News Disney's Magical Express to end after 2021

[Darth Figment]

Also, they are cutting extra hours back to 30min before the park opens. Gonna have to rethink my next visit.

 

[SoFloMagic]

Yes and no. The goal of a public company is growth. While they will retain 99% of us, the growth could be stagnated with less offerings and no decreases in pricing. In my opinion, I think it is likely at this point. The buzz will be that there is no longer a reason to stay on property (and they are sort of right). Time will tell.

I really think the half hour early thing is huge. Getting into the parks 30 minutes early and knocking out one ride and getting in line for the second before rope drop is pretty great. You could ride test track and get in line for frozen before the park opens! And having it at any park, any day is a pretty big perk. For me having it every day beats an hour once or twice (and dealing with the massive crowds that come with it).
I really don't think they'll lose much from magical express, but I think early entry could convince a lot of people to stay onsite.

 

[Disney Glimpses]

Is there actually credible rumours that it's going

Nope

 

[HouCuseChickie]

There are several major factors you are not mentioning here:

First, Disney wasn’t always as packed as it is now (or should I say was, pre-pandemic). With hotels continuing to be built while not building additional theme parks since the end of the 90’s, attendance is obviously much greater than it used to be.

Secondly, prices have skyrocketed compared to fifteen or twenty years ago. Just compare the price of a one-day park ticket now versus 2004. Not to mention hotels. In the mid-2000s, you could stay at the Polynesian for under $400 per night. Now you’re lucky if it’s under $600.

Finally, there’s the expansion of Universal. One would think that having a major and growing competitor would force Disney to do more to entice guests. Right now they’re doing the opposite.

I agree that the pricing has well outpaced inflation and rises in some parts of the travel industry. As for enticing guests, all I can think is that there's probably more we don't know that's in their business plans. With travel and tourism being where it currently is, this is likely much more complex than enticing guests. It could be a loss leader they are phasing out for costs ... maybe seeing forecasting in air travel changes, it could be strictly budgeting, or it could be something they'll reveal to the public at a later date. Who knows?

As for crowds, while I have fond memories of my 80s and 90s trips, I also remember excessively long waits for many attractions. I remember waiting over an hour for things like PotC and IASW on my first trip, over 2 hours for the original Imagination, and my dad wouldn't even go near Space Mountain unless we rode it right when MK opened. I remember several visits to Epcot, standing in front of the video screen trying to make reservations, only to find that most places were booked solid. I don't remember it being crazy packed, nor do I remember the parks being ghost towns, but I do remember how the implementation of FPs made a world of difference with touring parks in how much you could do in a day.

 

[Lilofan]

Nope

Did you read the first post? Its going away

 

[Disney Glimpses]

Did you read the first post? Its going away

FastPass+?

 

[Lilofan]

FastPass+?

My bad. Back to regular programming.

 

[Disney Glimpses]

My bad. Back to regular programming.

np!

 

[Dan Deesnee]

This is a major blow to families coming down to Disney.

What family that needs 1 or more car seats wants to have to worry about getting on an Uber, finding one that can fit their kids and safely get them to the resort? While also having to go get their luggage and haul it around. Not everyone flies in during daylight hours either.

My family is done with Disney for a few years until they come to their senses. And I'm usually there 1-3 times a year. We may go once, for the 50th, but pre pandemic we had 3 trips mapped out. That will assuredly NOT be happening.

Can't wait to see what they cut next!!!

 

[Disney Glimpses]

unless you stay at a deluxe resort, there is basically zero reason to pay on property rates.

 

[Indy_UK]

You would think COVID would maybe put Disney in a similar mindset to after 9/11 where they would do anything to get people back into the parks but no, management are going for the jugular before the big crowds start returning

 

[Stitch826]

I agree that the pricing has well outpaced inflation and rises in some parts of the travel industry. As for enticing guests, all I can think is that there's probably more we don't know that's in their business plans. With travel and tourism being where it currently is, this is likely much more complex than enticing guests. It could be a loss leader they are phasing out for costs ... maybe seeing forecasting in air travel changes, it could be strictly budgeting, or it could be something they'll reveal to the public at a later date. Who knows?

Honestly, it wouldn’t surprise me if Disney announced an in-house replacement for ME. All they’d need to really do would be purchase additional buses and hire or bring back more bus drivers. Charge a fee for the round trip service ($25 each way per person). Since it has the Disney logo on it, people would still line up to use it. They could probably even get away with cost cutting by using fewer buses and combining more stops. The overall convenience factor is worth it to not have to worry about booking and paying for a rental car (plus parking).

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

You would think COVID would maybe put Disney in a similar mindset to after 9/11 where they would do anything to get people back into the parks but no, management are going for the jugular before the big crowds start returning

When this started last March, I jokingly said “oh good, maybe I’ll be able to afford animal kingdom lodge again.” (That was before I knew how serious Covid was...)

Nope, Disney ain’t gonna discount nothing with Chapek in charge. Ha.

 

[Disney Glimpses]

Honestly, it wouldn’t surprise me if Disney announced an in-house replacement for ME. All they’d need to really do would be purchase additional buses and hire or bring back more bus drivers. Charge a fee for the round trip service ($25 each way per person). Since it has the Disney logo on it, people would still line up to use it. They could probably even get away with cost cutting by using fewer buses and combining more stops. The overall convenience factor is worth it to not have to worry about booking and paying for a rental car (plus parking).

They would have to cut Mears out of the equation and essentially take over a portion of MCO that belongs to Mears. Not going to happen. What will happen is Mears continues the service with normal busses and charges per person.

 

[mightynine]

Honestly, it wouldn’t surprise me if Disney announced an in-house replacement for ME. All they’d need to really do would be purchase additional buses and hire or bring back more bus drivers. Charge a fee for the round trip service ($25 each way per person). Since it has the Disney logo on it, people would still line up to use it. They could probably even get away with cost cutting by using fewer buses and combining more stops. The overall convenience factor is worth it to not have to worry about booking and paying for a rental car (plus parking).

You could do the same thing with Mears. That was basically what Disneyland Express was - a for-cost branded service run by a bus company in Anaheim. But they let that end too, so who knows.

 

[note2001]

They would have to cut Mears out of the equation and essentially take over a portion of MCO that belongs to Mears. Not going to happen. What will happen is Mears continues the service with normal busses and charges per person.

Quality is guaranteed to drop further without Disney to answer to.

 

[icc2515]

I'm not upset about it all. In fact, I'm glad it's gone and expect it will stay gone, at least in it's previous form.

It's an operational nightmare.

Care to explain? My family and I have used it at least 50 times and never had one problem with it. Always on time, always a seat waiting, never a breakdown (for us), luggage always arrived at both ends on time. It was easy for a DVC member to book and DVC members paid for the privilege to use it thru our dues, which will go down because of it's termination. Now of course they may only go down a penny a point, but they will do down (or up less as the case will be).

 

[note2001]

Service to the airport from Miami is expected to open in 2022. There is no way Brightline will be able to design, permit, build and open a line in less than a year.

Thank you! I edited my post so I don't confuse anyone other than myself.

 

[doctornick]

The part of this that is uniquely stupid may seem trivial, but... car seats. Car seats are going to be a MAJOR problem.

I'm a pretty typical Disney family, my kids are 6, 3, and 1. For at least another year, I'm going to need one booster seat, one forward-facing car seat, and one rear-facing car seat. For two years after that, I'll still need two car seats but minus the booster. You currently *cannot get* an Uber or Lyft with two car seats, let alone three. Uber with even a single car seat is difficult to find and usually very expensive.

That's one of the reasons we have historically done a private van for my family (when we go to Uni at least). We're too many people to fit into one Uber anyway so this enables us to go with the whole family in one vehicle. And since we book in advance, the driver would typically meet us at the baggage carousel and get us out quickly. Honestly, it's better than MDE in terms of convenience of transport - minus the extra cost of course - but my biggest complaint would be that you have to get your bags versus MDE getting them for you.

Private vans will put in the number of car seats you request.

 

[icc2515]

You could do the same thing with Mears. That was basically what Disneyland Express was - a for-cost branded service run by a bus company in Anaheim. But they let that end too, so who knows.

Disneyland is mainly a local thing not nearly as many people flying into LAX to go to Disneyland. What percentage of people flying into MCO are going to Disney World compared to the percent of people flying into LAX? 50% compared to 1/2 percent? That and Covid is why Disneyland Express closed.