Magical Express to end in 2022

[ford91exploder]

Bingo. Would you rather Disney give people a heads up so they can plan accordingly? I think it's a situation that Disney had to do. It's unfortunate, but a lot of things are. It really does suck for the families that use it on every trip, but imagine those families that have trips in two weeks. Or trips next week. What if Disney terminated DME effective today? Those families would be scrambling. Instead, Disney gave everyone almost a year to prepare. No matter what Disney did in this situation, they weren't going to win. The people who are already bitter towards Disney would find fault in how Disney handled it.

Disney has NEVER cared about short notice cancellations of services to guests

It's either covid or financial engineering, If it was Covid you shut down the service NOW and notify the guests, If its financial engineering you delay for a year.

So it ain't covid, As such Disney deserves the opprobium being dumped on them.

 

[ford91exploder]

Defending Disney for cutting services while raising prices, Gives cover to Disney because they can get away with it.

Gordon Bethune one time CEO of Continental noted after they dragged away 'the mostly dead' carcass from Frank Lorenzo's Texas Air.

"How much cheese can you take away from a pizza before it stops being a pizza."

Disney has removed a LOT of cheese and to many of us their offerings are no longer a pizza. it's round has dough and some red stuff and some melty stuff but it's no longer the Pizza we loved so why do we buy it?

 

[Tiki Birdland]

Defending Disney for cutting services while raising prices, Gives cover to Disney because they can get away with it.

Gordon Bethune one time CEO of Continental noted after they dragged away 'the mostly dead' carcass from Frank Lorenzo's Texas Air.

"How much cheese can you take away from a pizza before it stops being a pizza."

Disney has removed a LOT of cheese and to many of us their offerings are no longer a pizza. it's round has dough and some red stuff and some melty stuff but it's no longer the Pizza we loved so why do we buy it?

Good examples of this are Sears, Montgomery Ward, JC Penney, Polaroid, and Kodak. At one point, all great companies; all unassailable. Now all are gone.

 

[Disney Frenhines]

I'm always amazed at this undertone of disdain for those of us who are still overall satisfied with Disney and will continue to vacation there, even staying onsite.

As if we are somehow naive or less intelligent...

If I want to go to WDW I really have no choice, but, to stay at a resort hotel. I'm a solo older lady who doesn't want to drive when I'm there, I want the safety factor (which is why I get annoyed with the daily room checks) I like staying at a Disney resort because I can get the DME to and from the airport, I can get up in the morning and get to the bus stop and change my mind about which park I want to visit if I feel like a change. I'm happy to pay the premium to stay on site, what I don't like is the removal of an almost essential service for many guests and Disney bods claiming it's because we don't need it.

People should contact Disney to let them know that this is something guests want, after all, if we let them do it they end up so emboldened that they decide to start charging for park transportation seeing as there are so many other choices like lyft and uber. We might get an announcement next year that you have to purchase a bus ticket for the length of your stay, $5 a day, unlimited transport of course so it's a bargain, but if you stay for 7 days you have to purchase a 7 day ticket and if you don't use transportation every day then tough.

 

[RamblingMad]

I've only skimmed this thread so apologies if the joke (kinda...) has already been made, BUT... how long until Disney airline and on property airport?

There was an airport if I remember correctly back in the day.

 

[ChipnDale79]

We skipped 2020, not because of Covid, we already had other plans (that fell through because of Covid), but all the things disney has cut and increase on price, it actually made us look elsewhere for vacation. We've never really done that before. We take a vacation every year, and when we talk about where we are going, its really, which disney hotel do we want to stay at.

We are going this year, its our last trip before our kids are "disney adults", so if we wanted to go again in the next few years, this was the year.

Next year we're looking at some national parks.

Disney has opened our eyes that there really are other places to go. For us, it costs about the same for us to fly somewhere and do a week long vacation, as it does for us to drive to disney and do a weeklong vacation. It's time to see some other things.

 

[MrsBooch]

Defending Disney for cutting services while raising prices, Gives cover to Disney because they can get away with it.

Gordon Bethune one time CEO of Continental noted after they dragged away 'the mostly dead' carcass from Frank Lorenzo's Texas Air.

"How much cheese can you take away from a pizza before it stops being a pizza."

Disney has removed a LOT of cheese and to many of us their offerings are no longer a pizza. it's round has dough and some red stuff and some melty stuff but it's no longer the Pizza we loved so why do we buy it?

Disney, the tomato pie of vacation destinations.



We see it as a pizza with no cheese - but for people who have no history of what it was, it's a really great tomato pie.

They will always have that group of people. So they'll always do this.

 

[BrianL]

There was an airport if I remember correctly back in the day.

There was, but it was very small and only accommodaed the smaller planes. I don't think it has been used since the 80's.

 

[hertamaniac]

There was an airport if I remember correctly back in the day.

You can still see it (to the right of the EPCOT monorail going to/from the TTC). It's been a few years since I went that way, but think you can still see the wider runway from the access roads.

 

[ford91exploder]

There was an airport if I remember correctly back in the day.

There was and is. It's called the STOLport the idea was to have 'island hopper' type aircraft take people from MCO to Disney and back, It's now used for construction staging. It had a unique feature the runway had cuts made so on landing the landing gear would play 'zippedy do dah' for the pilots on the board here is a slice of the JAX sectional

 

[Waiting2goback]

For anyone that follows Jeff Vahle and Josh D'Amaro on IG, Jeff just posted a pic of the room at the Star Wars Hotel. I responded and let them know of my issues with the pricing and things being stripped. If anyone else that is upset about these things wants to join me maybe we can make a difference that way. I am sure they were both part of the decisions!

 

[mattpeto]

The biggest issue I have with the announcement is that there is no replacement announced, even one where they make a killing. It's just "take a rideshare." That doesn't cut it with those of us, for multiple reasons, can't or won't take a rideshare and/or taxi. I can rent a car, sure, but I have zero desire to do so; Disney was the one vacation I could take where I didn't have to drive.

I wished they give us more with the announcement too...

As others (@Eric Smith) have mentioned, the timing was most likely sensitive to the DVC owners. We are just weeks away from the 2022 DVC booking window and they wanted to clear the air about not expecting DME to return.

In the pre-pandemic times, the general booking window for all guests launches in June-ish. As Scott Gustin hinted, there is plenty of time to unveil a new transportation method. Disney Genie will likely be involved.

The other rumor from a reputable source says the alternate airport transfer won't be cheap.

The long-term plan could have something to do with the train station, but as others covered - that's a huge stretch right now for so many reasons.

 

[rteetz]

For anyone that follows Jeff Vahle and Josh D'Amaro on IG, Jeff just posted a pic of the room at the Star Wars Hotel. I responded and let them know of my issues with the pricing and things being stripped. If anyone else that is upset about these things wants to join me maybe we can make a difference that way. I am sure they were both part of the decisions!

I would suggest being more direct and emailing them directly than commenting on a social media post.

 

[ford91exploder]

Look what happened to SWL, it was supposed to have roaming droids, various elements of the rebellion and First Order, That never made it to opening day. Instead we have what looks like a post apocalyptic wasteland. The streetmosphere was the element to ‘make’ the land.

 

[ford91exploder]

Disney, the tomato pie of vacation destinations.

View attachment 550287

We see it as a pizza with no cheese - but for people who have no history of what it was, it's a really great tomato pie.

They will always have that group of people. So they'll always do this.

that looks really good recipe please.

you do bring up a good point many of us have decades of experiencing WDW, But fresh eyes just see the tomato pie, Not realizing that at one time it was a great deep dish pizza

 

[yulilin3]

Look what happened to SWL, it was supposed to have roaming droids, various elements of the rebellion and First Order, That never made it to opening day. Instead we have what looks like a post apocalyptic wasteland. The streetmosphere was the element to ‘make’ the land.

What's SWL? lol

 

[Tiki Birdland]

What's SWL? lol

"Star Wars Land"

 

[skeeter31]

"Star Wars Land"

Except that it was never billed as Star Wars Land. It’s Galaxy’s Edge or Battuu.

 

[rteetz]

"Star Wars Land"

I believe it was a joke.

 

[Eric Smith]

Look what happened to SWL, it was supposed to have roaming droids, various elements of the rebellion and First Order, That never made it to opening day. Instead we have what looks like a post apocalyptic wasteland. The streetmosphere was the element to ‘make’ the land.

There are a lot of things that get cut from projects as they're built. Sometimes it's due to money, sometimes it's due to practicality