Monorail Closures

[chicago]

Can you school me on the impact of monorail closures? I just read about them and I'm pretty irritated. Our main reason for staying at the Poly was for monorail access and it sounds like it's closed on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 11:30-6?! That means half the time we are there we have no "nap time access" to the Poly or back to the parks?

I need reassurance that this isn't as big a deal as I think it is. I am (irrationally?) ticked off. If I wanted to wait for a bus I wouldn't have paid for a deluxe on the monorail.

[Mrs. ChanandlerBong]

Can you link the current schedule you're looking at?

The nice thing about the Poly is you have close access to both the express and the resort lines.

Express runs from Magic Kindgom to the TTC only, but that lets out a short walk away from the Poly.

The resort line runs in a loop from the Contemporary to Poly to Grand Floridian to the Magic Kingdom to the Contemporary . 

I want to say that when we were there in January only one line was down at a time ( so if the resort line was down, the Express was running. Which sucks for the people at the Grand Floridian because the other two resorts still had easier access).

If both are shut down, then they will have extra busses or water launches running to make up for the higher number of guests using them.

[chicago]

www.wdwinfo.com/transportation/monorail.htm

I think it's entirely shut down during those hours, plus the express lines at other times.

[Mrs. ChanandlerBong]

Jun 11, 2016 17:28:15 GMT -5 chicago said:

www.wdwinfo.com/transportation/monorail.htm

I think it's entirely shut down during those hours, plus the express lines at other times.

OH, that stinks. Can you change resorts or is it too close to your trip? I would assume the contemporary has similar prices on rooms and you can walk from the resort to the MK.

[chicago]

We are there next week.

[lala]

Honestly, I'd call the poly and first confirm this. Then I'd express my disappointment and explain that this was a huge part of choosing that resort. And I'd expect something.

[hymen]

Does this include the monorail to/from Epcot too?

[chicago]

Jun 12, 2016 10:24:42 GMT -5 hymen said:

Does this include the monorail to/from Epcot too?

Trying to get some definitive answers.  According to that site I linked, the *entire* monorail shuts down from 11:30am-6pm.  The more I think about this the more skeptical I am.  I emailed my TA to see if I can get details.  

[hymen]

Jun 12, 2016 11:50:42 GMT -5 chicago said:

Jun 12, 2016 10:24:42 GMT -5 hymen said:

Does this include the monorail to/from Epcot too?

Trying to get some definitive answers.  According to that site I linked, the *entire* monorail shuts down from 11:30am-6pm.  The more I think about this the more skeptical I am.  I emailed my TA to see if I can get details.  

Thanks! We are there at the end of month and have dinner reservations at Poly on a Tuesday. We will be at Epcot that day, so just wondering if we need to take the bus over. Does a bus even go to Poly from Epcot?

[wildfloweragain]

This is our entire reason for staying at the Poly, too. Please update us!

DS has medical and psychological issues and we paid a fortune for the poly, stayed a shorter time to afford it and did club level, all so he'd have a speedy retreat back to our room and food and bathroom without a line if he had issues.

It's going to be fun getting him in an area where we can restrain him in a crisis if thee is no monorail.

[bcarp30]

I would call and confirm. When we went last year the monorail kept going out and it was a HUGE inconvenience. I just had DD but we were using the stroller and I had to fold it down for the boat, then the boats were back logged at the entrance to MK. We missed a dinner reservation one night and I canceled a breakfast one for the next day because I didn't want to deal with it. I complained and was given a $100 credit (basically took care of all our magic band related purchases) without really saying much. I'm sure if I had pushed harder they would have done more.

The frustrating thing was this effected all the monorail hotels so really, we would have only been good if we had moved to contemporary because you can walk to MK from there.

[mslhb]

This is what scares me about paying extra for a monorail resort! Seems like there are constant issues. One option is to take the main ferry to the TTC and then walk to the Poly. Probably not the quickest way but if you have a sleeping child in a stroller it is probably the least disruptive.

[abs]

We stayed at the GF back in December and we had constant issues with the monorail. There were plenty of buses available but it still wasn't as convenient as we had hoped.

[spaghetticat]

What are the dates for this?

[justaneighbor]

I'd call and ask for something but they likely won't offer anything. They didn't offer compensation when Poly's pool was closed aside from tickets to a waterpark instead.

Buses and boats are still good options.

[ilikedonuts]

Jun 12, 2016 18:39:20 GMT -5 spaghetticat said:

What are the dates for this?

Its been on and off for like 2 years, but has been more prominent since the beginning of 2016. In December they had the express actually closed a bunch so they were making everyone (resort guests and everyone parking at mk) take the resort monorail.

[chicago]

I'm going to call the Poly in the morning if I don't hear back from my TA. I found this though --

www.orlandoparksnews.com/p/weekly-walt-disney-world-times-guides.html?m=1

So if this is from WDW, it looks like the express line closes and they push everyone to the resort line. I'll feel much better if this is accurate. It seems odd that they'd close the whole thing down during the middle of the day, right?

[miss1180]

I'm just following to see what you find out. we're staying at the Poly for the first time at the end of August- and the monorail was the main draw!!! Luckily, we got a REALLY good rate from a travel agent ($2500 for 6 nights there, including 5 day park hoppers for 3 of us...) but still!! how do they close the monorail down for most of the day??
i'll be checking back to see what you find out! :-) hope you have a great trip anyway!!

[georgeglass]

The last time we were there, we were trying to leave the Poly and the monorail wasn't stopping at resorts. The line for the little boats was unreal (hours long) and the buses weren't showing up. After waiting over an hour, we took a cab. Sorry to freak you out!

[lala]

Jun 13, 2016 7:20:42 GMT -5 georgeglass said:

The last time we were there, we were trying to leave the Poly and the monorail wasn't stopping at resorts. The line for the little boats was unreal (hours long) and the buses weren't showing up. After waiting over an hour, we took a cab. Sorry to freak you out!

I guess technically you could walk to the TTC and take the ferry or monorail from there - but the Poly is the only hotel you can do that. If you were at the GF or CR, you'd be stuck.

[hymen]

Jun 13, 2016 7:58:42 GMT -5 lala said:

Jun 13, 2016 7:20:42 GMT -5 georgeglass said:

The last time we were there, we were trying to leave the Poly and the monorail wasn't stopping at resorts. The line for the little boats was unreal (hours long) and the buses weren't showing up. After waiting over an hour, we took a cab. Sorry to freak you out!

I guess technically you could walk to the TTC and take the ferry or monorail from there - but the Poly is the only hotel you can do that. If you were at the GF or CR, you'd be stuck.

CR has a walking path from MK. We always used that when staying at BLT. Much quicker than waiting for monorail and it's an easy walk.

[Deleted]

Jun 11, 2016 13:13:12 GMT -5 chicago said:

Can you school me on the impact of monorail closures? I just read about them and I'm pretty irritated. Our main reason for staying at the Poly was for monorail access and it sounds like it's closed on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 11:30-6?! That means half the time we are there we have no "nap time access" to the Poly or back to the parks?

I need reassurance that this isn't as big a deal as I think it is. I am (irrationally?) ticked off. If I wanted to wait for a bus I wouldn't have paid for a deluxe on the monorail.

It's actually really not as big of a deal as you think because you are at The Poly. From Epcot they will bus you to TTC when the monorail is down. You can easily walk froM TTC to the Poly. From MK the boats are ideal and may be faster. You can also walk from Poly to TTC to take the big boat as well. 

Poly has really flexible transportation options. 

[Deleted]

Usually when the monorail is down they bus to all the resorts from TTC or from MK bus stops as well.

[lala]

Part of the appeal of the monorail over the buses is that you don't have to close strollers.

[chicago]

Not feeling the magic. I've spoken to three people and they just keep transferring me to someone else. No one knows the answer.

ETA: 1st person hung up on me, 2nd transferred me to the Transportation Center, 3rd person said she's with Transportation and they don't deal with the monorail. FOURTH person confirmed right away that it is the Express Line ONLY that's shut down - Resort Line stays open!

[ilikedonuts]

Current times guide chicago


This post has this comment disboards.com/threads/monorail-closures-maintenance.3516937/#post-55888259
"I remember reading somewhere that on days where the resort monorail is not running early, that the Yellow Flag boat (that goes between MK, GF, and Poly) starts operating 90 minutes before park opening instead of the usual 30."

Resort monorail runs all day but is late on Mondays and Tuesdays as of now. Issues with be prepark ADRs at various parks. You might need to bus it especially Epcot ones.

[Deleted]

So it looks like it's only a big deal going to and from Epcot. How many days are you doing Epcot?

[chicago]

@savestheday One full day (break for pool and nap) and one evening. The full day is Monday and the evening is Tuesday, so i don't think it should be too bad? How much time would you allow for the bus? We are going back on Tuesday evening for Frozen Ever After. It's the day it opens so I imagine it might be a cluster. I think the FP is for 4:30.

[hymen]

Jun 14, 2016 12:49:48 GMT -5 chicago said:

@savestheday One full day (break for pool and nap) and one evening. The full day is Monday and the evening is Tuesday, so i don't think it should be too bad? How much time would you allow for the bus? We are going back on Tuesday evening for Frozen Ever After. It's the day it opens so I imagine it might be a cluster. I think the FP is for 4:30.

According to the times guide posted above the Epcot monorail should still be running from 8 am - 11 pm this week - I'm going to assume it will be similar for upcoming weeks since this monorail stuff has been ongoing. So you walk over to the TTC and you should be good.

To get to MK I would just walk to TTC and ride the ferry over. Capacity on the ferry is much higher than monorail anyway, so it shouldn't take too much extra time than the resort monorail (in fact, during busy times the ferry is much quicker).

[ktw]

chicago, sorry to bump an old post, but how did things with the monorail closures go on your trip? We just booked a last minute trip to the Poly in August, and now I'm nervous that we're paying for a monorail hotel and won't get to use it.