Walt Disney World’s Express Transportation to End
It was fun while it lasted. The Walt Disney World Express Transportation option will be ending. Express Transportation was an add-on service that Guests could choose to take part in that allowed Guests a faster and convenient way to travel between the four Walt Disney World theme parks by taking a specially dedicated bus, for a price. This option took Guests from inside one them park and transported them straight into another by allowing Guests to travel between backstage locations.
The big perks for Express Transportation were that Guests could park hop quicker and more efficiently, plus because Guests were being transported to a backstage location, they only had to go through the security checkpoint one time–into the first park that they visited for the day. (Side note, this is different than the Disney’s Magical Express, which takes Guests from Orlando International Airport to the Walt Disney World Resort. Just so no one panics, Disney’s Magical Express will still be offered.)
The last day for Guests to purchase Express Transportation is Wednesday, August 16. Guests who purchased a multi-day Express Transportation ticket will be able to use this service until August 23.
Walt Disney World Resort Guests may continue to use all other on-site transportation options to get around the resort, including buses, monorails, and boats, as well as the new Minnie Van transportation system (where available).
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This is a bummer. I discovered it December 2016 and really liked not having to endure security upon arriving at a different park. It was worth the price for me. I know a lot complained because it was a perk for the ‘rich’ that others couldn’t afford. If you’re there, you paid for tix, paid for lodging, food, etc., a few extra bucks surely won’t be noticed….
My husband and I used this service twice on two separate trips to optimize time on park hopping days. We loved it and found it very worth the upgrade price. This pastime we used it however, we had issues with service being cancelled due to inclement weather, since the buses pick up/drop off in backstage areas, they are not considered safe when lightning is near by, so in order to protect safety of cast members and guests service would be cancelled. This was frustrating as we literslly were able to only use it once in the entire 5 day stay , when service was down- you were told to go onto the same buses everyone else was using for park to park transportation. Which basically eliminated any benefit of paying for the upgraded service . Guest services did help us out with a refund. I would guess that between the issues of not really being able to work properly in bad weather , the relatively small amount of people using the service and the new Minnie buses all kind of lead to this decision. Too bad.
Lol, I definitely panicked thinking at first you were talking about the airport transportation! We leave for Disney in 2 weeks…
This is so sad. I had relied on this wonderful new idea when planning our upcoming trip. Now I will have to change ADRs, FPs, potentially skip a park where I was hoping to just pop in for an hour or two… oh and I have non-refundable (?) F&W festival events booked that I probably won’t be able to attend if I have to allow more time to get to my next destination. Just the time of walking all the way to park exit (or nearest Uber pickup) plus security is going to put my plans back to square one. So so sad.
I wish I had known about this on my last trip. Made plans for trip in October based on using this service. K
They needed to advertise! People didn’t know about it. It was such a huge time saver to be able to be dropped off inside of the park and bypass having to go through security multiple times. The Minnie Vans are just going to drop you off outside.
I agree! I didn’t know it was available.
From the sketches at D23, it looks like the new theater will be covering the pickup/dropoff area at the Magic Kingdom.
I’ve read anecdotal reports indicating that the service was little-used. I expect that’s because lots of people are like me: I do go to more than one park in a day, but with an afternoon hotel break in between, so I don’t go straight from park to park.
I was so looking forward to using this for my September trip and am totally bummed out. As a couple with no kids, the Minnie Vans don’t make sense for us, but this would have been perfect.
Me too! My husband I are going for 5 days starting September 30th, numerous plans were made around using this service 🙁
I have never even heard of this and I’ve been to Disney more than 10 times. No wonder they are cancelling it. If people don’t use it it’s probably because they don’t know about it.
It was only around for a short time. They started the service in December 2016, so it was around for about 8 months.
Disney had their reasons for not advertising this everywhere. Not sure their reasoning but believe me, they had one.
I feel like this is happening to push quests towards the Minnie Van. After discussing with my wife the recent change, we plan to use either Uber or Lyft, unless going to Magic Kingdom. When going to Magic Kingdom, we may use the Minnie Van since you get dropped off at the bus terminal. Makes no sense to us to pay what could be double the cost of an Uber or Lyft. I know some will argue the convenience of having a car seat in the Minnie Vans, but we bought a travel car seat from Amazon to use in the other ride sharing platforms.
Part of what made the Express service terrific wasn’t just quicker transportation between parks, but also the timesaving feature of not having to go through bag check again. Minnie Van isn’t going to do that.
We used the Express service on our previous trip in early Feb. and loved it. While we didn’t have many fellow riders then, a cast member told us the service was extremely popular during the holidays.
I could imagine this happening because ET wasn’t popular enough, or because it was SO popular that it convinced Disney to move forward with the higher-cost Minnie Vans instead. Anyone have real intel on why this is happening?
what are the Minnie vans?? We were hoping to use the Express Trans in October. 🙁
I am sorry to see this go. My wife and I made use of Express Transportation on two different visits to WDW. I felt the price was reasonable, given the benefits. I hope it isn’t being discontinued due to lack of adoption. I suppose the pick-up/drop-off points could have been slightly more convenient. Just being able to bypass a second/third/fourth security screening was well the cost.