Magical Express is going away on Jan. 1, 2022

[a742246]

i

Perhaps we should all look at this from Mears perspective. Sure, it's a cost cutting measure from Disney and from what I've read, being done as the rise of ride-share services diminished the "bubble" effect provided by DME. Still, the revenue Mears was receiving from Disney in providing the DME service isn't something they're just going to give away. The question is going to be how much will they charge to provide the same services that Disney guests received for free?

My bet is they announce they will provide DME like services, and I wouldn't be surprised if one can arrange these services right from within the My Disney Experience app or the Disney website. I'd also expect that price to start off very affordable to ease the sting of now having to pay for the service, but to steadily rise once people begin to forget that DME used to be a free service.

I'd also expect that the service wouldn't be just for Disney property guests, but also off property and other theme parks as well.

For Mears, this is a huge win.

This is my feeling too. Mears won't be inexpensive though! Years ago it was around $50 a person round trip and that was without luggage service.

 

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

I would be a lot more hopeful if the language they used was hopeful or teased that a replacement was in the works but they pretty much said there is Uber or Lyft nowadays so find your own ride. Nothing along the lines of “we are excited to provide alternative options to our DME customers in the future.”

Exactly!! They didn't have to announce what the replacement was but if this was a result of failed contract negotiations and they needed to get ahead of Mears releasing the news, they could have stated they were working on a replacement. It would have been met with far less frustration.

I see your point. I’m just giving Disney a little more benefit of the doubt. I’m guessing they probably don’t have all the details worked out yet for the alternative, which makes sense considering they still have a year. However, they cannot wait until they have all those details worked out to announce the ME part of it because people have trips they are booking for after December 31st and need to plan accordingly. If they just recently learned/determined that they were not going to be able to partner with Mears any longer, why wait to let people know until they have every little detail worked out for the alternative? What if that alternative isn’t finalized until late summer or early fall? Then they would not be giving those early 2022 visitors much time.

If they announced they were working on a replacement it would be easy to let vacationers know they could add the service onto their package once details are finalized. It would instill a certain amount of confidence for some people. Saying nothing at all about a replacement leaves people to figure it out on their own which is an understandable frustration to vacationers.

 

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

i

This is my feeling too. Mears won't be inexpensive though! Years ago it was around $50 a person round trip and that was without luggage service.

For my family of 4 that's more than we spend on a rental car for the week. Although I am sure the rental car price will increase with demand too!

 

[ITGirl50]

We added on a resale at CCV and just waiting for the points to get to our bucket and I feel the same way, we wouldn't have purchased more points knowing this.

I was also looking to add on to our BLT contract with a 125 resale points. We are always short of points on BLT stays. We like to have the 2 bedrooms. I’ve cancelled my searches and will just stick with the points we have. I’m going to spend that travel money somewhere else.
Disney should understand that if we have to pay for our airport transfers then that money will not be spent on Disney merchandise or meals.

 

[RescueRanger]

Sorry, but I love this change. My wife and I have been wanting them to charge for ME for a long time. Right now, I am having to subsidize people who use the service even though we always drive. Nothing is truly free, someone’s paying for it. Now, I won’t have to pay for someone else to use the service. The whining going on is laughable. ME has been around less than 20 years. People survived before it and will survive again.

 

[Eric Smith]

They don’t have the parking to accommodate all the car rentals. This is going to be a disaster.

I don't think this is going to drive that many people to renting a car. That's a lot more expensive than just paying for some kind of ride from the airport.

 

[a742246]

For my family of 4 that's more than we spend on a rental car for the week. Although I am sure the rental car price will increase with demand too!

I would hope that with Ubers, lyft, share rides etc... there would be more competition and prices would be more reasonable then before.

 

[Chuck S]

I think they would have had to discontinue it in exchange for the high speed rail line from MCO to Disney, but they should not have discontinued it until the line was open and operating.

 

[NoTime42]

Sorry, but I love this change. My wife and I have been wanting them to charge for ME for a long time. Right now, I am having to subsidize people who use the service even though we always drive. Nothing is truly free, someone’s paying for it. Now, I won’t have to pay for someone else to use the service. The whining going on is laughable. ME has been around less than 20 years. People survived before it and will survive again.

Unfortunately, Disney isn’t known for returning savings back to guests. When they added resort parking fees, did room rates go down? Disney will likely pocket the DME money and not reduce prices.

I do wonder how much DME was subsidized by dining and tickets? The main objective of DME was to prevent guests from dining and/or going to parks outside the Disney “bubble”.

 

[RescueRanger]

Unfortunately, Disney isn’t known for returning savings back to guests. When they added resort parking fees, did room rates go down? Disney will likely pocket the DME money and not reduce prices.

I do wonder how much DME was subsidized by dining and tickets? The main objective of DME was to prevent guests from dining and/or going to parks outside the Disney “bubble”.

As DVC owners, they can’t pocket the savings. They have to pass that on to owners. They have to be able to account for any charges to our maintenance fees.

 

[NoTime42]

As DVC owners, they can’t pocket the savings. They have to pass that on to owners. They have to be able to account for any charges to our maintenance fees.

That is true, in theory, but I don’t recall a substantial jump in dues when they added DME.

 

[Rob Huff]

This seems like excellent news for Uber/Lyft and rather bizarre news for Disney. The whole "captive audience" argument made a ton of sense to me. To be fair, guests always could've gone offsite with Uber/Lyft even when they took DME to WDW from MCO, but now Disney in planting the seed in guests' minds that they should be utilizing the ride share services, something that will surely inspire guests to travel offsite with some of their money. Will that offsite spending offset the savings of cutting DME? I don't know. Surely Disney thinks not. But we'll see.

 

[Eric Smith]

This seems like excellent news for Uber/Lyft and rather bizarre news for Disney. The whole "captive audience" argument made a ton of sense to me. To be fair, guests always could've gone offsite with Uber/Lyft even when they took DME to WDW from MCO, but now Disney in planting the seed in guests' minds that they should be utilizing the ride share services, something that will surely inspire guests to travel offsite with some of their money. Will that offsite spending offset the savings of cutting DME? I don't know. Surely Disney thinks not. But we'll see.

I think people were widely using rideshare services before this and they will continue to do so. It's much simpler to get off property now than back when MDE was introduced in 2005. Back in 2005 smartphones weren't all that widespread and they certainly weren't as capable as now. Uber and Lyft didn't exist. Today, I can call a ride from anywhere on property using my phone if I want to go somewhere to get dinner. I think that ease factored in to the equation.

I also think that this move shows that Disney doesn't think travel is going to have a sudden rebound and they're making changes accordingly. Running DME doesn't make financial sense if you can't fill the buses.

 

[zavandor]

That is true, in theory, but I don’t recall a substantial jump in dues when they added DME.

Good point.
Do anyone has the resort budgets for the year before and after the DME addition? It would be interesting to see how much the transportation item went up that year.

 

[skeeter31]

I think they would have had to discontinue it in exchange for the high speed rail line from MCO to Disney, but they should not have discontinued it until the line was open and operating.

There is no way the train service is going to be a replacement for DME. We’re still years away from that even coming online, if it ever does. There have been plans for a station at DS since the 2000s with various companies. There are numerous government hurdles Brightline still has to jump through before they can even start construction. They’re well behind on their line from South Florida to MCO which isn’t supposed to open until 2022 but could now be a year or 2 late. Then they’ll start working on the MCO to Tampa line (which would include the stop at WDW). The WDW line isn’t going to be only for Disney runs, it will just be a stop on the way to Tampa. Those trains will only run maybe 5-6 times a day, no where near enough to be a replacement for DME. And we’re talking about 2025-26 for this to all be completed, if even then. There are not even any official plans finalized with FDOT or the government. So for everyone hoping the train will be a replacement are mistaken unfortunately.

 

[chrish2]

Sorry, but I love this change. My wife and I have been wanting them to charge for ME for a long time. Right now, I am having to subsidize people who use the service even though we always drive. Nothing is truly free, someone’s paying for it. Now, I won’t have to pay for someone else to use the service. The whining going on is laughable. ME has been around less than 20 years. People survived before it and will survive again.

It's more of an interconnected ecosystem than you think. By the same logic those with transfers from Sanford International are subsidising your parking! Likewise dues are been spent on maintaining the parking lot but those on Magical Express are not using it. Yet another subsidy handed to the driver. Driving is hugely subsidised beyond the simple sums of Car + Fuel + Parking + Sundries. And that's before you even consider congestion.

It's a resort amenity that many value. The cost been applied to dues for this is going to be much lower than the amounts the replacements cost due to the economies of scale (you think the per head cost for transfer WDW pays is anywhere near a family of 5 procuring the same service?).

What next, those who prefer to use their own towels complaining they subsidise the free pool towel users? Those without children complaining about paying towards community hall? A blind person complaining about paying towards the cost of landscaping?

 

[Drew729]

Sorry, but I love this change. My wife and I have been wanting them to charge for ME for a long time. Right now, I am having to subsidize people who use the service even though we always drive. Nothing is truly free, someone’s paying for it. Now, I won’t have to pay for someone else to use the service. The whining going on is laughable. ME has been around less than 20 years. People survived before it and will survive again.

I like this post. I don’t usually like to subsidize the fire department, police, trash removal etc. with my taxes since I don’t often need them but I guess those services benefit some people. I don’t use the community halls when at a resort, why should I pay for that, I don’t use the front desk either, take that off the dues please! Shared expenses are fundamental to the experience of a timeshare.

I guess with a short sighted view this is a positive for you. Long term view it may diminish both the value and experience of your DVC membership as well as mine.

 

[RescueRanger]

I like this post. I don’t usually like to subsidize the fire department, police, trash removal etc. with my taxes since I don’t often need them but I guess those services benefit some people. I don’t use the community halls when at a resort, why should I pay for that, I don’t use the front desk either, take that off the dues please! Shared expenses are fundamental to the experience of a timeshare.

I guess with a short sighted view this is a positive for you. Long term view it may diminish both the value and experience of your DVC membership as well as mine.

LOL... you are actually trying to compare items that are meant for the safety and general welfare of the citizens to a perk of a bus transfer? You lose all credibility. This won’t diminish the value of my DVC one bit. Disney is losing money left and right due to Covid. They have to start cutting costs somewhere. This seems like a logical place to save them some money. Disney is not a charity. It is a business. The entitlement of some people never ceases to amaze me.

 

[Drew729]

LOL... you are actually trying to compare items that are meant for the safety and general welfare of the citizens to a perk of a bus transfer? You lose all credibility. This won’t diminish the value of my DVC one bit. Disney is losing money left and right due to Covid. They have to start cutting costs somewhere. This seems like a logical place to save them some money. Disney is not a charity. It is a business. The entitlement of some people never ceases to amaze me.

Sorry if I offended you. I realize the difference between community services and a Disney vacation and was trying point out there there are many things we pay for but don’t use ever or often. My point is that those services are great for those who end up wanting or needing them.

Just FYI I’m not entitled I can give two fast passes whether I take MDE again or not. However the fact that you can’t see that there are those who find value in having MDE is quite astonishing when they are paying a premium to stay onsite. I agree it’s no charity, I don’t think most people are “whining” or looking for handouts at all. I do believe that having a viable replacement that works as well as MDE whether paid or not is the more the issue.

PS . I don’t need you credibility endorsement

 

[striker1064]

I get it. We just added 300 points direct at CCV. It’s too late to back out. $56k. If this were announced a couple of weeks ago I would not be buying more points. Will our MFs go down since it includes transportation fees? I doubt it.

Woah. Airport transportation would have been the difference between spending and not spending $56,000 on a 50 year timeshare?

I get it, this stinks for those who use it, but a timeshare is a timeshare and the only thing our contracts guarantee is the opportunity to book a room.