Magical Express-Think about it!!

[theBanker]

I just took a look at the new Magical Express. This is what I saw. There were more than 500 people at 2:30pm waiting for one bus to show up! All the Disney Big Wigs were there, also some Mears big wigs, one had red hair! Most of the passengers were waiting quietly; I expected that after waiting almost an hour, you could start hearing some complaints. But I guess that since its FREE!!!, you can't complain!!! You get what you pay for!!

I'll go back tomorrow, and give you'all a report on how well the "Tragical Express" is doing. ta ta

 

[Brian Noble]

You registered just to post that? Hmmmm.

Do Not Feed The Trolls.

 

[Luv2Roam]

Whether I am right or not, my impression is this is a driver for someone other than Mears.
Not to say the system is not without problems. But...

 

[theBanker]

I am just an observer. The truth hurts!! I know!

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Hmmm...

theBanker, someone who has never posted here before, is telling us that over 500 people were "waiting for one bus to show up." There's a fleet of 37 Magical Express motor coaches serving four different zones at WDW. So why were they all waiting for just "one bus"?

theBanker calls is "Tragical Express" and takes glee in making Magical Express sound bad. I have my theory about theBanker's motives, but I'll leave it to DIS readers to determine for themselves how credible theBanker is.

I don't doubt that Magical Express will have some start-up problems. We've read the accounts of problems with printing and mailing the luggage tags. And we've read how flight information information was lost from many Magical Express reservations (which must make it difficult for the schedulers to do make sure there's the right amount of capacity throughout the day).

I look forward to reading what regular DIS participants have to say about their experiences with Magical Express -- especially after Disney has had a week or two to deal with the start-up issues.

 

[theBanker]

You are right!! There are 37 Buses. Right after one bus came in, seven others followed. About one third of the waiting passengers got on. But a half hour later all the buses left and there were still 400 more waiting. Not to say that more people were coming down the elevators to join the crowd!!

 

[Luv2Roam]

Disney truth hurts? Not me. I Love Disney. But my rose color glasses came off years ago,
I am sure Universal execs are gleefully laughing right about now.
But I do wonder too that 500 people were waiting for one bus when there are so many new busses just for ME. But hey -- I have xperienced THAT at a regular bus stop at POR!
I would take their input it is -- free too. And agree Troll.
I will move on to a more productive thread.

 

[dizluvr71]

This was posted on another thread by another fellow DISer:

"Just got a call from a friend that arrived this morning. He did not have luggage tags but was told to give the attendant his baggage claim checks. He landed in Orlando at 10:15 and headed to the "White Gloved" cast member. He said the airport was mobbed. 3 lines were going for Magical Express check in. He said it went very smoothly and quickly for the amount of people. He counted 20 buses and saw more rolling up. So, landed at 10:15, did his ME stuff, got transported to POP, checked in, and was in his room before noon. Sounds like it is going better than we expected."

Makes you wonder about TheBanker.

Anyways, it's Disney and it's a vacation so I'm not going to fret if things are a little crazy in the beginning.

 

[JudicialTyranny]

I took Magical Express today at 3 PM and I didn't think the volume of people was all that bad.

But some lines were long (I was in the Contemporary/Fort Wilderness/etc. line) while others had only a few people.

The busses were coming and going quickly. One of the busses I was supposed to take filled up, and another came in a few minutes and I got right on. But our bus driver drove S-L-O-W. We got to FW first and it took several minutes to unload because of a wheel chair (not complaining, it just did take a while). Then we were taken to the Contemporary.

I got checked in fairly quickly BUT NO LUGGAGE

I asked Bell Services and they said ME was running up to 5 hours behind with luggage! So it's now about 6:30 PM and hopefully I'll have my luggage by 11 PM.

And it's raining....

 

[theBanker]

You will have some good moments, but from Orlando it looks a little scary!! You see, its not Disney thats doing the buses, its MEARS, thats the problem!!
People that pay, wait 30 to 45 minutes; so imagine those that don't have to. Also, Universal is going to hurt because of this since people going to Disney may not get a chance to go to other parks with the Length of Stay tickets at Disney.

 

[BettyCv]

JudicialTyrrany,

Can you give us a little more info on your specific situation?

For example, had you received your luggage tags ahead of time and did they have your flight info printed on them?

Did you go to the luggage carousel with a CM, or did you just hand over your claim checks? If you gave them your claim checks, did they give you a copy of them?

Etc.

Thank you!!

Betty

 

[mshrm]

and decided that saving the money on a rental car was worth it.

Heck only 500 in line?? Sounds like the shortest line I will wait in for the whole 8 days Im there!

 

[localdriver]

I just took a look at the new Magical Express. This is what I saw. There were more than 500 people at 2:30pm waiting for one bus to show up! All the Disney Big Wigs were there, also some Mears big wigs, one had red hair! Most of the passengers were waiting quietly; I expected that after waiting almost an hour, you could start hearing some complaints. But I guess that since its FREE!!!, you can't complain!!! You get what you pay for!!

I'll go back tomorrow, and give you'all a report on how well the "Tragical Express" is doing. ta ta

Hmmm, I was northbound on 417 today between 2:30 and 2:45, saw four (4) DME busses in that time frame between exit 3 and 17 , headed to Disney.....That's 4 busses in 15 mins. You can do the math.

Do a google search for "Magical Express" Look to the right side of the page, you will see several negative ads from a few TC companies. Seems the above post sounds so quite like those ads.(see links below)

I personnally, wouldn't trust companies that choose to do negative advertising.

Sign of desperation from somebody.

I am interested in hearing from those using DME this weekend, and how it really went for them. I'm sure we will soon.

Everyone should choose the transportation method they feel best fits their needs and budget. We don't need trash marketing.


Magical Express
Magical Express Is Not Express
It Is A Bus With Multiple Stops
www.magicalexpress.info

Disney Magical Express
Magical Express Provided By a Mears
Bus Get Info
www.prestigetowncar.com/web/me.htm

Magical Express
What is so magical about riding
with 57 passengers in a mears bus?
www.happylimo.com

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

You will have some good moments, but from Orlando it looks a little scary!! You see, its not Disney thats doing the buses, its MEARS, thats the problem!!

Allow me to point out that it's no secret that Mears is maintaining and driving the motor coaches. That was even in Disney's original press release.

I'm sure theBanker knows that this doesn't mean Magical Express is simply a rebranding of the old Mears coach service. It's an entirely new service, designed and managed by Disney, with snazzy new motor coaches that happen to driven by Mears (because Mears has the facilities and licensing to run a motor coach service). There was a long thread that dealt with this subject, Mears Shuttle questions for the new Magical Express......

This reminds me of the ridiculous, negative website (which advertises on Google when you search for "Magical Express") that starts off with "Disney's Magical Express is not Express, its [sic] a Mears Bus!!" -- and proceeds with a list of points that leave no doubt that a towncar operator (who does not identify himself) is behind the site. The points include dubious argumants such as, "You may or may not like to ride with over 50 strangers on the Bus." Gosh, you might not like to ride with 50 strangers on a theme park ride either!

If a towncar operator focuses on excellent, reliable, safe, personal, friendly service, that towncar service will continue to thrive, even with competition from Magical Express. But I wouldn't bet on the future success of any towncar operator who thinks the way to succeed is to focus on scaring or misleading the public.

 

[CleveRocks]

You are right!! There are 37 Buses. Right after one bus came in, seven others followed. About one third of the waiting passengers got on. But a half hour later all the buses left and there were still 400 more waiting. Not to say that more people were coming down the elevators to join the crowd!!

I hope theBanker is a driver for a towncar service and not their accountant. Actually, with a name like that ... now I'm scared that somebody DOES pay him to work with numbers. 500 people waiting. OK. One-third get on buses and he says 400 remained. If only 100 out of 500 got on buses, that's one-fifth, not one-third.

He also wants us to believe that eight buses took only 100 people, or 12-13 people per bus on buses that hold 50+. This doesn't pass the smell test. Methinks theBanker is an Enron orTyco escapee.

-- Eric

 

[Amberle3]

He also wants us to believe that eight buses took only 100 people, or 12-13 people per bus on buses that hold 50+. This doesn't pass the smell test. Methinks theBanker is an Enron orTyco escapee.

Thank you, I was about to post the same thing.

If one bus filled up and moved on, and then 7 more came that's a total of 8 buses. Each bus will hold around 55 people, so that's 440 people on those 8 buses. If those 440 people represented the 1/3 that he said boarded the buses, then that would leave almost 900 people still waiting for buses, not 400 people.

I'm still looking forward to using ME. Actually I'm only using it on the return trip, I'm doing the cruise before WDW and renting a car for the 12 or so hours. I had considered - actually had planned on - using a towncar service but I decided to save the money and rent a car for less than 1/2 the cost.

 

[Alice Sr.]

I'll go back tomorrow, and give you'all a report on how well the "Tragical Express" is doing. ta ta

Pretty tranparent. I feel sorry for all the honest, hard working Bankers (read drivers) that are lumped in with questionable post. Nice going Banker (read Desparato).

 

[Alice Sr.]

Sorry if I sound mean.

 

[CarolA]

I was wondering if anyone else had noticed the "math" issue.

Wonder what is happening with the luggage though. Five hours seems long. That is actually the "newest" part of this and probably does have some bugs to work out.

 

[seashoreCM]

I will be arriving May 11. Staying offsite so won't be able to use Magical Express.

There's a DIS Meet at Canada (Epcot) at 4 PM (5/11) and it will be a tight squeeze for me to get to that, otherwise I would have wanted to hang around the airport awhile and observe Magical Express.

There are supposedly 35 buses, I expect 3 will be "spares" anticipating some out of service. That leaves 32 buses for 4 zones or 8 buses per zone.

Someone predicted 45 to 75 minutes to your resort after the bus takes off from the airport berths. So I am guessing it will take 2 hours for the bus to make a round trip fromt he airport and back. With 8 buses per zone that means one bus every 15 minutes per zone. Assuming no delays due to traffic or accidents and assuming Mears does not add some of its own buses (on a cost plus contractual basis similar to Christmas night closing at the parks to take guests back to the resorts).

If a bus holds 50 people, a bus every 15 minutes means 200 people per hour per zone or 800 people per hour altogether.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/magicx.htm