Disney’s Magical Express Successor Coming in 2022 via Mears Connect
Earlier this year, Walt Disney World made the bombshell announcement that Disney’s Magical Express is ending in 2022. This post details the spiritual successor to that, Mears Connect, which will be the new shuttle from Orlando International Airport to hotels next year. (Updated May 31, 2021.)
When announcing the end of Magical Express, Disney attributed the decision to the rise of Uber of Lyft, saying there has been an the expansion of transportation options for guests: “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.”
As we’ve pointed out, Disney’s Magical Express is operated by Mears and not Disney itself. This is why Mears Connect is a spiritual successor to Magical Express–it’ll literally use the exact same buses, just minus the Disney-branded wraps. Mears is a transportation company with coach buses and taxis that enjoyed a virtual monopoly on Orlando for years. That is, until Uber and Lyft debuted, at which point Mears sued in an attempt to protect their marketshare.
As with many Central Florida tourism-centric businesses, Mears faced significant challenges last year, furloughing and laying off a large portion of its workforce. This led us to speculate that the original announcement about Magical Express ending resulted from a relationship breakdown between Walt Disney World and Mears, with an alternative offering potentially coming down the road from either or both.
Mears Transportation Group since announced exactly that, releasing a statement that the company will continue offering transportation services to visitors between the airport, area theme parks, and resorts. Starting January 2022, Mears is launching a new service called “Mears Connect.”
According to Mears, this announcement is being made in direct response to overwhelming demand and inquiries by future guests to Central Florida’s theme park and resort areas. Earlier this year, in reaction to news reports of changes in transportation service between the Walt Disney World area and Orlando’s International Airport, Mears made clear their intention, “to continue offering transportation services between the airport and all area theme parks and hotels to meet the demand of our visitors now and in the future.”
Per the company’s press release, “Mears Connect will offer the same safe and reliable service the company has provided millions of guests for decades.” The Mears Connect service will initially operate between the Orlando International Airport and resorts in the Walt Disney World area.
Mears Connect will provide fast and convenient transportation service for visitors in high occupancy vehicles, thereby reducing traffic and lowering environmental impacts. Guests can expect scheduled service, luggage handling, convenient airport terminal staging, and return trips from resorts to the airport.
“We plan to offer the same level of experience, service, and convenience we’ve provided for the last 16 years, on behalf of our longtime partner, as returning guests and first-time visitors can expect nothing less,” said Roger Chapin, a Mears spokesman.
“It is important for visitors to know they still have many of the same safe transportation options for their Orlando visit, all offered by the same company who has been providing seamless, economical, and hassle-free transportation for decades.”
In addition, Mears will offer enhancements to ensure greater convenience and vehicle options. Pricing for all services will be announced later this year, along with the launch of a custom reservation platform.
Per the Mears Connect website, reservations were originally starting in May 2021 (see above). However, this page has been updated and simply states that reservations will begin in “Summer 2021” (see below). It’s entirely possible that this is a normal and unremarkable delay. Mears might be working on ironing out specifics, building its booking system, etc.
However, it’s also possible that the same bus driver shortage that Walt Disney World is experiencing is also negatively impacting Mears’ efforts to get Connect off the ground. As we recently reported, Disney has contracted with outside companies from as far away as Miami to provide additional bus coverage (if you’ve seen Academy-branded buses at the parks or resorts, that’s why).
While the Central Florida labor shortage is particularly pronounced right now, the difficulty finding bus drivers is not a new development. Walt Disney World has offered signing bonuses for bus drivers the last several years. We don’t anticipate that this will prevent Mears Connect from debuting on its January 2022 timeline, but it very well could impact pricing. If labor costs more and the indirect competition (Uber, Lyft, rental cars) are all more expensive, Mears Connect will also have higher price points.
Obviously, Mears Connect will not be a direct successor to Disney’s Magical Express to the extent that it won’t offer Disney branding, on-ride videos featuring characters, music, or any other Disney intellectual property. So from that perspective, it’s sure to be a disappointment for many Walt Disney World fans looking for a “Disneyfied” way to start and finish their trip.
There’s also the practical reality that this will not be free, or built into the cost of hotel reservations. So those are two big strikes against this right off the bat, which may make Mears Connect a total non-starter for many Walt Disney World visitors.
However, the problem and concern many of you expressed in the 542 comments to the original announcement was that there were no good alternatives, period, to Disney’s Magical Express. Its retirement would either require using Uber or Lyft, hiring a private transportation service, or renting a car.
Many people are downright uncomfortable with some or all of those options. There’s also the practical reality that rental cars and rideshare services have all soared in price this summer as those also experience significant shortages. We’re hopeful most of that will resolve itself by January 2022, but there are no guarantees.
Mears Connect should adequately address all of that. It sounds like it’ll essentially be the same service, in the same vehicles, with the same staff. From a continuity perspective, that’s about as good as it gets.
The wild cards at this point are really just pricing, scheduling, and frequency. All of that will likely be driven by the guest adoption rate for Mears Connect, which we’re guessing will be reasonably high. (Especially if Orlando International Airport continues to have a rental car shortage, thus driving up the price of rental cars…plus Uber and Lyft along with them.)
For years, we used Super Shuttle to get between Disneyland and Los Angeles International Airport. It was an awful company and that service is no longer offered, but that’s not really the point here. For all of its faults, Super Shuttle was fast and relatively inexpensive–we regularly paid $10 to $25 per person, and that’s for a much longer distance than WDW to MCO.
Our expectation would thus be similar pricing–and much better service, comfort, and efficiency–for Mears Connect’s routes between Walt Disney World and the airport. Having a similar schedule and routes to Disney’s Magical Express but charging $20 per person sounds about right. For many families, the economics of that won’t work out and Uber/Lyft or a rental car will make more sense. For others, Mears Connect will be perfect.
The other silver lining that could come out of this is Mears expanding its airport shuttle service to the Swan & Dolphin, Bonnet Creek Resorts, Disney Springs Resort Area Hotels, Hyatt Regency, and other options that are more or less on-site.
This would be great for guests of those properties and facilitate more Walt Disney World guests staying in third party hotels. It would also be a way for Mears to poke Disney in the eye, so to speak. Heck, Mears Connect could even service the resorts at Universal Orlando, which could help those hotels–and hurt Disney in the process.
As we’ve been saying for a while, Walt Disney World’s on-site advantage is disappearing. This should be yet another reason to look at nearby third party hotels–some of which are even on-site–before booking your 2022 Walt Disney World vacation.
If you’ve never even considered venturing outside the “Disney Bubble,” we would strongly encourage you to rethink that and check out our Off-Site v. On-Site Walt Disney World Hotel Comparison for a balanced assessment of the pros & cons.
Ultimately, this is a positive development who we’re upset with the practical side of the news about Disney’s Magical Express being retired. While we’re not the biggest fans of Mears taxis, their service with coach buses to and from Orlando International Airport has been solid. The downside is that it’ll cost money, making it “worse” than Disney’s Magical Express from that perspective, but almost certainly “better” than the alternatives presented by ride-share or rental cars.
For those who were upset at the emotional side of the news that Disney’s Magical Express would end, this doesn’t really change anything. Unless Mears works out some licensure deal, this will not be the same magical service…even though it’s literally the same service. There’s still an outside possibility that Walt Disney World will introduce its own shared airport transportation service before the start of 2022, but with this development, we now find that highly unlikely. Mears Connect is probably it.
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 of this Mears Connect news? Will you use the service, or is the lack of “Disneyfication” make it a non-starter for you? Will you opt for Mears Connect over Uber, Lyft, or renting a car? Thoughts on pricing, efficiency, or anything else regarding Mears Connect? What do you think about Walt Disney World ending Disney’s Magical Express? 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!
The only thing I can add is that pre-Magical Express Mears would sometimes take 1-3 parties to Disney in a van, rather than a bus. Since each family would likely go to a different resort, there really wasn’t a time savings other than not waiting for the vehicle to fill.
I think the thing that bothers me the most is knowing that ME was included in my hotel cost previously, but now it feels like Disney is removing a benefit and not reducing the price. I’m sure the price doesn’t add up to much, but the appearance of diminished services for more money is not good optics. We’re visiting in April 2022, so hopefully some kinks (and worker shortages) are sorted out by then. We too ME when we last visited in 2014 and it was convenient and an exciting way to travel with our then 4 year old to the hotel. I don’t remember the ride being particularly long, either.
From the research I’ve done, you can get an Uber with a car seat for $10 more than the normal cost of the Uber. There doesn’t seem to be a way to request a vehicle with multiple car seats.
Lyft does offer a car seat option as well, but not in the Orlando market.
Since there is no luggage pick up, I really would rather hire a Lyft so I get to go directly to my resort. But those require car seats for my 1 and 3 yr olds, which I definitely don’t want to haul around. So I’ll stick with the free bus for now but will certainly be researching alternative options. Did Minnie vans make trips to the airport? Does anyone know of alternatives that provide 2 car seats? I think for Lyfts, you could only request one.
Minnie Vans did do airport runs, but they were very pricey. I believe both Uber and Lyft have an option for car seats, but I’m not sure about two of them. Hopefully someone else can assist on that question!
Mears, if you read this, can you please integrate the option for a bus with a restroom on it? If you do, I would opt in for that convenience, especially routes that don’t go to multiple resorts. I can see an upside to the Mears Connect if they do that, although the luggage handling would be severely missed.
Tom,
I’ve heard there is new signage in the parking area of some of the parks that may point to the return of the Minnie Van service. Have you seen these signs?
Yes! At least, I think so.
We noticed a “new” Minnie Vans sign the other day, but were debating about whether it was actually new, or we just hadn’t noticed it in a while.
The fact that ME is no longer handling luggage (being able to check it through from departing airport to hotel) makes it totally unappealing to us right now. That was the biggest perk. And helped to make up for all the time it took to stop at other hotels before ours. (It seemed we always were the last of the route. LOL)
Wow just priced things out, now having to pay for airport transportation and magic bands if we were to go (won’t without fast passes) it would cost our family an extra $2,000 for what was included before! Not talking about the price increases.
I am going to contact them to get refunds on photo pass and tickets from last May, not sure if or when would go again. That trip was to be the last one for one in our family, they will not be able to go again.
I think the perk that Disney isn’t truly realizing is the LUGGAGE PICK UP. I get the transportation choices have changed and are plenty but it is the fact that we will be going back to picking up our luggage at baggage claim AND THEN getting on your transportation. I get that there are cheaper ways and makes it easier to have that Magical Express waiting for us but the REAL PERK was not having to wait for the luggage to be unloaded and us having to grab it. THAT is what I am going to miss. Being able to go to the park without having to worry about the luggage. They would be in my room when I got back from going to the park because they were delivered to my room. Can MEARS CONNECT do that? Nope.
I don’t know what ME costs Disney, but I REALLY don’t get why they aren’t doing everything they can to maintain that bubble! The ONLY explanation I can think of is that it was just really bad timing with the worst of the pandemic happening right when they would have had to commit to continuing the service into 2022. I still wonder if this is really going to happen, or if what we’re seeing now is Disney and Mears negotiating in public…
It doesn’t sound “magical” at all. We started staying on property for the all-inclusive feel, entertainment, and the perks. We loved every minute and were willing to pay for the experience. Now a non-Disney all-inclusive vacation is more and more appealing. The end of Magical Express is a the largest step of many that dismember the magic. I’m incredibly disappointed and will definitely spend less money at Disney in the future than I had previously planned. On the other hand, this will be a big boon to other vacation destinations. Disney may never get their market share back due to decisions like this that destroy their competitive advantage.
I would be shocked if Disney continues to allow this transportation company to be the continued support for their hotels from the airport and they don’t incorporate some sort of ticketing plan with reservations much like most agencies do when you book a stay in an all-inclusive resort in other countries. While it will be an added fee, it will probably be incorporated into your price when you book your stay and you will get transfer tickets just like you always have when it was Magical Express, but now for the new Mears Direct.
I’m hoping someone can help answer a question for me. We’ve been to DW about 6 times in he past 6 years and always enjoyed the ME, especially the perk of the luggage (which is no longer happening and super disappointing). We have a trip over Memorial Day weekend, but now we have a NEW kiddo with us, will just have turned 1 and our 9 year old. The idea of waiting longer than normal for our bus to Caribbean Beach (also first time staying there) with a 1 year old isn’t appealing….about how long are the wait times to board to ME averaging? Does anyone have any recent experience with that?
I agree that without the Disney ME, as well as other on-site perks, it’s increasingly becoming not worth it to stay on Disney property. We were only able to do it once the year before the pandemic, after having saved for a long time, as it is hard for us to afford. In the past we usually stayed at much more affordable off-site places. We really enjoyed our one and only “in the bubble” vacation, and were looking forward to having another one, but it looks like there will not be another one. We will go back to renting a car and doing Super 8 or something similar, and paying daily for parking and gas, if we go at all. The new transportation service, not being Disney and especially not being included in costs, doesn’t sound too exciting at this point. Very sad.
I loved using the Magical Express too. It definitely will not be the same. Taking away the luggage pick up from the airport and drop off luggage to go home is a huge disappointment. Especially when there are young children involved. We planned a trip with three families to Disney before the pandemic and we loved all the conveniences. We are currently planning our next trip for January 2022 thinking we’d have all the perks. What a disappointment! We are not sure if we should look at an off site property now. But why not… might save some money and get other perks from near by resorts/hotels.
As a solo woman guest if I could pay $40 roundtrip I’d take it over rideshare any day. And if Mears offered bus service to Universal hotels that’s another big win. I remember paying $50 a pop one way for a Mears cab to the Best Western close to Universal many years ago. Mears bus transpo to Universal hotels opens up more vacation options for me. As an international guest, I never used the luggage delivery as my flight always landed after 6pm – so no luggage until after 10pm – with a 1 am long travel day start. And with high priced luggage airline fees always packed carry on only. If Mears was to strip down the bus ride and price out luggage delivery as an extra pay service, that would work OK too as a pack light single. Win-win for solo guests. And no longer a captive of the mouse with easy and safe Mears transpo to Universal hotels.
I don’t understand why Disney can’t just have it’s own transportation bus from the airport to the resorts. Heck, even some non-Disney hotels offer free shuttle service from the airport. We were annual passholders, but cancelled our passes and will not be returning until they get rid of their “obedience masks”
The way I see it Disney is doing it’s best to squeeze out the middle class in order to generate more revenue per guest. All of these price increases and cancellations are only hurting the poorer families. The last time we went to WDW was in 2017 and its incredible how much the price of everything has gone up. So much that we’re actually starting to worry if we will ever be able to go back. So sad because we love Disney so much… But there are other things to enjoy in life!
Tom–any thoughts as to what catalyzed the removal of DME in the first place? Given this development, I’m very curious.
If it was Disney’s decision…why? Are they really so cheap at this point that they’re willing to forego the goodwill DME generated, in addition to sacrificing the exclusivity of the service and the way it helped trap guests in the Disney bubble? I imagine Mears could easily expand this service to include other travel destinations, something it wasn’t doing before. Are they really that focused on nickel and diming in the short term?
If it was Mears’ decision, was it merely a way to cut out Disney and gain direct revenue from guests? Was it so that they could have the option to expand the service to other destinations and thereby increase revenue?
I have no idea what Disney was paying for DME, so i don’t know what the financial implications are. It just seems so odd to me that DME would be removed in favor of a de-branded but virtually identical service, albeit with a perk or two less such as luggage going directly to the guests’ rooms. It doesn’t seem either company really comes out ahead here, apart from Disney saving a few bucks. Is it your opinion Disney saw this coming, or planned to roll out their own private service and were blind sided by this development?
I know you don’t have all the answers. But we’d love to hear your thoughts!
I loved using the Magical Express feature because I did not have to claim my luggage at the Orlando airport, but rather it magically appeared in my room later that day. That was the best feeling for a parent to start a truly relaxing vacation. I am very disappointed that Disney is cancelling the service and Mears will not be able to offer the same benefits – it will just be a ride to the hotel. Disney is missing the fact that eliminating the perks of what made a Disney vacation easier for parents/adults will definitely alter our choices of vacation locations in the future. Glad I got my special vacations in early – the new Disney is not the same magic!