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!
I agree the perks aren’t guaranteed. And I agree you knew going in and when you signed up they wouldn’t necessarily be there. But the entire reason for them : the DME, the luggage service, the early entry for Disney resort guests was to create a captive audience. Get you to stay on Disney property and not want (or be able ) to go anywhere else. The taking away of perks was, in my opinion, a bad move. There is nothing about Disney that reeks of convenience. It costs a lot, the lines are long, the parks are crowded, there’s a ton of walking, it’s hard on young kids to name a few. But the entire reason for the DME, luggage service, etc. was to get you to have something positive to focus on. The inconveniences were worth it. Now you are being treated like a number, just another person in the crowd. Your DVC membership gets you a room, yes. But Disney needs to understand they no longer have a monopoly on the Orlando market. So use the points to get the room and use the pools at the resort. But rent a car or take UBERs and go to other attractions in the area as well. Disney no longer has your undivided attention and no longer has a monopoly on your vacation dollars. They will regret this. The “Most Magical Place on Earth” is now just another place to vacation.
I totally understand my initial purchase did not include the Magical Express as I explained in my initial statement. But it helped make our decision to by a second home. DVC member and others are obviously disappointed. I know many who feel the same as I recently stood in line with me who are going to miss it.
Gail Becker: Magical Express didn’t even exist in the early days of DVC. It started in 2005. DVC sales started in Sept 1991. If you had a salesperson tell you that perks would last forever, that person lied to you. All you are guaranteed is lodging at your resort and possibly other DVC resorts (other resorts can be removed from the system before the end of the contract because of extreme damage to the resort like a hurricane, flood or fire). And if you don’t make a timely reservation, you won’t even be guaranteed a stay at your home resort. That’s why you read the contract before you sign at the palm trees.
Disney’s Magical Express was just a sales tool added by Disney to get people to the onsite resorts and keep them there. That’s all.
Disney World DVC trips are often supported by grandparents who purchased their points when DVC first started. They were told the Magical Express would be there for them as they aged. Yes, I under the contract says they can change the rules but now when we are aging we are loosing this amazing complimentary service. Our grandchildren are amazed by the Magical Express and their parents are impressed with the service. These are future DVC point buyers. I am sure the sales people are very disappointed they can’t offer this to future buyers. The Magical Express is one of the reasons we purchased. It really is a Magical Express and that is what a trip to Disney World is suppose to be and has always been for us. The other services offered can’t match up to the Complimentary Magical Express. We had so many kind and fun bus drivers too. We will miss the Complimentary Magical Express.
I hope Disney World will reconsider. I hope the those in charge are reading how their supporters over the years feel. I am sure the stock holders who come to Disney World do not see this as great decision.
I keep seeing comments about traveling with a wheelchair being impossible without Magical Express. Airports and airlines around the world offer free assistance to wheelchair passengers. You can be wheeled by airport staff from the curb right to your gate, and Vice-versa, and Skycabs will manage your bags in exchange for tips. I spent some time in a wheelchair while I had a job that required me to travel, and I had no trouble at all navigating airports. In fact, I was wheeled through expedited security lines and found the whole experience to be less stressful than typical travel. The only inconvenience was that I usually placed a call the airline in advance to alert them by I’d need assistance. (That was an elective precaution – airports will help either way).
My wife needs a wheelchair at the airport. We stay 20 to 30 days a year. Since luggage services at the airport needs to be done by me t have to rent two carts, and push a wheelchair. So I take 5 steps, stop and the push my wife. About an hour to get to magical express. With out the bus now, we will need to stop coming after 25 years. THERE IS NO MAGIC for us that helped pay for Disneyworld. DVC Member for 25 years. Time to sell and get out.
I have heard that Mears will be offering a replacement at some point. Whether that will true or will include a luggage service is yet to be seen. I understand Disney is looking to save money. The #1 priority is to make sure the share price does not fall. I get it. But you don’t take everything away from your loyal , many passionate customers and not offer “We feel your pain” in there somewhere. Or to say “We are trying to come up with alternatives” or surveying your loyal customers to see what they want and if they would be willing to pay extra for some services ( services you can be sure have been built into the price all along). I was in human services for 35 years. And the #1 question you are expected to asked your patients and clients is “Is there any thing else I can do for you?”. Disney has gone from that to “We will tell you what we are going to do for you. No more. No less.” When they throw up “It’s been a tough year for all of us, and we are going to do you a favor” in whatever they come up with, I will look at the apple as having far less shine.
I really think they will have to add back transportation from MCO. If their resort guests all started renting cars there wouldn’t be enough parking at the resorts. They are already cramped for parking spaces. If we all started taking Lyft or Uber the lines outside the resort to drop guests off would be staggering. I’m hopeful that something will be done to replace the Magical Express.
I don’t disagree with the idea that Disney will offer an alternative to luggage service or the DME. I see no alternative for Disney. They vacant say its better to stay on Disney property, take away the benefits of doing so, and then think people will still stay on property anyway. Its like they are treating you like someone who will buy anything. Acknowledging the pain and angst this has caused would be a nice place to start. Then say ” We will have something to replace these things. Stay tuned. The linger this goes in, the more it looks like they are taking us for granted.
The one thing I’ve raved about to others over the years was how you can drop off your luggage at your home airport and never have to see it again till it arrives in your room with Magical Express. Losing it would be a major loss to the advantage of staying on site and visiting WDW
Having said that I also believe that Disney realizes this and will replace it with an in-house solution…
Losing Magical Express is a huge loss to our family.
Hoping on board was the start of our vacation experience. We are a DVC family.
I agree with what others are saying. We too made the decision to buy based on a number of things including the easy transportation system from airport to resort door.
Why didn’t Disney /Mears just charge a nominal fee if finances were a problem?
We certainly would have pad a fee to continue using the door to door
bus service. We are incredibly disappointed in this decision.
Magic Express was one of the main reasons we stayed on-site the last time we visited. In addition to other perks that may or may not come back. We loved it and so sad that we probably won’t be doing it again. Looks like our last vacation “in the Disney Bubble” in Nov. ’19 may be our only one . It is hard for us to afford, and with many benefits being gone, there is just no point. If we ever go back, will plan on looking for more affordable options off-site, like before, or just forgo Disney all together.
Just stayed at Saratoga Springs and sent a comment afterwards to Guest Services regarding: The cancellation of DME and luggage service, the lack of signs in the resorts (Saratoga Springs and Old Key West) with directions within the resorts to walking trails (to Disney Springs from Saratoga and between SS and OKW), the incessant low flying helicopters starting at 11 AM or so at SS, and the fact that about 40% of the internal buses had Saratoga Springs or Refilling My Pixie Dust as the destination, which is useless, making it a headache to figure out if the bus was going to MK, EPCOT, AK, DS. After a week a person from guest services called me and couldn’t have been nicer. I repeated my concerns. She politely listened, offered no real comment and said she would , as Ben suggested above, make sure it gets to the big wigs. I did acknowledge Mears is starting a new bus service from MCO, but I asked the person to put herself in the shoes of a single mom with 3 kids and luggage. Silence was the predominant feature of her side. So I guess we will wait to see if the big wigs are going to do anything about problems that have little to do with COVID. The call, from my perspective, was the living person replacement for a taped message.
I have been going to Disney for over 25 years 2 and three times a year. I just returned and for the first time stayed off property. I am planning a family trip for 7 in Jan. And after reading this looks like it will not be worth returning to Disney property in Jan. I just spent 805.00 for two people including shuttle service and park tickets. Why spend 1600. For the same thing on property.
Having traveled from the Orlando airport to and from Disney World resorts via rented car and DME, I am absolutely dismayed and HUGELY disappointed that Magical Express (and the associated luggage/flight check-in service) is being discontinued. Disney World has been an almost-yearly destination for my family and we’ve used DME virtually every trip. Frankly, I don’t believe Disney’s stated reasons for it’s demise and truly feel ending the service significantly tarnishes the “magic.” Traveling via rental car may give visitors more independence and flexibility BUT the nightmare of negotiating the rental process and the HORRIFIC airport labyrinth greatly outweighs any advantage… And Uber and Lyft are iffy choices at best!!!! Hope Disney is reading these posts — WAKE UP GUYS! YOU BENEFIT FROM DME JUST AS MUCH AS YOUR GUESTS!!!!!!!!
What concerns me the most is I wrote to Disney about this. And never heard back. Not a word. I am staying at Saratoga Springs resort as I write this. I sent an email to the resort about very poor communication about bus times from the resort to the parks. I heard back 10 minutes later.10 minutes later from a day manager. I think Disney knew cancelling luggage and DME would be unpopular. Their run silent approach is salt to the wound. My enthusiasm for Disney wanes.
I left Saratoga Springs yesterday using DME to MCO. A family was on the same bus. They had a luggage cart filled to the top with luggage. Must have been at least 10 suitcases. All I could think about was how they would manage all that and their kids the next time. Or imagine trying to wheel all that through the airport and trying to take the new train to Disney Springs then transfer it all over to an internal bus to their resort.
Email your thoughts to WDW. I have done it and have picked out a few post on here to send them. They have responded to me and said they will send it up to the big wigs. So they Say!!! It is great to post on this blog but if we are to bring Magical Express back you have to keep emailing them.
Greed, greed, greed. Boycott Disney
Absolutely,I can tell you I won’t be Visiting or Spending my money there.They are plenty of other options and places to go.
The discontinuation of DME followed the cancellation of luggage services. Imagine being a couple or single parent with a couple young kids and you have to manage them through the airport, go to baggage claim, wheel your luggage and manage the kids and find a way to get all that to your resort. I am not sure why Disney did this, but I would think if they had offered to continue these services for a charge, people would have been willing to do that. I also don’t think Disney gave away these services. Don’t you think the cost of DME and luggage is rolled into the resort price? And does anyone think resort prices will be lowered as a result? Disney has always been one step ahead. This shows they are willing to be another face in the crowd.
I wonder if DVC members understood that part of buying a DVC membership included transportation getting home to their DVC resort. Making a DVC purchase much more desirable. I don’t understand how Disney World they feels this is acceptable. What will it do to future DVC buyers too? Magical Express was a plus! This is not Magical!
Gail Becker: There has never been any guarantee that benefits of staying at WDW would always exist when buying DVC. All you are guaranteed is the ability to book your home resort as long as availability still exists. DVC purchases never included transportation from the airport to their home resort. Benefits have come and gone with DVC all the time. At one time DVC members got free valet parking during their DVC stay if their resort had valet parking. It disappeared overnight.
I think the cessation of the Magical Bus to be a tremendous loss to our family Disney Experience. We have stayed on site for over 30 years and our Disney Magic starts at the airport with the Magical bus.
We were disappointed in the bus service within the park itself on our last visit, which was echoed by other guests.
One of the major reasons we stay in the park is for the convenience of the transport between parks.
I’m sorry that Disney does not find this service important Where is the Magic going?
The “Magic” is disappearing thanks to greed on the part of Disney management.
They don’t find economical for them anymore. Why discourage people from drinking when they now charge for parking. For this reason I say why stay on disney property anymore. Stay off property and save your money. Better yet.. Don’t go to Disney at all until the realize what they are doing to all is loyal guests.
I don’t disagree that Disney has no obligation to continue benefits for DVC members or the general public. But I have to question the logic of doing things that make the vacation experience more difficult, not to mention more expensive. An Uber from MCO for 2 cost my daughter $56. One way. I have no idea what Disney’s plan is for the future. But going from your magical vacation begins when you leave home and everything will be taken care of so you can relax and enjoy yourself to you are 100% on your own seems a bit short sighted. If they are having a tough time filling hotel rooms, I’d say this will make that worse.
When you make a decision to become a DVC member you take into account all that is offered by Disney and the point allocation for each resort. With the changing of the allocation of the point system to take a vacation and doing away with a benefit of the Magical Express, the cost of each vacation point and the vacation dues going up I question myself was it worth becoming part of the vacation club in the first place. To say the least I have regrets.
Were you unaware that annual fees would continue to go up each year? Were you unaware that DVC could modify the point requirement throughout the year as long as the points remained static overall? They have always tried to modify the number of points required to go hand in hand with busy and less busy times in order to even out the points as much as possible.
All these changes are not going to make us want to go to disney world we have a severely disable adult that is disney mad but without some couldnt justify paying the over inflected prices of the disney hotels we were quite nearly 23 thousand pounds for a family of 3 I a two bed villa for a 14 night stay with no dme no dining plan and other perks gone then I wouldn’t be able to afford to take my daughter back there they forget what the park was built for I now they have to make a profit but why should there guests suffer we came every two years as it was easy to go to airport not have to worry how you were going to get from airport to hotel and hotel to airport most disabled taxis aren’t big enough to hold 3 people one in a wheelchair and luggage so we wont be back unless things change
Their excuse that there are many options now to WDW that they will cancel the Magical Express That is GARBAGE!!!! So why can’t the DME be one of the options? I am sure people would pay for that option and we know Disney is good at charging people for everything. I also read another reason they are cancelling it was because they are building a rail system from the airport to Disney Springs, now that really helps people. OMG