Walt Disney World no longer running monorails during park Extra Magic Hours

[Wendy]

A rumor popped up a few days ago that monorails would no longer be running during Extra Magic Hours (EMH) at the Walt Disney World parks. It now seems as if those rumors have become a reality. This could cause some commotion with resort guests, but it remains to be seen.

Disney has now confirmed that the monorails will no longer run during EMH for Magic Kingdom and Epcot. Word is that extra bus transportation will be put into place to help accomodate for the extra guest traffic.

The official word from Disney:

From time to time, we make adjustments to our operations to accommodate for planned transportation maintenance. With that in mind, operating hours for the Epcot Monorail system will be modified to operate one hour after regular park close beginning July 11, 2011 and the Magic Kingdom Monorail system will also operate one hour after regular park close beginning August 1, 2011. At that time, watercraft (where applicable) and additional buses will be available to transport guests to their destination.

Return service from evening Extra Magic Hours in the parks will be supported by watercraft (where applicable) and bus transportation.

More details are sure to come, but this could be a problem for guests of the Contemporary, Polynesian, and Grand Floridian resorts which happen to be on the monorail line with Magic Kingdom. There is no word yet as to whether the Express Monorail from the Transportation and Ticket Center will continue running into the late hours, but it now appears as if none will be operational at that time.

[WDW Vet]

I feel sorry for Guest Services at those resorts. They are going to get an earfull from many unhappy guests who are paying top dollar. I'll have to check that out myself

[Wendy]

It's not very good at all, I can't believe that Disney would be so silly as to do something like this

[Tink]

I can't imagine waiting for a bus to the Contemporary from the MK. Nor, can I say I'd be happy walking from MK to BLT or the Contemporary after EMH. Talk about exhausted.

Disney does make some seemingly odd decisions sometimes. Maybe the cost of the Monorail operation is so high, it's worth it to try and lower overhead?

[Britchick]

I would not be happy if I was staying in one of the MK resorts

[josh.p.]

I have to say though, working as a CM has opened my eyes to some of the choices Disney make. They seem like stupid decisions but there are often very sensible reasons behind them. I'm finding it hard to see the reason behind this one though

[DisneyFreak]

This is one of the perks for staying at the monorail resorts. I don't get this decision at all especially on the tails of another ticket price hike. I can only imagine what the bus and boat wait times are going to be now. This might actually discourage me from taking advantage of EMH or discourage me from staying at a monorail resort.

[Wendy]

I've been looking round for some more information on this and there is some talk that it won't be a permanent thing, the monorails need repairing, which is why it's happening

Hhhmm, maybe I should ask Josh if he could find out some information for us

[uscwest]

Historical crowd data seems to indicate that there aren't all that many folks who actually stay for the full three hours. Add to it, as Wendy says, they really need maintenance time on the monorails.

[DisneyFreak]

Add to it, as Wendy says, they really need maintenance time on the monorails.

Especially since the last time the monorails were this old they just replaced them with new updated models. Disney is in uncharted territory here.

Still, not a fan of this move. They couldn't have done this during offseason when crowds were less?