Magical Express is going away on Jan. 1, 2022

[granmanh603]

For ME, I suspect that either (a) they decided that the parking fees were enough of a disincentive to prevent people from renting cars vs. taking a cab/shuttle or (b) the marginal revenue lost due to people choosing to rent cars (and doing some things offsite) didn't justify the service.

For the change of EMH to early entry, I see it as a *stronger* incentive to avoid an offsite location. In the EMH model, an offsite guest could (usually) avoid the EMH park(s) each day. In many cases that led to easier touring days than an EMH day as an onsite guest. In the early entry model, it will be impossible to rope-drop any park any day as an offsite guest.

I dont know about you but we did EMH and left and 12 or 1! with the new 3 FP people didn't start coming to park any day til like 11 and entry gates that were empty before at 12 and 1 were packed, we left and went somewhere else. We did many rope drop days even before FPs. lines were long but that was the only way. I guess you might not remember back in early 2000

 

[DVCKing]

flying to any destination that requires me to bring my own car seats certainly ways very heavily on my decision to take that trip. I’m much more inclined to seek a vacation spot within driving distance. WDW is not within driving for me. Now if I didn’t need 4 car seats I would figure out a way to use different transportation to get the WDW from the airport.

 

[keishashadow]

The Magic starts on ME, that was the point of it....wasn't it?

Define Magic . We’ve utilized ME several times over the years. Far prefer renting a car.

The cost was built into the onsite hotel rates. Pretty sure they won’t be passing the savings onto guests

Why not just charge for ME? I would pay for the convenience and peace of mind.

We are all aware of the alternatives but outside of some people’s budgets & comfort zones. I’ve Used uber to/from airport for short trips where rental car isn’t worth it. makes me nervous that we might not grab one back to airport for some reason.

I’m thinking WDW is ‘mad’ at Mears & they can’t come to terms on contract. Not a stretch to think another company might be happy to fill the void or Mears will cave and accept lower reimbursement when the dust settles.

 

[McCrae]

I think this is disappointing, a small piece of the magic has gone.

If you are spending several thousand dollars on a vacation you would expect the hotel to provide a shuttle bus, bare minimum.

 

[ITGirl50]

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.

Yea I know it sounds ridiculous. DH thinks I’m over reacting. Lol Before ME we hired a towncar service. We will adapt. It was nice inviting family or traveling separate from my adult daughter and her friends to have them take ME. Now it’s another expense we will have to add to the already pricey trip.

 

[Princess Oma]

This is just getting ridiculous with Disney. It’s not just the ME, cutting the extra magic hours- to just 30 minutes? They are taking away every incentive to stay on grounds. I am very much a Disney person doing everything I can to take my family and enjoy the ”experience”, but even I am getting to the point of questioning my reasoning on why this is still so. I was on the fence on going in 2021 with my family or early 2022-but I am leaning more to not going after this announcement.
I do understand that they are running a loss with Disneyland, the cruises, etc... because of COVID- but taking things away so far in the future does not make to cost cutting measures now. So this could not be the reasoning for the cuts.
Hate to say it, but my family might look elsewhere for new magic.

 

[Randywatson79]

If I'm going through the hassle of renting a car, I'll likely be spending less days in Disney Parks as it will make going to Universal or a quick trip to Cape Canaveral, etc much more appealing.

 

[Dean Marino]

Deleted.

 

[RoseGold]

flying to any destination that requires me to bring my own car seats certainly ways very heavily on my decision to take that trip. I’m much more inclined to seek a vacation spot within driving distance

No joke. Six Flags tickets are $40, and the car seats are already installed.

 

[chalee94]

The cost was built into the onsite hotel rates. Pretty sure they won’t be passing the savings onto guests

I agree about WDW hotels but pretty sure they are legally obligated to pass the savings onto DVC owners...

 

[keishashadow]

I agree about WDW hotels but pretty sure they are legally obligated to pass the savings onto DVC owners...

Wouldn’t that be nice

 

[bobbiwoz]

I go to Disney for Disney things, and Magic Express isn’t one of my must haves. I guess they announced it so far ahead so that if you book 2022, you know ahead of time it’s not going to be around. I do wonder if there will be something for those of you who rely on it so much, and I hope there is.

I have been in parks at opening, and generally it hasn’t been bad. I know I told my early rising family to book FP’s for later because they weren’t necessarily needed early. This was one family’s only visit to WDW, so far, in October 2019, and it worked fine for them.

I hope the reality isn’t as bad as some of what’s being said here. We will find out, but I’ll use ME this year when I can, not all the time, we do often rent a car.

 

[WilsonFlyer]

I agree about WDW hotels but pretty sure they are legally obligated to pass the savings onto DVC owners...

I wouldn't hold my breath. I've seen cuts over the years but none of it is ever "enough to affect dues." You know the story. Typical. No single piece of it costs anything, but all together, it's a "bunch." Same old. Same old. We have absolutely zero accountability to where our money goes, especially when it comes to line items; as Disney controls the HOA. Pay or leave. Next.

 

[Chuck S]

I've been going to Disney since 1990, long before there was ME and luggage service. Flew in, rented cars, and so forth. So I doubt it will have an effect in attendance long term...short term. of course it will. For the first few years of ME, we drove down, so didn't use it. When I started getting old and flying more, I thought ME, and the luggage service, was awesome. I would not mind if they kept the services and charged a reasonable fee, because for small groups it would still likely be less than a car rental for a week, man cars rentals have gotten pricey, I remember getting them for $100 a week. Then when the train thing finally comes along, we'll have to take a look to see if it is convenient. If a lot of folks do take the train, I hope they provide a similar train to resort luggage service once you get on property.

 

[ITGirl50]

I wouldn't hold my breath. I've seen cuts over the years but none of it is ever "enough to affect dues." You know the story. Typical. No single piece of it costs anything, but all together, it's a "bunch." Same old. Same old. We have absolutely zero accountability to where our money goes, especially when it comes to line items; as Disney controls the HOA. Pay or leave. Next.

The full operating budget is available online. It will be easy to see if transportation dollars budgeted are less for 2022 than for 2021. We did get a refund for 2019 through a credit because the resorts were closed.

 

[CarolynFH]

I agree about WDW hotels but pretty sure they are legally obligated to pass the savings onto DVC owners...

Transportation is a line item in the budget for MFs and includes DME as well as any bus, boat, monorail or Skyliner transport a specific DVC resort has. I doubt that DME is a large enough expense per point for us to see a noticeable reduction in 2022 MFs.

 

[chalee94]

OKW has gotten clobbered the last few years - if I can save $0.15 or $0.20, I'll take it...

 

[Deb & Bill]

To everyone complaining, how did you get from the airport in 2004?

 

[Chuck S]

My understanding is that the boat to Disney Springs is not a dues item, that it is paid by the merchants...but the buses and DME are part of our dues...just so we know for reference.
I think the merchants started paying when they took away our comfortable, yet lower capacity, boat.

 

[Sparky984]

To everyone complaining, how did you get from the airport in 2004?

Rental car. It was easier to travel however we wanted when it didn’t include car seats. The ease of dropping off luggage at our home airport and not dealing with car seats, luggage or stopping for a rental car in MCO landed us in Disney more than we would have otherwise. Not having to drive on vacation is something I enjoy. My daily commute is more than enough drive time for me and I enjoy the break.

Also planning almost all your needs with a single company makes vacation planning easy. I’ve done a fair bit of business travel and while not at MCO but I’ve twice been told no rental cars were left when I had a reservation. One airport had all offsite rentals and the first company took me to a competitor where they gave me what they had left (I guess there was a big event in town?) at a really terrible rate. What could I do? I needed a car. There’s no chance of that kind of stuff with DME. First world problems, I know.

We would likely pay for DME service if offered. How much we would be willing to pay, I don’t know.