Disney’s Magical Express Was Used By One-Third of Hotel Guests at Disney World
As covered in Walt Disney World is Worried About Its High Prices, there are concerns about Disney pricing out the middle class. This is now a debate inside the company among leaders, with growing fears about how price increases and unpopular decisions are angering fans and losing guest goodwill.
We’ve already discussed all of that (twice!), but there’s one morsel from the WSJ that we haven’t yet discussed. Shortly after Chapek’s ouster, Iger called a meeting and asked D’Amaro to come up with a list of things the company could do to win back the goodwill of fans, undoing some of the damage of the Chapek regime.
Among that discussion, there was this quote: “Disney eliminated some perks that used to be gratis, like the Magical Express airport shuttle and the FastPass ride-scheduling system. It said only about a third of hotel guests were using the airport service when it was canceled.” Obviously, Disney’s Magical Express was not one of the things Iger picked from the list of guest perks to be restored, but this is still the first time the company has ever disclosed ridership numbers for Disney’s Magical Express.
Let’s break this down. On January 11, 2021, Walt Disney World officially announced the decision to discontinue the free Disney’s Magical Express airport shuttle service. The company explained that “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.”
In light of this transportation preference shift, Disney explained that when hotel bookings opened for stays in 2022, they would no longer offer Disney’s Magical Express service for new arrivals. Walt Disney World continued to operate the service for new and existing reservations made for arrivals throughout 2021, and departures into early 2022.
Disney’s Magical Express airport shuttle service was operated by Mears, a transportation company with coach buses and taxis that enjoyed a virtual monopoly on the Orlando market for years. During COVID, Mears struggled. It furloughed 83% of its workforce and permanently laid off 200 workers.
Mears came back from the brink, announcing Mears Connect only a few months later, in April 2021. The service was launched in direct response to overwhelming demand and inquiries by guests. Mears Connect promised the “same safe and reliable service the company has provided millions of guests for decades.”
Shortly thereafter, a newcomer entered the arena, with Sunshine Flyer also launching in 2022. While it was a fantastic and unique train-themed twist on airport shuttles, it didn’t last long. Sunshine Flyer and Mears Connect merged in August 2023. Although the companies didn’t state as much, the reason was obvious to me: insufficient demand to sustain both.
The combined company, Mears Connect Driven by Sunshine, still operates as of 2025. In Mears Connect Driven by Sunshine Review: Is Disney World’s Airport Shuttle Still Good?, I mention that the number of stops has increased. That review was from exactly one year ago, and this issue has only worsened during non-peak times.
It’s worth reading that full review if you’re on the fence about Mears Connect, but the last line is the most pertinent part for our purposes: “Part of me wonders if the only way an airport shuttle is viable at all in the long-run is by being an on-site perk offered by Walt Disney World.”
With regard to Walt Disney World’s statement that “only about a third of hotel guests were using the airport service when it was canceled,” the first thing that sticks out to me was it was cancelled during the height of COVID. If only a third of guests were using Disney’s Magical Express from July 2020 to January 2021, that’s not indicative of anything.
We heard from countless readers then who were renting cars or driving all the way down to Walt Disney World for the first time to mitigate risk. Others opted for private transportation to reduce their exposure to other guests. This was all fairly cost-effective because not many people, period, were visiting Walt Disney World at the time. Even internal transportation was barely used during that ~6 months.
The bottom line is that if Walt Disney World were making the basis to discontinue Disney’s Magical Express on the basis of ridership numbers in mid-to-late 2020, oof. That would be very flawed methodology, to say the least.
While no poorly-reasoned decisions during the Chapek years would shock me, I’ll give Walt Disney World the benefit of the doubt and assume that the one-third stat for Disney’s Magical Express was not from late 2020, but rather, late 2019 or early 2020.
That retiring DME had been on the table for a while, and Walt Disney World used the “cover” afforded by the soft reset of the phased reopening to finally pull the trigger on what it knew would be an unpopular decision. This is precisely how we ended up with paid FastPass, which had been rumored for years but Disney never had the “courage” to move forward with previously.
By Disney’s own admission (contemporaneous interviews with Chapek and Parks Chairman Josh D’Amaro), the closure and phased reopening presented a unique opportunity for the parks to reevaluate its business practices and make difficult decisions. At that time, paid overnight resort hotel parking was fairly recent, and Walt Disney World probably was already looking for other ways to improve margins on its resorts without increasing rack rates.
Regardless of when the decision to eliminate Disney’s Magical Express was made, my reaction to the one-third ridership statistic was: “wow, that’s a higher number than I expected!”
Not everyone flies to Walt Disney World. Florida residents doing “staycations” most certainly are not. Same goes for those in other Southern states for the most part. There are a lot of regular guests, even those living farther north, who don’t fly because it’s not cost-effective or for other reasons. My family never fly to Walt Disney World when I was a kid–we made the long drive from Michigan!
Although the percentages probably vary by season, I would conservatively estimate that 20% of on-site Walt Disney World guests are not flying. That number could be as high as one-third, I have no clue–it’s not a statistic I’ve ever seen Walt Disney World release.
Within the remaining bucket of guests, there are those who do not want to use an airport shuttle for whatever reason.
Many want to be the masters of their own fate by having a rental car, allowing them to not be beholden to Walt Disney World transportation. Not just Disney’s Magical Express, but all of it. This is common at the spread out Disney Vacation Club resorts and other hotels reliant on all-bus transportation. There was a period between the time Sarah and I were broke college students and the rise of rideshare when this described us, and we rented a car for those trips.
Others prefer private pickups. The limo and town car companies have done big business at Orlando International Airport for as long as I can remember. It’s always been the case that some percentage of guests preferred a private transfer as opposed to a public shuttle.
The bottom line is that there’s another big chunk of guests airport-arriving guests for whom Disney’s Magical Express was always a non-starter. For as long as we’ve been visiting Walt Disney World, the hotel parking lots have seen reasonably high utilization, taxis were always around, and private transfer companies existed. The rise and fall of Disney’s Magical Express didn’t meaningfully change the equation on any of this.
With all of that said, it would be foolish to pretend that the rise of rideshare didn’t change things for Disney’s Magical Express. It very obviously did.
Uber and Lyft have been massively disruptive not just to the taxi industry, but presumably to demand for Disney’s Magical Express. I would hazard a guess that as those rideshare services became more mainstream, so did their usage around Central Florida. This is something we also saw and experienced firsthand.
We were early adopters of Uber, and noticed that for several years after we first wrote about rideshare, readers were still “discovering” it and debating whether to use rideshare for the first time. This might surprise some, but it makes sense. The experiences of those who live in Los Angeles, New York, or Chicago are very different than those in rural regions. Rideshare is still not a “thing” in my hometown.
This is not just about how many guests were using Uber or Lyft for transportation to and from the airport, cutting into Disney’s Magical Express ridership numbers.
Equally significant, if not more so, was the freedom that rideshare offered. Uber and Lyft opened the door for on-site guests to venture off-site, including those who had used Disney’s Magical Express for transportation to Walt Disney World from the airport. This meant doing meals off-site, but more critically, it meant spending days at Universal Orlando and other Central Florida theme parks.
This was the whole reason why Disney’s Magical Express came into being in the first place. Just like the Disney Dining Plan, it was originally a play to keep people on-site. 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 outweighed the average per guest cost of offering the service. It was a ‘soft lock’ in keeping people in the Disney Bubble. Uber and Lyft punctured that.
Even though I’ve long accepted the above reasoning about rideshare, I’ve maintained my belief that Disney’s Magical Express was still a net positive for Walt Disney World. That it was probably a short-sighted decision to end DME even if rideshare increased the mobility of guests to flow off-site.
However, the last time I wrote about Disney’s Magical Express, we were a frugal, tech-savvy couple of Childless Disney Millennials. Today, we are parents to a small child. Being a Disney Dad has changed my perspective on a lot of things, including Disney’s Magical Express.
Before, I overestimated how big of game-changers Uber and Lyft were for Walt Disney World transportation. Even though I had heard from many families that rideshare wasn’t a viable option for them, I probably discounted this perspective. And as a frugal couple, we probably overemphasized the difference between rideshare and taxis on the basis of cost (and it’s no longer the case that Uber is significantly cheaper than taxis!).
Suffice to say, there never has been a ‘soft lock’ on the Disney Bubble because taxis have existed as long as Disney’s Magical Express existed. While it’s undeniable that the cost, ubiquity and ease of Uber increased its uptake versus taxis, the extent to which this is true is debatable.
What I now understand is that there are other factors that create that ‘soft lock’ for families. Car seats are a big one, as neither taxis nor rideshare in Central Florida come equipped with these. So families with small children have to travel with their own, which is a non-starter for many.
We do travel with a car seat and, honestly, rideshare or taxis have also become a non-starter for us. Another thing I never appreciated until ~16 months ago was just how recklessly people drive. There was like one time, ever, when I was concerned for my safety in hundreds of times using rideshare prior to last year. Now, I’m a nervous wreck whenever I get into an Uber or Lyft, and that’s when it’s just me! (Beyond the scope of this post, but being a parent has definitely changed my risk tolerance in a big way.)
There is no way we’ll use Uber or Lyft with Megatron unless it’s an absolute last resort. We will “suffer” through however many stops Mears Connect throws our way. We’d rather be on the safer and much larger bus rather than play russian roulette in a regular vehicle with someone else behind the wheel.
I now “get” why so many families loved Disney’s Magical Express despite it being objectively inefficient. I also understand why families love Minnie Vans, for that matter, despite it being objectively much more expensive than other rideshares. You can’t put a price on peace of mind or your kid’s safety. Funny how perspectives change with lived experience!
I also can plainly see that Mears Connect ridership numbers are nowhere near the level of Disney’s Magical Express when it was discontinued. (I would be shocked if more than 10% of on-site guests are using Mears Connect, on average.) As the shuttle service has gotten less and less efficient, it’s become a vicious cycle of people abandoning it. In the case of families, I can only assume they’re largely opting instead for rental cars. And nothing bursts the Disney bubble like a rental car!
In other words, the “switch” from Disney’s Magical Express to Mears Connect is not simply a 1:1 change, with Disney seeing the upside of higher hotel margins without any downside in not offering the “free” shuttle. And it’s not just that they’re losing vacation time and spending by virtue of those same families renting cars.
They have undoubtedly lost some families completely, as the cost or inconvenience of paying for airport transportation was their tipping point. Or, it could’ve been the straw that broke the camel’s back from a nickel and diming perspective even among families that could afford alternative airport transportation.
Bringing things full circle with the commentary to our last post on Walt Disney World pricing out the middle class, all of this pertains disproportionately to families with small children. Much of what’s discussed in the few preceding paragraphs is our own past anecdotal experience as a childless couple (or me as a solo traveler) versus us currently as a family of three with a baby/toddler.
However, I doubt any of this is unique to us. I’ve been hearing similar sentiment from readers and parents for years, it just never fully “clicked.” Just going off my own observations, I strongly suspect that more convention-goers, honeymooners, and other members of the Childless Disney Millennials cohort are using rideshare or private transportation that were using Disney’s Magical Express or now Mears Connect.
The flip side of that is that I’d also strongly suspect that a disproportionate percentage of Disney’s Magical Express ridership was middle class families with children. That one-third number may appear low on its face, but if it spikes to two-thirds or more of all MCO-arriving families with kids, that’s actually a huge percentage of Disney’s bread and butter! And, as explained above, a big chunk of those guests still aren’t venturing off-site even with rideshare–given that they weren’t with taxis.
Ultimately, given what we now know about internal concerns that Walt Disney World is pricing out middle class families plus this Disney’s Magical Express ridership stat plus my own life experience in the last couple years, I’m even more convinced than ever than ending DME was a mistake.
I still couldn’t make sense of this decision 2 years ago, and that’s doubly true today. I’ve discussed this repeatedly and at length in posts like the list of Top 10 Guest Complaints About Walt Disney World. It’s gotta be one of those things that made sense on a spreadsheet or as a short term boost during the period of pent-up demand, but is doing incalculable damage to Walt Disney World. I firmly believe the beancounters got this one wrong, and the long-term consequences to the company in ending Disney’s Magical Express will far exceed whatever money they saved and to whatever degree it juiced margins for a few years.
Eliminating Disney’s Magical Express was short-sighted. The move will cost Walt Disney World on-site hotel stays, visits to other theme parks, meals outside the resort complex, and more. One of Walt Disney World’s greatest strengths was its bubble, and the company voluntarily punctured that. The captive audience that was viewed as advantageous for years is gone–and at a time when Walt Disney World’s #1 competitor keeps growing and getting stronger.
Another thing that resurfaced with this WSJ article was how, upon returning as CEO, Bob Iger made it clear that he had been “alarmed” by price increases at Walt Disney World and Disneyland, and was concerned that Chapek was “killing the soul” of Disney. Back when Iger’s “alarm” first leaked, we wrote 7 Good Changes CEO Bob Iger Could Make to “Fix” Walt Disney World.
To his credit, he has accomplished most of that, with only 2 entries remaining. As it’s once again clear that something substantive needs to be done–beyond ineffectual press releases–and as Epic Universe is only months away from opening, it’s time to break the glass and do one of the final two things: restore Disney’s Magical Express.
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 the statistic that around one-third of Walt Disney World resort guests used Disney’s Magical Express? Higher or lower than you expected? Think that number was disproportionately the very middle class families that Disney is now worried about losing? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? 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 totally. DME was a brilliant addition. First like you mentioned it helped keep families in the Disney bubble. I’m curious if someone had come to them now and say if you do xyz you can have a huge shot that 1/3 of your guests never leave during vacation. All the money they spend will go to Disney. They may love the idea. Second I think a Disney trip is pricy before covid. But not undoable. A family could book their trip pay for it and feel like your trip is paid for. Only cost is feeding your family. That is a huge mental comfort. Then a souvenir or 2 ok maybe 3 feels acceptable. The Disney bubble is gone now. As soon as you land you have to go and pay for your car/rideshare. Even though you know the charge ahead of time. you are faced with that amount spent again and your vacation has not even started. I’ve seen people say they choose to spend 200 buck to have a car. ok, but families can not rent a compact. They will opt for a mini van kids, luggage ect. Now you are talking $700+. After being reminded of that cost the souvenir cost feels like its being added to the $700. Prior you pay for your Disney Pkg. and you get to the DME head to your resort check in maybe enjoy the pool or walk around. In your mind you are starting your vacation at $00.00. I think that’s sums up the Disney bubble. You could pay for your pkg. and enjoy Disney without more costs. (not including food) That’s a huge weight off of your shoulders for most families vacation. You can enjoy everything. Instead of running through money spent to stay in budget. Almost all families are focused on the money going in or out of their wallet. Not moving huge numbers on a spreadsheet. Pre covid Disney was focused on a visitors experience. Post covid they are focused on what they can make you pay for while your there to help enhance your experience.
YES! Coming from California, we always took the Magical Express from the airport. It was a great perk but it’s not like we went THAT much. (2 times growing up) When I went as an adult, UBER was easier and we were also staying off property to save money. Then when we did the big family trip with not one but three littles, the bus was a must to enter the Disney bubble. Total game changer. I missed the Magical Express SO MUCH.
Growing up going to WDW about every four years, parents and my two younger siblings, always used DME when it was an option. Even well when we were grown and traveling there. It removed a layer of planning and inserting a ton of magic! I became a Disney Adult when my brother joined the college program in 2017 and I began dating my now husband, who was living in Orlando at the time. I would fly down from MA frequently to visit my brother and my husband and I dated at WDW essentially. We used DME exclusively for the convenience and ease, wtihout children. Now that we have an almost five year old, I miss it even more for all the reasons you mentioned in this article. Definitely the wrong call, and I’m hopeful they will see the light where this is concerned.
Yes! For the love of God, YES!!!!!!!!!! This is my No. 1 complaint, and our kids have now aged out of car seats and are fine in an Uber from MCO to WDW.
Magical Express was MAGICAL. It was the TRAGICAL EXPRESS when you left the bubble! The whole vacation STARTED with free Magic Bands and luggage tags for MCO, months in advance. You got HYPED for the trip, planning your air pickup. There was a freaking MICKEY head on the banner at MCO when you got off the plane telling you where to go — to the point the toddlers knew to look for him!
Then you went down that escalator to the lovely CM who confirmed your information, got you in the correct line for the resorts you were going to, and you waited in quivering excitement!
A lovely driver came up and loaded all your overstuffed luggage into the belly of the beast, and you climbed an AC coach PLAYING DISNEY CARTOONS AND MUSIC while everyone boarded. Then you and the kids sang songs and squealed every time you passed a sign for WDW or saw the oversized figures at AofA or All Stars, Pop, etc.
You got off the check-in house where everything was all wonderful. You maybe got some package freebie, confirmed everyone’s Magic Band worked, and then went to your room where the luggage would be waiting for you or arrived shortly thereafter.
The convenience and cost, yes, were/are factors, but MUCH more importantly, it set the whole tone of the trip and got you PUMPED to be ON VACATION at WDW.
Now, I book an Uber, order groceries in an app, schlep my own crap, hustle the kids directly into the room because there’s no one to check in with anymore, everyone has an iPad, and you have almost zero interaction with smiling CMs who greet you with joy and ask the kids questions about favorite characters, how excited they are, which pool they’re going to jump in first, favorite snacks, etc.
Did I mention we no longer get towel animals waiting on our beds when we check in? These little touches make ALL the difference.
Yes yes yes. All of this. Yes.
1000 times yes!
I traveled often with my small kids and mother. Not having to shlep the bags for 4 people, etc… was heavenly.
Those small freebies were exciting and started us feeling the magic long before our actual trip. I miss it all!
Was just there with girlfriends and they used their phones (no free Magic bands) and we ubered. Definitely not the same with or without kids.
……that’s only if you lived in the US. Alot of Disney visitors are not American. magic bands are not shipped outside the US, neither are luggage tags and although we could use the baggage service we would still have to go to baggage claim, wait to pick up bags then go somewhere else to deposit the bags so that they cold be taken to the resort. The baggage service at the resorts back to the airport only worked if taking domestic flights/ US airline. Not everything you described was “magical” to those staying on property, even if they were staying the same place you did.
When visiting WDW with young children prior to the demise of DME, my wife and I were avid users of this service. The convenience, safety, and luggage handling were big contributors to that decision (as well as the early immersion in the “Disney bubble”). However, when DME was cancelled, I could easily see why. From an accounting perspective, MDE was a major expense (for Disney) that wasn’t resulting in a direct revenue stream (emphasis on the word “direct”). So, in these days of many companies solely focusing on their bottom line, at the expense of the product or service they provide, it must have been a “no-brainer” in the C-suite.
Two things:
1) I’m going to guess the person who made the decision to end Magical Express was like Tom circa 2021; the service didn’t make sense for them, either because they didn’t have small children and/or always used a private car (their own or chartered) to visit the parks. And that caused them to really underestimated how important it was to others.
2) I would be so interested to read a blog post listing the biggest WDW opinions that have changed since the start of your Disney Dad era.
The loss of DME was incalculable. This for us was the ultimate PERK. The best part was putting the yellow tag on our luggage at home and after dropping at the airport never seeing again until we arrived at the room. The loss of this perk has made the Disney trip more trouble to getting to the park. While DME seemed to some as time consuming it was anything but. Now we did the Sunshine flyer before they merged with mears and that was a successful way to our Disney Time Share. . The Mears shuttle is horrible. No customer service under staffed not enough buses. Just an horrible way to start the vacation whether headed to Disney or Universal. I meet another person that suggest the Uber set up however we would drop everything for the DME to return. Yes currently Disney is using the Parks to line their pockets beyond sustainablity
I was a die hard visitor from Ireland visiting every year since 2000. My kids have grown up with Disney but it is obvious that Disney is just about milking visitors for all they can get. In the last 2 years I sadly lost my love for the once magical place. Nothing but cutbacks and price hikes. We will not be coming back unless things change. I no longer have the appetite, nor the money. Goodbye WDW you have shot yourself in the foot.
My family just returned from a week at DW. We opted for a private service that included car seats for our 2 youngsters.
Through the years I, now visiting with grandchildren, am put off by the crowds and the wait times. Time is money on vacation. Our children are very patient and we are prepared with line waiting strategies. Disney continues to build lodging, more resorts, more towers, DVC is growing, the hotels in the area are all growing. There are few new rides, shows and attractions to absorb the crowd. I’d say a reasonable wait for the biggest, newest should be 60 min. 10-30 min for everything else.
“Car seats are a big one, as neither taxis nor rideshare in Central Florida come equipped with these. So families with small children have to travel with their own, which is a non-starter for many.”
this is a huge factor for a lot of people. big buses that were included in your package so as not to worry about needing a car seat was huge and just one less stressor. our family is only a few years away from not needing car seats any longer, but this has been a factor for 10+ years wherever we’ve traveled. i won’t miss that. there also used to be a bus that went from john wayne airport to the disneyland area that was also discontinued a number of years ago that left a similar wake for families needing car seats.
If it were to come back, I think it’s equally important that they restore the luggage handling service as well. I can’t overstate how important starting our first family trip years ago with that and Magical Express was to turning me into the Disney nut I am today. It was something you didn’t get anywhere else and made it feel like Disney was taking care of everything. When I talk to friends going for the first time more recently, they just don’t gush about it the same way we did after that first trip. The upside of restoring this versus the seemingly minimal cost seems like such a no brainer, it makes you wonder if this company will ever course course correct if they can’t even get this one right.
YES! It felt all-inclusive and as if you were a truly valued guest.
The statistic that says 1/3 of resort guests used DME is not relevant, as you mentioned. The only relevant stat would be what percent of Disney resort guests *who arrive through Orlando airport* used the service. My guess is more than 1/3.
My guess would’ve been close to half.
If you narrow that down to the so-called bread and butter demographic of families with small children, I’m guessing it jumps to 66%.
I wouldn’t be surprised if either number were slightly higher or lower. Either way, those are (IMO) very impressive…and make it even more difficult to understand Disney’s decision to kill off DME. I suspect they assumed Mears would step up to fill the gap, which they did, but I don’t think that’s gone particularly well.
I am probably in the minority, but for me, driving my personal SUV is both the most practical alternative, and least expensive. I live about 650 miles (9-10 hours total driving time) from Walt Disney World. The cost of gasoline is far less than than airlines tickets, airport parking (or Uber to get there), transportation to the resort and/or rental vehicle. If I stay on-site (which I do), I can have free hotel and park parking.* And my vehicle gives me great flexibility to go where I want when I want. Being retired does give me all the time I need to get there and back, again something not all folks can do. With my SUV, I can carry water, snacks, etc., I could not bring on a plane and would have to pay for.
After a nearly two-decade hiatus, I visited in September 2022 with my daughter and her spouse, and then in September 2024 with a friend. My daughter flew to Orlando and took an Uber to the hotel. They literally pulled into the hotel right behind me!
So for me, driving my own vehicle is the best alternative. Of course, I don’t live in California or Michigan. For many folks, flying is the most practical option even if it is the most expensive. Then the question becomes how to get to WDW from the airport. As Tom has noted, even if the transportation to the resort was free, there is a “cost” in the form of convenience and time inside the park. I have chosen to eliminate that issue.
*I stay at the military Shades of Green resort. So, I have to pay for both hotel and park parking. But the lower room costs more than offset the parking costs. Plus last year, my friend was staying at the Wilderness Resort. So, we used their park pass to park free at the parks.
I would not mind paying a fee for DME. Has Disney ever considered that? That’s what it means for me and my family.
They did charge a fee for Disney’s magical Express when I took my kids in 2009. It wasn’t a lot of money, something around $15 a person.
Yup, all of this. If they don’t bring it back, i will be sorry that you’ll never get the experience of riding DME with 4-8 year old Megatron: bouncing off the seats on the way in, and tears streaming down the face waving to the Pals on the screens on the way out.
If they bring it back… just you wait. ♥️
What? Disney recognizing that serious mistakes have been made? No way!
We used the ME on our first few trips when my boys were young- was definitely cool and got them (and us) excited for the trip. I particularly was a fan of the luggage service- even how they weighed it before u checked out- many times wed have to switch items from one bag to another which would of stunk to do at the airport. The last trip we could of used ME , there was a ridiculous line at airport so we decided to take a cab instead. Overall if it was run efficiently we would welcome it and the luggage service back.
I really appreciate your change in perspective, Tom. Our kids are 10 and 12, so we haven’t used car seats for a few years. Even so, we always try to avoid being in a situation where we have to take a ride share with our kids (we feel slightly more comfortable with licensed cab drivers in major cities). We have had some harrowing close calls with ride share drivers, and that’s even with infrequent use. It is unfortunate that Disney’s policies have effectively put more cars on the road in Orlando, as families like us opt to rent cars as the least-worst option.
When we spend $200 or so to rent a car now, guess who doesn’t get that $200 now? We travel by plane to MCO 4 times a year. So, they voluntarily gave up this money. This was a tremendously poor decision by WDW.
Everyone on the bus would get excited when we crossed the gateways into WDW. When you pass by in a car now it’s just MEH.
Disney’s Magical Express was aptly named. For our family, it truly did make the vacation magical. We would tell so many people of the experience and how amazing it was to load your luggage at the airport upon leaving your city, and not seeing it again until you were at your resort room. And we loved watching the Disney videos on the bus on the way to the resort. It got us so hyped. Yes it is more expensive now that we have to take an Uber, but even worse than that it just took some of the magic away, now that it is gone.
You got that right!
My kids are now 22 and 27, so no real worries using Uber when we still trek to WDW together.
When they were little guys, we probably used DME 10-12 times as a family….and it was some seriously AWESOME Disney Magic.
Not having to cart the luggage was great…
But the vibes that were evident and memories of riding those busses in and out of the Magical place singing along to Lion King or Toy Story was such a big, big deal.
Too bad those beancounters were able to make this decision 🙁
Bob B. was right on target. Disney’s Magical Express was so much more than mere transportation. It “transported” you to your destination as if by magic. 1. You could get off your flight without having to wait for your luggage at Baggage Claim. 2. Providing you made reservations prior to your flight, you simply gathered your “flock”, made your way to the DME desk to check in, then boarded a luxurious bus. 3. You were entertained by Disney videos and other media, not to mention the sights out the windows, all whetting your appetite for all things Disney long before you made it to the property. 4. By the time you got to the Main Entrance and saw Mickey and Minnie greeting you as your drove in, you were so “juiced-up” for your vacation that not even the cost of it could bring you down. 5. And when you arrived at your resort hotel, your luggage, which had last been seen being loaded onto your plane, suddenly appeared alongside your bus, and then was magically whisked away by the porters, only to reappear in your room moments later, sometimes even before you arrived in the room yourself.
Riding DME was like your vacation started the moment you landed, not when you arrived on Disney property. And as a parent of a small child, it was something you looked forward to them experiencing. No other ride service could come even remotely close to making that kind of “magic” happen.