Magical Express Question

[kcool]

I am sorry if this has already been answered, but have looked and can not find an answer. Do you have to catch the Magical Express from your hotel back to the airport or can you do it from another hotel? We are staying at All Star Movies, but are having breakfast at 1900 Park Fare at 8:25 on our departing day. Our flight is not until 3:04, so we would have time to get back to our hotel, but it would be easier to just get it from there. Thank you so much!

 

[Vijoge]

I am sorry if this has already been answered, but have looked and can not find an answer. Do you have to catch the Magical Express from your hotel back to the airport or can you do it from another hotel? We are staying at All Star Movies, but are having breakfast at 1900 Park Fare at 8:25 on our departing day. Our flight is not until 3:04, so we would have time to get back to our hotel, but it would be easier to just get it from there. Thank you so much!

DME can only transport you between MCO and your resort.

 

[kcool]

thank you!

 

[1DisneyCM]

I am sorry if this has already been answered, but have looked and can not find an answer. Do you have to catch the Magical Express from your hotel back to the airport or can you do it from another hotel? We are staying at All Star Movies, but are having breakfast at 1900 Park Fare at 8:25 on our departing day. Our flight is not until 3:04, so we would have time to get back to our hotel, but it would be easier to just get it from there. Thank you so much!

I've arranged for that to happen with other guests. Just call DME and change your reservation from ASM to GF. They will let you know which bus to take.

 

[kcool]

I will call and try that, thank you for the advice!

 

[1DisneyCM]

No problem at all. We've been waiting for you--where have you been?!

 

[kaytieeldr]

Not that I'm skeptical of the responses here, but in over three years, this is the first time we've ever heard of any DME CM being able to schedule a Guest pick-up from a resort where the Guest is not, well, a Guest. DME is tied to your reservation.

The OP would be well-advised to confirm, reconfirm, rereconfirm, and triple-check any such arrangements.

 

[goofy4tink]

I've arranged for that to happen with other guests. Just call DME and change your reservation from ASM to GF. They will let you know which bus to take.

Is this something new? I ask because I've tried to get on a different DME bus several times now, and every single time I have been refused. I've been told that 'No, mam, we're sorry but you have to depart from the resort where you are staying at. That's our policy.'
The thing to keep in mind is this...you are not allowed to take luggage on the Disney buses, so if you have some kind of carryon you would be bringing to the airport you are going to have to take a cab in order to get that luggage to the 'new' resort.
I'll be heading down in Sept and I have to say that it would be so much easier for us to leave from the CR rather than go all the way back to POP to catch the bus back to the airport. I'll be very interested to see how this works out.

 

[1DisneyCM]

You have your original reservation with dme from your resort. You call dme during your stay and tell them that there has been a change and you will be departing from ...it's no big deal. Wait until you get there.

 

[Lewisc]

I have no reason to doubt the new poster. I wonder if there has been a change in DME policy or if the "workaround" to act like you've changed resorts.

 

[localdriver]

You have your original reservation with dme from your resort. You call dme during your stay and tell them that there has been a change and you will be departing from ...it's no big deal. Wait until you get there.

And how far in advance to departure day does the guest need to do this?


It's a GOOD thing when MEARS gets accurate departure info from DISNEY, a BAD thing when we don't.

 

[1DisneyCM]

And how far in advance to departure day does the guest need to do this?


It's a GOOD thing when MEARS gets accurate departure info from DISNEY, a BAD thing when we don't.

Mears doesn't get the departure info from disney...if there's a change, they get it from you. If your flight times etc. change, it's up to you to keep track of it. Your pick up should be scheduled 3 hrs prior to flight. It's usually no big deal if you make the change a day or two before your departure. .

No offense to anybody here, but the biggest problem that we have is when somebody hears something second or third hand from somebody, and they don't trust us to let us do our jobs better than anybody at any vacation resort in the world does the job. Speak to the bell service dispatchers or the bellmen at the resort if you have questions. We are the ones who can get you to where you want to go, in the least amont of time--granted, I can only speak for the DVC resorts, but we are good at what we do.

 

[CleveRocks]

Mears doesn't get the departure info from disney...if there's a change, they get it from you. If your flight times etc. change, it's up to you to keep track of it. Your pick up should be scheduled 3 hrs prior to flight. It's usually no big deal if you make the change a day or two before your departure. .

No offense to anybody here, but the biggest problem that we have is when somebody hears something second or third hand from somebody, and they don't trust us to let us do our jobs better than anybody at any vacation resort in the world does the job. Speak to the bell service dispatchers or the bellmen at the resort if you have questions. We are the ones who can get you to where you want to go, in the least amont of time--granted, I can only speak for the DVC resorts, but we are good at what we do.

It's kinda ironic that you mention this. We've read numerous first-hand accounts here on the DIS from people who encountered serious problems because they got DME information from Bell Services CMs!

I can recall at least 2 first-hand examples of the following: guests wanted to take a later DME bus back to the airport than the one DME scheduled them for. They ask at Bell Services if they can do that, and the Bell Services CM tells them that the DME buses run every half hour so they should feel free to board any DME bus they feel like. Fast-forward to same guests hoping to board "the next" DME bus 30 minutes after their scheduled bus, only to learn that there is no DME bus coming then, because there were no reservations/assigned times for that time. So they will be late to the airport if they wait for the next DME bus. They call DME in a panic, and DME responds that Disney isn't responsible to provide alternate transportation if they failed to show for their reserved ride time. SO now this couple is stressed AND is out 60 bucks for a cab ride to MCO because they got bogus advice from a Bell Services CM.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Well, in fairness, Bell Services CAN get you where you want to go, in the least amount of time - but not via Magical Express.

 

[goofy4tink]

Mears doesn't get the departure info from disney...if there's a change, they get it from you. If your flight times etc. change, it's up to you to keep track of it. Your pick up should be scheduled 3 hrs prior to flight. It's usually no big deal if you make the change a day or two before your departure. .

No offense to anybody here, but the biggest problem that we have is when somebody hears something second or third hand from somebody, and they don't trust us to let us do our jobs better than anybody at any vacation resort in the world does the job. Speak to the bell service dispatchers or the bellmen at the resort if you have questions. We are the ones who can get you to where you want to go, in the least amont of time--granted, I can only speak for the DVC resorts, but we are good at what we do.

I have to disagree. I've gotten bad info at BWV on several occasions when I ask a bellman about transportation. Now...you have to understand that I already know the answer....I'm just curious as to the answer I'll get. Why, there was one time I really needed to know the best way for my dad to get to BW from the south. He kept getting turned around. So, I asked at the front desk, they told me to ask bell services. I did..and you know what they told me? Tell your dad to just watch the road signs...it's very well marked. Ah, not really. He did watch the road signs and kept ending up at Epcot!!

I know that I have tried to change just the time of my pickup with DME...forget about the place of pickup. It was brutal. I wasn't flying, but picking up a rental at MCO. I had a rental p/u time of 12:30, so I gave them a flight departure time of 2:30ish. DME gave me a pick up time of 10:00!! Not sure why. So I called them and was told 'We're sorry mam, but that's the time you'll need to be picked up.' So, I hung up and called back..told them my flight had been changed to 4:00. 'Oh, that's fine mam, we'll be there to pick you up at 11:30.' Still haven't figured out why the timing of 4 1/2 hrs, but I got to leave when I wanted.

There have been way too many guests who have tried to changed the resort they are picked up from that have been told, by DME, that it isn't possible. That their DME reservation is based on the resort they are checking out of. This isn't hearsay, it's from the mouth of DME. I have called them myself (again, just for the sake of hearing what they say) and been told I have to be picked up from the resort I am staying at. That isn't second or third-hand info.

It would be wonderful if we could arrange to be picked up from some other area..it shouldn't be all that difficult. Let's say I'm at POP, but want to head to MK for a few hours on my last day. My DME pickup time at POP is going to be about 2:30, so I really need to be back at POP by 1:30-2:00. So, that means I have to head out, leaving MK, by 12:45 to be sure I'm back at POP for 1:30.
But...if I were able to be picked up at the CR, I could just walk over there at 1:15, right from MK, with plenty of time to be there for the bus. Much less stress and rushing around.

 

[nhl66pens]

This is a very interesting thread. From a common sense perspective, I don't see how they can allow you to switch your pickup point to return to the airport. If everyone did it, that would be a scheduling nightmare. It would help me out on my last day too since my flight isn't until 3PM but I'd like to visit MK one last time. I'm not sure, given the responses from the vets on this board, that I would want to find out the hard way.

 

[goofy4tink]

This is a very interesting thread. From a common sense perspective, I don't see how they can allow you to switch your pickup point to return to the airport. If everyone did it, that would be a scheduling nightmare. It would help me out on my last day too since my flight isn't until 3PM but I'd like to visit MK one last time. I'm not sure, given the responses from the vets on this board, that I would want to find out the hard way.

And that's the problem. Once they start allowing guests to tell them where they want to be picked up, DME is going to have a huge problem. No one is going to want to have to take that extra park hour and use it to get back to their resort. Instead, everyone is going to be trying to leave from the resorts that have direct park access.....CR, Polynesian, GF, YC/BC, BW. The CR would be the prime resort I would think since it doesn't take long to get there from MK.
Then add to that the issue of those carryon bags....what are people going to do with those? I guess it might cut down on carryon bags at MCO! Because you aren't allowed to take 'luggage' on the Disney buses, people would then have to check all their bags and use just a tote bag for carryon.
Nope, I truly think that, for the time being anyway, it's going to stay the way it is now...depart from the resort you slept at the night before.
While we do have one person here saying it's no problem at all to get your pickup area changed, I have yet to hear from anyone that has successfully done it or from a DME authority that has said it is okay to do, or that it is even possible to do, other than in an extenuating circumstance.

 

[tjmw2727]

I have been told, 2x by DME that you must be a guest of the resort on that day to use use DME. The driver has always checked our paperwork to be sure we are on the right bus at the right time. We have however been able to have DH arrive after us and or depart prior to us but he was a resort guest.

Of course you can change your departure resort at any point during your stay (I have) but only if you also change your resort. Personally I wouldn't be comfortable with what DisneyCM is suggestion as it sounds like she is recommending folks imply that they have moved resorts to catch the DME bus that may just be more convenient.

My sil was a guest at SSR and we were at the BW and it would have been nice to leave from SSR and visit DTD for the day so we had use of her room. We would have had to be added to the reservation and even though we would have been under the max occupancy we didn't bother.

Based on my experience getting information from CM's about things other than their area I would only trust a DME CM for DME informaiton. Just one example I have is when I overheard a Bellman tell a family they could take any DME bus back to the airport and I know for a fact that that is incorrect.

TJ

 

[aubriee]

This past May I had a lunch ADR at Le Cellier. Due to the time of the ADR, I called before I ever left home and asked if I could get the DME pickup at the Beach Club, instead of POFQ. I was told no. Once I got down there, I got to talking to a CM in Guest Services at POFQ and he said it wouldn't be a problem to catch the DME bus at the Beach Club my last day and not to worry about it, and to just show up. I told him I wasn't comfortable doing that and asked that he please call DME to verify it. He called, got a surprised look on his face, then started arguing with the person on the other end. Finally he hung up, told me that apparently he'd heard wrong and I did have to catch the bus at my own resort. The reason he was given was that if they allowed it, the DME buses at the resorts close to parks (especially the CR) would be swamped, as everyone would love to spend an extra hour or so at MK on their last day. DME reservations are tracked by resort stay, so that the number of people on each bus is controlled. If given a chance, the majority of the people would try to spend their extra time at MK, then the CR DME buses (since they would be the easiest to get to) wouldn't be able to handle the crowds. He said he was sorry, but had been absolutely positive that guests could board any bus, but it appeared he was mistaken. You must catch the DME bus at the resort you are staying at.

 

[Lewisc]

And that's the problem. Once they start allowing guests to tell them where they want to be picked up, DME is going to have a huge problem.

Disney is talking about a system that lets guests do resort check in at MCO and then take a DME bus directly to a theme park. The parks might need some larger lockers so guests can store some of the larger carryon bags.


I suspect any DME change might provde for DME pickups directly from a theme park and not require guests go to a resort near a theme park. Depending on demand DME could either add a theme park stop to a bus servicing a nearby resort or have a dedicated bus.