Magical Express to end in 2022

[Bjkandma]

Disney will just go back to what it did previously. You paid for Mears Transportation (shuttles) to and from the r esorts.

 

[JenBush]

This is a big bummer. The free airport transfers was a big reason why I stayed on site. Staying offsite is looking more and more appealing these days.

 

[MrsBooch]

This is from the Disney Parks Blog:

Vacationers have more options to choose from than ever for transportation, including ride-share services that save time and offer more flexibility to go where they want, when they want. In light of this shift, when Disney Resort hotel bookings open for stays in 2022, we will no longer offer Disney’s Magical Express service for airport transportation, starting with arrivals Jan. 1, 2022

So - we are taking away Magical Express because there are other ways for you to get here that we don't have to pay for.

wow.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

In all likelihood we will remain bubble guests forever unless they truly price us out, but forcing our hand to rent a car means we have little to no excuse not to go to Universal (it’s always been a we’ll go eventually but not this trip deal for us). Super disappointing. We love DME and how easy Disney made everything.

 

[MaC410]

This is really sad. One of the biggest reason we love Disney World so much is that feeling of being in the bubble. A big part of that bubble for us was never needing to worry about transportation or driving. That feeling where the moment you get off that plane in Orlando you can just let go and let Disney take care of things was one of the best feelings to look forward to.

 

[JulieBeeRN]

Ugh, huge bummer.

 

[0FF TO NEVERLAND]

What the hell is happening to this company?

Do people realize how much more money it will cost to get to the parks round trip? You can't just get some regular uber. You will need an SUV for all that luggage. You talking over hundreds

And besides that, why the hell is Disney stopping caring about the people who made them? Alienating everything we love about the park

The magical express is just a beautiful thing, as you get off that plane and head towards the park. THAT IS DISNEY MAGIC. Something they have no problem getting rid of.

And you know what, they will get away with it because so many people now a days justify all the BS that they have been doing. Even before covid started. They BS on the theming of new resorts and rooms to save a dollar. Nickel and dime everything. They changed so much. The disney company made billions in 2020, even with all this. As Pete has said in the past, Disney has been wanting to cut alot of things for years without the backlash, and they are using covid as a crutch for " some " of them. Not all. Hoping the Disney community doesn't cause an issue. And make no mistake, we are a community, and they hear our voices if the backlash is loud enough, esp on social media.

DISNEY MAGIC MAKES THESE TRIPS. Even something like a magical express bus trip. It makes it special. After all the thousands of dollars, they don't care about us.

I was about to buy DVC and this makes me not even wanna touch it, if I need to worry about what other crap they will pull the next 30 years to upset the loyal visitor

 

[rteetz]

https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2021/01/a-look-ahead-at-walt-disney-world-resort/

 

[sullivan.kscott]

This not only saves them money, it will make money in the long run. If people rent cars, they'll need to park them. Parking fee increase Jan 1, 2022.

We're happy to rideshare, and Uni doesn't have free resort shuttles, either, but this timing when people are probably pretty excited to get back to travel planning really stinks.

 

[Wiltony]

This not only saves them money, it will make money in the long run. If people rent cars, they'll need to park them. Parking fee increase Jan 1, 2022.

We're happy to rideshare, and Uni doesn't have free resort shuttles, either, but this timing when people are probably pretty excited to get back to travel planning really stinks.

I was thinking the same thing. DVC resort parking will fill much faster now, and then you can expect them to remove DVC free parking soon after, citing, "due to increased demand for parking at our DVC resorts..."

 

[skeeter31]

I’m guessing the contract with Mears was up for renewal come 1/1/22 and based on decreased revenue Disney decided not to reup. Just really shows how much Disney is still losing on a daily basis by not filling the resorts. The parks are packed, but the resorts are still a ghost town. And I think Disney realizes that’s not going to change for the rest of the year, and probably next year as well. Yes, DVC will fill up because people have an abundance of points they have to use (I have my full 6/21 use year available and haven’t had the future use year fully available in the 10+ years I’ve been a member). But cash guests are still going to be infrequent and Disney knows this.

DME was great (we never used it as we always rented a car when we lived in NY and flew down) but it was still relatively new in the life of WDW and people survived prior to it and will survive after. I do agree with others on here though that Disney needs to anticipate the reactions to news like this and have alternatives ready to go at a news drop like this, instead of coming off as smug and saying people can just use ride share.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

What the hell is happening to this company?

Do people realize how much more money it will cost to get to the parks round trip? You can't just get some regular uber. You will need an SUV for all that luggage. You talking over hundreds

And besides that, why the hell is Disney stopping caring about the people who made them? Alienating everything we love about the park

The magical express is just a beautiful thing, as you get off that plane and head towards the park. THAT IS DISNEY MAGIC. Something they have no problem getting rid of.

And you know what, they will get away with it because so many people now a days justify all the BS that they have been doing. Even before covid started.

DISNEY MAGIC MAKES THESE TRIPS. Even something like a magical express bus trip. It makes it special. After all the thousands of dollars, they don't care about us.

They have entire parks shuttered around the world. They have less spending at the ones that are open including less guests onsite. Theme parks aside the movie industry has taken a massive hit with the pandemic.

I fully agree with you on your feelings about DME but I’d expect cuts to keep on coming.

 

[rteetz]

I’m very much interested to see how this impacts on site stays. What is the perk to stay on site anymore?

 

[leaf44]

Well this will price me out as I often travel solo due to being the only Disney fan among my family/friends, but I can't afford to pay for airport transportation/rent a car for one. So I guess if I don't get there in the next year I won't be going. Just so stupid.

They are making it less and less appealing to make the effort to go to Disney or stay on property. Also did they turn off comments on the article. I can't see a way to comment and there are only 2 comments so far.

 

[bookwormde]

This not only saves them money, it will make money in the long run. If people rent cars, they'll need to park them. Parking fee increase Jan 1, 2022.

I was thinking the same thing.

While I do not think it will happen in the short term, the same logic could be used to eliminate the WDW hotel to park busses.

Offsite is looking better and better.

It will be interesting how much DVC dues will be adjusted down for this

 

[skeeter31]

I’m very much interested to see how this impacts on site stays. What is the perk to stay on site anymore?

It is true. Other than DVC, who have to stay onsite to use their points, for cash guests there really isn’t a perk anymore.

I mean, you’ll always get the people who want to stay on property regardless because they want a full Disney vacation and that means staying onsite (we used to be that way before we bought DVC). But this is a massive loss for most.

 

[CastAStone]

Wow. Absolute insanity.

 

[Br'er Rabbit is the Best]

They slowly just keep chipping away at everything that makes Disney a great vacation. All the more reason to start staying off site and go to universal.

 

[CastAStone]

I’m very much interested to see how this impacts on site stays. What is the perk to stay on site anymore?

It hurts the value of DVC for the same reason. At least DVC can still park for free.

 

[mom2elle]

Bummer. Anyone know what the going rate is for UberXL to/from the airport?