Magical Express ridership DOWN 3.9%

[JimMIA]

Use of DME is down 3.9% over the first 9 months of 2010, despite the fact that overall traffic at the Orlando airport is UP 1.9%.

It would be interesting to compare occupancy at the DVC resorts to see if they also show a corresponding decline.

Here's a link to the story in the Miami Herald: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/10/28/1895904/fewer-orlando-visitors-heading.html

 

[Granny]

Jim...thanks for the link. Interesting that DME is down. Unfortunately the data is insufficient to drive any causes. As you point out, it might be that Disney on-site guest attendance is down? Or are more people renting cars so they can see Harry Potter attraction at Universal?

I know that we prefer to drive if at all possible just to have a car at WDW. Frankly, with the DDP making it hard to get into WDW restaurants we have been enjoying more off-site eating options.

But without knowing if WDW resort bookings are down, it's hard to guess why DME would be down. It certainly is a great option for those who don't drive or rent cars when at WDW.

 

[dburg30]

I think that equaled out to 64,000 people? That breaks down to 175 people per day. 175 people into MCO that dont take DME to disney just doesnt seem to be that many. Heck convention, other vacation destinations, Wonder if that counts connections to other places? I'm sure many of them are those that rent cars though and are checking out US/IOA. If you average 2 people per room, and usually more then just 2, that = about 80 rooms at WDW out of? 23,000 or something?

 

[Simba's Mom]

I'll guess, based on what I've heard from other guests, that a few people have turned away from DME because they want to leave for the airport later. I noticed on my last trip that after my pick up time, we went to other hotels and didn't leave Disney property for about 45 minutes after I got picked up. That's 45 minutes of valuable fun time at Wally World that instead was spent crammed on a bus. And "crammed" is exactly what it was-once we finally left the property, every seat was taken. At our last stop, they called another bus to take those who wouldn't fit on our bus. I long for the "good ole days" of 2005, when buses were half full both ways.