yulilin3
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 1, 2007
correct, anyone thinking this is about safety is sadly mistaken. Also those thinking this is purely a direct consequence of loss of money due to covid is partly mistaken. Most of the cuts we see now have been in the plans for quite some time, covid just gave the perfect excuse to execute them.I believe it's been going on since at least 2005-6 (15 years?). I really appreciated ME and baggage check back then when my kids were babies. It was truly magic. Now that they're grown (well, almost), we rented a car the last time and didn't use ME or the baggage check. But, I know how valuable that is for others. I'm still upset about the loss of "free" magic bands and the luggage tags. The marginal cost there demonstrated to me that this wasn't about the pandemic; it was about increasing profit margins.
When I say fairly new I mean there has always been ways to get to Disney without ME. Mears used to be the shuttle of choice and still continues to operate. Like I said before we are seeing a cut on perks that came about the loss of money due to 9/11. EMH, DDP, DME, all were creations of Disney to entice visitors to come.
After this period ends we may see a return in some form of these perks, the difference is that we (as in everyone) don't know how long covid will directly affect the way people travel or even IF they can travel
With 9/11 it was easier because it was a matter of creating peace of mind in the traveler (safe to travel by air especially) bag checks became a thing. The rebound from 9/11 took about 5 to 7 years. With covid it's so unpredictable and new that it's harder to speculate when things will get back to normal