There are quite a few technicalities to work out if you’re planning a Disney World trip.
Magic Kingdom
What time of year do you want to visit? Where do you want to stay? Which dining reservations would you like to make? All important questions that can make or break your vacation. But for the past few years, we’ve had to ask one particularly difficult question…how do you want to get from the Orlando International Airport to your Disney Resort?
Back in 2021, Disney World announced it would be ending its popular Magical Express service. This complimentary shuttle would provide transportation for Disney Resort guests from the Orlando International Airport (MCO) to their hotel.
Magical Express
However, when Disney World canceled the free service, they didn’t come up with a replacement. Instead, we’ve seen several different third-party options pop up in the past few years, from Mears Connect to Sunshine Flyer. Some people have even started using rideshare services like Uber and Lyft instead.
Mears Connect
But here’s the thing — we get that Magical Express may have been costly for Disney World to run, especially right after a pandemic…HOWEVER, why didn’t they ever come up with a paid alternative? It seems like the logical thing to do. Still offer the service, just charge hotel guests to use it.
Sunshine Flyer bus
These days, there have been a variety of complaints about the third-party options, from the time they take to get to your resort to the difficulty of booking through an outside company. Disney could provide a much more direct and easy option, and just make it an add-on like they did with the transition from FastPass+ to Lightning Lanes. Or what they did with complimentary MagicBands becoming more expensive MagicBand+ options. It just seems like their style.
Airport shuttle sign
It’s a common complaint that Disney World seems to be “nickel and diming” its guests these days, but this seems like an obvious business venture for them. It’s surprising that they’re leaving that money on the table — just to be collected by third-party businesses. We wonder if they’ll ever bring back their own version of this service.
We miss you Magical Express!
We’ll make sure to keep you updated with any more transportation options that come available between Disney World and MCO, so stay tuned to DFB!
Click Here to Learn About One of the Shuttle Options!
Join the DFB Newsletter to get all the breaking news right in your inbox! Click here to Subscribe!
WE KNOW DISNEY.
YOU CAN, TOO.
Oh boy, planning a Disney trip can be quite the adventure, and we totally get it! But fear not, dear friends, we compiled EVERYTHING you need (and the things to avoid!) to plan the ULTIMATE Disney vacation.
Whether you're a rookie or a seasoned pro, our insider tips and tricks will have you exploring the parks like never before. So come along with us, and get planning your most magical vacation ever!
What airport transportation do you use to get to Disney World? Tell us in the comments!
Our handy (and portable!) ebook guides make sure you get the best deals and can plan a vacation of a lifetime.
Disney prices are high for tickets and accomodations. Normally, we get picked up by Town Car Chaffeur. Can’t afford it now. We will be experiencing pay to ride Mears this Christmas. I hope it goes well. The last time we rode the free Disney bus we waiting 2 hours at the airport for the bus to come.
Even when Disney offered their Magical Express service, I opted for a rental car or a Town Car. I have a WDW trip booked for the first week of December. I opted for Tiffany Town Car because I like the convenience of their driver meeting my group at the airport, helping with luggage, making a grocery stop for snacks and drinks and then driving straight to our resort. It’s also nice on the way out for the same reasons.
I’ve come to the point where I don’t want to mess with picking up a rental car and having to drive everywhere in an unfamiliar area. I’m also done with finding a place to top off the fuel tank near the airport which doesn’t have jacked up gasoline prices.
A town car service isn’t cheap, but for me it’s well worth it. Likely there simply isn’t enough profit involved in a transportation service for Disney to bother with it. There is also the issue of liability if a Disney shuttle is involved in an accident. I’m thinking that’s the primary reason they ended the Magical Express service; too much liability.
With all of the price increases, Disney should at least bring back the Magic bus! Surely they can afford it!
Does not make sense, so it must not make money for Disney to be in the Magical Express business. It was a ground breaking industry first that clearly changed many guests vacation plans. I would have put the magical Express right up there with the Magic Band, Fast Pass and Disney Cruise lines. Each were reimagined with the guest in mind that reset the bar for all competitors and reshaped the industry. Why they have not figured out how to reinstate it is beyond me, but then again, Disney is not known for relaunching old ideas. Too bad…..
Don’t you think it’s cheaper to contract out rather than pay drivers, buy buses, etc? I would love if they did get back in air port transportation business.
The money we would save on air port transportation could be spent in the Parks!
We drive, but we used to fly and take the ME. I agree with the take on the evolution here – I wouldn’t be surprised if Disney eventually brought back a MCO transpo option for a fee. They seem to want to avoid the optics of just charging for what used to be free (hence the FP+ – Genie+ – LL evolution), but I think they are overestimating the cover that these convoluted paths provide. I think most people see it as a journey to paying for a service that offers less and delivered a lot of disappointment in the process. I’m surprised that they didn’t choose to just keep more things the same and increase the prices of rooms and tickets as ‘needed.’ There seems to be a deliberate agenda of making the ‘basic’ experience (which is still pretty expensive) worse. It’s a very strange strategy.
I have used Lyft with no problems but, that was just my wife and me.
One thing I don’t see discussed is that with Magical Express they took you straight to your resort and if you wanted to go somewhere outside of WDW you had to uber, lift or rent a car. This made it harder for guests to leave WDW so that seems like a win for them. The part I miss the most is the luggage handling. Even my husband, who isn’t a huge Disney fan and goes because I love it, was impressed by the ease of letting them take your luggage from the airport to your room then checking the bags are the airline check-in at the resort.
I use Florida Town Car. They have never disappointed me.
Complementary Magic Express was never free. It was merely embedded in the nightly cost of the resort. People that drive essentially subsidized magical express.
A large company like Disney could never offer bus service cheaper than a small third party.
If it doesn’t make money for Disney and it’s shareholders they are not interested and why should they be.
People got some of this wrong. The Magical Express was tun by Mears. The biggest difference to me as an older person is the luggage delivery to your room. At my local airport I could drop off the luggage at curbside. The next time I saw it was in my resort room. I am sure that parents with kids would feel the same way. Now one would think that if a person booked a 5 night stay at a moderate or deluxe hotel Disney should be able to provide this perk. No worry, park attendance is down and they have to offer something to get people back. Meal plans??? Forget that for me. You can’t get reservations and I don’t eat that much. Disney knows if their hotels are at capacity or not.
There is no problem. Disney does not owe visitors transportation. Every vacation I ever take transportation is my issue not others. People need to stop thinking Disney owes you.
Mears Connect is literally the same thing, just fee based with a different name. Disney itself contracted Mears to run the Magical Express. There are a few things that Mears doesn’t offer like direct to airport luggage service other than that bus themeing changed. That is all.
I have been thinking for a long time that they got it backwards. They entirely removed the Magical Express whereas they should have added a fee for it. On the other hand they added a fee for FastPass+ and should have gotten rid of it,
My last trip, I used Mears Connect without any trouble. I loved when my mom and I went, too. We used Magical Express.