Understanding Why Disney's Magical Express Is Ending

[Jrb1979]

It's a huge advantage - at least an hour less standing in line per day, and probably closer to two at the MK. And that's at 35% park capacity.

Yeah for those that rope drop. They need a lot more perks then that to draw people to stay on site.

 

[mergatroid]

I don't see why people renting a car wouldn't still use Disney internal transportation to get around the resort. The buses are far more convenient than driving yourself to one of the parks and getting in all the traffic plus having to pay the parking fees.

I have a car when I'm at Disney (because I drive there from Atlanta) and hardly ever use it -- mainly just to go to other resorts for occasional meals. Although I now have to pay the exorbitant resort parking costs (as @Sirwalterraleigh mentioned above with regards to the Boardwalk, when I was at POR last January the lot outside our building was never more than about 5% full), driving to the parks every day would double that expense.

When I've stayed onsite I've never used Disney transport and you don't have to pay to park in the parks if you're a guest. It's all subjective but I find driving myself far better than relying on a Disney bus and their time table and/or availability. Come and go as I want using my car, personally I see no advantages to taking the Disney bus. In my car there's no chance of a smelly person sitting near me, nor a stranger engaging me in conversation about their views on immigration or other awkward subjects. I've control of the air conditioning and can happily sing along to Green Day or Marilyn Manson without the fear of upsetting anyone other than my wife or friends. Also we often eat outside of WDW in the LBV area so it means we can go straight there from the parks rather than be shuttled back to our hotel first and then get in our car to drive.

Again though, everyone's different and what's right for me isn't necessarily right for others. I just can't imagine using Disney buses over my rental car for convenience, relaxation or comfort.

 

[peter11435]

Likely speeding up the process though. I agree such changes have been inevitable but the increase in labor costs is a big deal Disney will have to make major adjustments for. And it all can be a net positive for everyone. IMO.

It did not speed up the process nor did it have any effect on this decision.

 

[Lilofan]

When I've stayed onsite I've never used Disney transport and you don't have to pay to park in the parks if you're a guest. It's all subjective but I find driving myself far better than relying on a Disney bus and their time table and/or availability. Come and go as I want using my car, personally I see no advantages to taking the Disney bus. In my car there's no chance of a smelly person sitting near me, nor a stranger engaging me in conversation about their views on immigration or other awkward subjects. I've control of the air conditioning and can happily sing along to Green Day or Marilyn Manson without the fear of upsetting anyone other than my wife or friends. Also we often eat outside of WDW in the LBV area so it means we can go straight there from the parks rather than be shuttled back to our hotel first and then get in our car to drive.

Again though, everyone's different and what's right for me isn't necessarily right for others. I just can't imagine using Disney buses over my rental car for convenience, relaxation or comfort.

I've been in crowded busses and monorails at the end of the day during the brutal hot summer. The smells of others body odor can be overwhelming.

 

[yung1522]

I saw plenty of cars available for rental in mid-March. Although it was a business rate, I rented a vehicle for $235 for a week (mid-size and picked an SUV due to my Emerald Aisle membership). But prices are higher now than they have been for a while during non-peak times. I guess that’s what happens when rental car companies dump 1/2 to 3/4 of their inventory during a pandemic.

And now they aren't able to get new inventory due to chip shortages

 

[huskergreg]

You mentioned 9/11 affecting hotel occupancy. Couldn’t it be argued that the pandemic is likely going to have a similar outcome for Disney, at least for a while? Even once social distancing and mask requirements are eliminated and capacity is brought back to normal, it will likely be some time before travel returns back to normal levels, especially for international visitors. Why not keep DME around to attract more visitors?

While there are undoubtedly many people reluctant to travel due to COVID fears that number is dwindling every day. And many people weren't hurt financially by the pandemic and in fact some saved money by less travel and dining out. There is a huge backlog of demand to travel SOMEWHERE and Disney is likely to benefit as lots of trips got cancelled by the pandemic. For an example look at Hawaii where there was a drop-off to almost zero visitors and now Maui is overrun with visitors. During spring break there were huge number of families there and overall numbers were near 2019 levels despite restaurants and attractions still being limited to about 30% capacity. It's expected that overall visitor counts for all of Hawaii will be back to 2019 levels by summer.

 

[carnini]

I wonder, no ME and will the hotel prices go down if part of your hotel price was the hidden costs of ME. I still wonder why they did not start changing Magical Express next year. Majority of disney visitors have kids, including me, and ME is a game changer and I would gladly pay for the ME especially for the luggage service

 

[wutisgood]

Likely speeding up the process though. I agree such changes have been inevitable but the increase in labor costs is a big deal Disney will have to make major adjustments for. And it all can be a net positive for everyone. IMO.

Six flags in New Jersey now pays $15 an hour. Disney can pay everyone that tomorrow not raise any rates and still make plenty of money. Disney for years has had the greediest parks on earth. They can afford it.

 

[peter11435]

Six flags in New Jersey now pays $15 an hour. Disney can pay everyone that tomorrow not raise any rates and still make plenty of money. Disney for years has had the greediest parks on earth. They can afford it.

Disney started raising their starting pay to 15 years ago.

 

[MichRX7]

The real incentive for us staying on vs off was between the DME and FastPass reservations 60 days out instead of 30. Our kids stayed in our condo just outside the main gates, and could not get a FP for anything good last Feb 2020. Also, you had to wait for each day of your offsite stay for that 30 days, so you couldn't say we are starting on Monday and book FP's through Friday like you do with on property. You had to book Monday 30 days out, wait a day and book Tuesday, wait a day, and so on. They were so frustrated they said they would never stay off property again.

 

[Andriadisney]

What's the quickest / easiest way to get to Frozen Ever After in Norway at EPCOT at rope drop?

What we have done in the past, is from your hotel take the bus to boardwalk resort, then walk through the international gateway and stay to the right toward France. Quick and easy!! Have fun!

 

[Tomi-Rocket]

I have to say I couldn’t understand why Disney ended DME but seeing this explanation it makes sense. I do realize that all decisions come down to money. I’m fortunate that losing DME doesn’t affect me in any way, I’m just NW of ATL and I prefer to drive anyway but I feel for the people who used, needed, and liked it.

 

[wm49rs]

This has nothing to do with minimum wage increasing. At all.

When it comes to posting b#ll#cks, jt rolls on like when "the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor."

 

[dovetail65]

After being to Disney World over 50 times from the year it opened until right before Covid not many non locals can have possibly visited more than me.

I never understood anyone that used the Magical Buses or even the onsite buses. As a kid my parents has us use the buses and yes for young kids running around by ourselves(back than even at age 8 we could do as we pleased unsupervised and rode the buses without supervision all day long !). The buses were great for that, but once I could drive forget it.

As soon as I was grown it was a rental car, once I had my own family that continued. Some trips we would have other families go with us or meet us there and 100% of the time me having a rental car, even with the wife saying we didn't need one because heck they didn't get one, we had a much better trip. We were always waiting for the families that had to jump on the bus. They were tired, hot , sweaty, we were ice cold in our car and on time everywhere we went. Having my own car at Disney has always the way to go for me. Season passes, a rental car and fast passes(when they started) proved so successful for our trips no matter what time of year(though we have our favorite times) all our trips were and are based on having a car right from the airport, how could it not be?

At dinner we would hear people complain about lines, the buses etc as my wife and I and even my kids jaws dropped as we were saying only minutes before how easy it was getting from place to place, how the rides had fast lines and how dead the parks seemed. I had one guy say how horrible it was, I thought why even come here then? I could see his stress on his kids face, I am sure many have seen this, the dad not looking to be having fun etc. My kids and I were smiling away. After talking to the guy about having a rental and me having reservations months in advance and planing each day I was dumbfound to find this person came to Disney with 4 kids and no plan. He relied on all Disney transportation in the blistering heat.

Disney made it seem so easy to him and he relied on the Disney information he received. The impression I had was Disney almost pushed him to believe he could rely on the in house transportation for everything from airport to getting to parks and have a great trip, like it's some small resort (yeah 42 sq miles). How could the Magical bus survive when people had those experiences?

That could not have gone well for Disney and if it happened to this guy it happen to thousands. We were running around in an ice cold car with reservations, fast passes and each day planned, as I do for every trip down, he had the opposite experience and it all started at the airport for him having no car of his own. Heck, with cell phones it is so much simpler than back in the 80 and 90', even the 2000's to plan. The bus system and even Magical express should never have been viewed as anything more than a complement to a rental car, only my opinion of course.

For me all trips are based on having a mini van rental and I couldn't dream of any other way for a trip to WDW personally. As far as a business decision and peoples comments on Disney not being able to fill rooms? I have a different views. I see nothing but blue skies and butter flies for Disney. I believe they will be more busy than ever. There is no downside for me, if they get more busy great, they expand , more attractions and Disney just keeps getting better. If they can't fill rooms(again I just do not see this) less people and my trips are even better. I may be biased, we purchased a retirement home 6 minutes from the door and Love WDW.

 

[chriskbrown]

And now they aren't able to get new inventory due to chip shortages

For people not watching, new car inventories are very low and yes the rental companies dumped alot of cars. A local Chevy dealer by the airport in Charlotte had like 35 Nissan Altimas fro the rental companies. When we went in December, the prices at Hertz were a great deal more than in the past.

 

[Nubs70]

Social distancing has reduced the bus capacity by 25%. The cost of MDE to WDW has increased 400%

 

[raymusiccity]

For people not watching, new car inventories are very low and yes the rental companies dumped alot of cars. A local Chevy dealer by the airport in Charlotte had like 35 Nissan Altimas fro the rental companies. When we went in December, the prices at Hertz were a great deal more than in the past.

We were planning on renting a car for our trip in June. It looks like we'll be canceling our flight and just drive down from Nashville. $800 for a ten day rental is a bit much!

 

[chriskbrown]

We were planning on renting a car for our trip in June. It looks like we'll be canceling our flight and just drive down from Nashville. $800 for a ten day rental is a bit much!

Granted I flew Spirit but my rental was more than my two flights. That was a first.

 

[barrymoss]

So I'll just jump in with my 2 cents. I've made my first trip to WDW and bought in to DVC in 2000, long before DME existed. We sometimes would rent a car and sometimes would take a towncar to our resort. I really liked DME when it arrived on the scene and we rented cars far less often (perhaps one or two days per trip) and generally spent more of our trip on Disney property than we did in the early days. As a Disney shareholder, I thought it was a brilliant idea to capture more revenue per Disney tourist by providing an incentive to stay on property.

My last trip to WDW was fall of 2018. We missed 2019 and went to Tokyo Disneyland instead, and we had no travel in 2020 due to COVID. I'm expecting the next trip will be 2022 and then we should be back to regular annual trips if not more often. Will the absence of MDE make a difference for us? Not really. I'll miss the convenience, but all the reasons I bought into DVC in 2000 still apply. Sure some things have gone away that I miss, and some new things have arrived that I enjoy. Frankly, the biggest issue for me has been the declining quality of the Epcot Food and Wine Festival the last few years I went. My Disney trips (usually centered around F&W) got a bit shorter and I worked in a trip to Napa/Sonoma or another wine region instead.

Disney's internal transportation network is 10 times more important to me than DME. While I sometimes gripe about late and overcrowded buses, overall the experience for us is better than driving to the parks (especially MK). I've occasionally stayed at a non-Disney hotel when DVC wasn't available, and it was often enough to remind me of all the reasons I enjoy staying with Disney. While DME has been nice, it certainly it's absence won't be a deal-breaker for my family.

 

[wutisgood]

Thank goodness for shared shuttle service. Rental rates are crazy when lodging and flights are cheap in may. Many times I pay less than 20 per day for rental and it is double on more now.