Disney Magical Express to be Discontinued

[Scott W.]

Disney's Magical Express Service Ending in 2022

Walt Disney World news, photos, and reviews! We provide you with daily news from the Walt Disney World theme parks and beyond

blogmickey.com

 

[Nick]

Disney's Magical Express Service Ending in 2022

Walt Disney World news, photos, and reviews! We provide you with daily news from the Walt Disney World theme parks and beyond

blogmickey.com

I assume this is because of the train that will be stopping at WDW?

 

[joelbryant11]

What a shame, a staple of my childhood. Very much a part of the overall Disney experience.

 

[JungleSkip]

Disney making it real easy to never go to WDW for a vacation ever again.

 

[Nick]

Disney making it real easy to never go to WDW for a vacation ever again.

They literally are going to have a train that is going to go direct to WDW. It's gonna be pretty easy. The train is basically just a replacement.

 

[JungleSkip]

They literally are going to have a train that is going to go direct to WDW. It's gonna be pretty easy.

It's going to DS and only DS. And won't be free. I'm good.

It's just a continued whittling away of services to a WDW vacation that make things easier, making it the most frustrating theme park resort to actually visit

 

[Nick]

It's going to DS and only DS. And won't be free. I'm good.

There's going to be buses off of the train that take you to the hotels from what i've heard. The train station is on the opposite side of the street of DS.

 

[joelbryant11]

They should have installed a monorail from MCO to WDW last century tbh

 

[Nick]

They should have installed a monorail from MCO to WDW last century tbh

Monorails, while efficient, are extremely expensive as no one makes them anymore except for Bombardier. And if you don't replace your trains when their lifespans is expiring, you get the situation that WDW's monorails are currently in.

 

[MrBlonde]

"We replaced this freebie and decided you can pay for it elsewhere." -Disney management

It was something to keep people in the bubble and reduce people going off property but they decided to pad their margins and reduce costs. If the train was the replacement, is it going to be open by 2022? (I don't know if it is or not.)

 

[Nick]

"We replaced this freebie and decided you can pay for it elsewhere." -Disney management

It was something to keep people in the bubble and reduce people going off property but they decided to pad their margins and reduce costs. If the train was the replacement, is it going to be open by 2022? (I don't know if it is or not.)

I agree it's a poor move to get rid of a free ride to the airport and there could be consequences now.

Disney likely was forced by Virgin to cancel their contract with Mears. Disney is NOT going to make the money from the train as far as I know (maybe there's a split), but giving up their contract for Magical Express with Mears is dangerous because Mears could go to Universal and Universal could do some sort of free transport to their property. That would be very beneficial and it would look very enticing when booking a vacation as opposed to having to pay to take a train.

 

[JungleSkip]

I agree it's a poor move to get rid of a free ride to the airport and there could be consequences now.

Disney likely was forced by Virgin to cancel their contract with Mears. Disney is NOT going to make the money from the train as far as I know (maybe there's a split), but giving up their contract for Magical Express with Mears is dangerous because Mears could go to Universal and Universal could do some sort of free transport to their property. That would be very beneficial and it would look very enticing when booking a vacation as opposed to having to pay to take a train.

If UOR management was smart they’d be on the phone with Mears right now.

Unfortunately past experience does not have me holding my breath on that

 

[Yabbadabba Doh]

Big mistake! Although I don’t use it anymore, DME was invaluable when traveling with kids and made the whole luggage and transport part of the trip sooo much easier.

 

[Scott W.]

Disney making it real easy to never go to WDW for a vacation ever again.

You're not wrong.

It was worth it to stay at a Disney hotel. You got the benefit of early park access, early FP, free parking and the Magical Express.

Early FP only fixed a problem that they've created. Soon enough FP will no doubt have a paid option and the benefit of staying on site will be gone.

 

[Nick]

I think you guys also have to take into account that there's an increasing amount of people using ride share services to go to WDW hotels and Universal hotels. It's not going to stop many from staying there if they want to anyway imo. Something else that needs to be questioned is why they cancelled the Minnie Van program to and from MCO if they were going to cancel Magical Express.

 

[Yabbadabba Doh]

I think you guys also have to take into account that there's an increasing amount of people using ride share services to go to WDW hotels and Universal hotels. It's not going to stop someone many from staying there if they want to anyway imo. Something else that needs to be questioned is why they cancelled the Minnie Van program to and from MCO if they were going to cancel Magical Express.

But, did they cancel the Minnie Van program because of COVID and the added liability? I was thinking they might bring it back next year

 

[Nick]

But, did they cancel the Minnie Van program because of COVID and the added liability? I was thinking they might bring it back next year

Good point.

 

[Grabnar]

Burying the lede here a bit with ignoring that EMH are also ending!

100% a way to increase the number of nights available for After Hours with minimal impacts to day guests.

 

[Yabbadabba Doh]

Burying the lede here a bit with ignoring that EMH are also ending!

100% a way to increase the number of nights available for After Hours with minimal impacts to day guests.

I think this is also an operational cost savings as the amount of resort guests is still limited as well as the park selection requirement. In actuality, even when the parks were normal, evening EMH was not very crowded at all. We rode anything we wanted multiple times. In these cost cutting times, a way to save some operating $$

 

[BigHouseFootball]

Wait, I just assumed EMH was goi g away during Covid and would return after. It’s for sure done?

And I am so sad about ME. It extended Disney hospitality to the airport. I knew all I had to do was deal with the airlines till I touched down in Orlando and thenI was going to be taken care of by Disney.

I cannot believe they are discontinuing this. I mean, I’d even be willing to pay a small fee, like $5-$10 to use it.

I won’t miss being dropped off at the airport 3 hours before departure, but having that ride to Disney from MCO made it worth it.