Magical Express Ending Service

[Tormania]

I'm thankful that we went this past Nov/Dec before these changes take hold. We usually only go every 3-4 years anyway and by the time we MIGHT consider going again things may be so different that it will be hard to compare to previous trips. Compared to our first big trip in Dec 2013 and our trips in Dec 2017 and our last trip we have only seen costs increase significantly (rooms,tickets,DDP) and benefits/perks drop, COVID changes not withstanding.

I'd be very curious to know the REAL reason for some of these changes, it can't all be cost-cutting cause they sure aren't passing any "savings" on to us, the customers. Sadly this is the "new normal" at WDW is seems. What will be the next thing that gets changed/removed?

 

[Wdw1015]

We loved taking ME for all the reasons previously mentioned. But let’s be serious....for every person who says they won’t go back, there are 10 people willing to go. So this isn’t going to hurt Disney in the least.

 

[csjordan]

Not trying to be mean, but if you can not afford the $45.00 Uber for the ride from the airport to Disney. You can not afford to go to Disney World to begin with.

I would not expect Disney to change their rack room rate to reflect the changes in service. Because they are considered a premium product ie apple, LV, Tesla,

in 2005 before DME started, you had to deal with a Taxi company ie mears. And a few small transfer companies. Atleast now you have more options. Plus you think that train is going to save the “system”. That train is not the monorail leaving MK at night. The trains are not going to be lined up one after another. There is going to be a schedule, at best 30 minutes between trains maybe even and hour. Plus those trains are only so big. So when you get families with their bags on them, that train gets small real quick.

the above is why they charge for parking now. They know if you want to come , you will spend what it takes. Disney is a Premium Product, not all deserve to attend.

For me, it's really not a matter of being able to afford an Uber. It is that the cost of ME is built into the extremely high resort cost; an amenity that we are paying for, but no longer receiving.

Edited to add: Premium product, or not, no one wants to pay for amenities that you are not receiving. That makes no sense to me.

 

[hereforthechurros]

We loved taking ME for all the reasons previously mentioned. But let’s be serious....for every person who says they won’t go back, there are 10 people willing to go. So this isn’t going to hurt Disney in the least.

It will cut down on resort stays, and with all those resorts sitting empty that's the last thing they need.

 

[hereforthechurros]

For me, it's really not a matter of being able to afford an Uber. It is that the cost of ME is built into the extremely high resort cost; an amenity that we are paying for, but no longer receiving.

Edited to add: Premium product, or not, no one wants to pay for amenities that you are not receiving. That makes no sense to me.

That's the theme. Change is inevitable and that's fine, exciting even. But eliminating without a suitable replacement or other option while charging the same prices or even raising prices is going to take a toll on Disney visits in a hurting economy.

 

[TLSnell1981]

Disney has played the chip away game for a long while. I’m trying to remember any attractive benefits from staying on property. The ones we enjoyed have disappeared. We have DVC and can’t even buy APs at this time. Our three trips yearly... little kids, big kids and adult only have dropped to one a year. We completely skip the adult only holiday. Many changes are blamed on COVID but will likely never return. I’m just not into Disney in it’s current state. Sadly the grandkids are beginning to feel the same. The nostalgia was part of Disney’s charm. Remove that and it’s an overcrowded, overpriced six flags without thrill rides.

 

[Sydnerella]

you're losing Magical Express AND EMH

These two losses are a huge bummer. Thank you COVID. Thank you Bob Paycheck for slowly (or not) chipping away at the benefits, perks and magic that makes Disney fun, special, unique, etc in the name of COVID... such as laying off equity actors who could fill gaps around the parks and spice up missing offerings en-masse (boo!)...

Magical Express
We love ME, it is part of the magic. Our kids were still excited to get on it at ages 16 and 14 over Thanksgiving. We arrived at Riviera within 25 minutes as our driver "took a shortcut" - it was awesome, even with having to grab our own bags, which I actually kinda prefer.

We have used it every time we stayed on property as we travel from MN and very much value the "Disney bubble" and delivery services that allow us to do so.

For us and many others, taking the future train to a central location (TTC? Disney Springs?) will mean unreasonable transfers (lots of luggage) to a bus and most importantly, a loss of time - in Disneyworld time is money. Time is precious. Did I mention we were at the Riviera in 30 minutes??? We will now take private transportation via personal vehicle to optimize our time and increase greenhouse gas emissions. Nice work Bob... you are so much not the other Bob. And what has happened to the guest experience focused Josh D'Amaro?

Magical? Less-Than-An-Hour
Really? How do they get away with this? Can the fans start to social media shame this? Doing this as a COVID measure is fine, heck we went to WDW and stayed on-site recently without this perk, but I have my doubts it ends there... This is like Tokyo Disney... Thirty whole minutes... wow... thanks! And in truth, they already let folks in 30 minutes, sometimes 60 minutes early... so how will resort guests be special? And what happens to the practice of these park openings that we experienced over Thanksgiving - during which they were all opened up at least one-hour prior to posted open? And none of the supposed perk of resort transportation was able to get us to parks for these opens so we had to Uber every morning - unless we wanted to wait over 70 minutes for the headliners.

Disney and Mr. Paycheck:
Please stop thinking only of ways to take things away to save money and start thinking creatively again about how to improve upon the guest experience, improve upon what you do and innovate as the current times dictate - thoughtfully planned distanced and staggered queues (yay!), cavalcades (yay!), full mobile order (yay!), park reservations (half yay!)... let the industrial engineers be innovators - not misers.

Rather than cheapen your product but not your prices.

 

[Wdw1015]

It will cut down on resort stays, and with all those resorts sitting empty that's the last thing they need.

But I don’t think it will, that’s what I mean. There are loads of people willing to go and stay onsite, even with less amenities. Think about how many people go that don’t follow any Disney social media. There are many first timers who are none the wiser and trust me, they will be paying to stay onsite.

 

[Eastern]

I am confused by this comment. The drive from MCO to Disney is one of the easiest drives around. Fire up your GPS, hop on a well marked road, and you're there in 20 minutes.

Not directed specifically at you, but the people here who will spend hours (days? weeks?) planning every second of a 10-day visit who can't get from an airport to a hotel really surprise me. Is ME easier? Sure. But they didn't always have it in the first place, and people went to Disney and stayed in Disney resorts.

I don't think the drive is bad, but renting the vehicle was definitely a cost. When ME was 'free' it seemed like a perk included in the high resort price. Before that, I mainly stayed offsite. I will probably rent a car now, vs paying for a Mears shuttle. That also means I will do more things offsite, especially dinners.

 

[monkyby87]

But I don’t think it will, that’s what I mean. There are loads of people willing to go and stay onsite, even with less amenities. Think about how many people go that don’t follow any Disney social media. There are many first timers who are none the wiser and trust me, they will be paying to stay onsite.

We'll have to see what impact, if any, it has. Maybe it won't really affect how many people stay onsite, but it will certainly affect how people plan. And perhaps they'll stay a day or two less, or then divide up their time at other attractions. If nothing else, using MDE encourage staying solely on Disney property, as there was no need to really arrange other transportation. Now, people may consider then renting a car and seeing other stuff.

 

[ArielRae]

The big complaint has been the parks are too crowded. Disney has been trying to reduce crowds with the big prices hikes.

My thoughts. Removing Magical Express and limiting Extra Magic hours will help reduce the number of people attending the parks. Those who can afford transportation and still willing to pay the high room rates with less perks will continue to attend and will enjoy the parks with lighter crowds. Disney will not lower their prices for anything but expect them to rise again and have them add more pay to attend evening events. If you have the disposable income to spend at Disney then you are the democratic that Disney is now catering to. We are seeing the pay to play on everything Disney offers soon.

 

[Fanofthegame]

We'll have to see what impact, if any, it has. Maybe it won't really affect how many people stay onsite, but it will certainly affect how people plan. And perhaps they'll stay a day or two less, or then divide up their time at other attractions. If nothing else, using MDE encourage staying solely on Disney property, as there was no need to really arrange other transportation. Now, people may consider then renting a car and seeing other stuff.

This has the potential to be a deal breaker for many. Transporting car seats and strollers on a train and then taking an extra step to get to the resort is going to be interesting. How does disney transport now get busses in and out in a timely fashion? Lol.

 

[Gingerfun1]

There's a potential plot twist in the official statement from Disney,

"Additionally, complimentary transportation options – such as buses, monorails and Disney Skyliner – will continue to be available within Walt Disney World Resort for Disney Resort hotel guests, including to and from all four theme parks. "

 

[MamaBelle4]

My thoughts. Removing Magical Express and limiting Extra Magic hours will help reduce the number of people attending the parks. Those who can afford transportation and still willing to pay the high room rates with less perks will continue to attend and will enjoy the parks with lighter crowds.

I disagree. I don't think it will reduce the number of people visiting the parks. It will reduce the number of people willing to over pay for subpar hotel rooms. They already have to drive at this point, have to pay parking fees, and have exactly no perk to paying thousands extra for a hotel room. So they won't.

They'll save money, stay off site and likely eat many of their meals off property too. The only time I could see this "lighter" crowd scenario is the 30 minutes before the park opens, and that is really not impactful. If I wasn't DVC, there is absolutely no way I would stay on property now. There is no reason to. I wouldn't stop going to Disney, I really enjoy it.

But Lake Buena Vista Resort & Spa or a similar hotel would get my reservations (for a travelling party of 8-10). HUGE misstep from Disney. HUGE.

DH actually said to me last night "If they don't reverse any of these decisions, why don't we just rent our points and stay offsite." And I don't have a response to that. What is the reason for keeping me on site? When we enter Disney property we don't leave. And we like to travel in the winter when the hours are shorter and eat outside of the parks in the evening (Disney Springs or at our resort).

That's a huge income loss for Disney. This was not well thought out, at all.

 

[sponica]

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 .

Personally I can't cost justify the prices without this perk (especially with kids in car seats). If I have to finagle installing car seats into a rental, I'm more inclined to just go somewhere I can drive to or visit for much cheaper.

If I was pre-kid or post-car seat I'd feel differently.

 

[Nick6300]

Mears put out a statement today that said they will be running the buses from MCO to the resorts / parks now and into the future. I am not sure how much it's going to cost but "hopefully" they stick to it and give us some type of option.

I've never experienced the Mears buses prior to ME. I'm guessing there were stops on the way to your resort. But maybe with more of a demand they could gear Mears buses to certain resorts and reduce stops, yet be more competitive vs. rideshare.

I want to say it was between $40-50 + tip for us last Sept to Swan, but I'm not sure I'm remembering that price right.

 

[Disney loving Iowan]

I am confused by this comment. The drive from MCO to Disney is one of the easiest drives around. Fire up your GPS, hop on a well marked road, and you're there in 20 minutes.

Not directed specifically at you, but the people here who will spend hours (days? weeks?) planning every second of a 10-day visit who can't get from an airport to a hotel really surprise me. Is ME easier? Sure. But they didn't always have it in the first place, and people went to Disney and stayed in Disney resorts.

We have been going to Disney long before ME. I clearly remember the hassle that it was and I really don't wanna have to go through that again. Plus now if we rent a car we not only have the cost of the car rental but also the cost of parking at the resort. Having to rent a car would be a huge waste of money for anyone who plans to stay onsite for their whole stay. If and when we go again after this take effect we will probably end up taking Uber depending on what happens with the train.

 

[dledger]

This has the potential to be a deal breaker for many. Transporting car seats and strollers on a train and then taking an extra step to get to the resort is going to be interesting. How does disney transport now get busses in and out in a timely fashion? Lol.

I think the stroller is a big deal for us, personally. It’s one thing if I could just have it waiting at the resort for me like we did previously. But now, needing to be there for in person pickup or grabbing at the airport, on top of the car seat I would Be bringing, along with our luggage - it doesn’t seem appealing. Yes people have done it before and will do it in the future, but I just like to travel as stress free and easy as can be. We felt Disney was handling the big things and we could focus on what we were going to do first, where we would eat...etc. This was also a huge benefit of the Minnie vans. While not as cheap or maybe even efficient as other services, it made life easy. And, as someone who hates to drive I just really loved not having the major anxiety inducer of driving in a strange place.

 

[Eastern]

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.

I used to rent a car and stay offsite before ME became 'free'. After ME was free I would figure the car rental price into the resort price. I think getting rid of the ME is a dumb decision. I'll still go but I will probably go back to renting a car and staying offsite at least part of my trip. The price of one day at a deluxe resort will more than make up for a car rental and parking fees.

 

[fhtpdw20]

It is true that there will always be newbies that have nothing to compare their experience to and will so pay the prices Disney demands. But Disney is going to lose their loyal customers. I fell into that group. I was know to be the if you want to know about Disney, go talk to me. I am talking more people out of their Disney vacations. Where I would use to say it is a little expensive to have breakfast at the Castle, but it was worth it, is know do you want to pay $60+ dollars for eggs and bacon? Then it start listing what use to be there and how easy to plan and book a vacation with everything paid for up front. (would not be surprised if they took the interest free pay before you go away as well) Then I start telling about how you have to decide where you want to be and where you want to eat 180 days in advance. Want to introduce your kids to live action plays, go see Festival Lion King or Nemo There was a time when there was something for everyone, but that time is passing.