I don’t know the actual number, did a quick google search and could not find anything. Just took an WAG.
I know WDW doesn’t like to let too much information out.
I have 30% onsite in my head…that 30% of park guests stay onsite. I feel like it was some back of the envelope math someone did, based on onsite hotel capacity/occupancy rates and estimated park capacity?
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Even at 30%, that would be 17.4 Million onsite guests. 3 Million DME riders is 17.25% of overall onsite guests. Over 82% are not using it and it is not an incentive to those guests.
Ppl come to Orlando for many reasons and while all of us here on these threads favor WDW it is cost prohibitive; plus there are SO many places to stay off site in the area to enjoy all of the available attractions. And off site is less expensive.
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That’s not how big business works, though. Disney doesn’t have unnecessary expenses. All expenses have a role in generating downstream revenue or they do not exist. And they are cut according to what that net revenue is.
The only exception to this is fixed overhead, which is required to keep the doors open. But every “perk” has been looked at to see if it generates more downstream revenue than it costs, and DME is no different. It at least broke even for them in the past, but now they are predicting it won’t. Why? Is it something they are planning, or the risk of COVID? That’s what we are trying to figure out in this thread.
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Hah, I’m betting on the former!
I can’t even imagine the data they have on us with Disney.com, magic bands, etc. I didn’t even link my Disney+ account with all that because, well, who knows… they’ve got enough on me already!
I have no idea what DMPE (Disney’s Magical Pandemic Express) is like but if they’re trying to maintain physical distancing on buses then they’re running a lot of buses with empty seats.
I know school buses were running with only 25% capacity (every other row, every other seat).
I wonder if they’re anticipating an increase in park capacity and/or attendance.
And then thinking those additional guests push the bus fleet past some tipping point where they’d have to either add a lot more DME buses or leave a lot of ppl waiting “too long” for a bus.
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Right now it’s costing them more than it’s gaining them.
But you say that big business doesn’t work that way. Maybe not in normal times.
By an “unnecessary expense” I’m meaning an expense that isn’t helping them right now. The contract was up for renewal; Mears actually said as much, they heard it wouldn’t be renewed when it was due for renewal. How would they work out net revenue on a service that isn’t actually paid for directly by the users of the service? There is literally no way to work that out.
Same with the entertainment - how did they calculate how much the Dapper Dan’s net them, who were kept on, versus Casey’s pianist, who wasn’t?
How do they work out the net revenue from the Epcot monorail line?
I don’t think it’s net revenue just now that’s driving these decisions. It’s “what do we need to keep right now”? Everything else is being cut.
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I am not and at my and my wife’s age it is a little too late to become one. At this stage it would not pay off to do so. My children are not WDW crazy like we are so we will see what happens in 2022. I have a feeling that a shuttle service may come to the front like at Universal and at a fee of coarse. Because we bought AP’s at the wrong time it would appear, we are going to try and do two quick trips of two weeks duration in late Sept. early October and then again in December. Depending on what happens for transportation we will go again in March of 2022. I could rent but at my age I am not high on the idea of driving in Orlando traffic. Will if I have to but I will try find another option first.
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On an positive note they may be providing an incentive to other businesses to fill the void they are creating and may result in competition which is always a good thing for the consumer. We were planning a family vacation to Disney World in two years and this may change it to a vacation to Orlando instead and a whole new level of opportunities.
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When it was announced that Disney was discontinuing DME my shares of stock dropped $4 a share. I think the streaming service is now where the money is for Disney and they just aren’t into the parks as much. I do NOT like the new CEO and I figure he is really going to hurt the place. My opinion only,
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You do know that Mears dropped round trip service to Universal Studios last year. Another service is providing round trip service to Universal and I think Universal is somewhat funding them.
We all know that every person on this thread threatening to not come back to Disney will be back in 3 months, tops. 
(All kidding aside, I hope Disney stops cutting their perks and goes back to making WDW more magical and serving their guests with the highest quality.)
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Haha
Well yes true, what would stop me is if there were no perks left. But I have to believe post corona, things will return… we will see!
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Uh…11 months =p But whos counting.
I swear Disney will not get my money until then…wait, Disney+.
I swear the parks WILL NOT get my money until then. Unless the Mug thread stays strong, then they’ll get my money through ShopDisney.
I swear the actual parks won’t get my money until my trip, minus the up front dining reservation holds and really cute limited edition bands. And park tickets to make park reservations so I can make ADR’S and Fastpass requests. …(and MVMCP tickets) BUT THATS IT! NOT A DIME MORE! I mean it! Excuse me. I have to get back to work apparently. SOMEbody has to pay for all this holding out of Disney I’m doing.
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Too many posts in this thread for me to go through so of it’s been brought up I apologize. I think it’s a pissing contest between Disney and Mears and I think some form of DME will continue past 2021. Here’s my take: At the beginning of 2020 (pre Covid) Disney and Mears agreed to a contract til the end of 2022. Let’s put a fictitious number of 25 million dollars per year for the transportation of all guests for the term of the contract. Then early on into the 2020 contract Covid hits, the parks shut down for a stretch, then reopens to a much lower attendance. In the meantime, due to park closure and lower attendance upon reopening, Disney tries to renegotiate the deal with Mears. Disney doesn’t have the guests they expected when the original contract was agreed upon. Due to less demand, Mears has laid off a bunch of drivers and is obviously saving money on payroll, gas, maintenance, etc… But Mears decide they don’t want to renegotiate the contract as they are happy with their 25 million per year. Knowing that ride share has become more popular and the train is coming eventually, Disney will most likely use this to their advantage when negotiating the new contract for 2022. So they have no reason to renegotiate the current terms. After all, they know they are gonna get screwed on the next contract anyway. (Also, from everything I’ve read, that train will not be ready by begining of 2022, most likely not til 2023, so Mears knows Disney will still need them til at least then). So Disney enters the pissing contest and announces 11 months early that they will not be signing a new contract with Mears. Sounds to me like a pissing contest. I don’t see Disney abandoning the perk all together until there is another alternative. Just my take. But I can tell you this. I’ve used DME many times pre Covid and I’ve seen it at it’s busiest times. I recall in Spring 2019 when they were so backed up it was like a 2 hour wait just to board a bus. I’ve also been 3 times post Covid and each time the place is a ghost town. We were literally the only people in line 2 times and 1 time I had my own bus.
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This is what I think. Unless Disney is looking to change industry standard by not offering a hotel shuttle service (did they create this standard in the first place?) they will offer something. The economies of keeping peoples money on site is far too great for them to consider doing otherwise. Yes, rideshare is available even to those that take DME to go offsite for an adventure to other parks and restaurants. So I’m sure the on-site spending has diminished some. But I would hazard to say that the vast majority of people staying on site that have paid thousands of dollars to be there are inherently less likely to wander during their vacation if they don’t have to. They want to bleed every available minute out of their vacation investment. For us, as DVC members that live out of state and buy annual passes every year, if we had to rent a car, our hotel would become more of a typical time share in that we would be taking an Orlando vacation, not exclusively a Disney one. Even if only 10% of DVC members feel the same way, the lost revenue to Disney is substantial. I don’t think this story is complete, or over. It takes two to tango and if we stop dancing, or dance to a different beat, Disney has to respond in kind.
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You know, I was willing to eat all the other changes. But this year was my last straw. I am going back in June, but that’s only to use up a DVC credit and fulfill my niece and nephew’s Christmas present from 2019. I am not renewing my AP (gulp - it expires in 2 days). I think we were exactly who Disney wanted - we traveled 5-6 times a year (sometimes more). We stay deluxe. We paid all the extras - EMM, After Hours, dessert parties, Wild Africa Trek, fishing excursions, cabana rentals, Minnie Van service (both around property and to and from the airport on occasion). We ate it up. We paid the fees each year for annual passes and flew in from New England. This year, we bought Universal APs and are going to give Disney a rest. It was just too much. Perhaps it will come back to the Disney we loved but it was just too much for me. I can’t justify it anymore and you won’t find a bigger Disney fan. It’s really depressing.
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Clarification needed.
So, Mears ran the buses that transported people. So those were Mears employees.
Disney employees were in the back handling the luggage?
Was it Disney that actually drove the luggage to the resort?
It makes me wonder if they couldn’t/shouldn’t keep doing the luggage part. For lots of people it seems shlepping their luggage hither and yon that is the biggest problem with no magical express. .
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