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!
We also will probably not stay at Disney anymore without ME. We have a timeshare with another company. We stayed there once, but preferred Disney because of their transportation. Also 30 min extra in parks is not much. They have shortened their hours, and now want to give you 30 min. The Carribbean sounds like a good idea!
This further cements the fact that our transition to RV travel is a stellar one. While the cost of staying at Fort Wilderness continues to rise, it’s still far less than the values, and comes with what few added benefits that are left – park transportation, priority park passes, resort charging privileges. We even have the option of camping at nearby RV parks, and as passholders, we can drive to the parks without having to pay a parking fee.
On the other hand, lack of DME will make it difficult for my yearly solo trip. Pretty much, the only way I, as a woman, feel safe in doing this is to stay entirely within the Disney bubble, and use DME and Disney transportation.
I do hope there is a viable alternative to DME in the works. I cannot fathom why Disney thinks this is a good move, at all.
I’m also trying to imagine the utter chaos that will be the Orlando Airport with thousands of Disney guests arriving every hour, and trying to get Uber/Lyft or taxis, and how much car rental rates are going to skyrocket.
Again, dragging our RV to Disney sounds better and better …
Ugh..mixed reactions here. Loved the convenience of taking the Magical Express from the airport, including having them handle our luggage! I remember the first time we did a non Disney vacation my daughter (then age 6 or 7) was SHOCKED our hotel wasn’t picking up our luggage and taking it to the hotel for ourselves. LOL.
OTOH, I did not like how early the Magical Express picked us up for the return trip. We always ended up with hours to kill at the airport before our flight.
Overall though, I will miss this very much.
Another Canadian here chiming in. This is bad news for me. It was a HUGE perk to get Magical Express, but now if I have to rent a car, guess what? I’ll be eating off site and/or buying groceries or snacks much cheaper. They are going to lose out on a lot of dining $$$ by making it so the “Disney bubble” is broken for many travellers with this change.
I can’t help but be frustrated and sad by all these changes. I haven’t been to Disney in 3 years and we were supposed to go the end of May in 2020. I had planned the perfect trip for my 5 year old plus my parents sisters and their kids 5 and up (babies stayed home). I had all the fast pass reservations and dining and we rented points to stay at Boulder creek villas. And then it was just cancelled. My parents (understandably so) are not willing to travel until they have a vaccine and we don’t want to fork out all the money to be wearing face masks and not have character interactions. As of now it looks like this trip won’t be happening until May of 2022. When my 5 year old will be 7 and I will have another 5 year old able to go. My point here is that all these on site perks and other things going away makes me so sad we just missed this trip! Also we have a credit with the company we rented points so we can’t choose to stay off property when we do go or we lose out on $5k. Thanks Tom for keeping me informed while I await the chance for my family to go again!
It would sweeten the blow for me if only Disney could bring back the luggage transfer portion of the Magic Express. One of the high points of my visits has always been saying good bye to my suitcase at my departure airport and finding it in my room at Disneyworld and then repeating the process when I left. It was that specific Disney touch that I missed most when I visited last August.
I’m just a stay-at-home mom with no business background whatsoever, but I feel like I could make better decisions for WDW’s future than whoever’s making them now. Pretty sure one doesn’t need a lot of experience to know that it’s a poor business plan for a company to repeatedly spit in the faces of its customers and then charge exorbitant prices to do so. Congrats, Disney. You’re following this disastrous model perfectly…
Well said.
This decision frustrates me. We travel from Minnesota (my family) and Texas (my parents) and meeting at the airport to ride the Magical Express was always the true start of our family vacation. When you are spending thousands of dollars to stay on site, the convenience (and complimentary) DME service was hugely helpful – especially them collecting our luggage for us. In a time when they are taking more and more ‘perks’ away, it is making it harder for me to justify spending extra for being on site.
I’m in the same situation. We have family meet us in Orlando, and often we arrive hours or days apart. Now each arriving party will need their own rental car or Uber/Lyft/Taxi. With the amount of $$$ we will need to spend on extra transportation, I’m really likely to choose an offsite hotel for much less now. Or maybe Swan and Dolphin.
I agree that these are both big negatives for staying onsite. 60 minutes of early entry would mean a lot more than 30 minutes, which will essentially amount to 1-2 more rides if you get up in time. I will treasure my memories of EMH in the MK until 2-3AM all the more. It seems that anything after 10-11 will be a rarity in the future.
DME is pretty shocking news for the reasons you said – it’s pretty beloved by everyone I know and it seems to be such a good deal for Disney. We’ve stayed at Swolphin twice and taken an Uber/Lyft. That works well and you can factor in that ~$70 when comparing room rates. But it’s not as convenient (especially with checked luggage, or for those with large families) as DME.
I can understand if the relationship with MEARS has soured and the need to find an alternative. The Magic Express from the airport to the resort certainly made a great no-hassle start to a magical vacation at a resort or a cruise. Who wants to rent a car drive on the highways (I’m Canadain) to get to the cruise ship and then rent one to get back to the airport at the end of a cruise with hundreds if not a couple thousand other families.
I certainly hope they work towards a suitable alternative to still make the Disney Experience and keep the magic alive.
The reasons we have always vacationed at and ONLY at Disney World was the convenience of not having to rent a car but even more so the luggage service and resort airline check in. I will be honest and admit we have Ubered from MCO to the resort and bypassed the Magical Express on the way to Disney. That being said, I always thought the Magical Express and the video they play really hyped us up that our vacation had started! Getting rid of airline check in and having to handle our own luggage may be the deal breaker for us. Last month we stayed at OKW for our first time with no elevators on the 3rd floor. Even with Bell Services, it really lessened the magic. We had A LOT of luggage, 14 bags to be exact including 3 large suitcases. When Bell Services only sent one gentleman to handle our luggage, I felt BEYOND awful that he had no help and no elevator. I gave him a HUGE tip but that didn’t help how it made me feel. I was the only one who stayed back too because I am temporarily disabled due to 3 knee surgery’s in less than a year (including a full knee replacement.) So getting myself down 3 flights of stairs didn’t allow me help much at all. Before you ask, I didn’t request a first floor room as I wanted a balcony off the ground as I knew I would be in the room a lot more than normal due to my knees. The mobile ordering for counter service lunch at Magic Kingdom was as ABSOLUTE nightmare for lunch. Honestly, its making and Uber to IHOP look way more attractive. We have never not stayed on-site and have been renting DVC points for years. We may try staying off site which I swore I would never do.
This is a poor decision and undermining the Disney experience. Magic Express, stroller rental/pickup at the resort and free grocery pickup were staples that provided Disney magic while allowing a family with very small kids to travel. I hope they provide an alternative to Magic Express. A very poor decision.
Brightline is connecting an Orlando airport station with a Disney station possibly by 2022 and extending to Miami (think easier connection for cruises departing Ft. Lauderdale and Miami)… so this might be a good reason to dump the buses. It’d be worth it to look into it.
First I was upset that they stopped getting our bags and delivering them to the hotel. Now they’re gonna do away with the Magical Express all together? I think this will only hurt Disney more. If I have to rent a car then I will definitely visit other parks and maybe eat out of the park. This is very sad news.
This doesn’t really add much, if any worker hours. This basically just stipulates that when a park is open before the official time (which is common), that “perk” will go to guests. Or rather, it will no longer be available to non-guests.
^^ This is about the new Early Entry (ETPE?) in case it wasn’t obvious. Nothing to do with the buses.
Magic Express is one of the services that made Disney World attractive to us for a family vacation. We will think more about whether Disney is where we want to go or maybe somewhere else. Really no incentive now to pick Disney over Universal.
I understand that they are having problems with mears, but they need to do something about people getting from airports to WDW. For my family, that’s what made going to WDW easy for our family of 9. Now I have to rent a large van and pay for parking on site, does not make for a happy vacation. May have to stay off site or go to another park. Disney has just about priced out the middle class families We used to go to WDW 2 or 3 times a year, now maybe once every 2 years. Now I don’t know what to do.
If Disney is trying to make it so I don’t come back, they are doing a good job. Magical Express took the transportation to and from Disney out of the equation. No need to rent a car. Now at the very least you get an Uber. The baggage check for your return, pick up your luggage when you arrive. Disney I really want to come back but it is getting less and less appealing.
This is a big blow for large families as well. We now have 5 children plus my mom always comes with us and currently 3 are in car seats and two are in booster seats so it makes flying almost impossible if you have to bring that many car seats/booster seats. The magical express made flying a feasible (but still expensive) option. That leaves us having to rent at least 3 Ubers/Lyfts to get from the airport all with car seats which I imagine will be tricky and expensive. Good thing we live within driving distance (8 hours).
WOW! Well I have been one to be optimistic on all of the bad reviews from certain people but this getting a bit out of hand. We are one to travel to Disney at minimal twice a year sometimes three. But this just shut the door on all future trips until at least 2022 or beyond. I refuse to pay top dollar for a company that continues to pull things from its experience but yet attempting to charge the same price. Which Disney vacation is nothing to sniff at, at all. The amount of money it costs for a family to go is a bit much but worth it. But not at this rate anymore. It feels like they are chopping one toe off at a time and ruining the full Disney experience. This “was” supposed to be a place for us to vaca for several years to come as we have little ones but looks like we will be redirecting our options in another place. Good Luck Disney, magical experience isn’t So magical anymore!
Well said. Perks keep decreasing and prices keep increasing.