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!
It cracks me up that Disney doesn’t see how discontinuing Magical Express releases my vacation dollars to all of Orlando. If I have to rent a car – that’s $350-$450 less I’m spending on a hotel/my vacation anywhere in town, on or off property. Then, if Disney isn’t getting me to it’s property for free & I have to drive around anyways – then they have to compete price wise on a nightly basis – as the half hour early entry is a wash with a free breakfast for 4 off property IMO – and it’s rare that they do. If I’m staying in a hotel off property – then where else in Orlando do I want to go – I already rented a car – so now I’m free to visit anywhere else in town. They thought “Oh people just want to be in the bubble and will get in it on their own accord” versus we “incentivized people to let us keep them in the bubble and benefited mightily from them only being able to spend money in it”
I know I give much, much less to Disney as a result of all of the cutbacks. I ive more money to off-property services/businesses. I have also stopped purchasing souvenirs as a result of them killing the resort package delivery as well as the front of the park delivery. I usually purchase about $1500 in a week on souvenirs/gifts, but now I buy a few pins and that is it. I do not even give money to Shop Disney. If I cannot pick it out, take it to the register and then get it later at my resort, I do not need it. I do not want to carry that stuff around all day or put it in a backpack. I also do not want to risk it being damaged on an attraction or on a crowded bus.
LOL Give it a decade, Tom. Megatron will be doing things that will absolutely curl your hair, and hurtling down the highway in a stranger’s car will be the least of your worries! (P.S. Took my daughter to L.A. last year and used Lyft for the first time – it was a godsend, and only one driver terrified me during the entire week. Then again, DD was 18 at the time. At some point you just have to leave it to the universe, you know?)
You hit the nail right on the head, Tom! When our kids were infants and toddlers, DME was a MAJOR decision in us vacationing at WDW. We probably went to WDW 5-6 times per year when our kids were younger. We didn’t need to pack a car seat (because it wasn’t required on the motor coach and once we were in the “Bubble” we would use buses, monorails, and ferries). We never had to handle our luggage at MCO or at our resort. It was literally brought directly to our room for free after we checked in our bags at our home airport!
Post-COVID, we’ve been going about once a year and we aren’t planning to visit at all in 2025. The perception of paying much more for less is one of the biggest reasons, with DME being near the top of that list!
Hi,
We were so disappointed that the Magic ride was canceled. Each perk dropped means one more reason we can’t afford coming back.
One snack, paying extra for rides. Unfortunately this will be our last trip. We’ve been 8+ times.
I’m a shareholder and would definitely would skip dividends if it meant more people could afford to enjoy Disney.
Isn’t this what Walt would have wanted?
We had always considered a trip to Disney a good value though now disappointed.
wish you would do an article about scooters transportation; how to get from airport to resort and back when bringing your own. How to get to all the parks and resorts . It is very hard to figure out.
We miss DME!!! Especially with the Bag transport directly to our rooms! We often travel off hours and waiting for Mears has been really inconsistent. Sometimes they have someone there, which is awesome, but when they don’t…we’ve waited 45 minutes to an hour. When we do get on board, it’s usually just the passenger van…which makes sense from a business standpoint, but it’s definitely not the same feeling as DME. We hope it comes back real soon!
We are planning a long overdue return to WDW in March. Our biggest disappointment is not having the Disney Express to take from the airport to the WDW hotel. Not only was it cost saving and easy to access at the airport, it always began the Disney “adventure” for us and our kids. Now our grandkids will never experience the excitement of a Disney bus, Disney voices on it and Disney fans all together and excited about our upcoming WDW adventure. It was a big mistake eliminating this convenient and quality means of beginning our WDW trip. It was part of the reason we booked our hotel on WDW grounds and stayed in the Disney bubble. Please bring it back! Between the loss of Disney Express, the cost of Lightening passes and less quality Meal Plans restaurant options, WDW is pricing themselves out of a vacation of a lifetime for many families. Disney, please listen to your customers.
THIS! 1000%
Family of 4 adults & 2 children from U.K. flying into MCO once or twice a year to stay at a different Disney hotel to experience the different options available. After a 9.5 hour flight it was great to collect luggage & walk to the DME area,find our hotel sign & get onto the coach-fabulous service ,enjoyed the transfer however long & really disappointed when the service was withdrawn . Have used both the Sunshine Flyer and Mears since ,both perfectly fine but not the immediate feeling of being on our Disney holiday which is definitely part of the whole experience:let’s hope the Magical Express is reinstated soon
Echoing the comments. Many logical reasons for the service to return. Let’s hope the cast members with decision making authority read these supportive comments from numerous guests.
That’s the biggest issue from a guest perspective- it’s breaking the Disney bubble. I’ve only been a guest in the bubble, always staying on site and using transportation to get to park to park. This year we’re doing cruise and stay..and using Disney transport to even get from Disney resort to cruise and then again from cruise to resort. We are paying for that transfer but that is preferable than other methods bc there’s significant benefit to taking it to cruise (early arrival, less waiting, get on ship earlier, and stay in Disney bubble). Disney resorts cost a lot compared to other local options. Including free transport from airport to resort helps give us another reason to stay on site. Taking to away means one less reason too… for us, this is just our last trip for awhile bc overall it’s just too expensive. I work in education and will just have to go less frequently..instead of yearly perhaps every 3 years or so. It is unfortunate Disney is pricing “average” families out of going. I have friends who don’t even take their kids at all bc they don’t want to get saddled with going every so often. Instead, they go to great wolf lodge or house rental in Michigan. Much cheaper alternatives!
I miss DME! It gave me time on the way to the parks to ramp up the excitement and time on the way to the airport to contemplate our vacation memories. I loved watching other families share the same experiences with their families. Also, the Disney standard gave me peace of mind!
First time poster here.
So I’ve been thinking about the numbers. One third of guests used DME. But DME was made for those flying into MCO (add in those traveling by train, but I don’t know if train travel started after DME cancelled).
Say that one third of guests staying at WDW Resorts came from MCO. That third has no car, generally speaking. They have to rent a car, use taxi or Uber, or use DME. That would mean upwards of 90% of the eligible people used DME. Remember only those from MCO could use it.
Say half of resort guests came from MCO. That means up to 75% used DME.
That one third of users has to come from MCO and stay at Disney resort, not friendly neighbor hotels. The only time it becomes uneconomical for Disney is when a third of eligible guests use DME, and that only happens when 100% of guests fly into MCO.
Look at the parking lots of Parks and Resorts, that doesn’t happen.
I might be unclear about conclusions, but the only guests that can use DME came from MCO, don’t have a car, and stay at Disney resorts. There are so many others that are not even eligible and should not have been counted into the two thirds that don’t use DME.
Being a large family with everyone flying in, it was easier to book MC since no one had to bring a car seats. The thought of renting several cars is not feasible since the cost for us is peanuts compared to the rental cars we all needed. Husband and I traveled last April and took MC over to the Animal Kingdom Lodge and we were thrilled by the accommodation, even though we paid for it which was significantly less than a rental car.
Thank you for all your information. We look forward to reading your blog all the time.
Christine
This will probably be an unpopular opinion, but as someone who always drives to Disney, ME would be more of a deterrent to a Disney vacation. Knowing that an expensive service, that only a subset of guests use, is subsidized through room pricing, would make that surely expensive resort stay much harder to swallow. I think it would also be hard to pivot from the public statements on how expensive it is maintain. I’m guessing it would be received well but people also complain that Disney is too expensive. That expense would come from higher pricing or cutting services elsewhere. I’m willing to bet it won’t come out of profits.
I’m not against transportation at Disney either. Quite the opposite. I view ME differently than the transportation system between parks / resorts. Those are used by different groups and open to all, whereas ME is limited to specific guests and purpose. And while I don’t use all transportation at every visit, there is always the option to do so. There is 0 possibility that I would decide to visit Orlando airport for an afternoon, if that was even an option.
I certainly understand your viewpoint but consider this: Disney spends a huge amount of money to build and maintain parking lots for folks like you who drive in. These costs are added to the room charges we all pay in order to provide your “free” parking.
i can appreciate your point of view however the large lots are for the parks. I tried to park at the Boardwalk for instance, to go to one of the restaurants for ice cream and see the new bakery and was not allowed because the lots are full. niw, Boardwalk IS my primary place where my DVC points are, although I was not saying there at tgat time. How does Disney expect the restaurants and stores to stay vital? if tgere was more of a ME balance tgen more spaces could be available. I never had this issue during ME
On parking lots – fair point! But I’d say in the US, large parking lots are a pre-condition. I doubt any amount of bus transportation would change that any time soon or reduce their size.
Valid point except that when they eliminated it, prices did not go down. They have only gone up. A Disney trip now costs much more for much less, the loss of MDE being only one of many things that was eliminated or monetized. So maybe you are saying to bring it back would increase prices? Maybe, but it was run via partnership through Mears, so I’m not sure how that worked on the back end. I see two other scenarios…the prices will go up regardless or visitation will drop enough that they eat the cost and offer it is a perk again.
I also think there is something to be said for helping a place stay accessible and enjoyable to everyone. For instance, I don’t need family restrooms or nursing rooms anymore, but I think they are important and am happy to cover the cost of having and maintaining them. I am guessing, but spread across millions of annual visitors, the actual cost of MDE per person must have been very low. To me, that is something I am willing to pay if it makes the trip doable, adds to the experience, or otherwise positively impacts a reasonable portion of visitors. I would say 1/3 is a reasonable portion when you are talking about millions.
The bigger issue is that Disney continues to erode the experience for an ever increasing price. I know prices go up, but that doesn’t mean quality must or should go down. We are essentially getting shrinkflation in the service sector. There’s probably a word for that.
well said!
We felt like we were at the parks as soon as we made it to the ME lines and most certainly when we boarded the bus. We felt like we were still at the parks until we got off the bus back at the airport for our departure. My wife and I strongly feel this is the biggest mistake Disney has made in guest services. We still come – but bitterly complain about this lost service every chance we get.
The whole argument was flawed from the outset.
We are stopping a free shuttle service because people prefer to pay LARGE Amounts of money on UBER or LYFT
OK first of DME: We – my family – has been traveling to WDW since Christmas of 1982. And believe it or not, the 1982 Christmas trip was to be with relatives for the holidays. Our decision to add WDW came shortly before we left our home. Since then we’ve visited many, many times. The most in one year was three visits because we had picked up annual passes on a special DVC rate and wanted to get the best use of them.
We live in Washington just west of Seattle, so flying is pretty much a no-brainer. Fly in, hop in our rental car, and off to Disney World. Of course every time we came the route was different — tollways under construction then opened, new highways around the park, new highways inside the park, etc., etc. And occasionally we got lost. The worst was one Christmas when there were blizzards in central US and we didn’t arrive until 1AM.
So when DME was announce I considered it to be a Godsend! We took it on our first chance and have done so every time since. It is just so convenient, SO much fun. We LOVED it. And you know what? WE HAVEN’T BEEN BACK SINCE THEY CLOSED IT DOWN!
So what do we dislike about the current WDW? Well obviously no no DME is right up there. The other thing? This whole pay-extra-for-special-ride-priority arrangement. It all started with Fast Pass. My analysis of the whole FP arrangement was a lot of fanfare about nothing. If you were a big Disney fan and went for the whole day got got skip lines on a few rides in a trade for waiting in line longer for everything else. Was is worth all the running around and reserving? Not only no but hell no! I hated it. We used it, because we had to just to keep up, But the net gain was absolutely nothing! And now we have to pay for the same privilege! This on top of base price rates that keep going up, up, up! And the one big price “break”? A special kids rate for Disneyland. In California! They might as well give me a break in Paris or Tokyo!
So there you have it. Bring back DME and get rid of all those line-skipping options.
Wow, you totally nailed this! Yes, to every point. And as a stock holder I have been totally dismayed at these changes. The latest $$$$ for no lines is elitist and beyond a bad decision.
The days of ME really made the Disney Bubble complete. Just being able to find your luggage in your hotel room was such a magical convenience. It was a welcoming service both when you arrived in Florida and when you departed. As someone who flies to the Magic all the time, this perk was definitely a value worth missing.
I stole this but AGREE entirely
. ME taking care of baggage, from airport to room. Not lugging bags around was such a bonus! Even from getting from baggage claim to rideshare vehicle to hotel to the bell desk just is not fun and can be downright difficult even though we have one child! There was a feeling of relief to not deal with any of that and getting to your room knowing bags would be there waiting for you.
2. For us, and I think most people, ME set the tone for your trip. Your arrival. Anticipation to the start of your trip or a fond farewell at the end. You can’t put a price on the feeling of excitement embarking to your resort, watching Disney clips on the screens in the bus, etc. We are bummed that our son does not get to experience that in his tween years and beyond.
With ME, your vacation started at the departure airport. Check bags and you and your group( Mom, Dad, Kids, Grandma, Grandpa, etc) were free of the baggage nightmare. Disney themed busses and cartoons had the kids all excited and we weren’t at the resort. The vacation continued when you were departing the Happiest Place on Earth by checking all you luggage at you resort. Again ( Mom, Dad, Kids, Grandma, Grandpa, etc) were free of the baggage nightmare.
Off topic, but the 180 ADR for DVC was a perk that never should have been terminated
100% ME was such a wonderful perk!
Absolutely, it was magical.
Reading some commenters lament at the loss of Magical Express luggage handling made me think differently about the cost of the service. While I always considered the expense for Disney ME shuttling “people”, I really didn’t think of the vast infrastructure needed and complicated logistics of handling luggage (tags sent ahead of time, scanning equipment, luggage delivery to 19 different Disney owned resorts, delivery to individual rooms, management oversight, etc). It must have been costly from that perspective alone.
On the other hand, I was also impressed that ONE THIRD of visitors used the service. That is actually a very high number; a percentage I originally supposed was much lower. So, I agree with Tom: the loss of this service hit Disney in multiple ways but especially in encouraging people to go outside the Disney Bubble and – most importantly – good will.
Their inflated prices paid for DME, because nothing is free. They may have called it a free service, but it is added in everywhere….rooms, tickets, foods, souvenirs, etc. But now, they have continued to raise the pricing so that the average middle class family cannot really afford it like they once did, while no longer offering the “perks”.