From landing to check-in: how much time does it take?

[Demon Llama]

My family and I land at Orlando International Airport at 11:30 am. We'll be taking the Magical Express to Coronado Springs and hoping to hit a water park before dinner at BOMA (soooo excited!) Anyone have any idea if this is realistic? How long does it take from the point you land to the point you're check in? I know the water parks close at 5 pm. Many thanks!

 

[Skywise]

Anywhere from 1 - 2 hours. (Possibly longer, I think my shortest time was about 50 minutes.)

The tricky points are how long you have to wait for your bus (is it there and how long as they going to do loading?), traffic and then what drop off order you are.

 

[goofy4tink]

If your flight lands on-time, at 11:30, you should be at CSR around 1ish. Most of my times have been right around 70 mins, but one was close to 90, while one was just 55!! Go figure.
Figure on it taking 90 mins and you will probably be pleasantly surprised.

 

[anniebean]

We landed around 9:30, took ME to WL, and was able to make it to our first fastpass at AK by noon.

 

[MichelleWDWfan]

Agree with the 1-2 hrs. Have taken Magic express many times. Depends all upon how busy ME is at the time u land.
If it is packed, wait time for a bus will be longer.
There have been times when we have made it to the resort within an hour after landing and times when it was alot longer.
Coronado shares ME buses with the All Stars and Coronado gets dropped off first.
It's about a 20 minute ride to WDW depending on traffic.

 

[Wood Nymph]

We usually average around one and a half hours. I would plan on two at least to be safe.

 

[Malibustyle23]

Silly reminder but I have to be captain obvious. Don't forget to pack your swimsuits, sunscreen, etc in your carryon so you don't have to wait on your luggage to be delivered.

 

[warrenz1963]

There were recent changes to the water park bus routes which may seriously cut into your time at the water park the afternoon you arrive:

http://www.wdwinfo.com/news-stories/new-bus-routes-for-walt-disney-world-water-parks/

It will be 1-2 hours to get from plane to ME to your resort. So if your flight lands on time it will be anywhere from 12:30-1:30 to arrive at your resort, but then you have to check-in which will take at least 15 minutes but you may have to wait longer... and then you have to actually get to the water park which will take 30-45 minutes probably unless you take a cab. That all sounds like a lot of stress on your very first day.

Personally, I would plan on swimming at the CS pool instead, it's not a water park but it's a nice pool and the time not spent rushing around will leave you rested and relaxed for a nice dinner at Boma. I'll add some advice to PP's advice: pack your dinner clothes in your carry-on as well, because ME isn't likely to get your checked bags to your room until mid to late evening, after your dinner time.

 

[Nancyg56]

There were recent changes to the water park bus routes which may seriously cut into your time at the water park the afternoon you arrive:

http://www.wdwinfo.com/news-stories/new-bus-routes-for-walt-disney-world-water-parks/

It will be 1-2 hours to get from plane to ME to your resort. So if your flight lands on time it will be anywhere from 12:30-1:30 to arrive at your resort, but then you have to check-in which will take at least 15 minutes but you may have to wait longer... and then you have to actually get to the water park which will take 30-45 minutes probably unless you take a cab. That all sounds like a lot of stress on your very first day.

Personally, I would plan on swimming at the CS pool instead, it's not a water park but it's a nice pool and the time not spent rushing around will leave you rested and relaxed for a nice dinner at Boma. I'll add some advice to PP's advice: pack your dinner clothes in your carry-on as well, because ME isn't likely to get your checked bags to your room until mid to late evening, after your dinner time.

I agree that if I wanted to swim under these circumstances I would just hit the pool. CSR is a great pool, and while it is no water park, I think it beats spending so much time traveling from place to place, especiall on an arrival day.

 

[Dr.Mickey]

Agree with the 1-2 hrs. Have taken Magic express many times. Depends all upon how busy ME is at the time u land.
If it is packed, wait time for a bus will be longer.
There have been times when we have made it to the resort within an hour after landing and times when it was alot longer.
Coronado shares ME buses with the All Stars and Coronado gets dropped off first.
It's about a 20 minute ride to WDW depending on traffic.

You said they share DME with All Stars, but they get dropped first? Is this standard? And if so, is there a list of who shares and what order they go? We are hitting Art of Animation next week. Thanks...

 

[CarrieR]

As an alternative (although it will cost you some coin,) you could pack your carry ons as your beach bags and grab a shuttle/taxi/Uber/one way rental directly to the water park. I might opt for a one-day rental: MCO to BB/TL to Coronado to AKL then back to hotel is a LOT of transfers (since neither AKL nor Coronado is accessible to a park for easy hotel to hotel transport) but would be easy with a rental.

You could return it the next day, either at car care center or Swolphin (where's your park the next AM?) either before rope drop OR in late morning, after you've hit your rope drop rides.

(Or after Boma dinner, if that works better for you. I've had a lot of success returning after my AM park on my way to a midday break.)

 

[CarrieR]

You said they share DME with All Stars, but they get dropped first? Is this standard? And if so, is there a list of who shares and what order they go? We are hitting Art of Animation next week. Thanks...

AoA will most likely be paired with CBR, Pop, and AKL. Can't recall if it drops before or after Pop. It's not set in stone, but that's a very common route (we are frequent Pop-stayers.)

 

[Nancyg56]

Agree with the 1-2 hrs. Have taken Magic express many times. Depends all upon how busy ME is at the time u land.
If it is packed, wait time for a bus will be longer.
There have been times when we have made it to the resort within an hour after landing and times when it was alot longer.
Coronado shares ME buses with the All Stars and Coronado gets dropped off first.
It's about a 20 minute ride to WDW depending on traffic.

When we wee thee in December we shared with All Stars and wee the last ones dropped off. You never know.

 

[twoplustwins]

We were supposed to depart at 10:00am. We were delayed until after 12:00. So after our delayed flight , we finally arrived at MCO. The check-in process to the bus was quick and easy. We were there at a non-busy time though. I would say that it took right at an hour and a half.
While we love the water parks, I have to agree with the idea of staying at the resort and swimming. CSR has my favorite moderate pool.

 

[VisionDisney]

There were recent changes to the water park bus routes which may seriously cut into your time at the water park the afternoon you arrive:

http://www.wdwinfo.com/news-stories/new-bus-routes-for-walt-disney-world-water-parks/

It will be 1-2 hours to get from plane to ME to your resort. So if your flight lands on time it will be anywhere from 12:30-1:30 to arrive at your resort, but then you have to check-in which will take at least 15 minutes but you may have to wait longer... and then you have to actually get to the water park which will take 30-45 minutes probably unless you take a cab. That all sounds like a lot of stress on your very first day.

Personally, I would plan on swimming at the CS pool instead, it's not a water park but it's a nice pool and the time not spent rushing around will leave you rested and relaxed for a nice dinner at Boma. I'll add some advice to PP's advice: pack your dinner clothes in your carry-on as well, because ME isn't likely to get your checked bags to your room until mid to late evening, after your dinner time.

Mid to late evening for your luggage?? We also land at 11:30am and have an ADR at Narcossees at 7:15pm. We expected to have our luggage before that. I thought it was 3 to 4 hours for luggage delivery??

 

[warrenz1963]

Mid to late evening for your luggage?? We also land at 11:30am and have an ADR at Narcossees at 7:15pm. We expected to have our luggage before that. I thought it was 3 to 4 hours for luggage delivery??

Sorry, I only meant to suggest one be prepared for the possibility their checked luggage not yet being available when they're getting ready for dinner. It's luggage handling, things happen... I think it's prudent to have everything you need during your arrival day packed in your carry-on, in case something does happen. That's true of all air travel, not just Disney and the DME. The first time I used MDE, I got on the MDE bus around 3pm and my luggage was delivered after 10pm. The second time I used it my luggage arrived over five hours after getting on the bus. I'm just saying be prepared.

 

[ZoZo]

Silly reminder but I have to be captain obvious. Don't forget to pack your swimsuits, sunscreen, etc in your carryon so you don't have to wait on your luggage to be delivered.

And one more thing to consider: there are often afternoon thunderstorms this time of year. If there's lightning in the area, they will definitely close the water parks. So if you're not arriving at the water park until early afternoon, there's a chance they might close down for an hour or more. I echo the other poster who suggest just swimming at your resort instead. That will help keep things more relaxed on arrival day, when you're bound to experience a delay or two. Just sayin'.

 

[MichelleWDWfan]

You said they share DME with All Stars, but they get dropped first? Is this standard? And if so, is there a list of who shares and what order they go? We are hitting Art of Animation next week. Thanks...

I don't remember how all of the lines are set up at DME.
POP and AoA share
ALL Stars and Coronado share.
Wilderness Lodge and Fort Wilderness share.
Contemporary, Polyneisian, Grand Floridian share

There are a few general guidelines to how the buses are grouped:
-Resorts are grouped by geographical "zone". A bus will make a maximum of 4 stops if all stops are within the same zone.
If they have stops across two zones, they'll have a maximum of 3 stops.
The bus driver has free reign to visit their stops in whatever order they wish.
Most stop at the resort closest to the airport, but some drive to the farthest one and then make their way back.
Some base their route on stopping at the hotel with the most Guests first.

here is the zone list:
Your DME luggage tags will have one of these zones on it.
The hidden Mickey head is the color of your zone.

Red Zone - Magic Kingdom Area
Contemporary, Polyneisian, Grand Floridian, Wilderness Lodge, Fort Wilderness

Blue Zone - Epcot Area
Beach Club, Yacht Club, Boardwalk, Caribbean

Green Zone - Animal Kingdom Area
AK Lodge, All Star Sports - Music - Movies, Coronado Springs, POP, AoA

Black Zone - Disney Springs Area
Port Orleans FQ & RS, Old Key West, Saratoga Springs

 

[DebbieB]

I stayed at the Poly last month, it was almost 2 hours. The DME line was very long, I landed at 11:25 on Sunday 5/8. When I got in line, a bus was just finishing filling. Didn't make the next one, was one of the first on the one after that. Got a text that my room was ready around 1:15 when we pulled into the Contemporary. The next stop was GF, then Poly.

 

[Kaytie]

When we wee thee in December we shared with All Stars and wee the last ones dropped off. You never know.

Is your keyboard from Boston? It seems to be dropping its Rs...