Magical Express Ending Service

[HollyMD]

When you get to the airport to fly home. The poster I quoted was whining about not being able to check in at the resort. You can check in ANYWHERE via phones. Some airlines will allow you to pay your baggage fee on the app, then you go to the machines at the airport (or the bag check line) to get the tags and hand them off.

This still isn’t the same as dropping your bags at the hotel and not having to deal with them again until you land.....and I don’t think the person was “whining” as much as stating their feelings and what they would miss.

 

[disneypharm]

We started going to Disney more often when they started having ME. Having this service reduced the stress on my family and kept us in Disney property. My family would rather have less rides, less restaurants, less decorations, less topiaries, etc..., but have the convenience of not stressing out at the airport with our luggage and rides. With no ME, more people will rent cars and leave the property to go to other theme parks and restaurants, which will ultimately bring less money to Disney. I think this is a big mistake!!

 

[hereforthechurros]

2005
Magical Express
Dining plan
Extra magic hours
All came from Disney's need to get people back to Orlando after 9/11

So tear everything down and slowly add things back in to entice people once the economic climate improves has proven successful for them before.

 

[yulilin3]

So tear everything down and slowly add things back in to entice people once the economic climate improves has proven successful for them before.

Who knows? But one thing is for sure, Disney is in a constant state of change.
If these changes prove to be the last straw for a lot of visitor and there's an actual large number of people vacationing elsewhere because of it i can see Disney reevaluating .

 

[disneypharm]

So tear everything down and slowly add things back in to entice people once the economic climate improves has proven successful for them before.

Maybe, but by that time. the whole way of traveling to Orlando would change, as more people would have discovered how great Universal, Seaword, Busch Gardens, and other theme parks are. To entice people to bring their $$$ to your business is to provide more perks, not to remove them! It doesn't make sense. I understand that they are losing money now, but they should remove things that people are not depending on, not things that bring them to the business!!

 

[dreamer17555]

This seems like a time for Disney to invest in the guest experience- not detract from it. They want those hotels to reopen? Stack on perks and make sure the service is top notch. Send them home talking about how fantastic it was and how they are already planning on going back. Make it easier to spend money- resort item pick up- I am not sure how this is a covid issue. That object is likely touched over and over in store before being bought. This is a cutting staff issue. Make it easy for me to splurge and buy that ridiculous item knowing I don't have to lug it around the park.

The To Go food is great where offered. You know what would be better? A service (for an added fee) where Disney meets you in the lobby of your resort with the order. Staying at Pop but craving Saana? It will be right over and placed on a table so no contact.

They need to be KILLING it with offerings and ways to part you happily from your dollars while making your experience so much easier. To do that they need to not be afraid to invest in cast members to keep the service level high.

 

[yulilin3]

This seems like a time for Disney to invest in the guest experience- not detract from it. They want those hotels to reopen? Stack on perks and make sure the service is top notch. Send them home talking about how fantastic it was and how they are already planning on going back. Make it easier to spend money- resort item pick up- I am not sure how this is a covid issue. That object is likely touched over and over in store before being bought. This is a cutting staff issue. Make it easy for me to splurge and buy that ridiculous item knowing I don't have to lug it around the park.

The To Go food is great where offered. You know what would be better? A service (for an added fee) where Disney meets you in the lobby of your resort with the order. Staying at Pop but craving Saana? It will be right over and placed on a table so no contact.

They need to be KILLING it with offerings and ways to part you happily from your dollars while making your experience so much easier. To do that they need to not be afraid to invest in cast members to keep the service level high.

You won't be seeing new services from Disney for a while. They're hemorrhaging money due to covid, right now it's all about appeasing their stock holders

 

[dreamer17555]

You won't be seeing new services from Disney for a while. They're hemorrhaging money due to covid, right now it's all about appeasing their stock holders

I understand this but it is seriously shortsighted. Disney could do several services (or even bring back ones like Resort Item Pick Up) that could increase spending right now. Disney has made seriously deep cuts and they need to be careful before the luster of a Disney trip wears thin.

 

[Malestrom Troll]

If Disney is cutting DME and EMH, I wonder if they will ever have all the resorts open at the same time. There is no way they will have enough occupancy to keep all 31 properties open. I'm going to assume Disney will come up with some significant perks to staying on property, but right now I don't see how a family can justify renting a car and still pay the prices Disney is asking for their resorts.

 

[goofyernmost]

I'm sure that if it isn't just a rumor, which it probably isn't they will have something similar, but perhaps charge for the service. You know Disney's motto, why give anything away that you can get paid for, even if it has been paid for for via resort rates. So it will be back in one form or the other. The Amazing thing is that people managed to get to WDW in literal droves for 32 or so years before the Express even started. They didn't walk there.

 

[dreamer17555]

I'm sure that if it isn't just a rumor, which it probably isn't they will have something similar, but perhaps charge for the service. You know Disney's motto, why give anything away that you can get paid for, even if it has been paid for for via resort rates. So it will be back in one form or the other. The Amazing thing is that people managed to get to WDW in literal droves for 32 or so years before the Express even started. They didn't walk there.

You are right. They did get to disney but they often didn't stay 100% in the Disney bubble and took their money offsite. DME stopped that for many of the families that used it.

 

[cjlong88]

I’m going to withhold my judgement on this. I fully understand the need to cut costs during a global pandemic. WDW is going to provide a limited experience based on the current events. Ever since they reopened we knew we weren’t going to get the WDW we knew before March 2020. Things will keep going away as long as they continue to lose money (which they are...a lot of money).

It will be interesting to see when the virus no longer drives economic decisions and how the magical experiences we see disappearing are reimplemented (if at all) back into the WDW experience. We very well may see DME come back in the future and who knows how it will look

For now, I understand the need to make cuts if it means Disney can continue to operate. It’s so easy to crap on the business decisions being made when we really can’t see the full picture of Disney’s current financial situation nor can we truly understand the pressures those who make these controversial decisions might be under.

 

[DisLiss]

Sometimes I think Disney likes to announce closures, changes, or cut-backs just to get more people into the park right now.

They announced ride changes and people clamor to ride the ride one last time and buy up old style merchandise. Announcements of restaurants closing or entertainment ending/changing bring people in to experience those things "one more time". Prior to the Skyliner opening, people unhappy with the Skyliner were saying that they wanted to stay at Pop one more time before the bus services were reduced at that resort. And now we're seeing people discussing getting in one more trip before ME ends, despite the luggage portion of the perk already being discontinued.

By the time changes actually go through, people are used to the idea of those particular changes, and they're busy rushing to go back before the next announced change occurs instead.

 

[goofyernmost]

You are right. They did get to disney but they often didn't stay 100% in the Disney bubble and took their money offsite. DME stopped that for many of the families that used it.

Yes, I know, so now they must be counting on habit to keep them coming in and staying now. That is why I am sure that something is going to replace it. It might be the train thing or small shuttle buses or even going back to the regular buses once the Pandemic dies out except that there will be a charge added. Now that they charge for parking anyway, they are really more dependent of maintaining the bubble and making it sound like a deal. Since I started going there in 1983 I never got into that immersion bubble, so I always had a car and except for once I always stay offsite. I did onsite once and felt like a prisoner. I couldn't wait to get out of there.

 

[TLSnell1981]

Saw news, so had to see how it went over (as expected).

See frequent mentions of the future train...that sounds like an absolute nightmare ! People hauling their luggage (with many bringing way too much) on a train, then rolling it to resort busses and cramming it all on there ??
I imagine they would have to change the Disney Springs to resort busses to the DME coach busses so people could load their luggage under the bus...but then would have to have coach bus drivers to manage the loading.... then doing it all again in reverse when leaving ??
So, the train option sounds like it will only work for the travel light crowd.

Have frequently said, Disney got too popular....the only way they could make more money was to start cutting things... they no longer need to entice people with all the perks. Of course, this has been accelerated by the pandemic....hopefully will be coming out of that soon, but think Disney still going to cut wherever they can.

Guess won't apply to us though... asked son what kind of vacation he would want if things clear up... he doesn't know, but declared theme parks are boring and isn't interested anyway.

Disney became popular. There was a time they would build parks to accommodate the overload of resort guests. Too bad they didn't choose to follow that path.

 

[accm]

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?

 

[Disirish]

The product that Disney offered and set them apart from the rest is getting more and more diluted. I dont think these latest round of cuts are going to seriously impact there numbers . But there has to be a tipping point and it seems they want to get as close as possible to it .

As an international traveller the ME express was so convenient, as I am uncomfortable with driving in the US . Just hope they replace the service with a paid option .

 

[JediKnightXan]

Well just to pile on a little, this one hurts. I really enjoyed the ME, and the baggage service, due to how easy it made the whole trip. I handed my bags off at the airline counter at home, and I generally didn't have to worry about a thing until I picked them back up when I got back. Everything was just (expensively) taken care of, and was a big reason my wife and enjoy the Disney vacation so much.

I would love to spend a few hours with the Disney Analytics folks to see how they broke this down, and how much revenue they think they will lose (or gain?), vs how much money they will save. OR if its something more than that. That they feel with the vaccines rolling out that demand in 2022 and shortly there after they don't need to offer so many perks and people will still come due to not being able to go anywhere for a year and a half (or more). The flip side of that is they figure that folks will be hurting financially so much that they can't fill the hotels no matter what they offer so cut everything they can and try and preserve capital. I'm sure only the folks that look at and compile those numbers will ever know.

It would also be interesting to see the break down of who used the ME and how much they spent compared to folks that did not use the ME. I'm sure they have that data. Are ME visitors typically repeats who don't need all the merch, compared to the folks on that once in a life time trip that need to get the ears and the plush and the princess dress, and the so on and so forth. I have no idea on that just curious, as with all the cuts that is something that has crossed my mind that they may be trying to shift their market from repeat visitors to more first time, once in a life time visitors. The total life time revenue may be lower, but the dollar per visit is higher?

This will not keep my family from visiting, I have an 11 month old nephew and my in-laws have talked about taking him since before he was born. My wife and I don't have kids but I know if we do have them will be taking them. Disney has us, they know they have us, and people like us. Will we visit as often? Maybe, Maybe not. Now that I am likely renting a car regardless, other destinations are now more equal in my mind

 

[MainMom]

I'm sure that if it isn't just a rumor, which it probably isn't they will have something similar, but perhaps charge for the service. You know Disney's motto, why give anything away that you can get paid for, even if it has been paid for for via resort rates. So it will be back in one form or the other. The Amazing thing is that people managed to get to WDW in literal droves for 32 or so years before the Express even started. They didn't walk there.

But I also got great rates on hotels. Poly for 4 days get 3 free or something like that.

 

[runjulesrun]

We are in the minority here but eliminating ME really will not impact us much. We have used it a few times in the past but really didn't love how much time it took. We almost always rent a car (most often from Alamo). My husband takes the kids and they all get the bags while I go rent the car from the kiosk. I finish the rental right about the same time they get the bags. We pile in the car and head to our resort. We often make a stop at a grocery store for a case of water and anything else we might want for our resort room. The times we used ME, we waited quite a long time before our bus left, then we stopped at multiple resorts before we were dropped off and we didn't have our case of water. Having to be back at our resort 3 1/2 hours before our flight left to make sure we could get our bags and get on the bus again meant less time in a park. I totally understand why some people rely on it, especially people who would need car seats or have wheelchairs or are traveling internationally. We just don't fit into that category. We also enjoy eating off the property and we have family in the area so we generally don't stay within the Disney bubble while we are there anyway.