Disney World Ending Magical Express Airport Shuttle
Walt Disney World is ending its Magical Express shuttle service to resorts from Orlando International Airport. This comes after the company “temporarily suspended” Extra Magic Hours, FastPass+, the Dining Plan, and more.
All of this is still top of mind for many Walt Disney World vacation planners, which is clear to us based on the number of questions we receive asking when the Disney Dining Plan, FastPass+, Extra Magic Hours, etc. will be brought back. In most cases, our expectation is that Walt Disney World will restore these things this spring and summer.
When it comes to resuming normalcy at Walt Disney World, it’s clear that this won’t be a simple matter of reverting to the status quo, pre-March of last year. Instead, Walt Disney World will use this period of abnormal to retire and transition away from various offerings to new things, and offer a “soft reset” on the guest experience. We now have our next glimpse of what that means for later in 2022…
Walt Disney World will end the Disney’s Magical Express service for airport transportation starting with arrivals on January 1, 2022. Disney has attributed this to the expansion of options for guests, including the rise of Uber and Lyft. “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.”
Disney’s Magical Express will continue for arrivals and departures through 2021, but anyone planning a Walt Disney World vacation in 2022 will need to rent a car or plan on using Uber, Lyft, or whatever other options are out there. (Although not yet confirmed officially, it’s entirely possible that Minnie Vans have been permanently retired.)
Note that complimentary transportation options within Walt Disney World — such as buses, monorails, boats, and the Skyliner gondolas — will continue to be available without changes. This only impacts Disney’s Magical Express, the airport-to-hotel transportation service, and does not have any bearing on internal or resort-to-park transportation.
It’s worth noting here that the Disney’s Magical Express airport shuttle service is operated by Mears, not Disney itself. Mears is a transportation company with coach buses and taxis that enjoyed a virtual monopoly on the Orlando market for years…before Uber and Lyft debuted.
Last year, Mears furloughed 83% of its workforce and ended up permanently laying off nearly 200 workers. Even prior to that, the company had run into trouble–Mears has been extensively involved with ride-share lawsuits and other litigation over the past few years.
It’s also possible that the relationship between Disney and Mears soured when Minnie Vans were rolled out a couple of years ago. Up until that point, some guests were reticent to use Uber and Lyft due to horror stories, and still opted for the overpriced Mears taxis. From then on, Walt Disney World had a monopoly on overpriced private transportation–it made almost no sense to pay triple the price of ride-share for a taxi when Minnie Vans offered a more polished and “magical” experience.
This is all to say that there might be more to this story than meets the eye. Disney could see the writing on the wall for Mears, or the relationship between the two companies might’ve been irreparably damaged to the point that they could not negotiate a new contract once the current one ends.
Basically, we have a tough time taking this cut at face value–or being entirely due to the reasons given by Disney. As discussed in our Guide to Disney’s Magical Express, the “free” service is incredibly valuable to Walt Disney World because it makes tourists a captive audience, less likely or able to dine off-site, visit other theme parks, or spend money elsewhere.
Long ago, Walt Disney World determined that the increase in average per guest spending with Disney’s Magical Express plus the perceived convenience and goodwill obtained from offering the service outweighs the average per guest cost of offering the service. It’s unlikely that has changed, especially as on-site food prices have increased and Central Florida theme park competition has become more fierce.
Beyond that, this change is being announced at a time when hotel occupancy at Walt Disney World is abysmal–and that’s even with several resorts still closed. With no convention business, minimal outside events, and a travel recovery expected to take until 2023, cutting Disney’s Magical Express will only exacerbate that problem.
We’ve been discussing Walt Disney World’s Disappearing On-Site Advantage for years now, and the elimination of Magical Express only makes that worse. The airport transportation service has been routinely cited by on-site advocates as one reason to still stay in a Disney-owned hotel. Uber and Lyft are great, and we’ve taken them instead of DME several times, but this is still a big blow for consumers.
It’s also potentially going to be detrimental to Walt Disney World. We’re anticipating a ton of negative feedback about this change–likely on par with the addition of resort parking fees a few years ago. As with that change, we can’t help but wonder if Disney will come to regret this move as being one that pushes more guests off-site and ends up costing Disney money in the long run.
We’ve also long been asking Is Walt Disney World Eroding Fan Goodwill? with previous decisions like this. We maintain that they have, but the booming economy has insulated Disney from the negative short-term consequences of so many cuts and guest-unfriendly decisions. Unfortunately, the current hotel woes are pretty easy to hand-wave away given all that’s happening in the world. But we nevertheless question whether occupancy remains low even as park attendance is rising because more guests have already determined staying on-site is simply not worth it.
Finally, while some Walt Disney World fans might point to the Brightline train station at Disney Springs being the eventual replacement for Disney’s Magical Express, that’s still several years away. (The South Florida to MCO link has a scheduled 2022 opening date, but that does not include the Disney Springs station.)
Moreover, that route from the airport to hotels will be convoluted and time-consuming, so it’s not really a viable alternative. To the contrary, the whole reason the Brightline station is being built at Disney Springs instead of the more logical location by the ESPN Wide World of Sports is because Disney did not plan on the train serving as airport transportation for many guests.
We still would not be surprised if Walt Disney World announces a replacement for Disney’s Magical Express before 2022. This just seems like a really ill-advised and short-sighted decision. As discussed above, it’s also potentially a decision that’s out of their hands…
In other breaking news, Walt Disney World announced a permanent replacement for the temporarily-suspended Extra Magic Hours, and has confirmed that EMH will not return. Dubbed Early Theme Park Entry, the new perk will allow Walt Disney World resort guests to enter any of the four theme parks 30 minutes early each day.
Disney indicates that the new Early Theme Park Entry benefit helps better spread visitation across all four theme parks, while providing added flexibility by giving guests extra early park time on each day of their vacation and in the park of their choosing. Please note that guests need valid admission and a park reservation made via the Disney Park Pass system to enter a theme park.
The new Early Theme Park Entry offering will debut later in 2021 and will be promoted as part of Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary offerings. No specific start date has been provided; our assumption is that move is deliberate. Walt Disney World can hold off on rolling it out until hotel occupancy and attendance levels dictate, with the latest debut date being October 1, 2021.
While we’re incredulous about the Disney’s Magical Express news, this announcement we do take at face value. In that same “Disappearing On-Site Advantage” article, we derided Extra Magic Hours as a mostly illusory benefit. Prior to the closure, we actively avoided Evening Extra Magic Hours due to the noticeable spike in crowds as compared to non-EMH evenings.
There are a number of reasons this has happened, but is primarily because the pool of Extra Magic Hours-eligible guests continues to increase. Walt Disney World has cut deals with third party hotels and also built several new Disney Vacation Club properties and otherwise added to its hotel room inventory.
For us, the jury is still out on this new Early Theme Park Entry benefit. We have every reason to believe this will do a better job of spreading out crowds, and could end up being a net positive for guests. Thirty minutes per day is obviously less than than the previous hour, but it’s better than nothing.
There’s also the reality that 30 minutes times 4 parks is a total of 2 hours per day across all of Walt Disney World, which is a net gain as compared to Extra Magic Hours. Obviously, a single guest without the resources for time travel cannot take advantage of that 2 hours, but the point is that this may not be a simple cost-cutting measure by Disney.
It could end up giving on-site guests more time before the wave of crowds hit–or it could amount to being pretty similar to the current unpublished policy of quietly opening the turnstiles before official park opening time. We’ll withhold judgment on this one until experiencing it ourselves.
While the specifics here are not exactly what we anticipated, that Walt Disney World would choose now to make these announcements is not unsurprising. As we covered months ago in What Will Replace FastPass+ at Walt Disney World? we expected these “temporary suspensions” to be a natural transition to new systems.
Ultimately, we expect plenty more announcements in the coming months about other, similar changes. As discussed in that article, we’d be shocked to see FastPass+ return without any changes. We’re also expecting the Disney Dining Plan and other experiences will have modifications once they return later in 2021. Then there’s the potential transition from My Disney Experience to Disney Genie (or whatever it ends up being called) which is another can of worms. In short, brace yourself for plenty more changes announced between now and October 2021…
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think about Walt Disney World ending Disney’s Magical Express? Upset that you’ll have to rent a car or use Uber/Lyft, or did you find DME too inefficient, anyway? Thoughts on Early Theme Park Entry v. Extra Magic Hours? Disappointed that the amount of time is being cut, or optimistic that it’ll be less crowded during that time? Other thoughts on this? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
How disappointing. And to think, I was miffed having to retrieve our luggage like some off-site commoner last trip. I can’t even imagine peak DME crowd lines all fighting over the always-limited supply of Uber XLs. Yikes.
Getting Ubers or taxis or rental cars is a nightmare for time and convenience at every major airport. We used ME in 2019 so my teenager could get to Caribbean Beach after flying in on the same day my conference elsewhere in Orlando ended. I didn’t have to worry about his luggage or how’d he get to the hotel. He texted me when he landed and when he got on the bus and it felt way more safe than booking a car. I have to say that there’s no reason to book a WDW hotel anymore. Get my Marriot points instead.
Combined with the Minnie vans going (more detail on this please Tom!) this is a DISASTER for young families. Uber/lyft can’t cater for multiple car seats or baby car seats so it looks like we’ll have to rent a car. And we hate driving on holiday.
While I recognize that Magical Express may not have been the most time friendly option, this is a real loss for us. It was a big part of what initially drew us to staying on site. When our children were younger and we would have had to bring 4 car seats (we have two sets of twins) we loved being able to just hop on the bus and if we were landing early in the day we’d use the luggage service as well. It is not a simple or inexpensive matter for our family of 7 to use a ride share service. That brings us to using 2 lyfts or hiring a car service with a van. Or doing a time consuming one day minivan car rental and drop off (as we did to transport ourselves to the port for our cruise). Besides the cost, we all loved the ability to feel like children on vacation. Relaxing on the bus while someone else did the driving and navigating was the best. This is so upsetting!
Currently the parks are letting people in 30 minutes prior to actual opening. Does this new Early Entry mean that resort guests will be allowed in 30 minutes prior to that (an hour earlier) or just that non-resort guests have to now wait until the stated opening time?
Good point! This could actually be a cost saving measure if it is the latter, which would allow Disney to ramp their full labor schedules up to actual posted opening times, rather than 30 minutes before opening they typically drop ropes.
We loved the Magical Express and thought it was aptly named. It was magical to us to check our luggage on the departing fight and later that day find it in wiring for you in your resort room. Also loved the Disney experience on the bus with the Disney videos, shared with other excited Disney fans. We will miss it.
While I’m not again Uber or Lyft, I for one will miss Disney’s Magical Express. For me – and my family – our vacation started the moment we checked in our luggage at departure as we knew that it would “magically” appear in our room later that day giving us the freedom to do whatever we wanted sooner. This allowed us to begin to get into our Disney mindset before we had even left. Now we’ll have to recover our luggage, go find a ride, load up, unload at the resort and take our luggage to our room. I know it sounds whinny but the Disney’s Magical Express was something we all looked forward to as it was part of the magic. Oh well. Just another example of Disney becoming less magical.
Resorts are still charging for parking, right? So now not only will I have the price of renting a car, but the cost of parking it there, too???
I forgot about that! Ouch!
So really, what is the point of staying on site? No more Magical Express, no more Magic hours, much higher rates…I have always stayed on Disney property, but at this point I am having a hard time justifying it versus staying off site. Now I have to rent a car or try and Uber my family of 6 so I can pay your exorbitant rates? It’s like they are trying to get rid of people…
We never used Magical Express but I can see where this is going to get a TON of negative feedback and rightfully so. This move continues the trend Disney is getting rid of any of the “free” options that it offers resort guests and I think they should be careful what they wish for
My thoughts exactly!
Well…the only reason why we picked Disney World was because of Magical Express. Now I must rent a car, have the hotel charge me for parking, and travel to the park and be charged for for parking. Instead of seamless transportation, the back up from car congestion will be horrible. Its going to be a mess with everyone trying to use their cars to get to Disney. So, I cancelled my Disney vacation this year, and I probably won’t be back for next year. I just don’t find this change attractive and won’t be back. Disney doesn’t seem quite so appealing.
Surely there will be some sort of replacement or further announcement regarding DME, right? Uber/Lyft are nice, but I’ve never been able to score a ride to MCO or back for less than $50 one way after the tip and everything is accounted for. The high speed rail will help, but that won’t be done by 1/1/22, right?
Magical Express was a huge perk, in my opinion. One less thing to worry about when traveling by air, not to mention the benefit of not worrying about towing luggage with excitable children.
A huge loss
Don’t DVC dues cover Magical Express costs for members? Any word from DVC as to how our dues will be adjusted for the lack of transportation from the airport? Or, better yet, perhaps DVC will still have transportation (I know, I know)?
so many thoughts…. it really stinks that a replacement option was not offered at the same time as this announcement of magical express discontinuing. i know people are citing the virgin tram, but until that is there in person, that’s no guarantee. and then i think, if the tram does happen and drops people at disney springs, then what? is disney going to run dedicated shuttles from the tram drop off to the resorts? because there is no way on earth i am lugging around my own luggage off the tram and waiting in line for the regular disney bus and lugging my luggage on and off a bus. try again, disney. a lot of people want to cite rideshare too, but the volume of people needing it will be astronomical and wait times ridiculous. not to mention they don’t offer car seats, so that cuts out a huge percentage of people right there. and a lot of people stopped renting their own car once disney started charging for resort parking… i’m honestly not sure what they expect people to do. regardless of whatever is happening with mears, this is a blow, and a big one.
and the extra thirty minutes… it sometimes takes that long to walk to parts of the parks, so i’m not sure what benefit it’s really going to offer in the long run. my bigger fear is this means no more late night hours, which were always superior.
Yikes! WDW is its own worst enemy. These changes do not appeal to me whatsoever. I hate driving when on vacation and Uber/lyft don’t appeal to me unless its just me on a business trip. Second, I loved morning EMH. We’ve had so many great mornings in the parks. The evenings not so much. Guess all this accelerates the exodus to Universal. Shame because I was looking forward to my 5 Year old experiencing big thunder, splash mountain and other height required attractions.
No Magical Express would be a real bummer, and feels like a slap in the face. You’d hope that they will replace it with something equivelant – as you suggest, they clearly think it makes sense. But then they talk about ride shares in their statement…
Fine with the Early Entry perk, I think it’ll work out better for almost everyone actually. But it doesn’t make up for the removal of Magical Express if it doesn’t get replaced. Maybe they just can’t use the name ‘Magical Express’ without Mears or something?
Sucks and sucks! Just horrible Disney on both fronts. We had our trip cancelled in April and have been waiting for some kind of normalcy to return before we reschedule and now this? Part of what we like about our Disney trips is the convenience of the Magical Express. Why even stay on Disney property now? The “magic” is leaving for sure. A trip to Disney seems to be slowing turning into another hectic vacation, instead of getting on the plane with no worries having everything taken care. After spending thousands or dollars on soaring room and ticket prices, this is what they do to loyal on property guests. Pathetic!
Agreed! The magic is fading and I think it will turn others to off site hotels and multi day tickets as part of a bigger Orlando vacation
The DME ending is for the theme park transportation too? From hotels to disney’s parks it’s going to end too?
No, they’re still offering all transportation from hotels to parks. DME is solely airport to hotels.
I was just wondering if there was a way people could reach out to Disney directly to voice their disappointment in yet again nickel and dining those wanting to vacation at Disney. Though I appreciate all the updates we get and the platform to express our opinions I’m sure none of that is getting to Disney management
Disney continues to cut things that contribute to positive guest experience. The on-site advantage is almost gone now. Why pay so much more for a bare bones value room when you can stay for half the price in a Disney Springs hotel and still get the park pass and early entry.