Monorail issues?

PolyRob · Dec 3, 2016

I have a friend staying at Poly for a few days and she is having a horrible time with the monorail, specifically the resort line!

One day she was trying to get on at the Contemporary and it was completely down so she ended up walking to MK to get different transportation.

This morning she had long waits at Poly in the am and was 30 minutes late to an MK ADR, and just tonight, she sent me a photo of the line backed up past Moana Mercantile!

I looked at the times guide, and it does not appear there was any service interruption on the resort line these days, or on the express, causing more resort line traffic.

Has anyone else had these issues recently or does anyone have any insight into this? I visited in May and October and was only stuck on the resort line 1x for 20 minutes during "maintenance" besides the service interruptions that I read about here and saw posted in the times guide.

I have a trip at Grand Flo in a few days, and am getting a little concerned over the monorail. I always leave ample time to get somewhere, but was relying on the resort monorail to help with some monorail resort ADRs, HDDR, and Epcot beam transfers.

Wood Nymph · Dec 4, 2016

PolyRob said:
I have a friend staying at Poly for a few days and she is having a horrible time with the monorail, specifically the resort line!

One day she was trying to get on at the Contemporary and it was completely down so she ended up walking to MK to get different transportation.

This morning she had long waits at Poly in the am and was 30 minutes late to an MK ADR, and just tonight, she sent me a photo of the line backed up past Moana Mercantile!

I looked at the times guide, and it does not appear there was any service interruption on the resort line these days, or on the express, causing more resort line traffic.

Has anyone else had these issues recently or does anyone have any insight into this? I visited in May and October and was only stuck on the resort line 1x for 20 minutes during "maintenance" besides the service interruptions that I read about here and saw posted in the times guide.

I have a trip at Grand Flo in a few days, and am getting a little concerned over the monorail. I always leave ample time to get somewhere, but was relying on the resort monorail to help with some monorail resort ADRs, HDDR, and Epcot beam transfers.

We are staying at the GF right now and we had the same problem with the monorail last night. We had a long wait and packed monorail at 4pm when we were trying to get from the GF to Epcot. And the monorail back from Epcot at 8:30pm was ridiculous. The line was all the way down the ramp. We ended up getting a taxi instead.

We are not too impressed with the monorail.

loves to dive · Dec 4, 2016

I'm not surprised, the monorail is actually one of the reasons I won't stay at any of the MK resorts, just about every time I've taken it to Epcot there has been a delay, if going to MK I'd take the boat if I were you.

zaccaglin · Dec 4, 2016

Here where all the monorail issues and scheduled downtimes have been discussed... http://www.disboards.com/threads/the-ongoing-monorail-closure-schedule.3511902/

The monorail system is 45 years old, the trains are 26years old on average, and they run upwards of 20hrs a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. They don't get much rest and issues do happen from time to time.

As for your friend, if the monorail was closed down, there would have been a bus downstairs at the contemporary, as to why she went to MK is beyond me. For her ADR did she allow for the 90mins of travel time as recommended by Disney? And the line by Moanna mechantile, was it by chance just after the luau let out? There is always a brief line after that.

And this weeks Times Guide clearly shows modified hours. http://www.orlandoparksnews.com/p/weekly-walt-disney-world-times-guides.html

mom2rtk · Dec 4, 2016

zaccaglin said:
Here where all the monorail issues and scheduled downtimes have been discussed... http://www.disboards.com/threads/the-ongoing-monorail-closure-schedule.3511902/

The monorail system is 45 years old, the trains are 26years old on average, and they run upwards of 20hrs a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. They don't get much rest and issues do happen from time to time.

As for your friend, if the monorail was closed down, there would have been a bus downstairs at the contemporary, as to why she went to MK is beyond me. For her ADR did she allow for the 90mins of travel time as recommended by Disney? And the line by Moanna mechantile, was it by chance just after the luau let out? There is always a brief line after that.

And this weeks Times Guide clearly shows modified hours. http://www.orlandoparksnews.com/p/weekly-walt-disney-world-times-guides.html

That's correct. The monorail is well past its life expectancy. I wish they would prioritize a real fix, even if it means a lengthy closure. This scraping by thing has gone on for years and isn't going to get any better on its own.

zaccaglin · Dec 4, 2016

mom2rtk said:
That's correct. The monorail is well past its life expectancy. I wish they would prioritize a real fix, even if it means a lengthy closure. This scraping by thing has gone on for years and isn't going to get any better on its own.

They are in the process of doing upgrades to the current system as we speak and have been doing testing. Rumors are saying that these tests will lead to a newer system. Hopefully.

PolyRob · Dec 4, 2016

Wood Nymph said:
We are staying at the GF right now and we had the same problem with the monorail last night. We had a long wait and packed monorail at 4pm when we were trying to get from the GF to Epcot. And the monorail back from Epcot at 8:30pm was ridiculous. The line was all the way down the ramp. We ended up getting a taxi instead.

We are not too impressed with the monorail.

Thank you for confirming what she had mentioned! I did not know if they were isolated instances or not. I will make sure to have a taxi or Uber as an alternative in a situation like you described at Epcot!

loves to dive said:
I'm not surprised, the monorail is actually one of the reasons I won't stay at any of the MK resorts, just about every time I've taken it to Epcot there has been a delay, if going to MK I'd take the boat if I were you.

Will definitely be utilizing that boat! My friend had told me that was having issues at Poly at the same time, but I will have to wait and see!

zaccaglin said:
Here where all the monorail issues and scheduled downtimes have been discussed... http://www.disboards.com/threads/the-ongoing-monorail-closure-schedule.3511902/

The monorail system is 45 years old, the trains are 26years old on average, and they run upwards of 20hrs a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. They don't get much rest and issues do happen from time to time.

As for your friend, if the monorail was closed down, there would have been a bus downstairs at the contemporary, as to why she went to MK is beyond me. For her ADR did she allow for the 90mins of travel time as recommended by Disney? And the line by Moanna mechantile, was it by chance just after the luau let out? There is always a brief line after that.

And this weeks Times Guide clearly shows modified hours. http://www.orlandoparksnews.com/p/weekly-walt-disney-world-times-guides.html

Thank you for this thread! I will definitely check it out in more depth! I get that it is old, and has some issues. I have heard some horror stories about Disney transportation, but seemed to have lucked out on my two trips this year. It may have been the Luau. She sent me the picture around 7:15/7:30. I also know MK was probably a mad house last night being a non-party Saturday!

Can't wait for the next time guide to be posted so I can confirm my entire trip details.

mom2rtk said:
That's correct. The monorail is well past its life expectancy. I wish they would prioritize a real fix, even if it means a lengthy closure. This scraping by thing has gone on for years and isn't going to get any better on its own.

I would hope so as well! Especially because staying at a monorail resort comes with a heftier price tag for certain amenities

Wood Nymph · Dec 4, 2016

We had much better luck with the monorail today. We went to the MK this morning and it wasn't too crowded. I think party days like today are less crowded then the non party days. We took the boat back to GF from MK. Then we took the monorail from GF to CR for dinner and it was fine.

PolyRob · Dec 4, 2016

Wood Nymph said:
We had much better luck with the monorail today. We went to the MK this morning and it wasn't too crowded. I think party days like today are less crowded then the non party days. We took the boat back to GF from MK. Then we took the monorail from GF to CR for dinner and it was fine.

Ahh, great to hear! This is very reassuring to me! I plan on avoiding MK on non-party days so hopefully it will work out! Thank you for posting an update! Hope you're having a wonderful trip

Wood Nymph · Dec 4, 2016

PolyRob said:
Ahh, great to hear! This is very reassuring to me! I plan on avoiding MK on non-party days so hopefully it will work out! Thank you for posting an update! Hope you're having a wonderful trip

The weather has been great and we are enjoying it very much.

PolyRob · Dec 4, 2016

Wood Nymph said:
The weather has been great and we are enjoying it very much.

Glad to hear it! I can't wait to leave! Thursday cannot come soon enough :cool1:

mikedoyleblogger · Dec 5, 2016

mom2rtk said:
That's correct. The monorail is well past its life expectancy. I wish they would prioritize a real fix, even if it means a lengthy closure. This scraping by thing has gone on for years and isn't going to get any better on its own.

As I understand it, the repetitive closures and ongoing work are to install a modern train control and signal system to allow trains to be run more frequently, more consistently, and more safely. When it's finally completed, monorail service should be much better.

EvilDrPorkchop21 · Dec 5, 2016

Saturday night was dreadful, we were trying to get to the Poly from the Contemporary for O'Hana with less than mobile partners in our group and ended canceling and eating Contempo Cafe instead

The line at the Contemporary completely filled the que and every train that came (felt like every 15 min) was packed. So frustrating, I really don't care how old it is, that's not my problem to be concerned about. Either invest whats necessary and fix it, or don't advertise it as a benefit of the resort.

#1stworldproblems

PolyRob · Dec 5, 2016

EvilDrPorkchop21 said:
Saturday night was dreadful, we were trying to get to the Poly from the Contemporary for O'Hana with less than mobile partners in our group and ended canceling and eating Contempo Cafe instead

The line at the Contemporary completely filled the que and every train that came (felt like every 15 min) was packed. So frustrating, I really don't care how old it is, that's not my problem to be concerned about. Either invest whats necessary and fix it, or don't advertise it as a benefit of the resort.

#1stworldproblems

Wow! So it wasn't just Poly!! I will definitely try using the boat launch or just make alternative plans from the resort line with all this information.

nursejackie · Dec 6, 2016

Does anyone know the operational hours for the monorail next week? Mid-December last year the monorail was closed when it was EMH and we had to get on the boat over from the TTC, it was a little chilly and very slow! Are they running on reduced hours again? We arrive this Saturday until 26th

mom2rtk · Dec 6, 2016

mikedoyleblogger said:
As I understand it, the repetitive closures and ongoing work are to install a modern train control and signal system to allow trains to be run more frequently, more consistently, and more safely. When it's finally completed, monorail service should be much better.

But they will still be running with a fleet well past its life expectancy?

zaccaglin · Dec 6, 2016

nursejackie said:
Does anyone know the operational hours for the monorail next week? Mid-December last year the monorail was closed when it was EMH and we had to get on the boat over from the TTC, it was a little chilly and very slow! Are they running on reduced hours again? We arrive this Saturday until 26th

Monorails haven't run for EMH for years now.

zaccaglin · Dec 6, 2016

mom2rtk said:
But they will still be running with a fleet well past its life expectancy?

More than likely.

nursejackie · Dec 6, 2016

zaccaglin said:
Monorails haven't run for EMH for years now.

That may be a seasonal thing because most of our holidays we had monorail service for MK magic hours, just twice last year early on our visit (we are usually there 10th-26th December). We get the resort monorail if the express hasn't started but last year even that hadn't started on those two occasions.

Shelly F - Ohio · Dec 7, 2016

During the month of Dec. Disney is switching to a driverless monorail system hense the issues folks are experiencing. Told to me by one of the monorail personal at the Contemporary resort.

Monorail issues?

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