Yep, it was amazing, I can’t even count the number of times we were the only people riding dumbo or magic carpets at the end of the night for 3 spins in a row without getting off. My girls loved it!

This is a big blow. They have been making staying onsite less and less attractive for years now, let alone what they have done to DVC members. The ME was a stress free travel option for families and really was the start of the "magic" when you arrive at MCO.

This is not cool at all.....

Yep and yep. Starting when our kids were 1 and 2 we went every year for 8 years. Started with a 4-day trip then added another day to the trip each year. Magical Express was a BIG incentive for us to stay on property. No rental car, no car seats, & bags came to the room from the airport, and that was a big load off our shoulders when traveling with such young kids. And also the dining plan was a really good option the first couple years (but then started losing it's value/appeal a few years later).

If today we started taking those same trips without Magical Express where we would have to arrange our own transport from the airport with car seats and wrangle our bags from the carousel, then we would be taking an Uber to an AirBnB instead. Around 2014-2015 or so there seemed to be a shift in the trips where it felt like Disney cost controls were starting to become noticeable on the vacations. Not a good vibe to have on those vacations. The last two trips there we ended up skipping Magical Express and instead hopped into an Uber from the airport to the Disney hotel because it was going to be a long (hour or more) wait for the Magical Express bus while in all the previous trips I don't think it had ever even been half that long, and with the kids a bit older we wanted to get to the resort to start vacationing instead of waiting at the airport. The last couple years we went little things like that were popping up where services just didn't seem as great as it had been in previous trips.

So now the last three years we've still gone to Orlando but skipped Disney except for visiting Disney Springs. Still love Disney and have lots of Disney stuff throughout our house, but it just became a bit much with all the planning that had to be done several months in advance to get the rides & restaurants for each day of the trip (especially when the trip length got to 10 days), and we just couldn't shake a sense that while it's still a great place to go (and we want to go back) the feeling of creeping cost controls with things like the dining plan, longer waits for the bus & a lot of other little things just tilted us to start looking at other things to do & places to stay in town. It's a bummer because we really love going there.

I won't miss the "Not so Magical Express" as it was a nightmare and took forever. Plus that long walk on the baggage claim level to get there was not great when traveling with little kids or old parents. However the convenience of not worrying about how to get to the park resort was what made it worth it. No extra magic hours flat out sucks. I dont want to go to the park at 7:30am, I want to stay til 1 or 2am

I won't use Uber or Lyft where potentially some loser high on meth is driving my kids around Orlando's Interstate system.

Now I will need to use a shuttle and pay for that. And we know that Fast Past isn't coming back....really frustrating.

Maybe I'm being naive, but don't you think a different bus company will swoop in and try to offer a similar experience? Maybe only during peak times or something. But I could see a local company taking advantage of Magical Express going away to try and offer a similar service.

I believe I read that the bus company wasn't owned by Disney anyway, so they will probably continue to offer the service for a fee independent of Disney.

We just rebooked a trip for April that was cancelled last April. I'm definitely disappointed in the lack of Fast Pass and Extra Magic Hours. These both played a large part in my planning to avoid long ride lines. I considered waiting to see if things get back to normal, but who knows what the Fall, or next year will bring. It could be worse so I'm rolling the dice. My refund was in credit because I used gift cards to pay for the vacation in the first place so I need to use it up, it has no value otherwise.

Disneyland to become biggest vaccine site in Orange County. Come get a shot with Micky Ears on, magical!
Kidding aside nice to see the giant parking lots finally being used for something good. Shame this wasn't already set up for testing 9 months ago.
More layoffs at Disneyland go into effect on Jan 24th. The park staff will be at below moth ball status. Hopes of opening July 1st went out the window last week.

https://www.wdwinfo.com/news-stories/virgin-trains-plans-to-open-orlando-airport-and-walt-disney-world-stations-at-the-same-time/

I will wait and take the train.....It is about time they put in a train line!

That will be a clusterf#k as well. Long lines, bring all your backage on, then oh guess what....you get dropped off at Disney Madhouse Springs and now have to take a bus to your resort.

No thanks.

I have taken trains all over the world including in China. Trains can be crowded. That seems to be the norm in most of the world ....
Car rental in Orlando is pretty cheap too.
I guess I'm just not that detoured by these things .....the definition of first World problems

The last couple times we went to Orlando we just rented a car at the airport. I really enjoyed not waiting for public transportation, being able to leave the resort for breakfast food and beer and visiting family. The $25 a day fee is a real kick in the ass. There are probably days I won't touch the car. I know there were one or 2 parks that it made sense to drive to from the hotel rather than wait for the bus. I'm still on the fence. Last time we went the kids were much smaller. They will be 14 when we go, no more compact cheap cars.

Car rental does not make any sense as you have to pay for parking as well, and you get free access to the Disney busses. Glad that this isn't a deal killer for you.

Ok now. Why be a d!@k?
You don't know me....no reason to be sarcastic.
I really don't care that much.
It just seems like a lot of whinging ....but hey , if you can't complain on a forum .... Mouse knows Disney probably won't listen.

Mears owned the buses and contracted with Disney

I'd ask if you're new here, but you've been here longer than me.

7 and 8 yrs ...... both of you are newbies

They've ruled out opening by this summer?

Disneyland just canceled all Annual Passes. A million annual pass holders who've been longing to return at the end of the covid nightmare just got a firm gut kick from the mouse.

Ya. A sad day....oh well. We used our pass more than the value in the first 3 months. Looking forward to receiving 2/3 of my $ back....

Guess we will go to DW after all

They described it as sunsetting the program, so APs are going away, but it also sounds like they'll be replaced by something new.

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The idea originally with covid shutdown was when they opened later that year, everyone was going to get 2020, plus 1 year and reset clock.
Well, the sun set on that plan. The answer to your second qustion is No.

AP's are not gone for good. When the park is fully open again in 2-3 years they will come back.
You can go back and see my posts in this thread since I can't delete them.

Yes, summer is out, lucky if it's Oct at this point with many safety protocols including face masks. Facemasks will not go away for awhile, my guess 2022-23. The reason would be the employees of the park dont want you there without them. 20% of all guests were from asia, 50% from across America. Bringing the whole world to the park until many levels of vaccinations and tests takes time. Sorry no magic pill in 2021.
It is a Pandemic, and these things take time.
Back to Annual pass's. The problem with opening was the passes. Its going to be a reservation system anyway. How many reservations to I reserve for loyal pass holders?
What about the family of 5 from Kansas and there reservations. It gets complicated and it eliminates favoritism.

The locals around here (including family members) with APs are losing their $shit. One theory is that once everything opens up again, there will be a huge pent-up demand and also things might still be restricted (like attendance within the park). So Disney can do without the flood of passholes (as they are known in some circles) flooding in the gates without paying top dollar. Even though they do tend to spend money once inside. They can collect more money from the incoming flood of people from all over who will pay top dollar.

My sister read in either the LA Times or San Diego Union that Proof of immunization will be required and General Admission will be value priced at only $200.00 per person.

Occupancy will be kept low and as already mentioned, annual passes are being cancelled and refunded.

It makes sense. I think that’s the way. After being closed for a year, you need to make a lot of every person. You know there will be plenty of people who will pay it (me)

There's no official source on that to my knowledge. I think they're making stuff up.

My wife just got vaccinated. I looked at her vaccine record card. It would be easy to make one and "prove" you were immune. Such a requirement would be entirely pointless.

Yes, cancelling the passes for now was the right move. It's the only way they would be able to control each day's attendance when they do reopen by only selling so many admissions per each day.

It will probably be like these football games where the stadiums are only at partial capacity, but those that do go in will definitely be paying a premium.

They did say they will work on a new pass system eventually, but I think it will probably be way more astronomical in price than it has been the last few years.

Glad I got my Disney ya yas out when my daughter and myself were young. This place is far from re-opening though. My guess is at least another year, maybe more.

If it’s another year the world has ended. Seriously. How do the leaders expect people to live? I think it will become open rebellion before that (I don’t mean Disney necessarily, more generally people won’t put up with restrictions that long for a disease we have a vaccine for).

You know, when live in the neighborhood and you stop hearing the fireworks that went off at a certain time every night now for almost a year, you kinda get used to it.

If you like though, you can drive your car through Magic Mountain and watch all the rides go with nobody on them. That should run a chill up and down your spine.

All these extreme covid measures and yet looking at the daily case numbers it hardly seems to be having any effect. I'm honestly surprised there are enough people who haven't had it to keep these numbers as high as they are.

Good case:

Florida Disney - open with restrictions in place and limiting attendance.

Cali Disney - closed

Infection rates in Cali 2x Florida.
Population Cali 2x Florida.

So what conclusion do I make??

It's to control attendance and as painful as it is, it's the right business and consumer move. I would imagine in a future state, attendance will be governed with a reservation system until we are fully past the pandemic.

At least Disney is offering pro-rated refunds as most organizations would just bank the cash. 2020 was the first year in forever we haven't been to DL and I'm sure there are many others like us waiting to get back.

"It's a small world after all,
it's a small world after all,
It's a small world after all,
it's a small, small, world."
God I hate that Fucking ride.

I’m at WDW now. It’s pretty crowded and they are doing a fantastic job with COVID measures. Compliance is pretty good too.

Universal is even more restrictive right now.

Actually, I kind of like wearing masks and staying 6 feet from people down here. They should keep these rules.

Show us some pics of the crowds!

People comply because if they don’t, they are ejected from the park. There is a lesson to be learned there.

Thanks for the pics. Ill pass on Florida.
Absolutely no social distancing of strangers from all over the USA.
Thats why Gov Newsome aint going to let Anaheim open anytime soon.

I agree 100%. In all reality though, how would you ever expect a theme park, especially the magnitude of Disney keep EVERYONE 6' apart? Never gonna happen. Doesn't even happen in my local grocery stores.

I'll take Florida right now as a great place to visit. Bars and restaurants open for business. I get to live my life as I choose to.

Just got back from a drive to Las Vegas. Only Michigan and Illinois were oppressed with no dining in restaurants. Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado (most Counties-all that I needed) Utah and Nevada were open for dine-in food and booze. I wore my mask beyond instructions (Some places only have "Masks Recommended" signage). I appear to have survived.

The only reason Disney World is so crowded right now is that they increased capacity and have been filling to or getting close to their new capacity because of the holiday travelers. Disneyland could absolutely open and keep people apart if they kept capacity down. We went to Disney World in July and it was far safer than even going to a grocery store.

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Today is a holiday weekend so it will be busier. Overall except a few places that are always busy, it feels ver safe. One thing I noticed is very low scooter traffic, which tells me the high risk are staying home which is smart. WDW has it figured out.

Painting spots every 6 feet helps.