Magical Express

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  • #144212

    jman410_89
    162 XP
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    At least you could still take a lyft or rideshare to MCO however Brightline will provide more people to Orlando International Airport.

    #144213

    starbee
    499 XP
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    MOD

    Will the “under new management” operation be driven by Iago, and directed by Zazu :P

    Who are you calling Zazu?! LOL

    #144269

    disneygal1234
    82 XP
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    I hate this move. Such a big perk for us to not worry about our checked luggage or transportation to the resort. :(

    #144282

    Jloosh78
    236 XP
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    Disney is doing everything in their power to lose me as a customer. Everything that Disney stood for as far as standing out way above the competition is gone. How can I justify the same prices and even higher prices with none of the elite services and entertainment I am accustom to getting? Furthers my statement of Disney just morphing into an over priced amusement park now. Thats the very sad part!

    #144283

    Jloosh78
    236 XP
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    True but now it will be an addition cost. Never really minded paying the high prices for Disney due to the services that were provided. The magical Express was a very worth while perk for those of us traveling from a far. I’m sure the ticket prices ,food prices, merchandise prices, hotel prices will not reflect a lower change in price with all the services that are being cut.

    #144294

    tkeon200
    41 XP
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    This move is completely shocking. Michael Eisner’s ultimate goal was to keep guests ON PROPERTY. HS and AK were built to provide more experiences over a longer vacation. The plethora of hotels were built to accommodate that capacity. ME was incorporated to bring guests to Disney World and give them little incentive and options to leave and go outside of Disney World. ME was the final and most effective piece to the puzzle. Once they had a hold on that, they raised raised prices on everything. The emergence of Uber and Lyft have certainly helped give guests a convenient option to leave and visit places outside the World. I believe, for the majority of their guests, they stayed on property once they were there.

    In hindsight, we could have seen the writing on the wall when they made the decision to charge for overnight parking. I thought this move was to encourage guests to take ME and avoid personal transportation, while making a few bucks on local AP who typically spend less money than a vacation guest while in the park. But after this announcement, I think their approach was WAY more sadistic.

    Disney has to understand that, logistically, it is going to be a nightmare for guests who fly into MCO to get to WDW with all their luggage. Guests will have a hard time finding an Uber/Lyft with the capacity of a family of four traveling with a week’s worth of luggage. If they are to take the Brightline train, they would be dropped off at Disney Springs and need to transfer (with all their luggage) from a train on to a resort bus. Depending on the frequency of the train schedule, there could be a dozen other guests with luggage getting off the train and clamoring to the resort bus, where other hotel guests are also trying to board to get back. The most convenient thing for guests to do at this point is to rent their own vehicle…and pay the overnight parking fee ($$$). I can only determine that it was a methodical, preemptive, measure to make more money off overnight parking.

    Disney is gambling here. Will the new generation of Disney goers, who experienced Disney in its prime and now have children of their own to pass on that nostalgia, continue to pay the high prices for a Disney hotel, in addition to overnight parking and car rental fees? Or will guests decide, if they are going to rent a car anyway should I just stay off property? Maybe make my ticket a 5-day ticket instead of a 7-day ticket and take a trip to Universal?


    #144299

    PaydirtBurt
    101 XP

    Well said Jloosh78 & tkeon200. :clap:

    I agree, if Disney does nothing to make getting to WDW “magical” then they will loose out in keeping people in their “bubble.” The saying “penny wise and pound foolish” comes to mind.

    A few other thoughts I have had since my earlier comments.

    * For a first time guest not having ME will not be an issue, they don’t know any difference. It’s the rest of us that have been spoilt.

    * Disneyland has no ME, yet somehow survives.

    * Possibly with covid they are viewing WDW as a “locals park,” ala Disneyland, for the next 3 to 5 years so transfers from MCO and Early Magic Hours are not an issue for them at this time. Allowing time for the train to be built, estimates I saw were around 2025.

    * We are assuming that the parking fee and eliminating ME are related. Could be that they made the parking fee move to do just as suggested, get people to take the ME and raise a little revenue, while the company was going left and since then management has decided to go right and do away with the ME for what ever reason.

    * Closing Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride and ME are not related! :goofy:

    * I do know Disney as a company does carbon trading and offsets :land: , you can google it. Was ME a big drag on that for Disney? Hay, if you drive the carbon footprint is on you, if we drive the bus it is on us!

    * I DO think the train could be a good thing, provided they do it correctly, like offering door to door touch free service for your luggage, demanding the train service be of exceptional service and using dedicated busses, ala ME, to/from the Disney train station to your hotel. As said before, I feel pretty confident the station will not be at Disney Springs but somewhere near, most likely across I-4 some place. They just needed a place name close as opposed to “the East side of the property.”

    * As far as transport from MCO to WDW, when ME is gone, something will fill the vacuum left. Possibly MEARS starts running transit vans or busses, they way they do now for Disney, just not called Magical Express. Will it be as magical? Probably not, especially in a Disney sense. They do have all those “dedicated” bus parking spots right there at the airport terminal still.

    :sam: In breaking news, all news really, but mostly breaking news, we heard that starbee will be starting a rickshaw service to/from MCO called Starbee’s Magical Urban Disney Rickshaw Service (SMUDeRS)! Now that is a plan to keep in shape for the Disney Marathons! :P

    #144300

    Nascfan
    499 XP
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    MOD

    Ok that last part just made my afternoon @starbee! LOL

    #144301

    starbee
    499 XP
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    MOD

    @paydirtburt I’m laughing out loud, in my cube, in a room of dead silence LOL :clap:

    #144303

    steve
    200 XP
    SUPPORTER
    ADMIN

    :sam: In breaking news, all news really, but mostly breaking news, we heard that starbee will be starting a rickshaw service to/from MCO called Starbee’s Magical Urban Disney Rickshaw Service (SMUDeRS)! Now that is a plan to keep in shape for the Disney Marathons! :P

    LOL LOL LOL SMUDeRS!

    #144305

    jamiedawn27
    499 XP
    SUPPORTER

    To quote Baby Herman “this whole thing stinks like yesterday’s diaper”. When they started charging per night for parking I knew something was up. The lot was never full and it doesn’t cost anything to maintain it or have vehicles in it. It was a money grab, plain and simple.
    What I didn’t know was that they were dropping ME which makes me think there was a more evil plan in the works all along. They know families won’t want to take a train…buy 4 or more tickets and deal with that both ways…why not rent a vehicle and get around that? Disney’s reward? Another $13-25/night without raising their hotel rates. Jackpot.
    Mark my words the park parking fees are next. The fees are ridiculous already…like $20/car…but today if you are staying at a resort you don’t pay it. Soon that won’t be exempt either.
    I’m done with Disney. DONE. every move they make is further and further away from us as customers and what Walt wanted. He didn’t want Disney to be political and push agendas…he wanted it to be American as apple pie where everyone just went for a good time. That’s it. But Disney isn’t fun for me anymore. So I think I will be a universal customer from now on.

    #144317

    Disney’s Magical Express, the mini-series, coming to Disney+ this fall!

    Relive all those magical times! Sitting at the stop lights on World Center Drive admiring the traffic! Standing in the Orlando International Airport Magical Express queue wondering why those people in front of you don’t have their Magic Bands ready like you and your party. Racing on Disney internal transportation back to your resort hoping to make it in time to catch your ME bus. Wondering if that wet seat was from someone who went to the water park before getting on the bus or an overly excited child? Hearing it called the Tragical Express when you leave for the umpteenth time!

    You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you may even pee yourself, but you will never be the same after watching Disney’s Magical Express, the mini-series!

    Pure :gold: LOL LOL LOL

    #147377

    Goofyfan_Chuck
    234 XP
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    #147397

    Nascfan
    499 XP
    SUPPORTER
    MOD

    Probably Disney wouldn’t let them. That would be my guess. Oh, and you’ll pay out of pocket direct to Mears now so I guess a little less “magic” there.

    #147398

    PaydirtBurt
    101 XP

    Agreed Nascfan.

    Even at an extra cost at least it brings that option back. Good thing for Mears is it let them service any theme park/resort out of those bus spots, not just Disney. One thing I will be interested in seeing is one will they still be allowed to drop guests off at the front door of their resort, two will you have to gather your luggage at the airport or will they and thirdly will they be able to work with Disney and offer baggage deliver/check at the resorts for departure. As I understand it, it is/was Mears that did all that under the guise of Disney before, so it may be just as much a name change as anything else. Think like the restaurants at Disney Springs, not Disney, but part of the extended Disney family.

    Now they are saying the train would not get to WDW till 2026. Definitely would not take that date to betting tables in Vegas. I mean, they are still trying to decide on one of two proposed routings, plus the governmental agency has given them till this summer to get a plan in place or possibly loose the right to do the job. I have seen where someone was talking/speculating that the station would be where the Orange garage at Disney Springs is. I find that hard to believe. Coming from an engineering and train fan background it seems quite impractical, from just getting to to site, heck you will have to get over I-4 (can we say bridge kids? and a bonus engineering formula bridge+major highway=BIG $$$$ :gold: ) to how would they make it a loop (in the train world it is more efficient & safe than backing the train back out onto the mainline), not to mention Disney just built that garage 6 years ago & take away DS parking for locals, why trash it? So who knows. We shall see!

    Starting to sound like a soap opera!


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