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Sophie832
11-10-2002, 09:08 PM
Ok, exactly how late do the trams run? I've been told by several people (and this includes the actual tram CMs) that the trams run until 1 hour after Downtown Disney closes. Now, I know on the weekends some places stay open until 2am. Doesn't this mean that the trams stop running at 3am?

Twice, Gauchgrad99 and I have had bad experiences with late-night trams. Two weeks ago, we were there around 2am I think. We saw some CMs waiting for the tram at the front stop (the one closest to DD and the parks). So, we walked over and waited there. There was a running tram parked at the back stop (close to DD, but further from the parks), but it was empty so we figured it would pull up to the front stop. The CMs started to yell at the tram CMs to hurry up, and then some other CMs came up to the back stop and got on the tram! At that point, not only were the CMs at the front stop pretty upset, but we were wondering why they weren't coming to pick us up. Then, the tram started to move, and it was going to turn around and not even bother to pick us up! It stopped mid u-turn, and the CM in the back of the tram said, "Are you guys getting in, or what?" Well, the CMs waiting with us said, "You know, these people aren't CMs, they're park guests." No response from the CMs in the tram. We walked over and got on, but got no apologies or anything. The CMs who had been waiting with us told us we should complain about it, but because they seemed to have a rather adversarial relationship with the other CMs, I didn't think I would bother with taking their advice (besides, at least we got to take the tram back, and I don't think the tram CMs would have been so rude had they known we were guests).

Last night, we left right around 2am or so (maybe 5 min later). We saw a bunch of CMs waiting at the very front gate to the front tram stop. There were some guests waiting at one of the other gates, and then we decided to wait at the last gate. There were some trams around, but they were all not running. However, we figured everyone had to be waiting for something. Anyway, 5 minutes passed, and we started to wonder. Then, a white van passed us, pulled up to the front tram gate, and all the CM's got in! Not one of them bothered to tell us what was going on. If the trams weren't running, the least they could have done was tell us. The other guests waiting were left standing there, too. We had to walk back to the structure (and it was late and cold, ok?!). Needless to say, we were pretty upset about this. Just because CMs are not at work anymore, doesn't mean they stop being human, does it?

So, when do the trams stop running?

DJ_MENTOS
11-10-2002, 09:44 PM
Uncle Dick, your thoughts?

DJ_MENTOS

Bruce Bergman
11-10-2002, 09:45 PM
Originally posted by Sophie832
Ok, exactly how late do the trams run? I've been told by several people (and this includes the actual tram CMs) that the trams run until 1 hour after Downtown Disney closes. Now, I know on the weekends some places stay open until 2am. Doesn't this mean that the trams stop running at 3am?

<Big Snip>

The stock line of "1 hour after Downtown Disney closes" should mean that they'll assist you out to the parking structure one way or another. I would suggest that you write your experiences up and mail a nice letter off to the office of Cynthia Harriss, the DLR President. I'm sure that she (or someone on her staff) can get things cleared up - sounds like the closing procedures need to be clarified.

If you get there as the Tram CM's are piling into the mini-van to go clock out and head home, that's the time to speak up and find out what's going on. :confused:

I'm sure if you were there before "closing time" and asked nicely, they would have run your party out to the parking lot in the van - and then come back for the rest of the Parking CM's in 5 minutes. If not, someone needs to get a long lecture on courtesy.

(They might not want to fire up a big tram to take 5 people out to the parking structure - or all the qualified tram drivers may have already gone home. And I'll bet there's a prohibition against carrying guests on the "golf cart" scooters.)

They should make an official "last call" announcement and get the last people out to their cars somehow, before just heading back to clock out.

I've made that walk, and I can see if your legs were dead already by a long day in the parks that additional half-mile of walking could be pure a-go-ny.

--<< Bruce >>--

bluepearl
11-10-2002, 10:24 PM
I don't know what Uncle Dick would say to this situation, but there are a few things I know about the trams late at night: they pretty much run all night (part deductive reasoning, part being told by a CM I know). I've had a shift end at 3:30AM and I've been there early for a shift that started at 6AM. From experience, the red/white trams stopped running at around 3AM, at which point the old blue/yellow trams were brought out to transport mostly CMs that park at the Ball lot or the structure. The one time I had a 6AM shift, I was there at around 5:15AM, and the blue/yellow trams were still running. Everytime I've boarded the blue/yellow trams at the end of a shift, I've never seen a guest still waiting, so I don't have much info about that. And I've never been transported from those loading areas to the parking structure by a van. But I'm really curious about your situation - which CMs were there with you, etc. I've never been a witness to something like that. Since you say around 2AM, I'm thinking you were with CMs from a certain place. But if something like that happened to me, I'd have a word with Guest Relations...

Side note: Uncle Dick, where are you? Haven't seen you at the parks for a while...I asked a CM (the one you and I know) if he knew you were still working in parking and he started to talk about other things that were quite amusing. Just curious!

Sophie832
11-10-2002, 10:33 PM
To answer the question about the CMs...Sat. night I recognized only two CMs as actual CMs because they were still in costume...the costumes looked like Fantasyland (you know, the German liederhosen thing) or Matterhorn. I can only assume the others with them were CMs because they were all talking, and there were guests waiting in other gates (so obviously the CMs hadn't told them to wait for the van).

As we walked back to the structure, we didn't see any tram go to or from the park. Not the little blue and yellow tram, and not the big tram. The only vehicle on the tram road was the van.

Just an additional note...when the van pulled up to the front gate, the CMs literally couldn't get into it fast enough! Some CMs were running towards it! Bruce, you are right, the least they could do is either let us know what's going on, or pick us up first, then the CMs. It was almost like we were poison, and the D-land CMs wanted to avoid talking to us.

A last call for trams would be nice...we were in the bar at the Grand Californian, so it wasn't like we were in an out-of-the-way place where no D-land employees could let us know about trams.

EandCDad
11-11-2002, 04:42 AM
Originally posted by bluepearl
Side note: Uncle Dick, where are you? Haven't seen you at the parks for a while...I asked a CM (the one you and I know) if he knew you were still working in parking and he started to talk about other things that were quite amusing. Just curious!

Uncle Dick, in a fit of pique after not being allowed to work on the Natalie Portman bodyguard detail, quit Disneyland in a huff. Well, either that or he quit to go back to school. Probably more the school thing than the huff thing.

He was at the potluck and commented that school was quite tough which may explain his absence from the boards. Either that or he is in the cafateria, that boy can eat!

gr8onesgir1
11-11-2002, 05:55 AM
This is a response to Sophie 832. I know the trams run until 3 am. The stops where you saw some CM's waiting for the trams at are the trams that take the CM's to their cars. The least they could of done is told you that you guys were in the wrong place.

Grandbreaker
11-11-2002, 09:38 AM
I hope you got there names. I would write a letter and go to there ASM OR SM LET THEM KNOW

bluepearl
11-11-2002, 04:01 PM
Thanks, EandCDad! I had been wondering where he disappeared off to. He told me he was on MLOA and then I didn't hear anything afterwards. Was this the potluck that took place on the 19th? If it was, Stinkerbell told me about it but I wasn't able to make it during my lunch break (though I tried!). If you happen to see him, please tell him I said hi! :)

Perhaps some of the CMs didn't know themselves about what was going on with transportation. Or maybe they assumed you were CMs who'd changed in street clothes. But even if that were an assumption, a 'Hey wait, there are some more people over there waiting' should've been in order.

Sophie832
11-11-2002, 09:17 PM
I don't see how we could have been at the wrong tram stop, considering how late it was. There are only two tram stops on that side (near Downtown Disney), and we didn't see any trams come by for 5-10 minutes. Plus, no trams went by as we walked back, which was at least another 5 minutes. The only vehicle that was picking anyone up was the van. Where were trams?

And you are all right, it is something to complain about, especially since there were other guests waiting with us. I could see the CMs thinking we're other CMs if we were the only ones waiting, but there were other people there, too.

lindyhop
11-16-2002, 02:53 PM
Originally posted by Sophie832
Ok, exactly how late do the trams run? I've been told by several people (and this includes the actual tram CMs) that the trams run until 1 hour after Downtown Disney closes. Now, I know on the weekends some places stay open until 2am. Doesn't this mean that the trams stop running at 3am?

I asked my son who is a cast member who works the trams and parking lots, usually late night and graveyard shifts. He said that despite what the tram recording says the trams run for guests only until 2:00 AM. The last restaurant at Downtown Disney closes at 1:00 AM so the trams run for an hour after that.

If this is the case it certainly should be communicated a little better. Cast members on their way home should still be helpful to guests for heaven sakes.

mousey_girl
11-16-2002, 08:15 PM
Every thing I have heard and read says that DTD closes at 2am, not 1am, so that means the trams should run until 3am.

Per the DTD info guide on Disney.com:

Hours of Operation
Downtown Disney is a combination of unique dining, entertainment, and shopping, so hours may vary. Generally, the hours are:


Restaurants:
Fri/Sat 11:00am-11:00pm
Sun-Thur 11:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m.
Shops
Fri/Sat 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 p.m.
Sun-Thur 10:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m.
Clubs Close at 2 a.m. 7 days
AMC Theater 12:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m. 7 days

bluepearl
11-17-2002, 11:42 AM
Originally posted by mousey_girl
Downtown Disney is a combination of unique dining, entertainment, and shopping, so hours may vary.

Sometimes DTD restaurants stay open til 2AM, but like the above says, hours may vary. Most of the time, the CMs on the back of the trams will tell guests to check with the shops to see how late they close. Also, that list says, "Generally, hours are..." and things can change on any given day.

Sophie832
11-17-2002, 11:02 PM
Thank you everyone for your responses.

Since this was a Saturday night, and we had been at the bar of the Grand Californian which closed at 2am, I can assume that at least a couple of places in downtown that had bars would close at 2.

Two people we were with said they went to the tram stop a little later and took the white van back to the parking lot, so I guess that was the transportation at that time of night. I've heard sometimes they use the older, blue and yellow trams.

The issue is just the CMs who didn't tell us that was the place to stand and wait. How rude indeed. I am not gonna get too upset about it, life's too short. I'm just glad not all CMs are like that at night.