Magic Express?

[Porsche44]

Does Disneyland have a Magic Express bus service from LA Int Airport like the one at WDW? If so does anyone have any details?

 

[bumbershoot]

The Grayline bus company runs the Disneyland Resort Express. You pay Grayline for it. It comes out of LAX and SNA airports, and goes to all/most of the hotels and motels in the area, including the Disney hotels. Learn more http://www.graylineanaheim.com/.


There is no Disney-run transportation from the airports.

 

[HydroGuy]

Does Disneyland have a Magic Express bus service from LA Int Airport like the one at WDW? If so does anyone have any details?

Here is good run down of your options - but as bumbershoot said - no ME: "Airport Proximity to DLR and Ground Transportation Information" by 3TinksAndAnEeyore www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2318297

To add on to this, I was thinking about ME this weekend when I flew into LAX (not for Disney but for a wedding in SoCal). I wrote up some thoughts on LAX here - Comments on LAX and other SoCal airports . and I have used ME twice at WDW.

I believe Disney had to negotiate hard to get ME in place. Disney is a big fish in the little Orlando pond, but a small fish in the big LA and SoCal pond. Remember what ME does - it puts other private transportation options like taxis and limos out of business. Why? Because it is free. How can a taxi or limo service compete with free? Not very well.

Plus WDW has 20 hotels and some 20,000 rooms. Lots of people use ME. DLR has only three hotels and a fraction of the rooms (maybe 2000?). So demand is much less.

And finally, ME only has to serve Orlando airport whereas there are multiple airports in SoCal that serve DLR. So it is a very different situation. DLR would have to negotiate to offer this free service with the airports and have all the (for pay) taxi, shuttle and rental car services oppose them. Lots of politics there.

I am sure DLR would love to have something like ME but I suspect the hurdles may be too high and the payoff too low.

The lack of ME at DLR is not because DLR is lower class than WDW but because the situation is just very different.

Just FYI.

 

[Porsche44]

Thanks HydroGuy. I am a small business owner in Australia so I get exactly what you are saying. Thanks for the links I will mull it all over and make a decision. We want to get to DL as quickly as possible so a that will be my number one priority.

 

[momto2nenas]

Good insight Hydro, I always wondered about that too.

We used Disneyland Resort Express last year and it was great. We didn't have to lug carseats for our kids or deal with LA drivers, lol. We plan to use it again next month, they have a $99 "package" for up to 5 people round trip.

Anyone know the closest stop to the Fairfield Inn? I could not find the route on their website..

 

[jacky b]

The closest stop for the Fairfield I think would be the HOJO stop. Someone correct me if I am wrong.

 

[skiingfast]

Hyrdoguy has good points, I'd like to add a couple regarding ME and DRE.

ME is not truly free. While you may not pay anything directly to ME or Mears the ME contractor, that's part of the premium you pay to stay onsite at WDW.

Disney would never do this at DL without fundamental changes. Have you ever flown to Orlando? It's hard to get a seat where someone sitting in the same row or the one in front or behind you isn't going to WDW. Fly to LA, this is never the case. DL and WDW are different animals in a big way.

Almost all the visitors to DL are locals, they can drive there and home in the same day. Almost none at WDW are locals. Orlando and Tampa are just average size US cities. LA is a giant metropolis.

This is also why DL has a tenth the onsite hotel rooms.

When DLR has ten hotels and five gates then the discussion will be about the Dream Express.


The DRE is apparently not well known but probably for the reasons above. Just not many people take it. Also many people flying in need a car for the rest of their vacation and pick it up at the airports.

 

[Huff]

This is also why DL has a tenth the onsite hotel rooms.

DL has only three hotels because Disneyland was a first of it's kind resort when built. Disney didn't know how popular it would become and didn't buy the land around Disneyland for future expansion. The Disneyland Hotel was not owned by Disney until 1988. Paradise Pier Hotel was independently owned until Disney bought it in 1995. Grand Californian opened in 2001.

Had Disney known how successful Disneyland would become they would have bought and owned the land and hotels around the area instead of Hilton, Sheraton, Marriot etc.

 

[HydroGuy]

Hyrdoguy has good points, I'd like to add a couple regarding ME and DRE.

ME is not truly free. While you may not pay anything directly to ME or Mears the ME contractor, that's part of the premium you pay to stay onsite at WDW.

Of course it is not truly free. But when they bundle it the way they do and offer it to everyone it has the same effect as being free. And the same negative effect on local taxi, shuttle and limo services.

I do not blame Disney for a moment. I think ME is a great idea and overall makes the whole airport experience feel a little more magical. They show videos on the buses and play music.

 

[skiingfast]

I do not blame Disney for a moment. I think ME is a great idea and overall makes the whole airport experience feel a little more magical. They show videos on the buses and play music.

Oh yeah ME is really awesome at WDW. Even with all ther problems some people have found with it, I don't think anybody should go there without consider using it. Other than getting into the magic right away, it is the biggest perk of staying onsite. The best thing is they keep refining it. Adding participating airlines, checking into your flights at the hotel. All in all it works and gets better because of the scale of WDW.

 

[skiingfast]

Had Disney known how successful Disneyland would become they would have bought and owned the land and hotels around the area instead of Hilton, Sheraton, Marriot etc.

Disney couldn't have done this if they had known how popular DL was going to be. The disney film company didn't own the park, they were just a partner. As income increased their first priority was owning the park and WED ent. By this time all the land bordering DL was developed.

So instead of paying the increased price for hotels they may of rather torn down than operate. They started DL 2 => DW.

When WDW had just two gates like DL it didn't own 20 resorts, just a handful. But by this time DL was in a major population center, WDW still isn't. Even the Hilton which is California's largest hotel by occupancy wasn't built by DL, it was built by the convention center. If hotels for DL Guests were so important the Hilton ,Sheraton and Marriot would be on Harbor dr. instead or all those circa 1960 motels.

If DL gets 6 gates and 10 hotels then disney can run a west coast ME.

 

[Huff]

If hotels for DL Guests were so important the Hilton ,Sheraton and Marriot would be on Harbor dr. instead or all those circa 1960 motels.

That is true but we're talking the 1950's and 60's. Motels were far more common than large resort hotels across the nation. By the late 60's Disney certainly did want the land around Disneyland. Not just for another gate or two but for resorts as well.

Over the past 25 years or so Disney has been able to buy up substantial land around Disneyland as well as buy the Disneyland Hotel and Paradise Pier Hotel. They own land along Disney Way as well as another large plot but not sure where. Wasn't there plans to build a 3rd gate on this land but scrapped the idea after 9/11?

 

[kiwitinkerbell]

Would Disneyland Resport Express take me to Candy Cane Inn from LAX?

 

[kiwitinkerbell]

Whops, don't worry about my question above, I forgot we would need to get to Disney from our Cruise (San Pedro, Port of Los Angeles).

Does anyone know how we could do that?

 

[skiingfast]

They own land along Disney Way as well as another large plot but not sure where. Wasn't there plans to build a 3rd gate on this land but scrapped the idea after 9/11?

Well obviously their plan hadn't been to buy land to expand revenue but primarily to create parking. Disney itself has never talked third gate except that it won't happen until DCA is ontrack to having regular capacity crowds.
First though DL is probably getting a new land I've seen info suggesting this.

If you read the history of the Disneyland hotel you'll see that is was more a motel than hotel for a long time and disney didn't want to run it. Disney in fact could barely run it's hotels in WDW for a long time. While disney owned hotels it could only pride itself on it's film and park operations. It's plans for more WDW hotels were trimmed quickly.