I have visited Walt Disney World many times in my life and have been covering the resort professionally for years now, so I have a lot of experience and knowledge about what's going down in the parks. But as a west coaster, traveling to The Most Magical Place on Earth always takes a bit of extra work compared to hitting up Disneyland. It’s for this reason that I still miss The Disney Magical Express, and it turns out a lot of other people do too.
I saw a tweet recently that played one of those “pick one of these things” games, asking Disney World fans which of four pictured items they would most want to bring back. Disney’s Magical Express was a popular choice, even considering that Splash Mountain was one of the choices, and a lot of Disney World fans are quite upset about the Splash Mountain redesign. It feels like removing the Magical Express is one of the worst decisions from Disney World in recent memory. Let's discuss.
You get to bring one back...which are you choosing? pic.twitter.com/QD94CmxG4AOctober 30, 2023
It's been two years since Disney World ended the Magical Express. It just made things so much easier. You signed up for the service in advance, and your transportation to and from Walt Disney World was just handled. What’s more, once you dropped your luggage at the airport on your way out, you never had to deal with it again. The true magic of the Magical Express was the way your bags magically appeared in your hotel room shortly after you arrived.
There is still a Magical Express-like option. Mears, the transportation company that actually ran the Magical Express for Disney World, still runs bus service to all Walt Disney World resorts from the exact same spot at Orlando International Airport, and it all works essentially the same way it did when it had the Disney name. However, the old Magical Express was free, and the current service is not. Plus, the luggage service is no longer included, which added just that right level of pixie dust.
Beyond that, it used to feel like your Disney World vacation started as soon as you got on that bus. Disney music played and the TVs on board would hype you up for your stay by providing information about what was happening at Disney World that you’d want to take advantage of or it would just be playing Disney cartoons.
That’s all gone now. The current service does its job, but it feels like you’re just getting on a bus for a trip that isn’t that short and will eventually drop you at your resort, and once you get there, you start to feel like your trip has begun.
The Disney Magical Express completed the “Disney Bubble.” It seems this concept is no longer important for the company, but a big part of the value of the Magical Express to Disney itself was that it gave guests a reason to forego the cost and hassle of renting a car, but it also meant guests couldn’t easily leave the property. This was good for Disney, as it meant people spent more money at Disney, and it was good for people like me, as it was also a desirable state. Being inside that bubble created a mood that just wasn’t the same if I had to drive myself all over. I have little love for the Disney World internal bus system, but the buses are certainly better than driving yourself.
With Mears now in control of the Magical Express terminal (and one assumes making more money than they did under the old model), seeing the Magical Express return is probably as likely as seeing any other lost Disney World attraction come back, but if given the choice between the Magical Express and nearly any re-themed Disney World attraction, returning to the way it was, I’d probably choose the bus.
