Magical Express Ending Service

[Nick6300]

Rent from Alamo or National. Drop off your luggage and then return the car to the Dolphin or Car Care Center (they bring you back to your resort) and you literally rent the car for less than 4 hours. Rent to return to airport or Uber. We did this our last trip and had no trouble with it.

both the Dolphin and Care Care Center bring you back, or just the Care Care Center? Was this worth the little bit of extra effort vs. rideshare from MCO?

 

[Darcy03231]

I pretty had stopped staying on-site at WDW anyway because we have a large family and it was cheaper to rent a house, rent a van and pay for parking. We also weren't held hostage for all of our meals. We did stay on-site if only 2 of us were traveling for the convenience. Now with all the cuts I highly doubt we'll be on-site guests again.

Very short-sighted of the folks in charge at WDW.

 

[Disney loving Iowan]

Just wondering how many people would have been willing to pay extra if they kept ME? I know I would have. Either way we will have to pay more so it may as well be with ME.

 

[Nick6300]

I would bet without Magical Express a lot more people will use Mears.

We go to both Disneyland and Disneyworld. I think a big difference is that most people who go to DLR don't stay in the bubble their whole trip. We usually rent a car and we spend 4 nights at DLR and then another 4 nights somewhere else in CA. We usually stay in the Disney bubble for our DLR half of the trip and then move on, but with the beach only 30 minutes away a lot of people will do beach days in the middle of their DLR trip for a break from the parks etc.
Also, we looked into the Disneyland Resort Shuttle for a couple of our trips. Once we were looking from SNA thinking we would just rent a car for the last half of the trip. The other we had been to Hawaii and were flying in to LAX and spending a few days at DLR on the way home. The shuttle times were limited and there were reports of people waiting more than an hour for a bus. If I remember right, the time we looked from LAX not only was there an issue with the bus pick up time, but it was cheaper to rent a car than it was to pay for all of us to ride the shuttle. In 2019, parking at the Disneyland Hotel increased to $25 a night, which makes it harder to justify a car just sitting in the lot. A lot of people stay off property at DLR because there are so many hotels within walking distance of the parks-- I think some of those hotels have free parking.

At WDW, we usually stay 8 nights and most trips we never leave the bubble. If we were to rent a car, it would probably cost around $300 to rent a car for a week in Orlando. We usually stay deluxe so parking is $25 a night--- so there is another $200. So renting a car and parking it would be another $500 on the trip, on top of Disney's outrageous room rates. That $500 is pointless since we typically stay in the Disney bubble and never leave. If we did that and went to that expense for a car, I think I would be compelled to go explore outside of WDW some--- Universal, eat off property- maybe a trip to Charley's steakhouse or Bahama Breeze if they are still there-- haven't been to either one in years. Magical Express has been around at least 15 years. Before that time, since we had to rent a car we would usually leave WDW property. Since Magical Express started, I think we have been to WDW at least 10 times, and we have left property once.

I guess we could rent a car, drive to WDW--- drop it off at WDW the day we arrived and then rent a car at WDW to drive back to the airport-- but that would involve a waste of time between going back and forth from the car rental place to the resort. We hate wasting park time.

The train does not sound like a viable alternative. It will only stop at Disney Springs so we would have to drag our luggage to the train, get off at Disney Springs, drag our luggage off the train, drag luggage to bus stop, wait for a bus etc. Plus, how many times a day are those trains going to run?

Uber/lyft can be a pain for families with small children that are in car seats and a lot of luggage. It can also be hard for disabled people. Also, a lot of families go to WDW in big groups. ME makes it easy.

Mears has said they will continue to provide service. I think their shuttles are round trip $40 per person. Presumably since they own the buses maybe they will have their own service with the buses we are all used to. Of course, that is not going to include the luggage service I'm sure which on its own is a loss.

I know full well that we pay for Magical Express in our room rate. Without Magical Express and preferably the luggage service, what justifies paying more than $600 a night which is their deluxe rack rate? I just looked and a room with a "view" at a deluxe for this fall was coming up at over $700 a night! Not even free parking at those rates. No more extra magic hours (we liked the evening ones). Pretty sure that extra 30 minutes will be pointless and spent trying to weave around all the non resort people waiting for their time to get in, or in the typical Disney "race" to a park's popular ride. I would bet those room rates aren't going down because Magical Express is eliminated even though those rates pay for the service-- in my mind this is a way to recoup Covid losses--- charge the same room rate, but eliminate a major expenditure (which was rolled into the rate) which was a huge perk to the guests. Are they going to offer a lot more room discounts with Magical Express eliminated? Are they going to use the savings to hire back a lot of the great CMS who have been laid off and are hurting right now or to help them? What about all the ME bus drivers and employees? Will they all still have jobs with Mears with Disney suspending the service, or is this just going to put that many more people out of work?

I know they are in a terrible place right now with Disneyland closed for close to a year now and no signs it will re-open any time soon; Disneyworld having been closed for an extensive period; and reduced capacity now with it re-open-- but a little honesty would have gone a long way. The Disney spin of claiming that the elimination of ME is due to vacationers "having more options to choose from for transportation" is garbage. Be honest. Say due to our business interruptions and reductions due to Covid-19 we have made the difficult decision to eliminate ME, as it costs (whatever amount) to operate per year. I understand they always want to paint a rosy perfect picture and we all love the Disney happiness bubble, but sometimes you just need to tell the truth. I would rather see them keep the service, but charge extra for it than eliminate it entirely.

Great points! I was sort of surprised to see that people here seem to be much more upset with the discontinuation of ME vs. EMH. For us, on site perks ranked, park to park buses as #1 in value (I think that is the last remaining perk), EMH, then a big drop off to ME, and then the items/services such as bands, airport service, tags.

I'm annoyed by the ME news, we almost always used it. But park time is much more important to us. And 30 min., is less than the typical 45 min or sometimes more that we already were let in before park opening, that was used to spread out the gate crowds. Which means that if they really stick to 30 min, it will actually be a limitation, not a perk. And offsite guests will likely not be let in until actual park opening or something close to it.

If they don't separate lines for onsite vs. offsite, like they do for AP, there could be added delays of navigating around offsite folks, checking everyone's hotel reservations.

Outside of the Halloween party, I haven't ever paid for an early am or night add on. I guess they will be attempting to sell more of those.

Many of us seem to be willing to pay for DL's Maxpass at WDW, and even seem excited by the prospect of that coming to WDW. I've paid for the FPs in Shanghai, yet to try Maxpass (haven't to DL since 2012). But I guess I don't understand why we'd rather pay extra for something that was free (included) in FP. It wasn't perfect, but I guess I'm too cheap.

 

[TammyLynn33]

Great points! I was sort of surprised to see that people here seem to be much more upset with the discontinuation of ME vs. EMH. For us, on site perks ranked, park to park buses as #1 in value (I think that is the last remaining perk), EMH, then a big drop off to ME, and then the items/services such as bands, airport service, tags.

I'm annoyed by the ME news, we almost always used it. But park time is much more important to us. And 30 min., is less than the typical 45 min or sometimes more that we already were let in before park opening, that was used to spread out the gate crowds. Which means that if they really stick to 30 min, it will actually be a limitation, not a perk. And offsite guests will likely not be let in until actual park opening or something close to it.

If they don't separate lines for onsite vs. offsite, like they do for AP, there could be added delays of navigating around offsite folks, checking everyone's hotel reservations.

Outside of the Halloween party, I haven't ever paid for an early am or night add on. I guess they will be attempting to sell more of those.

Many of us seem to be willing to pay for DL's Maxpass at WDW, and even seem excited by the prospect of that coming to WDW. I've paid for the FPs in Shanghai, yet to try Maxpass (haven't to DL since 2012). But I guess I don't understand why we'd rather pay extra for something that was free (included) in FP. It wasn't perfect, but I guess I'm too cheap.

Son and I went to Dl two summers ago loved the maxpass but it was just the 2 of us. $15 a day pp is easier to swallow ba whole family if 5 at $15 day for a whole 7 days as opposed to 3 days .

 

[DisLiss]

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 how the WDW experience in general has been since reopening, but plenty of people are still there paying the same prices for less. And that's what Disney banks on. No matter how much they take away, people are still willing to pay.

 

[hereforthechurros]

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.

We go multiple times a year, especially when we have APs. We will most likely always have Disney in our lives, but those 4-5 trips a year will most likely go down to 1-2. Not to punish WDW necessarily but because if it's no longer convenient, it no longer works for us. Even people who can afford it eventually get tired of the same old thing, especially when the cost grows and the experience doesn't.

 

[Sandiz08]

So can we now expect a service like at Disneyland at LAX? I sure hope so... We rented a car last time we went to Disneyland, but because we were going elsewhere after. We don't go to Disneyworld to go visit the other sites in Florida.

 

[hereforthechurros]

Just wondering how many people would have been willing to pay extra if they kept ME? I know I would have. Either way we will have to pay more so it may as well be with ME.

I am surprised they didn't take this route first. Depending on cost, I would still rather pay more to have the convenience of DME than worry about ride share or renting a car every time. But really with the watered down on-site value anyway, the cost would have to be very reasonable to keep us on-site loyally.

 

[MrsBooch]

Rent from Alamo or National. Drop off your luggage and then return the car to the Dolphin or Car Care Center (they bring you back to your resort) and you literally rent the car for less than 4 hours. Rent to return to airport or Uber. We did this our last trip and had no trouble with it.

Can i ask - how much was this? it may have been answered in the ten plus pages so i apologize

 

[cindyfan]

I am one of those that would have been willing to pay for ME.
It has been such a great convenience for us over the years. I remember year ago... "pre-ME"..., what a horrible pain it was to either rent a car or try and schedule a transport service and then having to drag luggage everywhere, etc.
Getting rid of ME certainly brings the value of staying onsite DOWN!

 

[RoseGold]

Magical Express was trending as #15 on Twitter! And it's not like this was a slow news week.

 

[mrp4352]

Many of us seem to be willing to pay for DL's Maxpass at WDW, and even seem excited by the prospect of that coming to WDW. I've paid for the FPs in Shanghai, yet to try Maxpass (haven't to DL since 2012). But I guess I don't understand why we'd rather pay extra for something that was free (included) in FP. It wasn't perfect, but I guess I'm too cheap.

For me, being able to grab a FP using my phone while in queue on another ride was well worth the money. I believe there was a benefit with the picture package included (but honestly, I'd need to go do some research on that to be sure of it).

 

[Nick6300]

Has there been any news or rumors of Minnie rides returning? It seems like Disney could capture some of the newly created demand for rides to/from MCO, not just between parks. They could probably charge $50 for airport rides and still have demand for them.

 

[Nick6300]

For me, being able to grab a FP using my phone while in queue on another ride was well worth the money. I believe there was a benefit with the picture package included (but honestly, I'd need to go do some research on that to be sure of it).

That sounds right, pictures included. We purchased maxpass initially for our canceled DL trip last yr. I totally get why Maxpass makes sense at DL. I just question why it's better to pay for it at WDW vs. free FPs, or whatever version without extra costs. But I suppose FPs may no longer be on the table in its former form anyhow, and Disney has trained us to expect something with an added cost.

 

[Jrb1979]

Dedicated train from MCO to WDW.

But only to Disney Springs so I guess you'll have to transfer to a bus for your resort there? Obviously cant judge it yet but that sounds pretty non-magical.

It's not a dedicated train to WDW. It's part of an extension to Tampa. It's just going to be a stop along the line. It's not a replacement for Magic Express.

 

[HiStitch626]

both the Dolphin and Care Care Center bring you back, or just the Care Care Center? Was this worth the little bit of extra effort vs. rideshare from MCO?

Can i ask - how much was this? it may have been answered in the ten plus pages so i apologize

I do not think the Dolphin car rental counter has reopened yet. I know the Car Care center did offer a ride to your resort, but I do not think the Dolphin ever did. Convenience and cast vary. If you are staying at S/D, BW or YC/BC the the car drop off was followed by an easy walk to your resort. Prices varied depending on a variety of things. I've done one day rentals as cheap as $30 in Orlando.

 

[francie57]

both the Dolphin and Care Care Center bring you back, or just the Care Care Center? Was this worth the little bit of extra effort vs. rideshare from MCO?

The car care brings you back. Not sure about the Dolphin since we are DVCat Boardwalk and just walk to the Boardwalk. For us it was worth it since we stopped to get supplies on the way. Our Daughter has used Uber to and from the airport her past several trips and loves that way of travel. She has paid about $30 for one way.

 

[EricInPA]

Has there been any news or rumors of Minnie rides returning? It seems like Disney could capture some of the newly created demand for rides to/from MCO, not just between parks. They could probably charge $50 for airport rides and still have demand for them.

It was $155 for one way prior to the pause. No idea what the demand was like, but I'm guessing this price was partially due to how few vehicles there were.

Can i ask - how much was this? it may have been answered in the ten plus pages so I apologize

We did a rental from Alamo for a day trip offsite. They picked us up at SSR and returned us there when we brought the car back in the evening; total cost was $68.

 

[francie57]

Can i ask - how much was this? it may have been answered in the ten plus pages so i apologize

For the four hours it was about $50 which I didn’t think was bad. We stopped at the store to pick up supplies on the way.