Saying that a vacation to Walt Disney World is now much more expensive than it used to be is one of the most telling statements in the history of the park business. We note that ticket prices go up every year for guests who are planning once-in-a-lifetime vacations, and annual ticket prices go up regularly for those who visit often.
However, if there’s anything more frustrating than something you’re playing for a higher price, you should start paying for something that was previously free. We’ve seen this happen a lot in recent years, even just in recent months. Here are five things that are included in a file Disney World Experience Which you will lose now unless you pay.
Walt Disney World Resort parking
One of the first things to disappear from Disney World that used to be included was the parking at Disney World Resort hotels. Whether you were close enough to drive to the parks or rented a car at the airport, you used to be able to park that car at your Disney World hotel for free. Given that a lot of other hotels have always been charging for parking, it was helpful to include this in your calculations when deciding whether or not to stay at the property.
But in 2018, that changed, and Disney World Resort hotels started charging for parking, just like almost any other hotel in the area. Parking now costs $15-25 per night depending on the level of the resort you’re staying at. However, there was a way to save this money, because it was possible to get from Orlando International Airport to Walt Disney World for free.
Disney Magical Express
With four theme parks, two water parks, a shopping and dining area, and more, there’s enough activities at Walt Disney World to be your entire vacation, and Disney World found a great way to make sure you did just that. Disney’s Magical Express was a free bus service that picked you up at the airport, picked you up at your hotel, and eventually brought you back. She even took care of your bags, so you didn’t need to carry them from the airport. This meant that you could save money on renting a car, and the bus service itself was completely free.
However, starting in early 2022, Disney’s Magical Express no longer exists. There are bus services that have filled the void, doing the same job that Magical Express once did, including one from Mears, the company that operates Magical Express. Unfortunately, these services don’t manage your bags, and of course they all cost money.
MagicBands (for resort guests and annual ticket holders)
MagicBand is a very cool piece of technology that makes your Disney world that much simpler. It serves as your park ticket, hotel room key and credit card, allowing you to recharge anything in the parks back to your room. The other thing that was cool about them is that if you’re staying at a resort hotel, or you have an annual pass, you get one for free.
But starting last year, Disney World stopped giving away MagicBands. For a while it seemed like the entire system had been dropped, as most of the capabilities of the MagicBand are now handled by your smartphone. Then in 2022, the new MagicBand+ was released, which did everything from the original MagicBand, with additional LEDs and haptic feedback to interact with the cool night shows. Unfortunately, no one gets a MagicBand+ for free anymore, although resort guests get a discount if they pre-order.
FastPass+ / Genie + / Single Lightning Lane
At this point, every amusement park and theme park in the country has some sort of option to skip some or all of the longer lines of the more popular rides. And basically, this extra feature costs money…sometimes a lot of money. While one might expect Disney World to benefit from a service like this, for years that hasn’t happened. While FastPass and its follower FastPass+ certainly had their issues, one thing the service had to offer was that it cost nothing.
Due to capacity limitations, FastPass+ did not return when Disney World reopened in a safe manner after the pandemic shutdown, and when something like it finally returned in the form of the new Genie+ service, it became a free service. It was redeemed at $15 per day per ticket. Furthermore, some of the most popular attractions in each park have a separate fee to skip the separate Genie+ line. A year later, Genie+ is now working on a variable rate program and costs close to $20 most days.
PhotoPass (for annual ticket holders)
Nobody goes to a place like Walt Disney World without taking a lot of pictures. If you are a frequent visitor with an annual pass, this is not a big deal because Photopass is included in the higher level passes. This means that you can take as many photos with the official Disney World photographers as you want and you will be able to download and keep them all. All of your avatars and awesome magical snapshots that add Disney characters to your photos are included.
But when the new Disney World annual passes were revealed after the pandemic shutdown, the Photopass was no longer available, even on the top-tier card. It can now be purchased via an add-on for $99, which is still a pretty good deal considering that a photo day usually costs $69, but annual tickets don’t get $99 cheaper, so they still cost more than they used to.
Walt Disney World is a magical place, and that magic doesn’t come cheap. But sometimes, what makes us feel the magic are those little perks, those little extra things, as Walt used to say, “in addition to” the experience. Not having to buy a MagicBand or pay for FastPass+ used to be some of those things. Now they’re gone, and we can only hope we’ll find the magic elsewhere.
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