Disney Greeters Moved Out of Sight

ORLANDO (Orlando Sentinel) – Walt Disney World's airport greeters, whose job was to direct tourists to the resort's free shuttle, were removed from their controversial station on Orlando International's main floor this week and assigned to a place where they are out of travelers' sight. The relocation from the third to the first floor of the airport was the latest blow to Disney's Magical Express, the free shuttle that began in May and now daily carries as many as 8,000 tourists from the airport to the resort. Disney had ex-pected to be stationed on the second floor near baggage claim. Airport attorney Douglas Starcher notified Disney Senior Vice President Jerry Montgomery and attorney Jim Stockton that Disney would not be al-lowed to station employees on the second level where other taxi, limo and shuttle drivers often wait for passengers. Only Mears Transportation Group, which contracts with Disney to operate Magical Express, would be allowed there and Mears workers "may not be dressed in Disney uniforms or wear the white Disney hands." Airport officials ordered Disney in September to remove its greeters, who wore oversized white Mickey Mouse gloves, from the third level after other transportation companies complained that the location gave Disney an unfair competitive edge. The other companies were prohibited from the third floor, where passengers disembark. Disney moved its greeters to the second-floor baggage claim area on Tuesday, the date they agreed upon, only to be told they weren't welcome there. "We were surprised and disappointed that the airport asked us to remove Disney's Magical Express greeters from the airport's second level – the location where all other transportation providers and destination management compa-nies meet their guests," said Disney spokeswoman Kim Prunty. Taxi and luxury car drivers staged strikes and protests in recent weeks over the free Disney service, which they say dug deep into their businesses, in part, because the airport allowed Disney to advertise the service on the third level. Disney has said only 2% of the customers who rode Magical Express did not already have reservations to do so when they stepped off their airplanes. Prunty said the greeters played a "critical function" in improving the air-port's efficiency and keeping passengers from getting lost.