After Disney World’s historic closure and later reopening in 2020, everything changed. At the time, it made sense that some of the big perks of staying at a Disney World hotel weren’t available, but many assumed that those perks would return.
Now, six years later, three big perks haven’t returned, and although Disney fans continue to demand them, we don’t think they’re ever coming back. We also don’t think Disney’s new CEO, Josh D’Amaro, will bring them back.
Let’s talk about these three perks that Disney fans want to return, and why they won’t.
Free MagicBands
For a long time, you could get your choice of a free MagicBand for everyone in your party if you booked a stay at a Disney World hotel. You could pick your MagicBands out in advance and even have them shipped to your home. However, free MagicBands became a thing of the past in 2021.
This is something a lot of Disney fans would like to see return, but with the arrival of MagicBand+, which costs MORE than a standard MagicBand, Disney is not about to take something that’s making the company a profit and get rid of it.
For a while, Disney offered discounted MagicBands for hotel guests, but that, too, is a thing of the past. It makes sense, though. You don’t really even need a MagicBand for your trip…the My Disney Experience app on your phone does all the same things.
Magical Express
Before the closure in 2020, you could get free transportation to and from Disney World hotels and the Orlando International Airport via the Magical Express buses. However, Disney World got rid of that perk, and instead, you can pay Mears Connect to shuttle you to and from the airport instead.
This is another perk that Disney World hotel guests really want back, but we don’t think it’s going to happen. First, some guests are opting for Uber or Lyft to and from the airport. Second, Disney doesn’t really need or want the additional headache of getting you to and from the airport. It didn’t directly make money for the company, so it’s probably going to stay axed.
Free FastPass+
Disney’s previous skip-the-line service was FastPass+, and it was offered free to all Disney World visitors. Guests staying at Disney World hotels could use FastPass+ to make some of their FastPass reservations up to 60 days in advance.
Disney replaced this service with the paid Lightning Lane Multi Pass and Lightning Lane Single Pass. People are paying for these services, so we doubt the free version will ever return. Now, it would be nice if the Disney World version of this Lightning Lane service also offered free PhotoPass downloads as the Disneyland system does, but as of yet, that’s not happening either.
Why the new CEO won’t bring these back
Josh D’Amaro was recently announced as the next CEO of The Walt Disney Company. D’Amaro’s previous position was Chairman of Disney Experiences, which meant that he oversaw everything in Disney Parks. He took on that role in 2020, which means that these changes that everyone believes he could bring back were actually changes he helped implement.
That’s right. D’Amaro would have had to approve getting rid of free MagicBands, Magical Express, and FastPass+. So don’t count on him reversing those decisions anytime soon.
However, with that being said, D’Amaro is also why the U.S. parks are getting a lot of love right now. He’s responsible for approving both the Cars expansion and Villains land addition in Magic Kingdom, as well as bringing a Monsters, Inc. land and a reimagined Animation Courtyard to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. He also approved a project to bring a Tropical Americas-themed land to Disney’s Animal Kingdom, as well as a new show, Zootopia: Better Zoogether!
In Disneyland, D’Amaro has approved an Avatar expansion, as well as an Avengers Campus expansion with two new rides. A new Coco ride is also coming to the resort. So, although perks for Disney World hotel guests are disappearing, there will still be more to see and do in Disney Parks on both the East and West Coasts, which adds value to the cost of that ticket and hotel room.
Of course, we’ll have to see what kind of decisions D’Amaro makes once he takes over in March, but we’ll be keeping an eye out for all the big announcements, so check back with AllEars again soon for more.
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What do you think? Let us know in the comments!
Would love to see the park to resort package delivery option back. When it began years ago, you package was delivered to your room, then changed to resort delivery, now you have to lug your bags around. So many nice benefits that made you want to stay on site, are gone. What’s next – charging to use the internal bus/boat/monorail/skyliner services?
Yeah, I really miss this too. I was fine with getting deliveries at the resort gift shop which I did on my 2014 and 2015 trips.
I can live without these three things. What I would like to see most is Free hotel shipping of things bought in the parks.
Many of the perks in the past were intended to get people to stay on Disney property.There is no need for that anymore. As long as people open their wallets and are willing to hand over their money willingly, why would Disney give away anything? When attendance drops and rooms are vacant, then, and only then, will Disney bring back perks. M
I’m not really concerned about all three of those, my main gripe is the Magic Hours for Disney resort hotel guests were SEVERELY cut. We just got back from a two week vacation and we haven’t been since the 2018 and the madness of Covid, the reduction in Extra Magic Hours is shocking. Restricting evening hours to just two nights a week at two parks—while filling the rest of the calendar with paid ‘After Hours’ events—feels like a significant cut in value for resort guests. The 30-minute morning entry doesn’t make up for the loss of those late-night sessions. If Disney wants us to keep choosing on-site hotels, the perks need to reflect the premium price we’re paying. We are DVC members, so obviously we will still stay on property, but dang Disney! Stop taking away the magic!
Middle class families can no longer afford to take their kids to Disney World without going into debt. Walt would be rolling in his grave.
Gone are the days of any park/resort changes for the sake of art or experience. It’s all about draining every dollar they can from their customers. So sad.
I disagree that Magical Express will never return. I’m pushing for its return on X, and even written to Guest Services pushing for it as well. Mears Connect already has a plethora of 1-star ratings, so Josh will listen to those complaints and reconsider.
Of course, I won’t expect free FastPasses nor free MagicBands to ever come back, though.