Minnie Van Service to Airport - How long until Magic Express Costs $$$ ?

DisFanDad

DIS Veteran
Joined
Aug 23, 2016
Hey all, so the interwebs are all a buzz with news that Minnie Van Service is now available for MCO, at a price of $150 ???

Just wondering how long you think until Magical Express costs something, or if you think it will remain free ???

I had said early on when Minnie Vans were introduced that they would be rolled out much further, that the price would increase, that they would offer transit to the airports, and that ME would eventually cost you $$$ as well.

When the parking fees were introduced, I though, oh yea, here is another nail in the coffin of free ME.

Now I know people like to argue about the "captive" guest on WDW property, but I don't know if that is actually working these days for one, but even if it is, Disney seems pretty dedicated to monetizing every aspect of the experience they can.

So .... how long (IF) until we see a fee (nominal at first $5, $10 pp) for ME ? Justified by "You will save much more on parking, and don't have to pay $150 for a minnie van" ???
 
People will pay for DME as long as it's less than a rental car or the same cost. After the parking fee i can see it on the horizon. As long as people dont have a car they can assume it unlikely people will leave the resort. However this still happens with Uber. Basically they are leaving money on the table and they hate that.
 
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People will pay for MDE as long as it's less than a rental car or the same cost. After the parking fee i can see it on the horizon. As long as people dont have a car they can assume it unlikely people will leave the resort. However this still happens with Uber. Basically they are leaving money on the table and they hate that.

If they charged .01$ for MDE, I wouldn't use it and get a rental car. Its only valuable to me because its free.
 


If they charged .01$ for MDE, I wouldn't use it and get a rental car. Its only valuable to me because its free.
What they will probably do as rope it in with other stuff in a package and you wont realize it costs 150 unless you do a lot of digging or just raise the costs by 150 or 200 and it will be listed as "free".
 
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What they will probably do as rope it in with other stuff in a package and you wont realize it costs 150 unless you do a lot of digging or just raise the costs by 150 or 200 and it will be listed as "free".

I would never book a package, but your right that may be the way they go.
 
They could always just raise room rates 25 a night across the board too. Then they pay for DME and get extra for everyone else.
 
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I can see charging $10-20/person with "free" incentives tied to packages, DVC members, and AP holders. Universal nicely offers to "arrange" transportation from the airport at a cost and it doesn't seem to impact them. And a LOT of people will still pay because it will be cheaper than parking. Family of 4 staying for a week, even charged $20 each way for $80, is still cheaper than just the parking fee of $140+.

It's coming.
 
People will pay for MDE as long as it's less than a rental car or the same cost. After the parking fee i can see it on the horizon. As long as people dont have a car they can assume it unlikely people will leave the resort. However this still happens with Uber. Basically they are leaving money on the table and they hate that.

It would have to be less than an Uber/Lyft/taxi for me to use it. We'd go back to what we did before, it's not like DME has been around that long.
 
I could see them first charging for transportation BACK to MCO (then expanding who knows). By that point, you've already seen the value in it when it brought you to the resort, and you're already kind of stuck because you used it to get to the resort for free.

I'm being super cynical though. :rotfl2:
 
Not happening. Disney profits greatly by keeping guests stranded onsite without cars. Add a fee and people will rethink that.

I agree. A few years ago there were trial balloons going around that MDE would have a fee. Nope...did not happen.

Right now Disney is doing everything possible to get people to stay stranded onsite. They charge for parking at resorts, which I believe is a way to discourage a car rental. Rather than continue restricting how credits are used, Disney removed the verbiage that disallows sharing. Then they added alcohol to the package. Once there is no value in a service, any service, people will rethink more aspects of their resort packages, and once one component goes more follow.

I think that Disney has opened Minnie Van use to MCO to get in on the private transportation that is already being used. People who really do not want to leave over three hours in advance of their flight, or who do nto want to return to their original resort to return to the airport now have an option that may be preferable to using Uber or a limo service.
 
I'm torn on this.

I see the argument that it behooves WDW to keep the captive audience and continue busing for free.

I also see the argument that a "nominal" $10 pp fee wouldn't necessarily anger enough people to shrink that captive audience pool. (It should, but I don't think it will).

I never really thought they'd go through with the parking fee.
 
I would go with Uber or a limo service for sure if they started charging for MDE. I do think it is likely to happen though.
 
I wouldn't exactly call it "free" now. The rooms at Disney World cost a whole lot more than what you'd get elsewhere in Orlando. I don't think they'd risk popping the Disney Bubble.

I think the Minnie Van thing at MCO is just them trying to get more use out of their Minnie Vans.
 
Not happening. Disney profits greatly by keeping guests stranded onsite without cars. Add a fee and people will rethink that.
That's the way I thought about the likelihood of WDW letting offsite hotels buy into EMH & 60 day FP: "They'll never do that because they want to lock guests into onsite resorts." But then it happened. And then the resort guest parking fees happened.

I now put nothing past Disney's quest to maximize short-term profits.
 
That's the way I thought about the likelihood of WDW letting offsite hotels buy into EMH & 60 day FP: "They'll never do that because they want to lock guests into onsite resorts." But then it happened. And then the resort guest parking fees happened.

I now put nothing past Disney's quest to maximize short-term profits.

Good point about the EMH and 60 day FP for offsite....
 
$150!!!!! :faint:

I remember taking Mears Shuttles before Magical Express showed up - was that at cost or free? I can't recall.

If they ever charge for ME, I will see how much. If it's still cheaper for the two of us than an Uber, we will still use it because we think it's a fun way to start the vacation. Otherwise we would use Uber.
 
We used Lyft from the to and from the airport on our last trip. I was off and plane and at th resort in less than an hour. Cost was not that much, and it was well worth it for the time we saved.
 

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