Visiting Disney World is already a pretty expensive vacation.
The hotels on property get pretty pricey, and then you’ve got to worry about park tickets, special events, food, souvenirs…it’s easy to drop some serious cash on just one trip. But that trip is about to get even more expensive, starting on January 1st of next year.
Starting January 1st, the free Magical Express service that takes guests from the Orlando International Airport to their Disney World hotel will be discontinued.
The Magical Express started in 2005, but it’ll run its last routes on December 31st, 2021. The demise of the Magical Express happened slowly, with small changes at first. For example, when Disney World reopened in 2020, guests had to bring their luggage with them on the bus instead of the Cast Members picking it up from the luggage carousel and delivering it to their hotel.
If you’re heading to the Disney World parks after 2021, though, never fear! There are still a few options for getting to Disney World from the airport, although none of them are free.
The New Service: Mears Connect
The service replacing the Magical Express is called Mears Connect, and it’s a very similar system with buses taking guests from the airport directly to their Disney World hotel.
This new service is run by the Mears company, which is actually the same company that ran Magical Express for Disney World. So you don’t have to worry about these buses getting lost on their way to the parks — they’ve been doing this for a while now!
The biggest different with this new service is that Mears Connect is not free. You’ll need to reserve and pay for your spot on the bus if you want to use this service to get from the airport to your hotel in Disney World. We’ll take a look at pricing and how to book your spot in a moment.
The timeline for Mears Connect buses is similar to Disney’s Magical Express. The Mears Connect bus will pick you up from your Disney World hotel for your ride to the airport up to 3 hours before a domestic flight and 4 hours before an international flight.
Mears Connect also travels to a few non-Disney-owned hotels around Disney World, including Disney Springs area hotels, the Four Seasons, the Gaylord Palms, Bonnet Creek, and Shades of Green.
The current plan for luggage is that guests will pick up their bags from the luggage carousel at the airport and take them on the bus. This is how Magical Express has been doing it for the last year and a half, so it’s not a major change for guests. But if you’re used to Disney picking up your bags and the luggage magically appearing at your hotel (like Magical Express did before the closure), don’t forget to grab those bags on your way to Mears Connect!
Another difference is that Mears Connect has two options for transporting guests to and from Disney World hotels: Standard and Premium. The standard option is like Magical Express, with guests boarding the bus along with many other people and stopping at a few different resorts along the way. Premium offers lower wait times and a faster trip straight to your hotel.
Mears Connect Pricing and How to Book
The Standard service will cost $32 per adult and $27 per child (ages 3-9) for a round trip. A one-way standard service trip right now costs $16 per adult and $13.50 per child. If you’re traveling as a family of four (with two adults and two kids), it’ll cost $118 for a round-trip service for the family. A one-way service for the family would be $59.
Premium service, as you might expect, is more expensive. Premium service costs $250 round trip for up to four (4) people. Additional guests cost another $55 each. For the extra costs, premium service includes a limited wait time as well as direct service to your hotel. Premium service may be offered in a smaller vehicle like a van or private car, but Mears hasn’t confirmed this yet. If you’re using Premium, you can only buy a round trip right now (not a one-way trip).
To book, you’ll head to mearsconnect.com and fill out a reservation form.
You’ll fill in your destination, flight information, and the number of passengers. In the next step, you’ll pay for the trip and receive a confirmation. So it’s not a difficult or lengthy process, but you will need to remember to reserve your spot on the bus before your trip, and it’ll be a new added expense to your vacation.
We’ll be checking out this new service when it debuts in January 2022, so keep following AllEars for all the latest Disney information.
Click Here to See 10 Ways Disney World Will Change in 2022
Are you going to use Mears Connect next year? Let us know in the comments.
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Basically it’s looking like a break even for 2 people compared to Uber. An Uber XL is about the same price as 2 people.
Disney is becoming a park for the elite or you will have to save 10 or more years of your life like a engagement ring or a home. How is this ok? Why are we allowing this to happen? This is beginning to sound like Pro Sports….we keep going and supporting a team that says they are for our enjoyment…and they keep throwing over priced seats and food at us! When will we stop tolerating this insanity! Somebody’s becoming a millionaire while we scrap to see them!
We will be using Mears Connect on January 2 and 9. We will have 14 in our family.