Disney Magical Express

[Bec]

Okay Im considering not having a car in August for our free dining trip - we always have a car but feel as we have free dining and are in resort we may try using Disney transport only.

So I want to know the ins and outs of DME.

How does it work?

How do I book it?

Where do you drop your luggage?

And any other things you can think of:)

[mrscopeman]

Add me to this thread (not hijacking Bev!), I'm also curious about renting a "small" car "somewhere at Disney" for a few days to do shopping/Seaworld. If this is workable, I might use DME.

Oh and I presume they will carry ALL luggage (I'm a keen golfer as is my son).

[Spridge76]

We were provided with a link to Magical Express when we booked our holiday with the Walt Disney Company, so I am not sure how you go about it if you didn't book with them.

Once you have booked it you will be sent luggage labels and a booklet which includes a barcode you will need for the bus.

When you get to Florida you have to collect your luggage from the first bag drop zone, you then attach the bright yellow labels and take the bags trough security to the second bag drop zone. (The man at the drop off zone even reassured us that it would come to our room) You then relax and forget all about them.

Next, you follow the signs to the Disney desk and they ask you a couple of questions, like how many bags and send you into a queue for your bus. There are loads of buses, because they each appear to serve 1-3 resorts. You then relax on a nice Disney bus until you get to the resort.

Magically three hours later your bags will appear. The only downside is that it is 3 hours from when you check in (at resort) until your luggage arrives. If you are on the late flight from the UK, that can mean your luggage not getting to your room until very late.

The good news is that you don't have to be in for them to drop off luggage, they take it direct to the room even if you have gone to a park or Downtown.

The day before you check out they send you an envelope with details of your return journey, which for international flights is 4 hours before the flight. You can take your bags to bell services and they will look after it for you until you need to go.
You then relax and enjoy your last day.
A lot of people moan that the four hours takes away too much of the last day, but I guess Disney would rather take the safe option to ensure everyone makes their flight

Highly recommended service :)

[adam_goodger]

Ok, I'll try to answer the questions the best I can......

How does it work?
I can't remember if Virgin are part of the Scheme now (i'm sure someone on here will know) but when I last used the ME we had to collect our own luggage. If you fly from within the US and with certain airlines they will collect the luggage for you. Basically, you get off the plane, collect your luggage and then make your way up to the Disney Welcome Centre. The Disney Welcome Center is in the Main Terminal Building of Orlando International Airport on the B side on Level 1. The hours are 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., but they will extend those hours if you have booked Disney's Magical Express Service and your flight is scheduled to arrive after 11:00 p.m. Link to a map here (http://adisneyworld.disney.go.com/media/wdw/images2003/languagespecific/eng/theme/default/resorts/dme/DMEMAPB.pdf)

You are met by a Cast Member who then directs you to the line for you bus. When the bus for your resort arrives you line is let onto the bus, your luggage stored underneath and every one gets a nice air conditioned trip to their hotel. The only issue you may find is that the coach my drop off at several resorts as well as yours. There have been reports of people being on a bus for 2-3 hours. I can honestly say that when we arrived we were on the bus for around 30 minutes. On your return to the airport you are advised to book your return time around 3 hours before your flight time. I think that is about it.

How do I book it?
You can now do it online, although I'm not completely sure how to do that. Should be more info on the website. I'll put a link at the bottom of this message. You can also ring up Disney Reservation and as long as you have a reservation number they can book you on. You aren't booked on for a specific time but for that day. I think it is really so Disney know how many people to expect at roughly what time to what resort.

Where do you drop your luggage?
It may have changed from when I last used it but I took my luggage with me and put it on the bus, From my recollection, you couldn't 'drop' your luggage once you had picked it up. TBH, I think I would always wait for my luggage as Disney state that it may take up to 3 hours for your bags to arrive.

You can find out everything from the Disney FAQ page which is located here. (http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/common/helpFAQ?id=HelpFAQDMEPage)

Hope that helps

[Spridge76]

Add me to this thread (not hijacking Bev!), I'm also curious about renting a "small" car "somewhere at Disney" for a few days to do shopping/Seaworld. If this is workable, I might use DME.

Oh and I presume they will carry ALL luggage (I'm a keen golfer as is my son).

I found it cheaper to get a return Taxi to Seaworld or Orlando Premium Outlets rather than hire a car. From OKW it was less than $20 each way.
Although if you want a car, there are dollar pick up locations within Disney property.

We didn't take clubs this year so I don't know for certain, but there was nothing in the paperwork that said they won't take certain bags. :shrug:

[Bec]

Ive just booked online using this (https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/reservations/dme/index?goBack=true) link.

Had email confirming immediately.

Im sure I'll have even more q's now!

[Dzneeprincss]

Just remember to pack an extra change of clothes in your carry on (I do this every trip). If you have a late flight you might not get your luggage until the next morning. The reason I pack is you never know when the luggage will get lost (even when you are doing it on your own). I had a friend went to WDW and didn't have anything packed and the plane she was on was not the original plane they were supposed to board so her luggage never got to Florida and she ended up buying all new clothes on her vacation, so I never take a chance. We had my daughter's luggage taken by someone else by mistake (it matched their luggage they thought it was theirs) so now we put weird things on our lugggage to make it stand out when we get it. I have made Lemon shaped luggage tags (yellow of course) for our last name, I've put bows in bright colors on it and I have even written my name on a suitcase.

[Bec]

Great tips thanks Marie - We are going to take a holdall with essentials in to last us until cases arrive :-)

[Dzneeprincss]

I travel with my granddaughter alot these days so I find it better to have her pjs in her carryon with her extra outfit. When my daughter's suitcase disappeared she had decided on that trip to take an extra outfit in her bag and we were thankful she did. Lucky for us the people who took also went to WDW. But then when we got home they took her bag again (they came on the same flights as us both ways. She was livid by the end of the night. We arrived on Long Island at 10pm and didn't get home until 2 in the morning because we had to wait for the airport ot reach the person who took her bag and give them time to get back to the airport. We had their name from the mishap in Florida which made it easier for airport security to track it.

[uscwest]

One thing to remember about using Disney Transport: Transport goes from Resort to Park or Resort to DTD and return. It DOES NOT go between resorts. So if you are planning on eating at a resort you will have to find a way to get to that resort, if it isn't the one at which you are staying.

[tweenie123]

We've never hired a car in all our trips to Disney and it hasn't caused us any problems. We always eat at different resorts and the longest it's ever taken us to get to a different hotel has been about an hour. Sometimes the queues look a little long when the parks have just closed but they soon disperse and I find in the main that the transport system is pretty reliable. The only hotel where we have experienced extra long waits for buses has been the GF in 2008!

[Disney Dad]

Let me chime in with some personal experience of DME. Our last trip we flew from Albany NY to Orlando and picked up Magic Express . We flew on SouthWest airlines and our luggage was collected at the airport and taken to our room. Definitly plan a change of clothes in your carry-on and anything else you might need to begin your vacation ...it was at least 4 hours before our bags arrived...my impatient wife didn't pack any suntan lotion in travel size containers and went out into the Florida sun without it: Needless to say she had a really red skin tone by the evening (we went in Aug.) On the day we were to return to the airport we brought our bags to the check in desk, they were taken and put on hte bus...but because our airline didn't participate in the program we had to get them back from the bus and check them in at the gate ourselves. We had no need for a rental car... between the meal plan and the transportation we did fine. As already stated remeber that buses go from hotel to theme park and ttd and back not from hotel to hotel. We made sure that if we had a breakfast dinning at a resort hotel we took the bus to MK and then took either the monrail to ttd or walked and picked up the appropriate bus to go to the hotel we needed. Chef Mickey was perfect...from the MK took the monorail then took it back to go to the park after eating. The other option is to make ADR for the park your planning on being in that day, then there is no need to worry about getting to a resort .

[Bec]

Good point John.

We are okay as my parents will still have a rental car. Plus - we are staying in the Yacht club so will have many restaurants to choose from!

Some great info guys thanks.