Magical Express Ending Service

[dachsie]

What I dont understand is Disney saying its not being utilized as much. Every time I use it the buses are full and the lines are full

 

[Drew729]

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.

This is correct. I remember when I used to pay extra for every SMS text message I sent on my phone I did just fine during those days as well but it sure is nice to not have to worry about that anymore and have it included in my plan. The issue to me is that in general I believe people will actually pay more for convenience, I guess we will find out. I imagine dynamic pricing with rideshare costs as well as renting a vehicle will be higher.

I do find it odd from reading the posts that those who rent cars and use car/bus services feel they won’t be impacted with higher costs/less availability for those services.

 

[kwdw]

I know I posted yesterday about this, but this one really stings for me. This sucks. The cost of ground transportation is a real for those of us that fly in is real, it's not an annoying $3 bottle of water. Even once that train materializes, it's not dropping folks at their resort.....

 

[princesslover]

Do they not realize that by not offering the Magical Express, those of us that are forced to now rent a car will spend our $$$ in other dining locations and/or buying groceries offsite as well as visiting other attractions in the area? for my last 2 Disney trips, I never stepped foot outside the Disney bubble. Nor did I ever consider splitting my stay between Disney and Universal. That's about to change for my family.

I have not seen this mentioned here but apparently the reason for eliminating ME is because people were already leaving property due to on recent onslaught of driver share options. The whole idea behind ME was to keep guests “in the bubble” but Disney is no longer reaping that benefit. People are using ME and still leaving property. I agree that they could still keep it and charge a fee though.

 

[belle032]

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.

Interesting concept! And I tend to agree. They could make these big announcements, which leads to guests who may have been on the fence about visiting this year, go ahead and make the booking because they have to get there before these changes happen. Occupancy & ticket sales are driven up and then they either A) retract/adjust the change because of the feedback they received/it wasn't a good financial decision/whatever other reason or B) Let the change just happen. Either way they win because the money was already handed to them.

Look at this year. Disney desperately needs the cash and WDW is one of the few places they can get it right now. Announcing these changes might be negative for the future, but exactly what they need to potentially increase revenue right this second.

 

[JPTexan82]

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.

 

[Dizznee Freak]

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.

Agree.

If this is deal breaker then so be it, but we already were planning on renting because ME has some inherent down sides, most obviously having to get on a bus 3 hours before your flight that you already checked in for..renting a car/van is a big reduction in stress for us.

 

[mkb3]

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.

You can have money and still be frugal. Some developed their wealth being this way. Just because you can afford to buy something (or a service) doesn't mean you should.

 

[mkb3]

Disney is making the hard decisions for me. We started going to WDW in 2017 and have been back 3 times, taken a cruise and gone to Aulani since then. Each year we contemplate a Disney vacation or trying something new. So far Disney has won the past 4 years. With these perks going away we may be trying new places in the future. EMH actually hits harder than ME. There is just something extra about being in a less crowded park at night vs first thing in the morning.

We have been contemplating DVC this year and weighing the pros and cons. Sadly my wife and I have been weighing the pros with how we remember WDW prior to March 2020 and not what it will become after. Yesterday's announcements made it obvious DVC isn't the right choice for us. Not necessarily for ME and EMH, but because we know every perk is never promised to be there each year.

 

[MamaBelle4]

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.

Maybe you can afford the $45, but you can't afford to throw it away twice. Because you are paying for it in the rack room rate. It's an "included" service, and you were always paying for that. Now you're paying for it multiple times. Not everyone can afford to throw money away at nothing.

Disney is a Premium Product, not all deserve to attend.

I find that to be a distasteful sentiment. Anyone who wants to attend, deserves to attend. Everyone vacations differently. Maybe for some families it means staying at a holiday inn and driving an hour to and from the parks each day and eating just PB & J in the parks. Disney is supposed to be for families, not for families of the wealthy only.

 

[Naomeri]

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.

My complaint is not the added cost; if Disney had made the announcement that starting 1/1/22 DME would cost X instead of being free, I’d have been fine with it, because I understand Disney is not a cheap trip. I liked DME for the convenience of not having to arrange anything beyond telling Disney what flights I was on.

 

[Disirish]

Maybe you can afford the $45, but you can't afford to throw it away twice. Because you are paying for it in the rack room rate. It's an "included" service, and you were always paying for that. Now you're paying for it multiple times. Not everyone can afford to throw money away at nothing.



I find that to be a distasteful sentiment. Anyone who wants to attend, deserves to attend. Everyone vacations differently. Maybe for some families it means staying at a holiday inn and driving an hour to and from the parks each day and eating just PB & J in the parks. Disney is supposed to be for families, not for families of the wealthy only.

This 100 %
Yes disney is a premium product , and people pay accordingly in room rates and ticket prices , so when that product gets diminished people will resist it because the price won't reflect the reduction in services .

 

[Elle23]

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.

It’s not about the money. It’s about the experience. It’s about the magic. It’s about the bubble. It’s about feeling like Disney actually cared about their guests and going out of their way to make a memorable and amazing vacation that was unrivaled among the competitors.

And that has been eroding at a rapid rate as of late. What has always set Disney apart from the others is dwindling. And it makes me very leery of dropping another $5000 on a subpar, average experience.

 

[skeeter31]

What I dont understand is Disney saying its not being utilized as much. Every time I use it the buses are full and the lines are full

But, you don’t know the logistics of it. Disney can make buses and lines look fuller by running less buses because the demand just isn’t as great. I hear tons of reports that people have to stop at 5+ resorts before their resort nowadays on the DME and there aren’t any dedicated resort runs anymore. So they’ve definitely cut back on the amount and frequency of the busses.

 

[dioxide45]

Didn't MEARS already operate, on a contracted basis, MDE? If so, I suspect they will just convert those busses back to MEARS busses and start selling their services again. Not sure why they couldn't license DME name and Disney could sell the service at a fee to the customer.

 

[zebrastreyepz]

I'm laughing at the "Disney is a premium product."

Not anymore!

I'd like to see how long a maker of costly vehicles would continue to sell those vehicles at their high price but start stripping away electric windows, electric locks, seat warmers...you know...all the perks you get in an expensive car.

Because that's what Disney has done, they've turned a top of the line car into the Flintstonemobile and convinced people it's still a top of the line car.

 

[EricInPA]

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.

It was just extremely convenient to not have to worry about bags or ground transportation before even leaving my house. It added to the "all in one" nature of the vacation.

We already were paying for it .. unless you think no we all will see room rates drop lol

Yes, obviously. Though some folks here are pointing out that they managed to get along fine before DME, so maybe they expect the room rates to drop back to 2005 levels.

 

[yulilin3]

I saw international travelers, like the Brazilian tour groups, mentioned. What about the Pop Warner and cheerleader groups? They all arrive at different times.

They usually charter buses

 

[yulilin3]

Didn't MEARS already operate, on a contracted basis, MDE? If so, I suspect they will just convert those busses back to MEARS busses and start selling their services again. Not sure why they couldn't license DME name and Disney could sell the service at a fee to the customer.

And they used to and still have shuttle service getting from mco to lake Buena vista

 

[nkereina]

A lot has changed since 2005. An exponential explosion in attendance, for one. Also a much higher percentage of guests who fly in - especially international guests. Prior to 2005 and ME, there was a far higher percentage of guests who drove, were domestic visitors, and who stayed offsite.

Extra perks like ME and EMH are what led to the massive uptick of onsite guests who fly in.

This is Disney shooting themselves in the foot, plain and simple.

I don't disagree, but these folks will still have the option of the Brightline rail once that is open. That will provide direct high speed service to WDW. A lot remains to be seen with how WDW logistics will work from Disney Springs and what the cost will be, but inevitably this was a big part of the decision to terminate DME (second to cost savings). People will still have direct transportation to WDW property without having to rent a car or call an Uber. Is it not as convenient and annoying to have to pay? Absolutely. But if people would rather not go or stay off-site because of slightly less convenient airport transportation options, then that is their prerogative. Disney's modeling must not have shown a loss projection from this that was enough to justify leaving the service in place. Its also worth mentioning that Universal doesn't have any transportation options from the airport, yet people have no qualms about staying onsite there. I get that its a gut punch to lose the service making the onsite value (for some) less for the same cost, but when looking at it objectively, the operational decision isn't that crazy.

I saw international travelers, like the Brazilian tour groups, mentioned. What about the Pop Warner and cheerleader groups? They all arrive at different times.

What about them? They'll have to make their way like any other group or traveler going to a destination.