Disney’s Magical Express: Simple Idea, Not-So-Simple Beginnings

If you stay on Walt Disney World property and visit by flying into Orlando International Airport, there’s a good chance you’ve heard of, and maybe even used, Disney’s Magical Express. It’s the free bus transportation offered to guests traveling to and from MCO on their Disney vacation. It makes a lot of people’s lives easier. However for what seemed like a great idea, Disney’s Magical Express actually had a pretty rocky start.

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The idea was pretty simple and clever. Offer free bus transportation between Disney World and the airport to guests staying on property and you reduce the odds that guests will rent cars for their trip. Less rental cars means less of a chance that they’ll drive off property for the other theme parks or other Florida offerings. It offers the temptation of a more simplified and all-encompassing Disney vacation.

Disney kicked off the program by partnering with the Mears Transportation Group for what would be a year long testing period. Their initial deal with Orlando International Airport had them paying the airport 50 cents for every passenger they picked up.

Naturally, there was one group who didn’t like this program at all: Orlando’s local cab, limo, and livery drivers. Disney World was a major draw for Orlando travelers, and they feared that Disney’s program was going to eat into that business. They’d ultimately be right, but there wasn’t really anything they could do about it. It’s not like Disney was breaking any rules or anything. Well, actually, that’s exactly what the drivers accused Disney of doing.

You see, one of the aspects of the Magical Express program was that Disney had cast members standing outside of the main terminal on the third level to greet guests, answer questions, and direct them towards the buses. The Greater Orlando Livery Association argued that this was in violation of MCO’s policy against soliciting on the third level and created an unfair playing field. Disney countered that because the guests using Magical Express had to sign up for their rides before the trip, they weren’t actually doing any soliciting. However some cab drivers claimed that Disney was guilty of taking on passengers who hadn’t actually signed up for the service.

There was a lot of back and forth, not just between officials but also through the media. Hearings were held that fall by the GOAA to try and find a solution. In an effort to placate the cab drivers, MCO forced Disney to relocate their greeters to the second level. They also made Disney replace their own cast members at the airport with Mears employees, since Mears was technically running the service on behalf of Disney.

The Livery Association continued to argue that the deal was harming many small businesses, some to the point of bankruptcy. Meanwhile the Magical Express service itself was booming. Guests were overwhelmingly in favor of the perk, and by that point it was shuttling up to 10,000 guests a day to and from Walt Disney World. As the end of the test period approached, it became clear to everyone that the Magical Express busses weren’t going anywhere. That said, the Aviation Association wasn’t about the let the program continue as-is either.

GOAA Chairman Jeffry Fuqua admitted that they made mistakes in how the test was structured, and now that they had almost a year’s worth of data, they’d be able to renegotiate the deal. After an outside consultant looked at the program, it was discovered that the airport was actually losing money on Disney’s Magical Express. It was bringing in revenue due to the 50 cent per person fee, but that revenue was being offset by the lost business of smaller livery companies, who were usually paying a higher fee. So the renewed deal involved bumping up the 50 cent fee to 75 cents, with the ability to later bump it up again to $1.50 in 2010.

Additionally the Magical Express would have to move their operation from the A side of the terminal to the B side, which was more commonly used for busses. Disney would once again be allowed to station their own cast members by the busses, but in-turn they weren’t allowed to setup similar operations at any other airport within 100 miles of MCO.

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