Magic Express Article in Orlando Sentinel

[Fitswimmer]

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/busi...s2606sep26,0,507445.story?coll=orl-home-promo

What I really thought was interesting about this article were the numbers. ME took nearly 200,000 guests from OIA to WDW in April. WOW! The average is about 155,000 and later on in the article is talks about an average figure of 7000 guests a day.

 

[dana1003]

thanks for that link

 

[Luckymommyx2]

Disney knows what it's doing. I just hope they don't offer ME for free until they drive everyone else out of business then decide to start charging for ME. At that point there will be no one left to compete with them.

With that said, we used to take a towncar to WDW but with our family we can not turn down "free." Guilty as charged.

 

[Fitswimmer]

I haven't used it myself yet, but I'm looking forward to using it twice around the holidays. They're probably making more money by keeping people in the parks than it is costing them to run the buses.

 

[Edd]

The Orlando International Airport lands approximately 35 million passengers per year and to this point Disney is forcasted to transfer out 2 million of those landing Orlando. They are very successful in taking guests to their parks. They will account for approximately 15% of the passengers. 85% of passengers use other modes of transportation from the airport.

Many other guests take advantage of the other modes of transportation that is available to the parks. Disney is not the only park, as there is Universal, Seaworld and the Space Center with the Beaches. Taxis, car services and other bus companies provide the passengers with a variety of services that a bus ride to the kingdom cannot.

Some of these services include grocery and brew stops, stops along the way to pick up a variety of different things that passengers want to take with them to their resort. A direct ride to the resorts, valet service, which is almost non-existent to a bus rider, uncrowded check-in and direct rides back to the airport to return home, are very important to many passengers. Car service and taxi transportation provide this. A passenger is also provided the chance to make contact with a suitable driver who would be able to carry the family off the property in later jaunts to places other than the Disney complex.

In many cases these services are provided by local drivers who are here to make every guest feel like they are on a great holiday. Vehicles provided are of a different breed than the busses.

All vehicles provide safety for adults and children. Child car seats can be requested or a passenger may feel like bringing their own. Either way your precious bundle of love will be strapped securely in a seat in case of any type of accident. You will not have to hold your life's work and enjoyment in your arms, in case of an accident, to protect them from injury. The car service, rental and taxi industry is the only transfer services that offer that protection for your young children. Is your child's life worth a safe trip in a vehicle that provides for his or her protection? Of course, it costs, but any luxury transportation costs money.

Included in that 30 minute ride is a chance to sit back and get away from the crowds, hustle and bustle of the airplane and the confusion you might have faced in the terminal. This would be your first chance in a nice quiet ride for you and your family since you left home. It does cost money, but it is well worth more than anything that may be called free.

Most drivers are long time residents of the area and can provide any passenger with many tips and some very good times while riding to their resorts, whether it be Disney, Sea World, Universal, the port for cruising or just here for a convention. Disney busses are not the only way to get to Disney. They are the basic way for you to get to Disney and of course free. There are other very good choices available.

 

[ztbz]

Yes, you can ride the bus from the Airport to Disney for Free, but they offset the cost of the buses by just raising the theme park admission prices (they just raise the price $3 bucks last month) or Disney will just raise the cost of staying at a Disney Hotel, or eating at a Disney Restaurants and merchandise prices go up as well. So in the long run you will pay one way or another, you just don’t know it.

 

[CleveRocks]

Yes, you can ride the bus from the Airport to Disney for Free, but they offset the cost of the buses by just raising the theme park admission prices (they just raise the price $3 bucks last month) or Disney will just raise the cost of staying at a Disney Hotel, or eating at a Disney Restaurants and merchandise prices go up as well. So in the long run you will pay one way or another, you just don’t know it.

Are you saying that Disney didn't raise prices on a regular basis prior to the launch of Disney's Magical Express?

They make the expense back by keeping people a captive audience on Disney property, with no convenient way to leave WDW to purchase meals and souvenirs and go to other entertainment attractions.

That's the "evil" genius of the DME plan.

 

[CleveRocks]

Edd, once again, let me congratulate you on following my long-standing advice to you to tout the benefits of private transportation rather than trash DME. You did a good job.

But there are 2 points I'd like to raise, one pretty unimportant and one very important.

The unimportant one first:

Some of these services include grocery and brew stops, stops along the way to pick up a variety of different things that passengers want to take with them to their resort. A direct ride to the resorts, valet service, which is almost non-existent to a bus rider, uncrowded check-in and direct rides back to the airport to return home, are very important to many passengers

And just how do you guarantee uncrowded check-in at the resort???!!!

If a DME coach holds 50 people, if there are 3 stops, then on average there will be 16 people per resort assuming a full bus (which as you know often is NOT the case that the bus is full). 16 people could be 4 parties of 4. So even if you're last off the bus, you'll be in line to check-in behind 3 other people. Sounds pretty uncrowded.

But wait ... what if your SUV with paying customers pulls up to a resort 3 minutes after a DME bus just disgorged 50 guests, each of them a solo traveler? No way you can promise uncrowded check-in, Edd.

OK, now the important one:

Child car seats can be requested or a passenger may feel like bringing their own. Either way your precious bundle of love will be strapped securely in a seat in case of any type of accident. You will not have to hold your life's work and enjoyment in your arms, in case of an accident, to protect them from injury. The car service, rental and taxi industry is the only transfer services that offer that protection for your young children. Is your child's life worth a safe trip in a vehicle that provides for his or her protection.

But you DO know you're leaving something out, right Edd? You're using emotional rhetoric to scare and/or shame people into using a car service to get from MCO to their WDW resort because you say it's safer than a bus, yet we both know that you're delivering them to a resort where they will have no choice but to take busses to get to at least some if not all of the WDW theme parks and water parks.

If your only true wish is for everyone to be as safe as possible by using car seats for their kids, then we both know the only way to guarantee that during their entire WDW vacation is to advise them to rent a car at the airport, so that, what did you call them, "your life's work and enjoyment" can be in a car seat 100% of the time while traveling in a motor vehicle. But if you only drove people to monorail resorts, people who promised to take their kids only to MK and Epcot, then I agree with you that the private vehicle with the car seat could be assumed to be safer than the bus. Why are buses so dangerous between MCO and WDW resorts, yet they become apparently safe while on WDW property? I know a lot of people like to see WDW as an escape from the real world, and I know Disney is a powerful corporation, but have they actually been able to repeal the Laws of Physics on WDW property??? Does a dangerous bus become a safe bus on land owned by WDW?

You're getting better as a public spokesman for your cause, and I hope you succeed. My newest advice to you is back off from the safety talk, as it's disingenuous.

Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Ramadan are upon us. Peace be unto you.

 

[Edd]

Cleve,

Who said any bus was safe without seat belts. The accident in New York was in highway driving which is comparable to MCO to WDW Magical Express and there were six or seven people killed in that. The accident in Connecticut or Massachusetts was a city bus and there were many injured, but not killed, in that. That would be comparable to the busses on Disney property. The accident on the Disney property, close to epcot, that I saw, resulted in injury to a few people, but was never carried in the paper that I could find. In fact I can't get information from the Highway Patrol, because of certain regulations. So apparently busses are not exempt from accidents anywhere including Disney property.

Why are seat belts required on many of the children's rides at Disney, but not the ME. Disney Cruise line or even on their own Disney property busses? They must know something that I don't know. I am sorry safety is the the word of the day and even Disney cannot wipe it out, even though they may be trying hard to do it.

I just checked back on what I wrote and I don't see any guarantee on anything even though more than likely many of those benefits will happen. You are you trying to put words in my mouth when you said "I guaranteed that?" I certainly did not guarantee it.

Talk of safety is not disingenuous. Safety involves every aspect of our lives. Disney is not powerful enough to dispel or stop safety talk. They employ thousands to make sure all their rides are operating correctly, hotels are safe and their employees are protected from many hazards. They forgot the passenger riding on the Mears or Disney busses, because somehow they must think those vehicles have a shield of protection wrapped around them or maybe bus accidents should never happen in the Disney Kingdom.

I don't know of any theme park, hotel and anything else that is only limited to bus transportation. Please name me a few as you stated there are some. There is a choice of transportation to every public agenda at Disney World

 

[MAGICFOR2]

: for everyone's travels! However you pay for it

 

[safetymom]

Edd, how do we know that the car seats the private transportation are using are safe. There are many guidelines to their use and I doubt that every driver is skilled in the use of the car seats. An incorrectly used car seat is not safe. 80% of people use their car seat incorrectly.

A bus is designed to protect the passengers in the event of an accident. Yes sometimes there can be a very very bad accident with injuries and death but that normally isn't the case.

There is no need to use fear to get people to use private transportation. No need to use misinformation to get people to use your service.

People should be free to choose which way they want to get to the resort.

 

[CleveRocks]

I just checked back on what I wrote and I don't see any guarantee on anything even though more than likely many of those benefits will happen. You are you trying to put words in my mouth when you said "I guaranteed that?" I certainly did not guarantee it.

I guess you were too shrewd to "guarantee" "uncrowded check-in," but you CERTAINLY allude to the idea that DME equals crowded check-in, private transportation equals uncrowded check-in.

Talk of safety is not disingenuous. Safety involves every aspect of our lives. Disney is not powerful enough to dispel or stop safety talk. They employ thousands to make sure all their rides are operating correctly, hotels are safe and their employees are protected from many hazards. They forgot the passenger riding on the Mears or Disney busses, because somehow they must think those vehicles have a shield of protection wrapped around them or maybe bus accidents should never happen in the Disney Kingdom.

You're trying to have it both ways. You say DME buses are unsafe, so if people love their children they won't dare take them on a DME bus. Yet once you deliver them to a WDW resort, just how do you think those people are going to get to the theme parks?

I don't know of any theme park, hotel and anything else that is only limited to bus transportation. Please name me a few as you stated there are some. There is a choice of transportation to every public agenda at Disney World

Now THIS is interesting. Let's take me for example. I'll be staying with my wife and two kids at POFQ in November. If I paid you to safely transport us to POFQ from MCO, what am I supposed to do after that? I can take a boat to Downtown Disney, but how am I supposed to get my kids to MK, Epcot, AK and MGM without buses??? I've stayed at CBR twice in the past -- how was I supposed to get to any of the 4 theme parks without buses? Same with every Value resort. There are MANY other examples. How would I get from Grand Floridian to AK without a bus???

I'm eager to learn how this can be done without bus transportation. If you say rental car, I'd say why should I pay for a car service from MCO and back to MCO if I'm going to rent a car for the length of my stay anyway? If you are going to say I could hire a car service to drive my family everywhere (and whenever we'd want), I would say that exceedingly few people could afford such an extravagance.

So I'm very eager to learn how we can get from resort to theme park and back without buses (except for the very few combinations of monorail and boat transportation, and even that doesn't cover every resort/park combination).

I can't wait to learn how EVERY trip I'd make to get from Point A to Point B within WDW would involve a choice of transportation other than a Disney Transport bus. I'm looking forward to a straight-forward, non disingenuous answer here.

 

[goofy4tink]

The only time I have been in a car accident in Orlando was in a towncar...never a bus. Granted that accident was not the fault of the driver, but the person behind him. No one was hurt but it was scary for myself and dd.
The buses are safe. People ride them every day, in cities all across the world with little danger. If people want a grocery stop, that's what they will pay for rather than taking a free ride. And free it is.....Disney had increased their prices every single year for the 8 years I've been going to WDW....these increases are nothing new.
I have to say Edd, I am not paying $140 for an 'all to myself' ride in order to buy beer. I can order to ton of my favorite snacks and 'brew' or in my case vino, via a grocery delivery service for that kind of money. Besides, if I stop to shop, I have added an addtl 30 mins to my non-park time! Now, I'm up to, let's see....30 minutes to get to baggage claim, get my luggage, have my driver drive around to pick me up, and load my luggage. Then 25 minutes to my resort, add 25 minutes, more or less, to shop....I have just spent close to 90 mins and spent $140 (ride plus tip)...whereas I could have taken 70 minutes and gotten to my resort and put away my $30 plus, $15 delivery fee so $45 total, groceries when I got to my room. This has been my personal experience in 3 trips with DME, vs my 4 trips with a towncar service.
Yes, the cabs and towncars serve the needs of some people, but please stop trying to scare people by saying their children aren't safe in a bus!!! Or that the only way for them to get their favorite snacks and brew is with a towncar. I love towncars but you aren't coming off as unbiased. I have nothing to gain by talking about DME, I just want to be fair. You, obviously, have something to gain by pushing 'private' travel.

 

[Edd]

Safetymom,

How hard is it to put a child safety seat in a vehicle the way the manufacturer suggests. Two or three clicks like: Sit car seat down on seat. Pull seat belt thru the back of the seat and click into the seat belt holder on the other side. Pull the top belt over the seat and connect it to the retainer behind the seat. Check the restraints around the child for correct positioning. Then tighten everything up. Now you have a mother who has been doing this two or three years, or maybe more, for her children and she checks it out because she is concerned. Do you think that seat may provide some safety for the little child in case of an accident?

You must think we are rather uneducated down here.

A bus is big and is built with a lot of steel. However it does not protect people from flying around the bus in case of certain types of accidents. Busses do get into accidents, as the thread on the disboard has noted them!! So what is to protect a little baby or a child from bouncing around, out of a mother's arm, all over that bus until it comes to a stop. You know the ME busses are running at 65 to 68 MPH. During the busy times these busses are being pushed at MAX out and in to Disney.

Yes, Tyler was right. They are governed, but every driver I talked to, maybe ten drivers, says they can get get them up to 67 and in some rare cases 69. The cruise line busses can get 70 or slightly more. Thank God a serious bus accident hasn't happened yet.

There have been accidents already with the big busses. The problem is that Mears or Disney will not authorize the disclosure on the accident to the public. Yes, I have tried to get information on bus accidents, but found out I need the signature, of a company official, on a release from the involved companies. Ask Tyler if this is true. To verify this information all you have to do is call the Highway Patrol.

So please tell me where I have misinformed the DISers about the transportation alternatives out of Orlando International Airport. I would certainly like to know so I can correct myself and continue to post credible information on these boards.

 

[Edd]

You guys must have got up early! Cleve I can answer your question about transportation between the resorts and the theme parks, or for that matter any place on Disney, very easily. There are rental cars you can pick up before you go to Disney. With a rental car you don't have to use Disney transportation. A lot of people use the car service for their transportation needs. Also there are taxis provided by Disney and the resorts that will take you anyplace on or off the property. Fine, you don't want to pay for them than use the Disney transportation. There is a safety factor that a lot of people have to consider prior to riding a bus.

A stay at Disney is not an extravagance? Prices of foods, prices of hotels and the prices you pay for retail goods on the property. Are you saying you let the money fly to Disney and a little bit tight on your family concerns?

Diane,

You obviously do not ride busses to much. Do you feel much safer riding in the private vehicles?

The parking at the theme parks in 1992 was $6.00. Up until the of DME. It went up to $8.00 in 2005. Now recently it has gone up to $10.00. I don't see any change in the parking lots. That is a 66% increase since the start of the DME after the price had remained the same for over 10 years.

There are a lot of people who have lost because of the DME. Only Disney and Mears, which may be questionable, have gained because of the DME.

 

[goofy4tink]

Nope, I guess I don't ride buses 'every day' and do I feel safer riding in a private vehicle? Well, I guess that depends on who is driving that private vehicle. I gotta tell you....I've had some really scary rides in cabs!!!! No way could I live in the big city and use cabs all the time.

I don't have an issue with you giving us info about private cars, but again, I have to say that I have to disagree with you on the safety of the Disney buses. Come on now....do you really want me to believe that when a bus is involved in an accident Disney can cover it up?? What about all those people driving by the accident? Or all the people on said bus?? Or the people in another vehicle that is involved in the accident? I think that most people can be counted on to make informed choices as to what is best for their particular family. But I resent that you are implying that I put my dd's safety at risk because I ride the buses at Disney. On one hand you have told us that the 'park buses' are okay, yet the DME buses are unsafe. Why the difference? I would think that the DME buses would actually be safer since there isn't any standing allowed. As long as kids are seated, and that would be the parent's responsibility, they are pretty safe in those DME buses.
As far as renting a car....I've seen how those other tourists are driving..it's scary. And yes, I would most likely be one of them, trying to find my way around, making last minute lane choices or driving like a crazed person. Nope, I'll take my chances in something really, really big!

And yep, I'm a pretty early riser...have to get dd off to the unsafe school bus at 7:00 a.m.!!!!

 

[Lewisc]

Yes, Tyler was right. They are governed, but every driver I talked to, maybe ten drivers, says they can get get them up to 67 and in some rare cases 69. The cruise line busses can get 70 or slightly more. Thank God a serious bus accident hasn't happened yet.
........ So please tell me where I have misinformed the DISers about the transportation alternatives out of Orlando International Airport. I would certainly like to know so I can correct myself and continue to post credible information on these boards.

You previously posted

Sorry, they are not governed. If they are, come up with specs and not speculation because they have passed me on the way to Disney and to the Port quite a few times. I don't think I was driving less than 65 mph.

NO apology, JUST WRONG INFORMATION.



It's not very cost effective to pay for a towncar service and then pay to rent a car at WDW.

The government has decided buses are safe without seat belts and car seats. Your wrong every time you attack their safety.

You are 100% wrong, to the point of being reckless, every time you atack the safety of DME buses but ignore the fact that the resort buses have the same issues. Guests who share your opinion really have no option but rent a car. I don't think they can even count on being able to get a taxi with a suitable car seat if they want to take taxis from their resort to the parks.

 

[Lewisc]

Those of us who use DME benefit. We get free transfers (no additional cost) and direct luggage delivery to our room. We get to skip the baggage claim process, don't have to tip bell services and we don't have to be in our room when our luggage is delivered.

MCO benefits from both the reduced traffic and reduced load on the baggage process.

You were better but you're back posting inaccurate information.

There are a lot of people who have lost because of the DME. Only Disney and Mears, which may be questionable, have gained because of the DME.

 

[Edd]

I am wrong for attacking their safety. but yet there are incidents in the U.S. where where busses have crashed and people died or were injured in the crash. I guess the government, state of Florida, may be wrong in their thinking.

I have questioned the safety of all the Disney busses DME, Cruise Line and on-site busses. Even the busses in the city. This is not a city forum so did not vent on that.

I have said I will print an apology if I determine my information to be wrong. In that case it was. I checked with the drivers on the speed that they are able to get in their busses and asked if they were governed. It is possible I was only doing 60 when I was passed by the busses. Actually I don't push my vehicle to much past the speed limits, so they passed me in a speed that is legal.

I didn't say Disney would cover anything up. I said the State of Florida would not release any information without a proper signature on a release for the information. It is a state law. Now tell me who I could go to to get a signature. I sure enough don't have the slightest idea where to start and I am sure no one would admit to being the proper person to get the signature from.

 

[goofy4tink]

Edd, thank-you for your well thought out response! Really, I mean it. People still die in car accidents, plane crashes...we all know that no transportation is perfect, we have to take our chances. But, thanks again for the non-confrontational post. I do appreciate it!!!