How often does the Magical Express leave MCO for Disney?

[DizLicious]

I am flying into MCO at 9:50am on a Saturday. My reservations for ME show that they are picking me up at 12noon. I had hoped to catch the Magical Express and get to AKL by 12 noon, and then get to AK park by 1pm. Can someone tell me how often ME leaves MCO? Am I being unreasonable with my expectations to land at 10am and get to AKL, then AK park by 1pm? My trip is in early November. Any info would be greatly appreciated! This is my first time here, but I have read dozens of great info from posts over the past 3 months.

 

[jcarwash]

Hi, FYI there is also a Transportation board that specializes in these types of DME questions.

Upon arrival at MCO, there are no reserved pickup times. What you're seeing with the 12 noon is likely just the default flight arrival time, which DME is ignoring -- they just want your flight number and they check the schedules from the airlines.

At MCO you go to the DME area on B side level 1. The queue for AKL (and perhaps other resorts, not sure which bus is shared) will be loaded onto the buses according to the CMs running the lines.

It's not unreasonable at all to think you'd be at AK itself by 1pm.

Note that upon your return from AKL to MCO there WILL be a pickup time, typically 3 hours prior to your flight time. That specific time will be in an envelope at your resort room the day prior to departure.

 

[Jestocost]

I am flying into MCO at 9:50am on a Saturday. My reservations for ME show that they are picking me up at 12noon. I had hoped to catch the Magical Express and get to AKL by 12 noon, and then get to AK park by 1pm. Can someone tell me how often ME leaves MCO? Am I being unreasonable with my expectations to land at 10am and get to AKL, then AK park by 1pm? My trip is in early November. Any info would be greatly appreciated! This is my first time here, but I have read dozens of great info from posts over the past 3 months.

Many of the DME reservation forms show 12:00 pick ups by default no matter when your plane arrives. You can rest assured, however, that there is no such thing as a scheduled pick up time for the DME ride from MCO to your resort. Buses will depart as they are filled up (or every 20-30 minutes at slow times), so the wait generally isn't long.

You can expect to be at your resort anywhere from 60-90 minutes after your plane arrives IF you use the DME luggage transfer service or have only carry-on bags. In our case, I would say you should be at your resort by 11 or certainly no later than 11:30 in most cases (provided your flight is on time).

 

[DizLicious]

Thanks so much for the excellent responses. I am having some trouble locating the correct boards for certain questions. I actually was looking to post on the transportation board for ME, but though I could read and reply to threads....couldn't figure out how to start a new one.

Thanks again....both answers were great and I feel much better now. AK closes at 5pm which is why I grabbed the first flight into MCO that I could. Waiting around the airport for 2 hours (which is what I thought would happen with the 12pm pickup time) would have definitely thrown a wrench into my plans. I wasn't going to kid myself about getting more than a half day in at that park when I arrived.....but only getting 2 or three hours would have really bummed me out. THANKS!!!

 

[GreatGranny]

Our flight is due to arrive at abt. 9:30am and on our reservation it shows DME pickup at 12:00am. When I called to give my flight info, the CM did not want the arrival time, just the carrier and flight number. She said they check with the airport each morning to get arrival times, and plan their buses around that info.

GG

 

[seashoreCM]

Many of the DME reservation forms show 12:00 pick ups by default no matter when your plane arrives. You can rest assured, however, that there is no such thing as a scheduled pick up time for the DME ride from MCO to your resort. .

In other words, if your plane arrives at the airport earlier (or later) than the time printed on your reservation they will put you on the next available bus when you get to the Magical Express area. (But not on an earlier day)

 

[Donalyn]

I loved not having to rent a car, but the line to check in at ME was the longest line that we stood in during our week at WDW (and that is saying something).

 

[Florimel]

Thank you, that answers a question I was about to ask! I was just checking our trip details yesterday and our ME time is 12noon even though we land at 1630. We used ME 2 years ago and seemed to be very speedy (and so much less stressful than driving, and navigating) - that was in October though.

 

[mountdew1]

Having set departure times from MCO to WDW wouldn't work. If a plane is delayed, people stuck in customs, if someone stops to eat, or waits for luggage, any number of things could make them take more time to get to the bus area. If you had a set bus time, then as you pointed out, you would either need to wait around the airport for a while, or have people risk missing their bus and screw up their scheduling. By assigning the buses on an as needed basis they are able to get people to the resorts as quickly as they can in the most efficient manner possible. Depending on crowds the bus may be just for a single resort, or there can be several resorts on the same bus. We have walked right on a bus that took off a minute later, we have had to wait 10-15 minutes for a bus, and we have also gotten on a bus only to wait 10 minutes for other guests. It all depends, but they get you out of there as soon as possible. WDW makes no money off of you while you are at MCO, and want you on property as soon as possible.

 

[stargazertechie]

Last year I got bumped to a flight the night before my scheduled arrival. I ended up sleeping in the lobby of MCO until 4:45 AM, and then went down to the ME counter. I wasn't scheduled to arrive until that afternoon, but I was at my resort IN A ROOM by 6:30 AM

Reason #172 that I love Disney

 

[Suellen]

Last year I got bumped to a flight the night before my scheduled arrival. I ended up sleeping in the lobby of MCO until 4:45 AM, and then went down to the ME counter. I wasn't scheduled to arrive until that afternoon, but I was at my resort IN A ROOM by 6:30 AM

Reason #172 that I love Disney

Why would you do this?

 

[ses1230]

I loved not having to rent a car, but the line to check in at ME was the longest line that we stood in during our week at WDW (and that is saying something).

I'm nit sure if this is what you meant, but if you already have your ME vouchers you do not have to check in at the ME desk you can go right to the bus line podium.

 

[NOLAmom]

Could you explain that further about having ME vouchers and avoiding line to check in at ME? I'm about to use ME for 1st time with 2 young toddlers. Where do we get the vouchers? If we have them, we just go straight to the bus line to get on the bus?

 

[stargazertechie]

Why would you do this?

Senior year of college. Didn't have the dough to pay for night at the Airport Hyatt, and the AP rate I was staying on was blacked out the night I arrived (my check in was the first day after the blackout).

I managed the entire trip (food, airfare and resort) for $400 (not including my annual pass). Not bad for 8 days of bliss!

 

[Cinderella's slipper]

Senior year of college. Didn't have the dough to pay for night at the Airport Hyatt, and the AP rate I was staying on was blacked out the night I arrived (my check in was the first day after the blackout).

I managed the entire trip (food, airfare and resort) for $400 (not including my annual pass). Not bad for 8 days of bliss!

Kudos to you! I'm totally envious that you managed to make an 8 day stay in the Magic on $400.00.

 

[chartle]

Last year I got bumped to a flight the night before my scheduled arrival. I ended up sleeping in the lobby of MCO until 4:45 AM, and then went down to the ME counter. I wasn't scheduled to arrive until that afternoon, but I was at my resort IN A ROOM by 6:30 AM

Reason #172 that I love Disney

Why would you do this?

A have read a few posts like this.

They get into MCO after midnight and think why pay for another "night" when I'm only going to get to my room around 2 or 3 AM. Better to get a few more hours of sleep.

There is entire website that rates airports and how good they are for sleeping overnight.

It rating includes whether there is any overnight food places, if you get hassled by security, any good quit corners, how good the chairs are to sleep in, etc .

 

[jcarwash]

Could you explain that further about having ME vouchers and avoiding line to check in at ME? I'm about to use ME for 1st time with 2 young toddlers. Where do we get the vouchers? If we have them, we just go straight to the bus line to get on the bus?

If you have added DME to your reservation then you should expect to receive DME luggage tags and a booklet with your vouchers and instructions about 4-5 weeks prior to your trip.

People truly checking in to DME would be walkups who did not add DME to their reservation.

Even with your DME vouchers in hand, you have to show your vouchers to a cast member before you enter the bus queues, and tell them how many bags are tagged (if you use the DME luggage service).

And those bus queue lines can either be really short or really long depending on time of day, etc. I've seen the DME queues empty, and I've seen them be the longest lines of your entire WDW vacation. If the lines are short, you may be waiting a while for a enough people to arrive to mostly fill a bus.

 

[stargazertechie]

A have read a few posts like this.

They get into MCO after midnight and think why pay for another "night" when I'm only going to get to my room around 2 or 3 AM. Better to get a few more hours of sleep.

There is entire website that rates airports and how good they are for sleeping overnight.

It rating includes whether there is any overnight food places, if you get hassled by security, any good quit corners, how good the chairs are to sleep in, etc .

Yep. I only did it because the reviews of MCO on that site were very good. I've also had to do overnight stints at my home airport (ohare) when flying in the winter- my mom sends me on the last bus of the evening (usually arriving at 9PM) to ensure I don't have to drive up in the morning in snow.

It was actually quite nice- the benches around the fountain by the hyatt are just long enough to lay down on. They're wooden benches, so a bit hard, but since I was using my duffel bag as a foot-rest and my padded laptop bag as a pillow along with my hoodie, I was able to get 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep. The fountain drowns out most of the background noise, there aren't many announcements after 11PM, and security doesn't hassle you at all.

When I woke up, ALL of the benches were occupied by other 20-somethings in the same situation.

 

[mountdew1]

Could you explain that further about having ME vouchers and avoiding line to check in at ME? I'm about to use ME for 1st time with 2 young toddlers. Where do we get the vouchers? If we have them, we just go straight to the bus line to get on the bus?

The vouchers are the booklet they mail to you with your luggage tags. Just bring that with you.

If you have added DME to your reservation then you should expect to receive DME luggage tags and a booklet with your vouchers and instructions about 4-5 weeks prior to your trip.

People truly checking in to DME would be walkups who did not add DME to their reservation.

Even with your DME vouchers in hand, you have to show your vouchers to a cast member before you enter the bus queues, and tell them how many bags are tagged (if you use the DME luggage service).

And those bus queue lines can either be really short or really long depending on time of day, etc. I've seen the DME queues empty, and I've seen them be the longest lines of your entire WDW vacation. If the lines are short, you may be waiting a while for a enough people to arrive to mostly fill a bus.

I have seen that they cannot allow for walkups. If you didn't reserve it beforehand, they aren't supposed to allow you on.

There are several reasons why someone would still need to check in.
-If they forgot the book. Some people don't read the part that says bring this with you.
-If they didn't get the book in the mail before they left. Once when we didn't have our book a week out they told us to just check in if we didn't get it, but they then also 2nd day shipped the book to us so we had it.
-If your party is flying in at different times. Even though they have the little tear out tickets for everyone, anyone that doesn't have the book cover needs to check in at the desk. When I have flown in at a different time than the rest of the party, I have had to check in to get the vouchers while they were able to just walk to the podium.

 

[GreatGranny]

We had to check in even though we had pre-booked and had our vouchers. Reason was because the TA had not given DME our flight info. Once we received our vouchers I called DME with the flight info, but it was not printed on the vouchers so the CM at MCO directed us to the check-in counter. It seemed to be a bit of a zoo but turned out that the line went fast.
GG