for a late dinner or for drinks?). The monorail will still be running most of the day. It will stop running 1 hour after park closing. Busses and boats will be provided. It's not like you will be stranded somewhere or can't make late plans. EMH is usually only 1 night a week.

 

[asta]

I'm thinking this may have a positive side. I like that the EMH may feel more like you are staying in the park after closing. It used to feel that way. It now just seems like you are staying in the park longer. I may not be explaining that well but it is just a feeling.

 

[Pixie Princess]

So will EMH folks walk to and from BLT and CR and then Poly and GF get to ride a bus together?--the horrors of paying deluxe and sharing a bus. I can understand some things but that aggrevates the horns off a billy goat.

Well I guess Polys would take the boat and then GF guest could walk too.

I'll be stealing that phrase!

 

[Finally08]

I may not be reading this right, but wouldn't it also affect those guests who are staying at a Disney resort that is not on the monorail line, but choose to use their own car or rent a car for whatever reason? If they are parked at the TTC (either because they are at EMH at MK or because they hopped from MK to Epcot for EMH) how do they get back? I am guessing that they will have to have buses shuttle them there, which I think is what a lot of people are trying to avoid by using a car in the first place.

This is exactly my concern. When we stay we often drive our own car because of all the issues we've had with buses. But now we'll have to wait on a bus to get to our car!?!? We rarely use the boat because it will back up so badly and takes forever to come back around.
Looks like they are just trying to get everyone out of the parks as early as they can.

 

[doconeill]

Maybe they could mitigate some of the impact if they actually built the bridge over the canal so guests can walk to/from GF...I mean, they built the PATH...they just didn't connect it...

 

[yooperfan]

So you'll have to take a bus instead.

I believe that would be more than 1 bus

 

[E&K's Dad]

I don't get all the doom and gloom (no point in staying at a monorail resort? can't go for a late dinner or for drinks?). The monorail will still be running most of the day. It will stop running 1 hour after park closing. Busses and boats will be provided. It's not like you will be stranded somewhere.

@DebbieB- I think this is purely about convenience and a convenience that many people feel they pay a premium for. When traveling to WDW in the off season when parks close at 7 and 8 o'clock at night having the ability to roll strollers on and off the monorail when going to dinner after parks close vs. folding and loading onto a bus is a pretty big difference. (Maybe not for you but for my family it is) Plus the resort monorail line is an option that have been around for years that many would not expect to change.

No doom and gloom. . .just personal inconvenience that I would hope to avoid on vacation.

 

[Oglet]

Are those nights more crowded than evening EMH? I have never been to either MNSSHP or MVMCP but many times the MK is absolutely packed for evening EMH. If the ferries and buses can handle those crowds, they would probably be able to handle those paid events. Maybe since those are paid events, they will get better service.

I'm just making a educated guess and have no information to back up what they might of might not do on those nights.

1 hour after park closes, you just have a trickle of guests coming out of the park, actually many times the park is actually emptied of guests 1 1/2 hours after closing so while an inconvenience for those guests after the 1 hour cut off its certainly easily absorbed by other transportation.

EMH is similar, you might have a bit of a rush, however it's something that can easily be handled. DHS does not have a monorail service and they handle EMH exits pretty well by using Boats and Bus transportation.

Now MNSSHP and MVMCP exists tend to be more concentrated and rapid, just from nights I have worked they can get quite busy. I don't believe the bus loop and ferry boats could handle it quite as well as a EMH exit, throw in that it is a ticketed event, it's not really that late and they could scale down the monorail operation to one loop (resort loop) its quite logical to think that they would keep the monorail running on those select nights.

Come to think of things, there isn't too much logic involved with anything Disney has been doing recently other than profits at any cost

While I don't really like the new way they are going about things, if it helps with the overall reliability of the Monorail system then I would have to say the benefits are greater than the disadvantages.

 

[Oglet]

Maybe they could mitigate some of the impact if they actually built the bridge over the canal so guests can walk to/from GF...I mean, they built the PATH...they just didn't connect it...

I said the exact same thing to my wife, heck if they are worried about the costs why not just sell us some more bricks.

 

[asta]

Maybe they could mitigate some of the impact if they actually built the bridge over the canal so guests can walk to/from GF...I mean, they built the PATH...they just didn't connect it...

The only problem is that canal where they park the barges for the Electrical Water Pageant. The bridge would have to be pretty high to let the barges pass underneath.

 

[Oglet]

The only problem is that canal where they park the barges for the Electrical Water Pageant. The bridge would have to be pretty high to let the barges pass underneath.

Drawbridge

 

[Stormin'theCastle]

The only problem is that canal where they park the barges for the Electrical Water Pageant. The bridge would have to be pretty high to let the barges pass underneath.

That gives me an idea...why don't they cut the Electrical Water Pageant and give us back the monorail? Putting on my flame suit now

 

[DebbieB]

I believe that would be more than 1 bus

They will probably run direct busses to the monorail resorts when the monorails closes.

@DebbieB- I think this is purely about convenience and a convenience that many people feel they pay a premium for. When traveling to WDW in the off season when parks close at 7 and 8 o'clock at night having the ability to roll strollers on and off the monorail when going to dinner after parks close vs. folding and loading onto a bus is a pretty big difference. (Maybe not for you but for my family it is) Plus the resort monorail line is an option that have been around for years that many would not expect to change.

No doom and gloom. . .just personal inconvenience that I would hope to avoid on vacation.

I understand that. I was referring to "no point in staying at a monorail resort". Really? No point? I've stayed at GF & Poly. There were a couple of times where the monorail broke down and we had to take a bus. Sure, I wasn't happy but it wasn't that bad.

 

[dawgsgirl]

Besides being highly annoying, all this is very interesting. Disney did away with EMH evening hours at AK, really messed with the characters at evening EMH at MK, and now the monorail thing. Is evening EMH on the way out?? Does anyone else know of anything else Disney has cut at evening EMH in any of the parks???

 

[mountdew1]

I don't get all the doom and gloom (no point in staying at a monorail resort? can't go for a late dinner or for drinks?). The monorail will still be running most of the day. It will stop running 1 hour after park closing. Busses and boats will be provided. It's not like you will be stranded somewhere.

Except as worded its not 1 hr after close, but 1 hr after regular close. So on EMHs they will need to add buses. Not a huge deal, but a blow to staying at deluxes with the prices they charge. One of the reason why AKL and WL are cheaper deluxes is that they don't have all the same fancy transportation options.

That said, all reports have been pointing towards the monorails needing some serious TLC. Or complete replacement. So if the extra downtime allows for some much needed maintenance, then its a good move. But if the downtime is being used as a way to delay maintenance by lessening the usage, then thats just plain cheap. Or if they are doing the shortened hours to get around having to train a bunch of additional conductors to stay within maximum shift hours set forth, also plain cheap.

 

[bellemeeko1]

They will probably run direct busses to the monorail resorts when the monorails closes.



I understand that. I was referring to "no point in staying at a monorail resort". Really? No point? I've stayed at GF & Poly. There were a couple of times where the monorail broke down and we had to take a bus. Sure, I wasn't happy but it wasn't that bad.

I get what the pp said about "no point" why pay extra for the convenience of staying at a monorail resort when they can stay at Shades of Green, save money and have the exact same kind of transportation(after hrs) whether at the Poly or at Shades....see staying at Shades a lot of us walk across the street to hop on the monorail and then take it back and walk back to Shades... this includes after EMH and the parties.....well if I have to now hop on a bus to take me to the Poly, after hours, I might as well save some $$, stay at Shades and hop on the bus to Shades....

 

[MoonFaerie]

@DebbieB- I think this is purely about convenience and a convenience that many people feel they pay a premium for. When traveling to WDW in the off season when parks close at 7 and 8 o'clock at night having the ability to roll strollers on and off the monorail when going to dinner after parks close vs. folding and loading onto a bus is a pretty big difference. (Maybe not for you but for my family it is) Plus the resort monorail line is an option that have been around for years that many would not expect to change.

No doom and gloom. . .just personal inconvenience that I would hope to avoid on vacation.

Yup, just inconvenience for me. When we'll be there in Dec, out of 8 nights, there is only 1 of them that the official park hours aren't closing at 7 (5 nights) or 8 (2 nights). With the shorter park hours we were planning on later dinners to maximize park time. Since 6 of those nights have EEMH or MVMCP, we were counting on the monorail being running so we could get back to our resort more easily. Sure, we could rent a car for the week and drive, but that would mean one of us has to skip drinks with dinner.

 

[TLSnell1981]

I can confirm that this is NOT temporary.

Am I correct in assuming that,in addition to the Epcot Monorail and Resort Monorail,this also includes the Express Monorail and there will be a bus provided from Magic Kingdom to TTC,in addition to the Ferry,for EEMH Guests who drive to EEMH?Thanks.

We NEVER take the ferry and rarely the bus. I'm still not over, the loss of free valet. I am NOT happy, about this....NOT one bit. This is going to be a pain in the rump. We WERE big EMH fans.

Disney continues to slide, and give me more reasons to vacation elsewhere.

 

[Oglet]

Disney did away with EMH evening hours at AK

The 8PM closes at DAK are a huge fail, even more so than evening EMH there.

It's now open to everyone, there are more characters out now than there was ever at EMH, more things are open and its still a huge FAIL.

DAK is never going to be a evening park, no matter how hard they try. if they are serious about longer park hours for DAK they need to open the park earlier, say 8am and sunrise EMH for resort guests.

 

[TLSnell1981]

The 8PM closes at DAK are a huge fail, even more so than evening EMH there.

It's now open to everyone, there are more characters out now than there was ever at EMH, more things are open and its still a huge FAIL.

DAK is never going to be a evening park, no matter how hard they try. if they are serious about longer park hours for DAK they need to open the park earlier, say 8am and sunrise EMH for resort guests.

So much still closes at 5:00. It's why we don't stay late at AK.