Monorail loop resorts are some of the most conveniently placed properties at Walt Disney World Resort. Three fabulous Disney Vacation Club home resort options sit right on the sparkling shores of the Seven Seas Lagoon and each has their own monorail station: The Villas at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort, Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows and Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort. If you’re heading to Magic Kingdom via monorail, or Epcot for that matter, what happens when Disney resort monorails are down? There are a few options and it all depends on what is causing the down time. Whatever the reason, don’t worry, Disney has your back and is prepared with contingency plans.
What Happens When Disney Resort Monorails Are Down?
Remember you do not need to be a resort guest at a particular property to use its methods of Disney transportation. It’s very common for vacationers to resort hop to shop or dine at venues other than the options where they are staying. Here’s something else to note about monorail down time. If just the resort monorail line is down but the express line is running, know that line only stops at the Transportation and Ticket Center and the park, not the resorts. You would be able to take it to get to Epcot but not back to your resort.
When Disney monorails are down for lightning…
It’s Florida and, depending on the time of year, afternoon storms can be an every day happening. So what happens when Disney World monorail transportation is down for lightning or a very intense storm? I can tell you from experience, actually, and it’s pretty involved. Recently I was headed from Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa to Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. Many of the August party nights had some pretty wild weather this year! Around 6:00 p.m. when it was time to make my way over to the Kingdom, severe lightning had caused both the monorail and the boat to Magic Kingdom to be out of service for the safety of guests. Cast Members also strongly discouraged taking the walking path to the park. It’s metal in many places and located at the water’s edge or crosses over water. Simply put, it’s not a good place to be if there’s lightning. That’s all of the regular ways one can get from the Grand, or Polynesian, to Magic Kingdom!
In this kind of scenario, if you’re headed from a monorail loop resort to Magic Kingdom, an additional bus will go into service to help you out. It’s called the ‘resort monorail’ and that’s what you’ll find on the marquee on the front of the bus when it pulls into your resort’s bus stop. Conveniently, the resort monorail bus driver took the quickest way to the Magic Kingdom bus drop off. This route actually took guests behind Magic Kingdom. It was pretty neat and very fast. I’ve heard the lightning policy said a few different ways depending on who you ask but service will resume when things are safe again. Usually, it needs to be about thirty minutes since a lightning strike was recorded within a certain mile radius.
When Disney monorails are down for maintenance…
Walt Disney World is a lesson in master planning in a lot of ways. There are many people behind the magic, scheduling and planning maintenance, safety checks and upkeep of the entire property. Planned maintenance is a regular occurrence to keep things running smoothly. Unplanned maintenance, when something breaks down and needs to be fixed, can also close the lines. Either way, guests can use other methods of transportation from the resort which may include walking paths, water taxis or the resort monorail bus when it’s in rotation. With planned maintenance, Disney often displays information about monorail closures near the station to help guests plan their stay.
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