Rental car and Magic Express

[waltslostnephew]

Hello, wondering if you fly in to MCO and you rent a car at MCO, can you still have your luggage brought to your room at POP, via Magic Express?

[stargazertechie]

It says on the ME information that it is not a luggage only service and that you are supposed to be on the bus as well. In reality the luggage handlers have no way of knowing whether or not you are on the bus as they are grabbing luggage. Where it gets tricky is if a bag is misdirected. If you don't check in with ME, they don't know to be looking out for your specific luggage, and it might be 8-10 hours (and a long ride back to the airport) before you realize your bag is missing, and then wait to be reunited with it.

[CanadianGuy]

You can.. but I strongly urge you to consider renting at the Dolphin/Swan or the Car Care Center. If you call the CCC from your resort, they will come and pick u up to get the car and drop you off. You will almost always save some money doing it this way.

That way, you avoid the high cost of renting at the airport and you can still use Magical Express to get yourself and your luggage to the resort.

[Jestocost]

Originally Posted by waltslostnephew

Hello, wondering if you fly in to MCO and you rent a car at MCO, can you still have your luggage brought to your room at POP, via Magic Express?

There's an entire longstanding sticky thread on the Transportation board dealing with this issue.

Cliff notes:

• Do the DME rules allow you to do this? No
• Does Disney want you to do this? No
• Can Disney decline to collect and transport any DME-tagged bags? Apparently not, if accounts of their contract with the airport are accurate.
• Will your bags get to your resort if you do this? Probably

[letsgoreds]

Originally Posted by CanadianGuy

You can.. but I strongly urge you to consider renting at the Dolphin/Swan or the Car Care Center. If you call the CCC from your resort, they will come and pick u up to get the car and drop you off. You will almost always save some money doing it this way.

That way, you avoid the high cost of renting at the airport and you can still use Magical Express to get yourself and your luggage to the resort.

Really? I always find the prices at the airport cheaper. I'd rather lose 10-20 minutes off the start and end of a a trip (acutally a wash, because it is faster to drive directly to your hotel) than lose 30+ minutes 2x mid trip.

For me, where it got tricky was IF I used the CCC (was going to do this mid-day) was having to drive back to ALK to pick up the carseats, and then the rest of the family. Couldn't make it work, so renting from MCO. Now, the rest of my party will probably take ME (for the novel, fun part).

I'm wondering if I should 'check-in' with ME BEFORE picking up my car?

[kaytieeldr]

Originally Posted by letsgoreds

I'm wondering if I should 'check-in' with ME BEFORE picking up my car?

You shouldn't try to beat the system as it exists - if that's what you're asking.

As long as some members of your party are using Magical Express, you'll be fine.

[waltslostnephew]

When checking rates of MCO vs CCC, for me it is not even close. MCO is way cheaper. Any tricks I don't know about?

[msjprincess]

Originally Posted by letsgoreds

Really? I always find the prices at the airport cheaper. I'd rather lose 10-20 minutes off the start and end of a a trip (acutally a wash, because it is faster to drive directly to your hotel) than lose 30+ minutes 2x mid trip.

For me, where it got tricky was IF I used the CCC (was going to do this mid-day) was having to drive back to ALK to pick up the carseats, and then the rest of the family. Couldn't make it work, so renting from MCO. Now, the rest of my party will probably take ME (for the novel, fun part).

I'm wondering if I should 'check-in' with ME BEFORE picking up my car?

Same here.

When we go I take DME with the kids and luggage while DH picks up the rental car. We always get there at the exact same time.

[CanadianGuy]

Originally Posted by waltslostnephew

When checking rates of MCO vs CCC, for me it is not even close. MCO is way cheaper. Any tricks I don't know about?

Yeah.. but they're risky moves -- specifically.. wait as close to your trip as possible and keep checking.

The way I normally did this was to have my initial reservation at MCO and then keep checking for a better deal. If and when I found one, I'd take the cheaper deal.

Now.. sometimes I didn't find one. That was fine, I'd send at least one or two folks to the resort on Magical Express and I'd take the car from MCO and make a couple of stops for snacks and such on the way.

[bumbershoot]

Originally Posted by letsgoreds

Really? I always find the prices at the airport cheaper. I'd rather lose 10-20 minutes off the start and end of a a trip (acutally a wash, because it is faster to drive directly to your hotel) than lose 30+ minutes 2x mid trip.

It just shows that you have to check all variables, and re-check them. I was finding the prices to be the same (high) prices, and now all of a sudden, it's WAY cheaper to drop the car off at Dolphin/CCC than it is to take it to the airport. I also drop some days off the rental doing this, but it's mainly the weekly rate that's different ($100 lower for the weekly rate), and the days dropped are a bonus.