insiders ONLY... is there a possibility that the Magical Express comes back..

[Goofyernmost]

Ok, thanks.. that is why I asked, because I was pretty sure you could check in ahead of time unless you had baggage to check. That makes more sense. It was a very nice service and one that everyone is still paying for but not getting.

Expectations on what is expected (or "owed" if you will) are on a spectrum.

I agree with what you said above (bolded), and I simply expand it to include the DME.

I do not like using the word "entitled" as a pejorative for things one actually pays for!

To put it another way, entitlement is not inherently a negative thing. You pay for something, you are entitled to get it, guilt free.

The DME was never free. Anyone with a decent education knows this. It is something we paid for. Because we paid for it, we were entitled to it. Entitled in a guilt free sense. Now, using Disney magic of a different sort, that portion of what you paid for in the past disappeared. Oh, the price is still there, but the highly valued service that we all paid for and are entitled to, is gone. But, again, for emphasis, the price is still there.

It is like the TGI Fridays meal for 4 deal. You get 4 entrees, 4 drinks, 4 sides, and 4 deserts for $39.99. You get this deal for years and it is part of why you are a loyal customer. One day you go in, and the deal changed to 4 entrees, 4 drinks, and 4 sides for $49.99 and the deserts are no longer included. Am I entitled because this ruffles my feathers? Now, do note that if the price went up, and the deserts remained, I would be ok with it. I get that prices go up. But cutting the deserts while simultaneously raising prices just seems like an intentional F U to me the loyal customer.

Sorta like car dealer markups. Those feel very dirty to me and I would not only never buy a marked up car, but I would never use a dealership again that pulled that stunt. Its smarmy. I know, I know, we are not entitled to pay sticker price on a car. But still smarmy.

Same with Disney.

Because the price is still there for the DME, and in fact has gone up, I do not think this is a situation of lazy or the negative connotation on entitlement. I think it is more along the lines of a simple Disney, don't be smarmy.

What it is now is paying for a service that they no longer provide. However, since the day they announced that they were discontinuing the service it has been entitlement. The problem is that if things like the Magic Express were never listed as a line item in the resorts daily rate, no one could calculate how much of that room rate included the DME. It was entitled back then even though it wasn't listed, because they promoted it as a selling point, now they don't, but it was never an entitlement except when it was in existence. So other than wishing it was still a thing, everyone either knew they had discontinued it or never knew anything about it. So it was just a change in policy. I know that many people are disappointed that it no longer exists, but it isn't owed to anyone except when the included it as that selling point. It is, however, something that one has to believe was figured into the basic costs of going to WDW in what they charged overall. That's not any different than charging for Fastpass (Genie and Lightning Line) when we got all those things as part of the cost of a ticket for admission. However, they not longer promote it as a no cost extra.

It's not that I don't think it was a great thing, but having been in the busing business for over a decade I can tell you that most don't realise just how much that little "perk" cost Disney to operate and I might have even predicted, on this board, at one point right after they started charging for parking at those already overpriced resorts, that the next thing to go would be DME.

The point is that unless and until the lack of those thing starts to show a decline in business for them, they will not be coming back.

 

[Goofyernmost]

The good news is that empty parks (low demand) will cause prices to drop.

...or more complicated, perks to increase. Perks like DME do in fact increase demand.

WDW grew and grew for over 3 decades without it. That perk was nice, but it's absence will not cause an overall decline in business except for those that actually used it which I don't think is more than a third of the overall attendance numbers. Those blanks will be filled by others, at least for now.

 

[jloucks]

The point is that unless and until the lack of those thing starts to show a decline in business for them, they will not be coming back.

I am not sure how they will connect the dots on this one. Surveys I guess?

The meal plans were another great perk. Granted this one was way more transparent as you had to pay for it.

Usually.

Back in 2012 it was included "free" with our trip. That one went away before the DME did.

 

[jloucks]

WDW grew and grew for over 3 decades without it. That perk was nice, but it's absence will not cause an overall decline in business except for those that actually used it which I don't think is more than a third of the overall attendance numbers. Those blanks will be filled by others, at least for now.

Yep. Stating the obvious, but if you don't stay in the resorts, DME is of no value.

Which wasn't that the point tho? To get people in the resorts?

I suppose if the resorts are packed (I have no idea if this is true, but it seems true based on my experience) the DME is no longer of any value to Disney.

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

Yep. Stating the obvious, but if you don't stay in the resorts, DME is of no value.

Which wasn't that the point tho? To get people in the resorts?

I suppose if the resorts are packed (I have no idea if this is true, but it seems true based on my experience) the DME is no longer of any value to Disney.

The DME was started as a gimmick to KEEP people on site. If you drove, you could go to other places.
However, if you used DME then you were more likely to stay put on property. At least that's what disney counted on, and it worked most of the time.
We always used DME and loved it. We fly from a long way to get there. It was always appreciated, and we did not have any thoughts of leaving disney to go elsewhere. We loved the bubble and had no desire to go to Universal, Sea world, etc. So it kept us at Disney.

If we drove, we would definitely go other places.
So I think it served it's purpose very well at the time. I don't buy the claim that there is Uber, Lyft, now and people are leaving that way. I'm sure some are, but to use that as an excuse doesn't fly with me. People could use taxi's back then or a car service and did. We used a taxi one time to check out Universal with no problem. (I guess I contradicted myself about leaving, but just once for one day

 

[Goofyernmost]

Yep. Stating the obvious, but if you don't stay in the resorts, DME is of no value.

Which wasn't that the point tho? To get people in the resorts?

I suppose if the resorts are packed (I have no idea if this is true, but it seems true based on my experience) the DME is no longer of any value to Disney.

Yes, of course it was the reason and that isn't my point. With the multitude of options like car rental, Uber and the others that is not how it works now. It is a huge expense and no control about how many it keeps on property for the duration of their trip. So why have that expense when it became the equivalent of just throwing money away. But who knows what the future will bring. and yes, you are correct it never has been a factor for those of us that stayed offsite. They obviously are/were not affected one way or the other with the exception of making it tougher to find a rental car. Competition will change that before long.

 

[DisneyHead123]

Expectations on what is expected (or "owed" if you will) are on a spectrum.

I agree with what you said above (bolded), and I simply expand it to include the DME.

I do not like using the word "entitled" as a pejorative for things one actually pays for!

To put it another way, entitlement is not inherently a negative thing. You pay for something, you are entitled to get it, guilt free.

The DME was never free. Anyone with a decent education knows this. It is something we paid for. Because we paid for it, we were entitled to it. Entitled in a guilt free sense. Now, using Disney magic of a different sort, that portion of what you paid for in the past disappeared. Oh, the price is still there, but the highly valued service that we all paid for and are entitled to, is gone. But, again, for emphasis, the price is still there.

It is like the TGI Fridays meal for 4 deal. You get 4 entrees, 4 drinks, 4 sides, and 4 deserts for $39.99. You get this deal for years and it is part of why you are a loyal customer. One day you go in, and the deal changed to 4 entrees, 4 drinks, and 4 sides for $49.99 and the deserts are no longer included. Am I entitled because this ruffles my feathers? Now, do note that if the price went up, and the deserts remained, I would be ok with it. I get that prices go up. But cutting the deserts while simultaneously raising prices just seems like an intentional F U to me the loyal customer.

Sorta like car dealer markups. Those feel very dirty to me and I would not only never buy a marked up car, but I would never use a dealership again that pulled that stunt. Its smarmy. I know, I know, we are not entitled to pay sticker price on a car. But still smarmy.

Same with Disney.

Because the price is still there for the DME, and in fact has gone up, I do not think this is a situation of lazy or the negative connotation on entitlement. I think it is more along the lines of a simple Disney, don't be smarmy.

Agree - entitlement is a term that describes interpersonal relationships. It just doesn’t apply to business-consumer based relationships. In a regulated free market, you have the right to receive what you paid for. The seller has the right to be paid. So long as what you’re buying is legal, everything else is a negotiation between seller and buyer. If you want to pay Four Seasons prices to stay at a Holiday Inn, totally your prerogative. If you feel you should live like a royal in Dubai at Motel 6 prices, ok, you’re also free to ask for that and see if you get any takers on the supply side. Nobody is entitled to anything other than what’s codified in the law surrounding business transactions. Everything else is up for grabs.

I think what bugs me about the cuts at Disney is that, as you mentioned in your analogy, they’re not even giving you the option of buying the same level of product as you were buying before. An analogy I’ve used - it would be like going to buy a Coach purse and finding they had started using cheap plastic zippers. You might still love the brand enough to buy the purse, but it would be extremely frustrating that they don’t even offer the product that you really loved any more. Disney could have upcharged for ME, but just cutting it means they’ve essentially pulled that particular experience from the shelves.

 

[graphite1326]

I thought airport check in was a thing even without any connection to a Disney Resort. I've seen it done via phone many times. From just about anywhere. I haven't had the occasion to fly anywhere for 6 or 7 years now so I might be misunderstanding what is meant by airport check in currently.

You checked your bags in at your resort and got your boarding pass. When you got to the airport you just went through security and went to your gate.

 

[tanc]

not an insider but I highly doubt it. they've invested way too much into their new systems and don't care enough to provide the same services as before. As long as Disney is making money (using minnie vans for example) then that's all they care about. magical express was probably a loss for them which is likely why they cut it.