Disneys Magical Express

[val darnell]

I know it's early but I'm in a real planning mode. Can anyone tell me please about Disneys Magical Express. I've looked on the main Disney site and it seems to take about 3 hours to get luggage to the hotel. Does that mean that you load your luggage and then get to the hotel under your own steam or do you go on the bus? Another question, what are the odds if you're travelling premium economy of getting an upgrade to UC. I've got enough airmiles for one upgrade but I can't leave the others upstairs (mmmm, now there's a thought lol). Thanks very much for any help (2 months and still not smoking) :whistle: :whistle:

[JuniorMickey]

you don't take the luggage :) Disney delivers it for you. You walk out, get on a bus and go to the resort. Your luggage should be there within 3 hours

[val darnell]

Thanks very much for that Junior Mickey

[tam]

Two months?!!!:dancin: :dancin: :dancin: :woohoo: :clap: :clap: :clap: :mexwave: Great job! How are you feeling? Keep up the good work.:D

When our magical express paperwork came I seem to recall something with regard to international travelers mentioned in it. It may have been something to the effect that visitors checking baggage through customs had to pick up their own luggage?? Sorry, I can't remember for certain.

[JuniorMickey]

International visitors claim their baggage and then put it back and get it again (if not using DME) in baggage claims. The second claim would not need to be done if using DME

[val darnell]

Tam, thanks for that, feeling absolutely great. Didn't realise how much I smoked until I put £500 into my piggy bank and that's going towards an illuminations cruise. The only downside is I've put on 5 pounds, but hey if I can save that much what's a few pounds between friends.

[Wolfie]

I am local to USA so take this with a grain of salt if you are coming in from extra-USA...

You will get 2 (per person) large (yellow in our case) sticker tags to put on your luggage handles, they have barcodes to identify them. We put our checked bags in at Milwaukee. You carry/keep your carryons and take them with you. Go through checkin/scanning with your carryons. Fly to Orlando. Get of with your carryons. Go downstairs to the DME area. Register. DME driver will load your carryons on the bus. Get on the bus to your resort. Check in. If your room is not available yet, the bell's at the resort will hold your carryons for you and they will go to your room when your checked baggage does. Just go play. Your baggage will show up a few hours later IN YOUR ROOM. No need to go get them. We went straight to TMK from OKW after registering and we returned around 1am (magical hours till midnight) and all our luggage was sitting, linded up neetly, in our room's living room area.

With DME, the resort will hold your bags for you (all of them, checked and carryon) after you checkout and until you are scheduled to head for ORD. They will then bring them and load them on the DME bus. You must then check them at ORD. We checked out at 11am and our DME bus came to get us around 6pm. They held all our luggage until we returned at about 5:30 to board the DME bus. They had already placed it on a luggage cart all ready for last minute bus boarding.

[val darnell]

Wow what an in-depth response, thanks so much for that. I think we may take that route. We normally hire Quicksilver, so will give some serious thought to both options before we totally decide. It's not that I've got to do it quickly. Many thanks

[Andy B]

I am thinking of going with the family next summer from the UK and staying the first week in a disney hotel then hiring a villa. If I wanted to use DME to arrive but then move away from disney would this be acceptable. Are the buses from MCO dedicated DME buses and are they free. Andy savings on transfers or a week without a hire car can justify a better hotel.

[Breeze]

I am tinking of going with the family next summer from the uk and staing the first week in a disney hotel then hiring a villa. If I wanted to use DME to arrive but then move away from disney would this be acceptable. Are the buses from MCO dedicated DME buses and are they free. Andy savings on transfers or a week without a hire car can justify a better hotel.

You most certainly can use DME for just arriving but not leaving and the other way around too. When I was there in May I was picked up at the airport by friends, but since I had a very early flight coming home I used DME for that so I didn't have to get my friends up at 5:00 am (which they appreciated very much) :D

The DME buses are dedicted and are very similar to the ones used by the cruise line AND YEP they're still free :thumbs: