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!
This will hopefully be replaced by a similar experience. The reason we started family Disney vacations AND staying onsite is because with the ME we wouldn’t have to lug giant car seats and rent cars (now with the addition of parking fees). Even if using an Uber, we would need to lug two giant car seats on top of luggage. There are so many other places to go if the ME advantage disappears. Hopefully something else magical will come out way – if not this year may be out last until both kids are out of car seats…..and that’s not for another 6 plus years
We always enjoyed starting our magical Disney vacation when we stepped off the plane and liked that the Magical Express was included in the price since the Disney hotels are expensive. This is a disappointment for sure.
They’re slowly chipping away at the magic. They should have put Joe Rhode in charge of WDW. I think there’s too many business types running things now that just don’t get it. The little things are the magic. All they do now is keep talking up the magic while simultaneously taking it away. I just canceled the 2 trips I had for later this year at All-Star Movies and at Pop Century, which by the way were as expensive or more so for 3 people than the trips we had within the past decade for 5 people at Port Orleans with free Disney Dining Plans.
I haven’t been to WDW, we were supposed to go last year May but couldn’t because of COVID. Coming from Australia big expense and time for us. To me, Disney was all about the guests, families, big, small, young kids, older kids, adults, singles, couples etc… it was all the experiences & inclusions, magical express, fast passes, EMH, dining offers that made it magical and enjoyable for everyone. Have they forgotten this was Walt’s vision for this park? It makes me sad that we never got to visit before all these changes…. my dream to visit was based on all the magical things that they seem to be removing. Less inventive’s, continued price rises. I hope they have something even more magical planned to replace these changes so the essence of WDW is not lost.
The lost of the magical express is beyond disappointing! As someone who lives in New York and still tries to get to WDW at least once a year, it was super convenient. Especially having your luggage taken care of. I’m sure the associated cost that had been worked into the cost of the hotel stay won’t be removed, because we know it wasn’t “free”. So now I will have something else to coordinate to get to resort, or if I have to rent a car and then pay for that and parking fees. I feel like cumulative “magic’ and perks that have been lost the last few years may finally be enough for me. WDW will no longer be one of my priority vacations.
We go each summer, sometimes over spring break as well. Disney continues to cut while prices go up. We’re still going this summer but will be staying offsite – even with the parking fee I will be saving money.
More of the never ending process of Disney taking away perks to stay onsite. I have been saying for years that it’s not worth it for their overpriced tiny Holiday Inn Express Disney themed rooms. This is the clincher. Why anyone would want to stay onsite anymore is beyond me. Disney transportation sucks now that there are so many resorts. I can get to my off site rental faster than I can get back to an on property resort with Disney buses.
Basically ZERO perks for your onsite overpriced hotel room.
Save your money and get a nice off site house rental.
This is so sad. The Magical Express is a major perk to our deciding to to WDW. We loathe renting cars, paying for parking etc. This service made our trips to WDW so easy. The hassle that results from this cut could cause us to change our plans.
This is so sad. I have been vacationing at Disney for 40 years. So much has changed and the cost of a Disney vacation is out of reach for most people now. They keeping making cuts and raising prices. The best trips were when they first started the free dining. You could sometimes squeeze in 2 trips per year. Well like most I’m very sad to say that we may have to find another place for our magic.
Yes, our first trip ever to WDW was at the beginning of free dining and it was awesome. Full dining, tips included, full 7 nights at Port Orleans Riverside, and even our airfare for 3 round trip tickets and park hopper tickets I believe included for $2800. We always buy the package and it was the best deal. We got a pretty good one about 4-5 years ago.
Meant to finish 4 or 5 years ago for Wilderness Lodge in December and animal kingdom lodge, but the first year of free dining was the best bang for your buck I had ever seen.
What a hot mess Disney is becoming and I’m not blaming Covid. Unfortunately, it seems like Covid is the golden opportunity for corporate to make as many cuts as the general public could possibly bear. Such a shame.
@susan….yes! 100% agree – Disney execs are taking full advantage of these covid times to take away everything we’ve all come to know, expect and love about Disney as if we wouldn’t notice or complain.
This is a huge blow. We have been to Disney 5 times in the last 6 years. Our most recent trip we had a party of 7 with our granddaughter who is Autistic. Our saving grace was the Magical Express. This allowed for her to have her first bus ride and allowed for us to see how she was going to do. The other plus was NOT having to manage our barrage of luggage and three young children who couldn’t wait for their magical adventure to begin.
We would have gladly paid for the Magical Express to have a stress free option of getting to and from the airport, have our luggage taken care of and not have to worry about splitting up, options for a large party with luggage is very difficult to find in the average situation.
We have been Disney loyalists for a lifetime and for all of these perks that are disappearing, it makes one pause to ask if it is worth staying onsite? Or going one step further, is it worth going?
Exactly! I have emailed them. It could be a complete deal breaker for us.
Thanks for your updates, Tom. This announcement definitely gives me one more reason to consider staying offsite again. While magical express isn’t a deal breaker on its own, other ‘perks’ seem to be lessening. I loved being in the bubble, but I’m finding it hard to justify the cost whenever we are able to return.
Unbelievably disappointed with this. One of the big incentives for me was that a Disney World vacation was all inclusive. The hotel, the food, the theme parks, and the trip from the airport. Real bummer. Not happy at all.
I agree with the comments so far. Having been to Disney 14 different times from out of state, the relief of having transportation taken care of as soon as we land was a factor for staying at the resorts. I’m finding it hard to find a reason to do a disney on site trip at this point. Between the price increase,reduction of services and convenience reduction, if I have to get my own transportation, I probably will stay off site, cut my park visit time, and add a Universal park to my trip. Although I love Disney, their not showing a desire for people to stay on site by making it harder for people to get there.
As as adult – I’ve used Uber but as a mom with a baby – how do I use Uber? Are there car seats? Will these cars be sold out constantly because of the size of family and children? Can’t take a rental car because one of our family members is in a scooter. What options would we have? I am truly mystified. I hope this is a simple contract issue and they will hire a new company to resume the service.
This isn’t good news! This will make people go to hotels off site, eating off site, for the people that are not comfortable taking Uber or Lyft or don’t like to drive in to and from the airport. I quess I will change my thinking and not go to Disneyworld any longer. I also don’t understand why no dining plan?? People still eat.
This is truly a sad day for me. I am retired and have have a small income now, everything has gone up in price and really I am shocked I can still do this from time to time. I stay in a value resort in value season. I eat for seven days on $350-400. I reserve one sit down dinning experience. I now need a scooter which is $200 a week. I usually get the resort for $100 a night, and flights for $200-$250 round trip. The park tickets run $400-500. On my end I usually have to get a hotel near the airport and pay for parking $150. Now there will be $200 round trip to Disney from the airport!!!!!!!! Can’t do this anymore on a fixed income. I was an R.N for over thirty years in 2009 my retirement disappeared with the fall of the stock market for there bubble scheme along with my house…..it just keeps getting better.
The loss of evening extra hours might be the final nail in the coffin for our family. With 2 older teenagers who would rather pull a tooth than get up before noon, an “extra” half hour in the morning means nothing for us. I use to actually plan our trips around the most evening extra hours we could get. I think Disney keeps forgetting that not every Disney fan is dragging four year olds around the park. There are “older” families that enjoy the evening events when most of the families have cleared out to put the little ones to bed.
Us too! We have a teen and even when she was young, it way easier to do the nighttime hours. I understand not everyone is a night owl, but many of us are not early birds, especially on vacation.
And all of us from western time zones really get excited about morning hours!
Agree, our daughter has always been, and still is a night owl. Husband is as well as far as that goes. When we first started going to the parks EMH went until 2am sometimes and we closed down the parks multiple nights. The 30 mins extra in the morning doesn’t add any perks for us.
That’s our family as well – 4 adults and 2 teens and not an early bird among us….we love nighttime EMH (guess that should be “loved”)….”mine train at midnight”
was our family chant. Couldn’t be more angry and sad about all of this Disney disappointment.
Hmmm
27$ each way to uberXL from Universal Cabana Bay + 45 each way to the airport
stay offsite drive 26 hours and 50ish each day to park at the theme parks
or
stay onsite and have to wait an hour to bus back to the hotel as it is usually 3 busses before i can get on (and that was when they were jampacking the bus) plus 45 each way to uber from the airport
or
drive 26 hours stay onsite (at a hotel thats rooms barely look different from an offsite hotel since they have removed most of the room themeing) and either pay 50 to park at the parks or 15/night to not move my car and have to wait an hour to bus back to the hotel as it is usually 3 busses before i can get on (and that was when they were jampacking the bus)
someone please remind me what the “onsite advantage is supposed to be
Well if Magic Express goes away that’s it for me. It’s not just about the transportation but it was about the start of the Magical Vacation to Disney. I do not want to take other transportation or have to drive, I trust the Magical Express to get us to the resort safety and without hassle.
Maybe when the train starts operating I will reconsider I can not believe I have to give up my most favorite vacation destination, I will cruise more instead!
I totally agree
What a bummer set of updates put out by Disney. Does this mean they won’t bring back evening Extra Magic Hours, either? We rarely used the morning hours but loved night hours. Our strategy was typically to avoid the EMH parks in the morning, but to slip back over for evening hours. Even though they did seem to increase the crowds during the day, it really didn’t feel like many people took advantage of the hours after the evening entertainment. We loved nights when we could stay at MK until 1:00 and got so many rides in (even with our early elementary aged kids!) I’m really hopeful this isn’t a permanent change.
i would bet money evening magic hours don’t come back for a very long time, if ever.
Disney World vacations were never cheap. Small conveniences always swayed my decision to stay on site but recent misguided decisions by the Cooperation pencil-heads makes it so much easier to vacation elsewhere.
I’m double commenting to say that I actually just sent an email to Disney guest services telling them how sad and disappointing this news is to everyone. I hope if you all feel the same way you contact them with your concerns as well.
I did too! I’m thinking of emailing daily, just so they know this is not going away.