News Disney's Magical Express to end after 2021

[wdwmagic]

Haven't we heard the rumor every few months for the past 3 or 4 years that Magical Express is going to end soon? Or, at least, FREE Magical Express.

I don't mind. I used it once and decided climbing out of a small airplane seat and climbing into a small bus seat was not for me.

Yeah we can go back 5 or 6 years and find talk of a desire to backtrack on many of the features that were thrown in to resort stays. EMH, Dining Plans, Magical Express etc.

 

[stevebwv]

Couldn't disagree more......Disney doesn't have an attendance problem, but it has in the past and it certainly will in the future..........Don't be naive and think that these things don't affect hotels bookings because they do..........If this economy goes south and inflation picks up and goes through the roof (which is about too in the next 2 years), Disney hotel booking will be greatly affected

I believe the negative affect on occupancy rates will be mitigated by the larger profits. Running any business at near capacity all the time is very difficult. Making a dollar off 75 people is easier than making 75 cents off 100 people. Both give the same profit.

 

[Goofnut1980]

I wonder if this will also affect the cruise line buses. Not to mention, so Disney will now be able to collect per night money for you having to rent a car and stay at one of their resorts. So they save money and make it! hahahahaa

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

You're overlooking one of the key gains of DME - keeping guests 'inside the berm'. While you say it's only minor costs, you've also basically had the guest 'break through' a barrier that kept them in your camp. If they have to buy an uber once... it's alot easier for them to buy an uber twice... etc. Once they have a car, its easier to drive elsewhere, not just their first destination, etc.

DME was a 'win-win' for Disney in that it offered what was a huge monetary value for customers.. and therefor easy to convince customers to 'buy in' and give up other things... like flexibility or mobility. Both to the advantage of Disney. Disney was effectively 'buying' customers to lock-in to the Disney bubble.

Now, Disney is voluntarily giving up their advantage to keep alternatives at bay... effectively moving Disney 'further' from the airport. Seems short-sighted.

I'm aware one of the reasons behind ME was to help keep people in the bubble.

I wonder if they've simply decided this isn't as realistic a proposition any more. With ride sharing being convenient and affordable, combined with Harry Potter making Universal a must-do for families, the number of people willing to only do Disney has surely decreased.

The only thing still keeping people on property is perhaps the ticket pricing structure.

 

[TTLUTS]

I believe the negative affect on occupancy rates will be mitigated by the larger profits. Running any business at near capacity all the time is very difficult. Making a dollar off 75 people is easier than making 75 cents off 100 people. Both give the same profit.

Not necessarily.........cross selling is a major revenue driver..............resort guests spend more on food, merch, park tickets

 

[sullyinMT]

I hate to be “that guy”...but this is obviously just an excuse to dump a contract. And implement a new charge service if they want.

Uber and Lyft are not siphoning off a high enough percentage to justify this.

And it just is the standard recession stuff: cut everything and see what sticks?

Just a complete change in management philosophy...no desire to keep you there or get you there. The cost of all their “convenient”
Payment up front plans

IF they offer some type of "bubble shuttle," even continuing to partner with Mears, and it's relatively close to a rideshare fare, it will maintain and grow the bottom line for Disney (and probably Mears, too). Win-win. If people, myself included, see this as an easy way to justify a VRBO/AirBnB, rent a car, and buy one AP for the family, Disney loses on full-cost souvenirs and a DDP purchase from a family of four bouncing between deluxe and upgraded view moderate rooms every 18 months or so. Long term, a move like this one could be more damaging than the short term gain.

Not to mention less park days because the family enjoyed the heck out of Universal this summer, and my boys aren't even the "thrill-seeker" type. It was just a nice, if not approaching WDW bar, experience. We'd definitely at minimum dedicate our water park day to Volcano Bay if staying outside the berm.

 

[aliceismad]

I wonder if this will also affect the cruise line buses. Not to mention, so Disney will now be able to collect per night money for you having to rent a car and stay at one of their resorts. So they save money and make it! hahahahaa

Disney launching its own rental car brand, exclusive to Orlando! MinnieVans for all! $200 per day, plus parking.

 

[Notes from Neverland]

I wonder if this will also affect the cruise line buses. Not to mention, so Disney will now be able to collect per night money for you having to rent a car and stay at one of their resorts. So they save money and make it! hahahahaa

You have to pay for the cruise line buses, so I'd imagine they'll stick around.

 

[ParentsOf4]

Anyone have a read on this other than just extreme cost-cutting?

Corporate Disney is banking on hotel occupancy not dropping significantly with the discontinuation of DME.

Per the following chart, there is some risk to this. Hotel occupancy has remained consistently high ever since DME was introduced in 2005.

Still, Disney can backtrack and reinstate DME ("back by popular demand") if DME's elimination turns into a financial mistake.

The concern is that hotel costs are relatively fixed. A hotel with a 70% occupancy rate might loose money, while that same hotel with a 90% occupancy rate might make a great deal of money. (It's why services like Priceline got their start; take advantage of a hotel's willingness to offer rooms at steep discounts to fill a few more, knowing that those rooms are mostly profit. But it has to be done in secret; otherwise everyone is going to demand the lower rate.)

Let's say WDW's post-COVID occupancy drops from 2019's 90% to 85%. Disney is counting on the revenue lost from the 5% of rooms to be less than the cost of offering MDE to those 90% of rooms. (BTW, if post-COVID occupancy drops to 2004's 78%, you'll see DME return quickly!)

In addition, at one time DME allowed Disney to capture all your vacation dollars. You were stuck within the WDW bubble. However, people now are so comfortable using services like Uber that this is no longer the case. DME is no longer as effective as it once was.

 

[Goofnut1980]

So to recap, in the last few years, Disney has:

• Given EMH & 60 day FastPass+ privileges to off-property hotels.
• Reduce evening EMH to 2 hours instead of 3
• Adding in "after hours events" so you can pay for more time than EMH would offer in the evening.
• Made the rooms arguably more generic and sterile.

And following COVID:

• Cut EMH & FastPass+
• Taken away free MagicBands (not much of a perk, but they acted like it was)
• Cut Magical Express
• Cut virtually all resort entertainment

So the question on my mind and probably many others' is: why stay at a Disney resort?

I just booked for May and October. I am a lifetime Diamond member with Hilton because of my work travel. I am staying at Hiltons/Waldorf when we go down and not giving Disney a dime. Why not, I dont get any extra perk for staying at their hotels. At least with Hilton my breakfast is 100% free plus I get VIP lounge with drinks and food free as well.
And I say this as a DVC member! lol

 

[sullyinMT]

Disney launching its own rental car brand, exclusive to Orlando! MinnieVans for all! $200 per day, plus parking.

They'll go deep into the IP for branding. Is Chevy still marketing the Bolt?

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

That elevated train service from MCO straight to WDW looks like an alternative option if that gets off the ground and gets built.

Chances that gets screwed up?

Haven't we heard the rumor every few months for the past 3 or 4 years that Magical Express is going to end soon? Or, at least, FREE Magical Express.

I don't mind. I used it once and decided climbing out of a small airplane seat and climbing into a small bus seat was not for me.

I’m of sorta the same mind. We’ve used it occasionally...but not in love with it.

For me it was the time. Don’t want to not get to vacation directly off the plane by waiting and don’t want to leave early. Human nature

 

[Tavernacle12]

I can’t believe how much WDW has gone from the first thing I wanted to do when the pandemic was over to something I might not ever want to do again. EMH is dead, and now this too? Part of the appeal of the whole thing was the convenience and ease. The bubble was the selling point. I’m not flying down to Disney to rent a car or get in some stranger’s Uber. If nothing official replaces ME I’m not going back until the train line gets added, and that’s if I go back at all.

ME was so popular I strain to imagine how angry people not in the know will be come 2022 when they finally book their way back to Disney again and find out they have to arrange their own transport to the parks. Early entry is crap too. How much can you even do in half an hour?

 

[sullyinMT]

Chances that gets screwed up?



I’m of sorta the same mind. We’ve used it occasionally...but not in love with it.

For me it was the time. Don’t want to not get to vacation directly off the plane by waiting and don’t want to leave early. Human nature

Yes, the leaving early sucks more and more as the kids get older and don't require as much "herding" through the airport. They're more adapted to airport travel now than some adults, and getting to MCO 3+ hours early for a flight is plain ridiculous.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Corporate Disney is banking on hotel occupancy not dropping significantly with the discontinuation of DME.

Per the following chart, there is some risk to this. Hotel occupancy has remained consistently high ever since DME was introduced in 2005.

View attachment 523431


Still, Disney can backtrack and reinstate DME ("Back by popular demand") if DME's elimination turns into a financial mistake.

The concern is that hotel costs are relatively fixed. A hotel with a 70% occupancy rate might loose money, while that same hotel with a 90% occupancy rate might make a great deal of money. (It's why services like Priceline got their start; take advantage of a hotel's willingness to offer rooms at steep discounts to fill a few more, knowing that those rooms are mostly profit. But it has to be done in secret; otherwise everyone is going to demand the lower rate.)

Let's say WDW hotel occupancy drops from 2019's 90% to 2004's 78%. Disney is counting on the revenue lost from the 12% of rooms to be less than the cost of offering MDE to those 90% of rooms.

In addition, at one time DME allowed Disney to capture all your vacation dollars. You were stuck within the WDW bubble. However, people now are so used to using services like Uber, this is no longer the case. DME is no longer as effective as it once was.

That chart proves a point...but not the same one.

It is direct correlation to recessions. Disney knows that you are never going to “perk” people into going or not. That ended because the Iger regime have driven the prices so high there is no sense in trying to lure in business.

They just aren’t gonna care anymore.

Blue Ocean

 

[Shouldigo12]

Oof. I've been a defender of a lot of Disney decisions since I joined- not out of loyalty, but because I either agreed with the decisions or didn't see the harm in them. But even I can't really defend the recent decisions they've made that making it less and less worth it to stay on property. At this point the only real perk I see is "it's Disney!" Which is so strange. They had an excellent model before, one that was able to convince guests to spend literally their entire vacation at the parks.

 

[monothingie]

Yeah we can go back 5 or 6 years and find talk of a desire to backtrack on many of the features that were thrown in to resort stays. EMH, Dining Plans, Magical Express etc.

Was DME that great of a drain on profits for TDO? I understand the dining plan and even magic bands, but it's not like they operated hundreds of buses. I really can't imagine the annual expense being earth shattering.

 

[Gringrinngghost]

I thought brightline wouldnt open till 2023?

MCO connection is hopefully someone 2022. Disney Expansion is realistically 2024.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Was DME that great of a drain on profits for TDO? I understand the dining plan and even magic bands, but it's not like they operated hundreds of buses. I really can't imagine the annual expense being earth shattering.

It’s almost nothing...

I think you identified what it’s not: a way to steer people to more revenues. Magic bands and dining plans drive more revenue...because the upfront cost of food and ticket media is outrageous compared to when they started those ideas.

 

[monothingie]

Corporate Disney is banking on hotel occupancy not dropping significantly with the discontinuation of DME.

Shouldn't they be more concerned with getting back occupancy because of CV-19? Seems like they're pretty confident 2022 will be just like 2019 with no residuals.