News Disney's Magical Express to end after 2021

[MrMichaelJames]

Ugh horrible news. We did a trip last year that was double disney world + cruise. So we had 8 checked bags + carry-ons for everyone. I cannot imagine dealing with all that luggage by myself and finding an uber that is large enough to hold 2 adults and 2 little kids plus bags plus then having to drag it all into the resort and deal with it instead of the magic express service doing it for us. We viewed this as one of the reasons to pay a premium price to stay on property. So now whats left? Going to the pickup spot in the airport was a magical way to start the vacation now it is looking more and more just like all the other theme parks.

 

[dmw]

Woohoo! Can't wait until they lower the hotel prices as a result of the reduction in services.

Obviously an accountant somewhere figured out how to get more parking revenue.

 

[trainplane3]

I have the same question. I've never visited WDW without DME, and honestly have a hard time imagining it without it. An Uber ride sounds costly, but cheaper than renting a car (who wants to do that?) and paying parking fees.

Way to make it more challenging for your guests, Disney.

I think we used Florida Town Car up until 10ish years ago. They were great and reliable and will take you to the grocery store as well before getting you to the hotel.

 

[Disney Glimpses]

Well, this sucks. The Magical Express was one of the best things about staying in-park. And what the hell is Disney going to do with those busses?

Raise prices and cut services - great business model, Iger. You idiot.

They don't own the busses, Mears does - they are just wrapped with Disney Magical Express decals.

 

[Thelazer]

Seems like the most ill thought out thing ever, right when the attendance cap is raised and recovery of tourism looks good for end of 2021 into 2022, they do this?

 

[Disney Glimpses]

Great idea, Disney! Let's make sure everyone and their money has a quick way to get off property and visit Sea World and Universal!

 

[ToTBellHop]

This kinda sux, we didn't use the ME but I know a lot of folks here loved it. As long as they still offer Airline check in\ baggage check at the resorts, I won't be too disappointed.

They won’t.

 

[zero creativity]

The last 2 times we took magical express, the return trip to the airport was forever. We were the first resort picked up and had to pick up 2 or 3 other resorts. I can definitely see the perks, but it was almost more of a hassle for us.

 

[Brian]

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?

 

[The Mighty Tim]

This is especially frustrating for those of us who come from abroad (once we're allowed out and about again!)

The last thing we want to do after a 9 hour flight plus however many hours of milling around in the airport is to deal with the complexities of trying to get from the airport to the hotel. Getting on the DME made everything such a breeze. Now it's another thing to deal with and cost up when planning for a trip.

I wonder if enough people kick up a fuss about the demise of DME, it would be enough to get it reinstated. I doubt it, but I can hope!

 

[wdwmagic]

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

For this?

Extra Magic Hours discontinued and will be replaced by Early Theme Park Entry

Walt Disney World Resort hotels guests will now get less early access time, but with more flexibility.

www.wdwmagic.com

 

[zakattack99]

This news is a HUGE disappointment and takes away a major perk from staying on site.

Yep, we have two kids in car seats. The convenience of staying on site and riding the bus the whole trip was a major deciding factor to staying on site. We had been putting off visiting Universal until the kids where older and did not have to deal with all of that, but now this along with rising hotel costs, it seems we may be visiting/staying at Universal a lot sooner than we had anticipated.

 

[grimb168]

This sounds 100% like a money issue. Contract with mears must be coming up. When will train to springs happen? Are magical express traveling numbers down? This will prove to be a bad move for Disney. Not because of the car means individuals go to universal but Disney restaurants will take a major hit. People now can stop at grocery store easily on the way from airport. Family of 4 dinner is almost $300. You can get get food for half the price off site.

 

[mgf]

There has to be more to this decision. This undermines over a decade of business strategy. Forget the impact on guests. This will likely have an appreciable impact on the business.

 

[GusEzra]

Lets see Disney
added parking fees at the resort
Implemented and then canceled a Disney version of ride sharing
now cancelling the ME

I thought the parking fees were to push people toward the ME, and the ride sharing was so people could still get around, but it seems to me for a company looking to make money over all else they are pushing people away from staying on property. I don't think the dining plan is all that big of a draw. what else is there to as a perk as to staying on property? An extra 30 mins a day entrance in to the park? I for one never liked early magic hours. give me the late ones any day.

 

[MagicWDI]

I was originally planning a January 2022 trip long ago. But with news that Tron and GotG might not be open by then and now this, I might as well now bump it up to maybe Sept 2021 like we did last time just to take advantage of the ME... even with having to take our luggage aboard.

 

[ToTBellHop]

This genuinely sucks. While Uber and Lyft are probably more efficient, I enjoyed getting on a Disney bus and watching the “preview” of the parks followed by Disney cartoons with my kids. It started your vacation a bit earlier. Boo.

 

[GoofZ]

This kinda sux, we didn't use the ME but I know a lot of folks here loved it. As long as they still offer Airline check in\ baggage check at the resorts, I won't be too disappointed.

Airline check in has already been removed, unfortunately.

 

[Brian]

For this?

Extra Magic Hours discontinued and will be replaced by Early Theme Park Entry

Walt Disney World Resort hotels guests will now get less early access time, but with more flexibility.

www.wdwmagic.com

Perhaps, but I do think that one can make the argument that the lines between Disney resorts and off-property resorts have been considerably blurred in recent years.

 

[TJJohn12]

This feels like a surrender to Universal and maybe a huge peek into the financials at the moment - ANY visitors on property are now preferable to CAPTIVE visitors on property.

Also, I'm sure Mears is so pleased with staring down the barrel of that loss of revenue. Will they institute a for-payment outside service using the infrastructure? And how does this impact WDW & Cruise transfer which used MDE infrastructure at MCO?