Magical Express to end in 2022

[ford91exploder]

Why are you complaining so much about a place you've never been to? Why is this such a big deal to you?

Because it's symbolic of all the OTHER cuts at WDW the decimation of 'Citizens of Hollywood' for one small example and the unwillingness to maintain the parks to the standards Disney itself set. That's why its a big deal to me and being a signature project for current Disney management one would expect that everything would be done and staffed to perfection.

 

[DL1WDW2]

Kinda feels like the more cutbacks the better Iger & Chapek Bonus
Too bad they can’t afford to actually visit Disney property.

 

[Eric Smith]

Kinda feels like the more cutbacks the better Iger & Chapek Bonus
Too bad they can’t afford to actually visit Disney property.

Disney cancelled the bonus for all executives.

 

[New Mouse]

Disney cancelled the bonus for all executives.

With compensation related to stock price though, theres every incentive for Iger specifically to push for immediate stock gains....in reality, why would he care about the future?

 

[Eric Smith]

With compensation related to stock price though, theres every incentive for Iger specifically to push for immediate stock gains....in reality, why would he care about the future?

You're talking about any company in the US then. Disney isn't unique in that respect.

 

[ximfinity]

Back on topic, I don't plan to be traveling and staying on property (in a studio mind you) with small kids if there is no affordable transport to and from the airport. I would much rather pay $1000 less and stay in a townhouse with many rooms, kitchen, pool etc.. if I have to rent a car & carseats anyways. I dont think they realize that the offset between renting a car and seats is equivalent to the upcharge to stay on resort, and there are many more perks staying offsite once the price differential is no longer a benefit.

They will either need to roll out an equivalent solution through mears which is quite cheap add-on (<$20 per person), my guess is that they will start using it as a promotion when they open back up all the way (Free voucher for minnie van / mears van to/from MCO included with 5+ day stays for groups of 4+) and dump the dining plans and discounts.

edit: to add on, minnie service from the airport was already available it was $155 each way. Which seems about the cost of what they are willing to use to create a promotion.

 

[Naomeri]

Back on topic, I don't plan to be traveling and staying on property (in a studio mind you) with small kids if there is no affordable transport to and from the airport. I would much rather pay $1000 less and stay in a townhouse with many rooms, kitchen, pool etc.. if I have to rent a car & carseats anyways. I dont think they realize that the offset between renting a car and seats is equivalent to the upcharge to stay on resort, and there are many more perks staying offsite once the price differential is no longer a benefit.

They will either need to roll out an equivalent solution through mears which is quite cheap add-on (<$20 per person), my guess is that they will start using it as a promotion when they open back up all the way (Free voucher for minnie van / mears van to/from MCO included with 5+ day stays for groups of 4+) and dump the dining plans and discounts.

edit: to add on, minnie service from the airport was already available it was $155 each way. Which seems about the cost of what they are willing to use to create a promotion.

I would hope they wouldn’t limit your theoretical vouchers to just groups, as that would be pretty unfair to couples and solo travelers

 

[mshanson3121]

Even in september during covid, it was very immersive at galaxy's edge. at least as much as any other areas in the parks. Only better one I would say is Pandora only because it is a bit more impressive, but they did a great job even in the small details at galaxy's edge down to hidden sounds coming out of the air vents in the wait lines to rides. Those are the sorts of details that I look for and really enjoy those are also the sorts that make animal kingdom so good. Toy Storyland is probably the antithesis to that, the rides are pretty good though but it doesn't feel up to quality.

I agree with this. I really expected more. It didn't give that 'Andy's backyard" vibe that they were supposedly going for. It gave more of an "oversized rides in the middle of concrete" vibe.

 

[jkh36619]

Id rather pay someone than deal with a 1.5 hour ME

 

[manning]

saw this coming when baggage delivery was discontinued. Told spouse one of two things will happen
1. charge for service
2. discontinued

 

[Alicefan]

Are you going to stop going to WDW because of this change?

I drive from SC down when I go, but I have flown once and did use this service. I have a friend that used it every visit. As for me, I've all but stopped visiting WDW since the prices have gotten so high. I bought an annual pass for Universal and for the last few years, my twice a year visits to WDW have become off property stays with most days spent at Universal and probably every other trip we might go to one Disney park or sometimes just Disney Springs. I'm one of the disillusioned. I'm not going to keep giving Disney my money just because they're Disney. They can't keep taking away all of the things that made you feel special and keep raising the prices. It feels like I'm not the demographic Disney is looking for. It's turned into a once in a lifetime dream vacation spot...or a playground for the rich, and I'm not in either of those categories. I was the long weekender or the go any chance you get girl. I used to buy 10 days at a time and use a couple each trip until I ran out and had to buy more. Then they started expiring. Little by little they've cut me out. I've been too many times to find value in spending a fortune to be there. We saved up and spent all of our money on the restaurants. That was a must do for us. I can't afford to buy a ticket to get in every visit AND do a couple of sit down meals a day.

 

[mshanson3121]

Are you going to stop going to WDW because of this change?

No. But it will make the difference between staying on site (which we were planning) and staying off site (which we'll do now). It'll also mean that since we're staying off-site with a car, we'll spend less days at Disney and more days exploring other attractions.

 

[DisneyAuntie12]

I thought this blog post from Disney Tourist Blog was really interesting on the topic. The final paragraph:

Ultimately, that leaves us exactly where we were upon the announcement of this news: confused. This move is a lose-lose for both guests and Disney. (There are two big winners: struggling local small businesses and Universal; it’s highly unlikely that helping those parties is Disney’s motivation.) There’s no making sense of it. This could be a shortsighted move made with the tunnel vision of direct cost savings, but we don’t have that low of an opinion of Disney’s leadership. They make dubious decisions from time to time, but this would be next level. Which is why we hope/suspect there’s still another shoe to drop here.

Also, I have no idea if there's anything to this, but one of the comments on that post said this:

I can think of a few reasons, however, why Disney might be making this announcement with no promised replacement (at least for now).
1. Termination Notification Date: Many long-term service contracts have clauses requiring the party receiving the services to notify the provider that they don’t intend to renew their contract. Oftentimes the deadlines for these termination notices can be a year or more in advance of the end of the contract.
2. ROFO (Right of First Offer Clause): It’s also common to see ROFO clauses in these contracts, which would allow Mears to match or slightly improve any offer Disney might receive from a competitor if Disney tried to switch ME over to another bus company.
3. Non-Compete Clause: Although less common (and also less likely that Disney would provide its own fully-owned and operated bus service), it’s still possible that there is a non-compete clause in the ME contract that would prevent Disney from starting its own ME replacement for a certain amount of time (1-2 years or so) after any termination of its contract with Mears.
4. DVC Issues: With 2022 bookings soon opening for DVC members, Disney probably wants to at least provide notice that unless something changes, ME will not be offered starting in 2022. It’s far easier to add a new service to existing bookings than it is to take it away.
5. Negotiation Tactic: It’s likely this is a negotiation tactic. It would be fairly devastating for Mears to lose this contract with Disney since they probably have way more busses than they need if they are no longer providing ME. Sure, there will still be a market for their services from MCO to WDW, but a lot more people would switch back to ride-share/cab or renting a car instead of using whatever non-ME replacement ME offers. If Disney had to provide advance notice that they were not renewing and Mears hadn’t budged in negotiations to their liking, it would make sense for Disney to send the notice anyways and make it clear they were willing to end ME unless the terms change more to their liking. By taking the public hit and announcing the end of ME now, Disney is putting pressure on Mears to come back to the negotiating table or risk losing the valuable ME contract.

I hope there is more to the story - as speculated above, for example, that Disney is taking a hit now to get out of a non-compete clause or something like that.

 

[mshanson3121]

5. Negotiation Tactic: It’s likely this is a negotiation tactic. It would be fairly devastating for Mears to lose this contract with Disney since they probably have way more busses than they need if they are no longer providing ME. Sure, there will still be a market for their services from MCO to WDW, but a lot more people would switch back to ride-share/cab or renting a car instead of using whatever non-ME replacement ME offers. If Disney had to provide advance notice that they were not renewing and Mears hadn’t budged in negotiations to their liking, it would make sense for Disney to send the notice anyways and make it clear they were willing to end ME unless the terms change more to their liking. By taking the public hit and announcing the end of ME now, Disney is putting pressure on Mears to come back to the negotiating table or risk losing the valuable ME contract.

I hope there is more to the story - as speculated above, for example, that Disney is taking a hit now to get out of a non-compete clause or something like that.

Actually, I could definitely see this. And, wouldn't it look good for Disney when Mears finally caves, and then Disney can announce, "You complained, we listened. Back by popular demand..." Great PR.

 

[RamblingMad]

No. But it will make the difference between staying on site (which we were planning) and staying off site (which we'll do now). It'll also mean that since we're staying off-site with a car, we'll spend less days at Disney and more days exploring other attractions.

That will work until they revert the fastpass system giving all of the good rides to the folks that stay at the resorts. I always ran into this issue with WDW and decided to get my fix in CA.

What other attractions are you going to explore? Personally, I just go to Universal in FL. I haven't been back to Sea World since Black Fish.

 

[mshanson3121]

That will work until they revert the fastpass system giving all of the good rides to the folks that stay at the resorts. I always ran into this issue with WDW and decided to get my fix in CA.

What other attractions are you going to explore? Personally, I just go to Universal in FL. I haven't been back to Sea World since Black Fish.

Not sure yet. But will definitely go to Old Town and the beach. Other considerations are Discovery Cove, Wild Florida, Medieval Times dinner theatre etc... An alternative to Discovery Cove is doing a dolphin and snorkel cruise down around St. Petersburg.

 

[Alicefan]

I don't think it will hurt Disney that much in the end. With hotel occupancy super low and WDW taking a beating financially anyways, it could have been incredibly expensive to keep the service running.

But do they expect to never get back to normal? What happens when travel is booming again....God willing.

 

[New Mouse]

But do they expect to never get back to normal? What happens when travel is booming again....God willing.

It seems as if Disney has started making a play for 2023 at the earliest. Theyve already given up on 2021 and possibly part of 2022 with their staffing decisions.

What happens? My guess is they feel it out to see how many people are willing to pay the current prices without perks first.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

If memory serves me there are 2.3 million DME passenger trips per year so 6 to 7K per day at an average of 3 passengers that is about 2K extra ride share trips or car rentals

Do people really not think that the infrastructure in Orlando can handle this? That seems ridiculous to me. Major airports all over hte world handle this sort of thing every day. Plenty of private companies will fill in the gaps and rental car companies will increase their fleets at MCO. It stinks that DME is going away, but every experience I had using it of late was pretty negative. The luggage transfer on the other hand was really nice and it is a shame to see that go.

 

[mattpeto]

Actually, I could definitely see this. And, wouldn't it look good for Disney when Mears finally caves, and then Disney can announce, "You complained, we listened. Back by popular demand..." Great PR.

I’m usually the optimistic one, but I think the service is a goner.

Is it for good?

I think it remains to be seen. It’s starting to feel like Disney is getting the sense that nothing will get ramped up for years. Maybe they will add DME back when the attendance limits are removed and tourism is back close to 2019 levels. Maybe the attendance cap could be gone as this summer (best case), but tourism will likely be down for a few years.

They are willing to play it conservatively and their gut says 2022 is still not going to be back.

Hoping for a bolt-on paid, subsidized service here in the meantime. I’m personally scheduled for a December 2021 trip, but sensing a 2022 change is likely and will absolutely impact me without DME.