Monorail rehab?

[4orm]

I've read various things about a monorail rehab. We are going in October and staying at DLH. Will it be running at all? WIll it be running only one way, and if so, which way? Anyone know the real deal?
Thanks!

 

[disney-super-mom]

We'll also be there in October, staying at the Paradise Pier.

Disney doesn't have it listed as being closed for refurbishment on their calendar, so at this time I'm assuming it'll be open and running like it is now.

Right now, passengers can only take the monorail "one way", although the monorail is running both directions. If you want to use the monorail as a way into the park in the morning and as a way out of the park in the afternoon or evening, then you will have no problems. But, they are not allowing passengers to ride the monorail "round trip". If someone wants to ride the monorail roundtrip, let's say from Tomorrowland, then they'd have to get off at the DTD station, and then wait for the next monorial back to Tomorrowland before they can board again. They cannot just stay on the monorail to ride back - they must get off and board again.

I hope that makes sense to you. Sometimes I don't explain things very well.

Anyway, hope you have a great time!

 

[calena]

I don't really understand the monorail either. It sounds like more of a ride at DL than a mode of transportation like WDW. Do you catch it at the parking lot or how does that work?

 

[disney-super-mom]

I don't really understand the monorail either. It sounds like more of a ride at DL than a mode of transportation like WDW. Do you catch it at the parking lot or how does that work?

You catch it at the Down Town Disney (DTD) monorail station, which is located in Down Town Disney very close to the Rainforest Cafe and the Disneyland Hotel. If you're staying at the Disneyland Hotel or the Paradise Pier hotel, or if you happen to be at that end of DTD and want to go into the park, then it's a great mode of transportation into the park, but for most visitors, it is mainly just a ride.

 

[Alex2kMommy]

This is good news for us! Disney had previously indicated the monorail would go out of service sometime in September, so I was not expecting it to be running when we go in late September.

I was disappointed; I was looking forward to riding it, especially with the mid-day break for DS2's nap. Here's hoping the calendar is correct, but I won't hold my breath...

 

[HydroGuy]

I do not know the details of the Monorail rehab. FYI, as super-mom says the Monorail picks up at DTD. It drops off in the middle of Tomorrowland at DL. Thus it is considered to be a ride at DL.

For the last two years DL has been working on the a refurb to the old submarine ride, which is being redone as a Finding Nemo submarine ride. The ride is expected to be open again Spring or Summer 2007.

The loading area for the submarine ride is adjacent to the Monorail station in Tomorrowland. As part of the submarine refurb, DL has to change the Monorail station as well. At some point it is going down completely because the Tomorrowland station will be under construction.

It was my understanding this was to happen in the fall this year. I just checked Ride Refurbs www.riderefurbs.com FWIW and it also says that the Monorail will be down in the fall. But also FWIW I am losing confidence in Ride Refurbs - which traditionally has been accurate - because of its refurb reporting on California Screamin which is contrary to all other published refurb info.

 

[seattlebusymom]

When we were there a couple months ago the monorail was working as posted. You could go from DD to Tomorrowland OR Tomorrowland to DD. Instead of having three cars that go in one circle they are down to one car going back and forth on the outside track of the circle. We did use the monorail BUT wait times can be LONG! We stayed at the Disneyland Hotel as we always do but would have changed our location to GC if we had known about the monorail before our trip. Either that or we would have brought our stoller for our 3yr old. We left it at home this year with plans to use the monorail to get in and out of the park and picking up a free rental with the visa promo each day! Oh well it all was good and our little one learned about very tired legs! So hope any of this helps for how to plan. Happy travels to all!

 

[JenDisneylandlver]

I'm not sure that anything has changed, from what I understood it was going down this fall. When we were there 3 weeks ago it was only running in one direction, just meaning you couldn't just sit there and go round and round on it. Unfortunately sometimes people did this anyway, and depending on the CM at the time, they either just let it go or told them they had to get off.

The lines at DTD when we were there to get on were horrible. A few times we decided to not bother once we got up there and just walked DTD. It was surely faster. The lines at the DTD monorail station were just soooo long. One time our feet were hurting so bad we decided to just wait for it, and it took 3-4 trains before we could get on.

On the other hand when returning back to DTD from Tomarrow land, the lines were never that bad, and we always got on the first train. Which is nice when your heading back to the DLH and you are tired!