Magical Express Ending Service

[fhtpdw20]

I have not read the whole thread, but I am guessing short term, Disney is banking on the 50th Anniversary to drive the box office interest. Disney has just nickeled their last dime out of me. I have no interest in stepping back into the parks since my last trip two years ago that combined park with 7 day cruise. I might consider to continue cruising, but I won't be considering combining with parks anymore. My splurge trip in 2016 was 4 days in park starting Halloween night (extra expense of Halloween Party), 4 day cruise, then back to parks to wait for first Christmas Party before flying home. Park mornings were spent doing many of the tours in MK, AK, and Epcot. That was a solo trip where instead of focusing on rides, I went for the atmosphere which they have pretty much eliminated too.

 

[Lehuaann]

Ouch. We use DME multiple times a year and have done so for several years. During our trip last month, the thought of it being discontinued entered my mind. It’s the one perk that has kept us onsite.

 

[TammyLynn33]

Beyond the Disney bubble lock-in thing, it's just a weird that it would have to be "cut". My expectation (prior to the announcement) would be they would just tack on a surcharge "indefinitely" and keep it running. It's a popular service and people would pay for it!

We already were paying for it .. unless you think no we all will see room rates drop lol

 

[TammyLynn33]

We’ll keep going to Disney anyways since we’re DVC members, but I’ll be annoyed by the fact that I’ll be hauling two car seats with me. That was a huge perk of a Disney vacation compared to our other vacations - no thinking about transportation/car seats.

I had told my husband we wouldn’t be going to universal until the kids were out of their car seats, but if I’m renting a car anyways, why not?

Same will lead to a lot of resort only stays I bet

 

[disneycat321]

I was pretty shocked to see this news. We've been toying with the idea of staying at the Swolphin for awhile because we love the Epcot resort area and it's half the price, but the lack of ME and corresponding inconvenience always stopped us. Guess we'll be staying there for sure in the future! Makes me wonder what else Disney is going to cut, though....

You guys just wait until they bring back Fastpass as a paid add-on.

If they do it like Max Pass at DLR, I'd actually see it as a benefit. MP is fantastic, far better than FP+, which makes it worth every penny. However, DLR does still have a free paper FP feature, so you can get FPs without paying, which I think is an important thing to have - a free base tier option. I wouldn't want to pay for the FP+ service, unchanged, though.

 

[CampbellzSoup]

I find Disney transportation to be clunky and slow especially when you just wanna go back to your hotel on your terms.

However, something about that wrapped bus with the music and the promo movie to Disney just set to the tone and mood for the best time in your life.

I’ll miss it for sure...I’m gonna download the loop and at least play it in our rental car and maybe get a Disney themed air freshener to make our own magic experience.

 

[Memepoppy]

Unbelievable to read this. As many others have said so very short sighted of Disney. We travel every other year to WDW and in between cruise Disney. We travel as a group of 11, 6 of which are grandkids. For us to travel together would require rental of a large passenger van, which is an additional cost, then we'd have to add in the cost of resort parking. As a lifetime Marriott Titanium member, the ONLY time we travel and do not stay in a Marriott is our stay at Disney. Most times we arrive in Orlando a day or 2 prior to our WDW vacation and stay in a Marriott. Why should I move to a Disney resort now? If I have to rent a car, we'll stay in the Marriott, get our points for more free stays, be free to eat when and where we choose, visit other Orlando attractions including other theme parks, etc. We have witnessed the gradual decline in the magic, and at some point everyone will examine the value proposition of staying on property vs off, and for our group this will probably be the shift. For what we pay for one room night at WDW I know for a fact I could get 2 rooms at local Marriotts of equivalent room size and amenities, essentially cutting our lodging costs in half. Also, as others have stated, it opens up a whole new opportunity to explore other attractions across the country, have to travel and rent cars anyhow.

 

[Plaid Princess]

No standard shuttle service from the airport to your hotel seems... unworkable. Not just for me as a guest, but for the parks! Even standard hotels have a shuttle loop.

It worked from 1971 until 2005.

 

[teller80]

We travel as a group of 11, 6 of which are grandkids. For us to travel together would require rental of a large passenger van, ...Most times we arrive in Orlando a day or 2 prior to our WDW vacation and stay in a Marriott.

This is going to come off as sounding snarky and I don't mean it to, but if you're staying at a Marriott prior to WDW aren't you only using ME one way anyway (back to the airport)? And how to you get to Disney, do you use a couple of Uber's? And finally, does Marriott offer free service from the airport to it's hotel?

 

[Disirish]

Everyone who stays on disney world property has spent 1000's of dollars on there vacation .not having the ME just takes from the magic a little bit . One of the things I liked about disney was as soon as your had your vacation paid for ( with the addition of the dining plan ) you theoretically wouldn't have to dig in to your pocket again as everything was taking care of (miscellaneous items and gifts aside). Now there are rumours that FP will also be a monetized service. Your transportation is no longer complimentary from the airport.

It's becoming clearer and clearer what the business model from disney is , whatever was considered complimentary either charge for it or get rid of it . Its just diminishing guest experience with every little cut . Starting to feel less and less like a guest and more like a number on a spread sheet .

 

[mamaofsix]

It worked from 1971 until 2005.

A lot has changed since 2005. An exponential explosion in attendance, for one. Also a much higher percentage of guests who fly in - especially international guests. Prior to 2005 and ME, there was a far higher percentage of guests who drove, were domestic visitors, and who stayed offsite.

Extra perks like ME and EMH are what led to the massive uptick of onsite guests who fly in.

This is Disney shooting themselves in the foot, plain and simple.

 

[Cheburashka]

What happens when WDW makes a big policy change involving anything? Everybody gets really excited about it. Lots of people will say "I'M NEVER GOING BACK! SCREW YOU, DISNEY!" And then a year or 2 later, they come back because they miss it.

Or not. Plenty of people simply move on from a vacation option that has become overpriced and/or no longer suits them.

 

[mamaofsix]

A lot has changed since 2005. An exponential explosion in attendance, for one. Also a much higher percentage of guests who fly in - especially international guests. Prior to 2005 and ME, there was a far higher percentage of guests who drove, were domestic visitors, and who stayed offsite.

Extra perks like ME and EMH are what led to the massive uptick of onsite guests who fly in.

This is Disney shooting themselves in the foot, plain and simple.

A good case in point is how many DVC properties alone have been added since the implementation of ME in 2005, representing thousands upon thousands of high priced rooms and villas. No way would so many people have bought into DVC if there had been no perks offered to stay onsite. Now they have hundreds of thousands of DVC owners who "have to" vacation onsite because they're locked in. Meanwhile their experience has been severely eroded. It's a pretty underhanded move by Disney. Stock holders aren't everything if you lose customer loyalty.

Kidani
Grand Floridian Villas
Bay Lake Tower
Polynesian
Copper Creek
Riviera

And the largest DVC resort, Saratoga Springs, was added in 2004, just on the cusp of ME and EMH.

 

[jo-jo]

A good case in point is how many DVC properties alone have been added since the implementation of ME in 2005, representing thousands upon thousands of high priced rooms and villas. No way would so many people have bought into DVC if there had been no perks offered to stay onsite. Now they have hundreds of thousands of DVC owners who "have to" vacation onsite because they're locked in. Meanwhile their experience has been severely eroded. It's a pretty underhanded move by Disney. Stock holders aren't everything if you lose customer loyalty.

Kidani
Grand Floridian Villas
Bay Lake Tower
Polynesian
Copper Creek
Riviera

And the largest DVC resort, Saratoga Springs, was added in 2004, just on the cusp of ME and EMH.

In 2006, we bought DVC. Before that we had been to WDW about 5 times. A few times we did town car/limo service. And way back , getting off plane, then buying tickets to go on 12 passenger van.

With ME, we felt once we gave those bags to the skycap outside the airport, the vacation began.

 

[nkereina]

Beyond the Disney bubble lock-in thing, it's just a weird that it would have to be "cut". My expectation (prior to the announcement) would be they would just tack on a surcharge "indefinitely" and keep it running. It's a popular service and people would pay for it!

I would imagine their Mears contract was coming to an end and Mears wanted to raise their prices, much like many businesses in the current environment. Between Disney needing to aggressively cut costs, the implementation of the Brightline rail system, the availability of alternative options that are not Disney's problem or cost, and the popularity of rideshare in the area - perhaps they saw this as an opportunity to save themselves the headache. I don't agree with it either and think they are removing a big onsite perk (when one would think they'd want to be enticing people to stay onsite), but I can see why not offering a fee based service wouldn't necessarily benefit them. They also tried something similar with Minnie Vans and that abruptly ended. The fact of the matter is that people will still come and people will still stay onsite, whether they are providing free airport transportation or not. Myself included, even though I may be rolling my eyes hard at the elimination of this benefit.

This is going to come off as sounding snarky and I don't mean it to, but if you're staying at a Marriott prior to WDW aren't you only using ME one way anyway (back to the airport)? And how to you get to Disney, do you use a couple of Uber's? And finally, does Marriott offer free service from the airport to it's hotel?

I'm not the poster you quoted, but that poster would have had the option to go from the Marriott back to the airport to board DME to get to WDW, if they chose to do that. Not the most convenient, but it would have been a free option to move 11 people from the Marriott to WDW. Every Disney resort guest is/was entitled to one trip from the airport and one trip to the airport during their stay. Disney didn't care how and when those trips were used (i.e. didn't have to be on the day of your flight).

 

[dreamer17555]

What happens when WDW makes a big policy change involving anything? Everybody gets really excited about it. Lots of people will say "I'M NEVER GOING BACK! SCREW YOU, DISNEY!" And then a year or 2 later, they come back because they miss it.

For my family, I know we will be back to Disney. Just not staying onsite. I can get a 2 bedroom condo at Club Wyndham Bonnet Creek (right next to Riveria) for the price of a standard room at Pop (maybe even cheaper).

I will impulse shop less while in the parks (no Resort item pickup means carrying whatever and will make me think twice). A full kitchen means it’s easy to make some meals in the room so let’s cancel our some of our usual abundant TS. We normally love add ons- Pirates & Pals Firework cruise, dessert parties, Early morning magic but all of that is gone. Even when it comes back, since I am driving now (no DME), it makes sense to skip those and hop to Universal instead. Yes staying at a Universal hotel since Express Pass is a huge perk and at least they give you a full hour for early entry.

Disney had our family 100% in the Disney bubble before and happily spending money hand over fist... but the perks aren’t there. The value of staying onsite has disappeared and this isn’t due just to covid. I get Disney is hurting but watching Chapek take an ax and hack away at what made a Disney vacation worth dropping several thousand dollars on is sad.

My family really could spend on our trips, including staying club level occasionally, and I never regretted a single penny put into Mickey’s pockets but it’s clear that Disney? Its rapidly disappearing.

 

[plutolovr]

Nope. This isn't going to work. Our 2022 trip is now on the shelf. I simply can't navigate the drive between MCO and Disney. I am absolutely willing to pay for the service, but I was under the impression that the enormous cost of my cash stay or the points I rent were ALREADY covering that service. I can carry my stuff. I can check my bags. I am a big girl! But I can't handle that drive. Nearly every human on my plane is going to Disney every time I go. How will I compete with them for a ride share? What about all the single parents? The folks with disabilities? The solo travellers? It isn't just women that have to be careful travelling alone.

I'm glad the $10,000 I've saved up for a DVC contract can now go to other things.

I just sent my email. Kind in tone, and firm too.

You do realize, before Magical Express, people did just find getting to and from the resort. You don't have to drive. You can take a Mears bus for a fee, or hire a private car service.

 

[plutolovr]

I know the airline desks are closed now but I haven’t seen anything that said that was not returning. Did I miss that announcement.

The company that ran this service "BAGS" laid off most of their employees when Covid-19 hit. Whether or not they come back will be up to the company, not Disney I suppose.

 

[DisneyRunner2009]

I saw international travelers, like the Brazilian tour groups, mentioned. What about the Pop Warner and cheerleader groups? They all arrive at different times.

 

[Meglen]

My family has never used the Magical express busses.we used this forum recommend car service FLtours. But with this change in sure there prices will go up and lack availability they had. We might rent a car this time but again the lines for that will be crazy. We loved just being in the bubble but I guess it's time to explore, if we enjoy the rental car it will open up options to visit universal in the same trip as disney.

A few posters here have said they think this is a way to get folks to stop coming. Which might be the goal. They charge enough they know the numbers they need to be profitable. The staff right now if for the current guest limit. If more people visit than they need to hire more cast members, and open more shows to eat the crowds.

The math has been done and either mears wanted more money that didn't work for disney or disney doesn't see the value in it anymore. Less visitors also means less huge crowds and bad press due to crowds. They are indeed pricing out alot of people but that might be the goal.