magical express gone at the end of year?

[hrmom26]

when i called today to reserve my room for Feb. 28th at pop century the agent i spoke to said that magical express was going to end completely on DEC. 31st 2006 she said it would stay free till then but be over on the 31st it was a thing only for the 50th celebration and they were surprised it lasted past DEC 31st 2005 she said they all thought it would end then, anyone else hear this or was i the only one who didn't no?:lol:

 

[PrincessTink]

This is terrible news, I was hopping they would keep Magical Express forever, I would have even payed for it, it was a great way to start out your Disney vacation I thought, I never had any problems with Magical Express!! Well I guess R.I.P.

 

[wdwishes2005]

wouldn't count on it. If WDW makes THAT big of a mistake they are in for some trouble. Why would it be such a big mistake? not only do you have people staying at your hotels, they have no way of getting to a grocery store and are forced to buy 7$ candy bars.

 

[Monty]

when i called today to reserve my room for Feb. 28th at pop century the agent i spoke to said that magical express was going to end completely on DEC. 31st 2006 she said it would stay free till then but be over on the 31st it was a thing only for the 50th celebration and they were surprised it lasted past DEC 31st 2005 she said they all thought it would end then, anyone else hear this or was i the only one who didn't no?:lol:

You didn't indicate if it was a "Disney" agent or a travel agent...

My understanding was it was free until the end of the year and that then they "might" charge a fee. I don't know that it's going to "end" at that point or not, but I imagine there's a fair-sized investment in buses and infrastructure to just shut it down completely.

Given the number of people I've seen posting how well it worked compared to those that had problems [not a scientific poll, just my impression], I think they'd want to keep it. Whether they'll charge for it...

 

[RonAnnArbor]

I haven't heard anything either - everything official from Disney states that it is free through the end of the Happiest Celebration on Earth and then a determination will be made as to wether it will remain free or will switch to an at-cost service (or will be rolled into the resort costs)...NOTE: the Disney Reservationists are NOT allowed to discuss any of this with people on the phone even if they knew it-- a) most of them are not privy to any of that information, they follow their written notebook guidelines, and b) it is strictly against policy to go outside of those written guidelines. Lets see what develops before we let this rumor build up to anything more than that.

 

[jacksnightmare]

When we were on ME last month the bus driver talked the whole way to the airport to a couple that was sitting in front of us. Some things he talked about he was right on, and others he was really off. So take it for what it is worth. He said that ME will be free until October, or somewhere near the end of the year, and then Disney is going to look at it and see if they want to start to charge for it. So who knows

 

[ToTBellHop]

When we were on ME last month the bus driver talked the whole way to the airport to a couple that was sitting in front of us. Some things he talked about he was right on, and others he was really off. So take it for what it is worth. He said that ME will be free until October, or somewhere near the end of the year, and then Disney is going to look at it and see if they want to start to charge for it. So who knows

The fact that this particular woman stated that she and everyone thought it would end on Dec. 31st, 2005 and it didn't tells me that she really has no idea what she's talking about and is speculating. I'll wait for official word from Disney.

 

[hrmom26]

You didn't indicate if it was a "Disney" agent or a travel agent...

it was a Disney agent sorry i didn't add that i hope she was wrong it did seem weird she was telling me this you would think it would be something she wasn't allowed to talk about:veryconfu also i would think ME would bring in more business i know as a single mom it could be one of the deciding factors in staying on site not having to worry about luggage is a big time saver when you are travaling by yourself with your kids.

 

[SpenceMan01]

When I called to get info for my honeymoon trip (Jan '07), the CM at CRO checked into it and told me that he simply "could not book Magical Express for me at that time". If it's still around and free, I will use it, but even if it's a pay service, I'll probably opt for a Quicksilver or Tiffany towncar. That way we'd get a grocery stop and a personal ride.

 

[tigger_rox00]

I don't think they should get rid of it, but they should fix some of its problems. The last two times i've gone, they send the wrong luggage to my room. The same thing happened to some friends of mine who went. So the only time i've used ME, it has been a hassle. I think the service is a great idea, but they still have some bugs to work out.

 

[landauh]

I don't believe that it is going away since there is a position posted on the Disney Careers website with the following job description:

This position is part of the Disney’s Magical Express development and support team and will be responsible for ongoing application development and support for the DME and Resort Valet applications. Provide support and development of the ASP.NET, windows services, web services and handheld (Compact Framework) applications.

 

[wannabeBelle]

My understanding is that the service will be free until the end of the Happiest Celebration on Earth. After that there may be a fee but it hasnt been stated as to what that fee might be. I cant imagine Disney just scraping the whole thing as it really is a brilliant business move, get guests on your property and have them spend all the money there, not to mention a great service. I havent had one major problem with the service since I have started using it last May. I hope it stays around!!!!!!!!!!! Belle

 

[bob0012]

when i called today to reserve my room for Feb. 28th at pop century the agent i spoke to said that magical express was going to end completely on DEC. 31st 2006 she said it would stay free till then but be over on the 31st it was a thing only for the 50th celebration and they were surprised it lasted past DEC 31st 2005 she said they all thought it would end then, anyone else hear this or was i the only one who didn't no?:lol:

Ending on Dec 31st 2005? Since the service is free as part of the celebration, and advertised as such, as well as the fact that their agreement with the airport is for an 18 month test program I would say this agent had no idea what she was talking about.

 

[righttrack]

I think Magical Express is a brilliant move on the part of Disney. I'm sure there are airport contracts to be renewed. That may be why the uncertainty. I'd be very surprised if it goes away, and very surprised if its a separate line-item charge.

 

[DisneyGerry]

Me

If the ME ended--meaning the FREE ME would be no difference since surely Mears will surely continue to operate the bus service as they did prior to ME last year. I think they run about everything out of MCO: Orange taxi shuttles/ Bus/ even have there hand in the towncars. I do recall the Mears bus service was expensive charging per person. Always found it cheaper hiring one of Mears vans where it ran something like $50 each way.

 

[bucklmd]

This service took a lot of work and dollars to implement, especially coordinating with different airlines and the airport. For them to just do away with it, would be a shock, so I can't believe that. I can see them eventually charging for it, but maybe they could incorporate it into their packages or room rate and still classify it as "free." As we all know, nothing is truly free.

One downside to that is all of those guests who drive their own cars to WDW or have other means of transporation still pay for it. A lot of resorts have a resort fee that could these types of amenities. I hate having to pay them, but that's just the way it goes...

 

[tink81]

I have read articles talking about the grumblings of cab drivers and car rental businesses that are experiencing losses due to the implemetation of ME. MCO was supposed to play some role in coming to a negotiation between Disney and the cab companies, etc. People are staying on property just to take advantage of ME, thus cutting out the expense of a cab ride or transfer leaving cabbies and shuttle companies seriously ed. MCO was supposed to try and come to some agreement with Disney. But how can Disney think of discontinuing or charging for this service when the fact that it even exists has brought more people into their hotels?! Unless they are being asked to discontinue it because of the complaints from the cabbies and shuttle companies...

 

[bucklmd]

I have read articles talking about the grumblings of cab drivers and car rental businesses that are experiencing losses due to the implemetation of ME. MCO was supposed to play some role in coming to a negotiation between Disney and the cab companies, etc. People are staying on property just to take advantage of ME, thus cutting out the expense of a cab ride or transfer leaving cabbies and shuttle companies seriously ed. MCO was supposed to try and come to some agreement with Disney. But how can Disney think of discontinuing or charging for this service when the fact that it even exists has brought more people into their hotels?! Unless they are being asked to discontinue it because of the complaints from the cabbies and shuttle companies...

Disney is a corporation that's primary focus is to make money. They don't discontinue a service because it's bad for other businesses. The competition will have to alter their product in order to re-capture some of their lost business. If Disney starts charging a seperate fee for this service, it will then become a price war. Otherwise, some shuttle companies may not be able to compete and will go out of business.

 

[RonAnnArbor]

Disney would never worry about discontinuing something because of the compaints of any of the Orlando non-WDW based companies. They complained about many many things over the years. Any impact on their complaints is practically negligible to the income of the WDW empire. Downtown Disney was CREATED with that tenent in mind - keep the resort visitors AT WDW rather than losing them to the nightlife of Orlando -- and now employs a couple thousand Orlandoites. You hear no complaints now - you did originally. As to Magical Express being "FREE" it is NOT -- the cost of ME is included in all of the slightly upward creeping prices in the park...in the dollar or two differences in rack rates at the resorts, the dollar or two differences in the costs of items at your resort commisary, etc etc. Disney does nothing for free. But even Disney has a "topping out" point - at which point they need to charge for services which are currently rolled into daily operating expenses; and ultimately, these create yet another source of revenue for Disney. For those who have been to Disneyland Paris - there is even direct RER service from LONDON and other points directly to DLP. RATP SNCF originally complained - and then embraced the cross marketing. Disney was not the one who broke down in those original negotiations. (Although they did make one concession - the train stop is NOT called Disneyland Parc...it is called Marne-le-Valle for the suburb within which it is located). That is the way Disney does business. They didn't close any of the parks when right-wing groups protest gay content in their movies or gay day at the park. They don't get rid of the laser guns on Buzz because some group protests or complains about the "violence" inherent therein. Bottom line, don't look for any changes in service based on wether or not someone complains. If they discontinue it, they found no way to keep their revenue flowing. If they keep it running, they did.

 

[spacemtnfanatic]

We always take a cab from MCO. Sure, it's $40-$50, but we are at our resort often times within 40 minutes of our flight landing, we don't have to make any other stops, we are in control of our own luggage, and we don't have to make a reservation for any specific time to depart back to MCO on the last day.