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…
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
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!
Big disappointment hearing the upcoming cancellation of the Magical Express. Also a big mistake!!! Will definitely think twice about staying in the park in the future. If I have to rent a car I might as well visit Universal, Sea World, and outside hotels as well. The money I would save staying off site will cover the rental car costs. Shopping for Disney souvenirs and dining is cheaper outside as well.
Disney is way too expensive of a vacation to be an inconvenient one as well.
Oh no. You mean I have to get my own luggage. How common. But, seriously, how do we find a vehicle that will accomodate us and all our luggage. I mean I’m like Rose showing up to board the Titanic.
THIS IS A JOKE!!! We have been loyal Disney guests and our family has booked a yearly vacation for the last 20 years. I canceled my Disney reservations for this year. Last years trip to Poly was over $12,000 for 7 night nights for 3 people. For what??? Parks to close at 5:00 or 7:00, 60 minute lines, no fireworks or parades, bare bones food, no entertainment at Disney Springs, and Epcot was a construction disaster. I am over it!! Now no transportation and the lame excuse that guests would rather use Uber???? Absolutely NOT! We booked real deluxe resorts the J.W Marriott Marco Island and the St. Regis in Deer Valley for this year. Both combined cost less than last years trip. It is crazy to pay on site prices Doran under whelming experience. NOT DOING IT!!
Just a note, Red tide has been bad on Marco Island for several weeks now. I live on the island and have avoided the beach because of that.
So very disappointed and a little angry to hear they are doing away with Disney’s Magical Express. It was a huge perk not to have to worry about your luggage from the time you checked it at your departure airport until you got to your room. After a stressful day traveling, being able to go right to the bus line and bypass baggage claim, not waiting in rental car lines and not having the drive itself to your hotel- was a HUGE plus when deciding on whether or not it was worth the astronomical prices of staying onsite. If they keep this up, most people will opt to save money and stay elsewhere and they will continue to lose money. Sad that they can’t see this. Not to mention they are ‘traveling’ mikes away from Walt’s original plan of a place for families to have fun. The rise in prices and removal of on site perks definitely does not lend itself to a fun stress free family vacations.
This is a huge disappointment. The Magical Express was a stress free transportation incentive, and we actually stayed on disney property in our early years because of it. At some point, with the price increases left and right, Disney is going to suffer. They really are pushing the envelope.
This is what happens when you think the shareholders have to be pleased more than the customers.
I like being at the parks late at night when they are lit up, pretty and cooler. Opening up a half hour early means nothing to me. If Disney would have kept the EMH to Disney resorts only, it would not have been as busy as it was. But they kept adding offsite resorts that could participate and this caused the mess. The big increase in the number of paid parties and the amount of tickets they sold also contribute to aggravation with the park hours. In regard to Magic Express, I can’t help but think that they will come up with something to replace it. I loved checking my luggage and not have it to wait for it in Orlando and carry it to the resort myself. One thing is for sure, they cannot keep cutting entertainment, park hours, fail to invest in infrastructure (i.e. monorails, Epcot), remove beloved attractions, take away conveniences, all while making it more expensive, and expect loyal fans to continue to flock there.
This a big blow. There’s a direct red eye to MCO from where I live, and multiple times I’ve walked right onto a super early morning DME as the only person on the bus. I know this is definitely not the norm, but as a solo traveler meeting the rest of my group at WDW, it was so nice to not have to worry about transportation. I’ve had many nice conversations with the drivers and being the only stop was great!
I do wonder how many of these cuts they’re labeling as permanent is actually just a way for them to reevaluate and see without promising anything in the future?
I, like many others here, am disappointed about this news. I loved sharing the feeling of excitement and anticipation with my wife and son when we would arrive at MCO and find our way to the Magical Express. Instead of being filled with anxiety about retrieving bags, finding transportation, and navigating our way to our resort we would check in with our magic bands, find our seats on the bus, and not able to take the smiles off our faces that the day that we had looked forward to for so long was finally here. We have made wonderful memories during our vacations at WDW. We stretched our budget beyond my better judgement to make these memories happen and it was always worth it because of the great time we had. It’s the little things like the letters, magic bands, and luggage tags arriving in the mail prior to the vacation, the magical express ride, and the friendly welcome from cast members when we we would arrive at our resort, and then the letter after it was over making me want to start planning the next vacation. They made you feel valued as a guest and customer. Sadly, I no longer feel that way.
Very well said. I completely agree.
I agree completely! This makes me very sad and very angry. Never imagined Disney would end up like this.
I bought my wife at 100 points at Riviera as a wedding present. Thinking that it would be many years of Disney magic. Not being a Disney guy from the start, she and the ease of the trip with all the extras was a great selling point.
NOW…… I’m thinking??????
Prices have gone up dramatically. We are here now with her sons. Dinner ever night is at least 200+.
Price increases and less amenities. We will not buy additional points as we planned. DISNEY, you have lessened the illusion.
So well said! I completely agree. And reading your post actually made me sad thinking of all those wonderful little extras that made WDW the place we would also spend an amount of money we probably shouldn’t have spent but always felt it was worth it–-Disney made it feel worth it because of the exact things you stated.
We go to Disney/Universal every year (except last year). Magical Express was one of our biggest reasons for staying on sight through our entire stay. It was nice leaving the driving to Disney and not worrying about getting to the airport on time for our outbound flight. We will still go to Disney as we love it but we will now spend four to five nights at a Universal resort instead of staying at a Disney resort for our entire stay. It just makes sense economically to use Uber to go straight to Universal for our universal days and then Uber to Disney for our Disney days. In the past, we would use Uber/Mears to get from our Disney resort to Universal and back. We will probably also go to Volcano Bay instead of a Disney water park. Therefore, we will only spend four nights at Disney instead of eight to nine nights. So sad for all of us.
This is extremely irritating, because as previous fans have stated, our vacation begins the moment we set foot in the Orlando airport. The Magical Express is a big part of the magic for us. My child is in a wheelchair which requires the lift on the bus, and we used the wait time to build up anticipation. We LOVED the Magical Express and tipped accordingly. Not to even mention how convenient it was for our tons of luggage and medical equipment back and forth, and the REAL Magic of simply boarding a bus in the afternoon of departure to get to the airport. Now we will have to plan and have added expense. I was unaware of the resort parking fees since I always get at least one Annual Pass. Very sorry to see the Magical Express go away, as well as Extra Magic Hours. Those hours were some of our happiest.
Having an AP will not affect paying resort parking fees for overnight parking. Unless you are a DVC member staying at a DVC resort or renting a points reservation, you’ll pay to park overnight at your resort. Maybe the cost of DME will be a wash with the overnight parking fees and they remove them.
At some point it will be the breaking point! Before moving here five years ago and becoming a local, I would make four to five trips to WDW. Using Magical Express was easy and cost saving. Often trips were solo trips. Get off the plane, head downstairs get on a bus, and we were off. I even counted watching the video as the start of the vacation. There were some trips that I would rent a car so I could go off and explore Florida. At that time, there was free parking. Now to pay for a rental car and the high parking fee, I can honestly say, I doubt I would have visited Disney so much. Right now, there have just been so many cuts…hopefully some will be restored. I’m not sure what most people’s breaking point is, but I think this would have been mine!
The breaking point is piling up, for sure. I made reservations back in October for next November and was astonished at how easy it was. Now I am beginning to understand why. We stay for two weeks at a time, sometimes visiting three times a year and spend about $6,000 each time. I have always – ALWAYS – felt we got our money’s worth. Now it’s looking like the Magic might be a bit dim.
Oh this is defiantly the breaking point. We were actively planning a trip until I heard this news. Now that’s over. We will be going to Universal instead.
We loved traveling on the Magical Express, our vacation began as soon as we got on that bus. Maybe I’m just cheap, but with the Magical Express being offered, I would never use Lyft or Uber.
Yikes. I mean I’m an addict so not much would deter me from visiting but I actually like the EMH at night! We had the parks to ourselves often by utilizing those extra late night hours.
Yes! Later nighttime hours are always welcome.
The night time EMH were my family’s favorite too. We will probably never bother with that silly 30 minutes in the morning. How does that possibly equate to 1,2, sometimes even 3!!!! extra nighttime magic hours from the not so distant past? Yup it just doesn’t.
Yes, especially traveling with teens! Waking teenagers up early on vacation is laughable, so the evening hours are better, plus there’s just something magical about the parks after dark. I guess for this next trip, we’ll stay onsite at Universal for a couple days, then grab an offsite place for a few days at Disney. There just aren’t enough perks left to justify the prices at Disney when the rooms are so much better elsewhere for far less. Maybe we’ll use the saved cash and head to the beach for a few days.
I’m aDVC member myself… Already pay allot in animal dues…I know it was probably in the price of the dues… But I always was happy to get a ride to Disney from the airport without having to open my wallet. For the amount I spend on the trip now I’m going to have to spend more for a round trip to the airport for my wife and kids.. Probably about 75 each
way…. More money I wasn’t paying before.. That would have paid for at least one meal down there. I think it’s time I start looking to sell my membership with DVC. Good job Disney… Your forcing another member away. Disney is nice.. But not with the money anymore
Then add on the loss of EMH and you have REALLY RUINED THE MAGIC! We are not early morning people. We roll into parks about 10, stay until 1 or 2, relax at the hotel until about 6 and plan our days as to where we can be in the park into the night! If they have MK EMH until midnight – WE ARE THERE! We love the parks at night. Taking that away along with the Magical Express and you have now taken a ton of the Magic away and I don’t know if I am going to continue to pay more money every year to end up get less and less of experience I want.
This is VERY DISAPPOINTING both on the Magical Express and the Extra Magic Hours. With increasing costs every year for our family of 4, this makes me MUCH LESS likely to return. For us to get an Uber or Lyft from the airport, we would need a VERY LARGE SUV. We travel heavy and each of us has a LARGE suitcase plus a carry on. That is 8 suitcases! What vehicle is going to be able to accommodate that?! So if that size Uber cannot be located, we now have to spend $80 to rent a large SUV, drive it to the hotel and then go through the hassle of returning it at one of places on-site! This ruins the relaxation and no worry factor! Now we have to stress with luggage and driving after an early morning flight – you are ruining the MAGIC DISNEY!
Our first trip to WDW was 2015 with kids aged 5, 3, 18mo. The ONLY reason we decided to fly with three small children for any vacation is because I found out that we wouldn’t have to carry three bulky carseats through an airport or rent a car (plus carseats). Since then, we’ve been back 3 more times and brought lots of family with us each time. Without the convenience of Magical Express, I don’t think families flying with small children (which I assumed is a large WDW demographic) will be persuaded to go at all (or to stay on site).
I’ve been thinking exactly this while reading comments. CAR SEATS, one of the huge draws for us to stay on site was to not have the added stress of lugging a bunch of car seats, installing them/uninstalling them multiple times. Traveling with little ones is already not a vacation- we call it a trip, but WEW used to do a lot to make it the easiest place for us to travel. That’s no longer the case.
Ending DME is going to be terrible for families traveling with young children! We’ve gone twice in the last year and it was a HUGE perk for us! DME allowed us to travel without taking car seats. Not having to worry about arriving/departing because the pick ups were arranged was SO helpful for us. Our next planned trip is Jan 2022 and we will have to seriously consider staying on-site vs off-site. Any car service we will need our car seats. This is terrible news for our future trips.
Disney will loose in the end. People wont stay on site with parking fees and renting a car. The DME was their way of getting you to their property and controlling your spending because you had no vehicle. You will now be able to stay off site, shop off site and eat off site. I love Disney and understand things need to change but this was always the deal breaker for me. I didn’t mind spending on staying on site becuase the conveneience of being transported was there, even with a last min trip. I hope they re think it.