Can you just use part of Magical Express?

[Pocah]

Hi. I was wondering if I can just use part of Magical Express. For example, say I want to rent a car from the airport, so I wouldn't need to take the Magical Express shuttle. BUT I would still want to avoid baggage claim and have my bags delivered to my room. Likewise, when I leave the resort, I'd want to check in with the airline before I leave the hotel and have my bags delivered to the plane, but I'd be driving my rental car to the airport instead of taking the shuttle. Or maybe I'd want to do a combination of things, like return my rental car before my last day, and then take the Magical Express shuttle back to the airport. Anyone know if this kind of "mixing and matching" is doable?

 

[snugglepeas]

with the magical express it's all or nothing, if you want to check the bags you have to take the bus too, if you dont get onboard the bus then your bags wont go to the resort via the M.E.

 

[Pocah]

Thanks for the quick response! I guess I'll have to think about it a little more.

 

[dudspizza]

YOu have to do it all.... but, conisder taking ME and then renting a car on site. National and Alamo are at the car care center and have a shuttle that will pick you up. You can then return there too!

Duds

 

[alien]

Do you have to do it both ways?
Our situation: Our family and 2 brothers-in-law renting a van at the airport. Going to Universal Studios for first 3 days and then Polynesian for last 5 days. 2 brothers-in-law flying home on Sunday, while we drive to my father's house for a week. Could my brothers-in-law use the Magic Express to take them from the Polynesian to the airport along with their luggage? (We were planning on dropping them off at the airport prior to leaving for my father's house.)

 

[TPCShauna]

Our luggage is being transported via Magical Express to Disney from the airport. We are renting a car and stopping a couple of places before we arrive.

We are visiting family in Florida the week after WDW so aren't using Magical Express on the way out.

Disney had no problem with this. Ask your TA or call Disney and talk to WDTC. It's written into our itinerary. They should have no problem doing this for you.

 

[Pocah]

Thanks for the info, Shauna! I will check it out with Disney when it gets closer to my trip.

 

[alien]

Thanks Shauna!
Another question - Do you have to be on a package deal or can you use it for room only reservations?

Cindy

 

[TPCShauna]

Cindy - I'm not sure about that. I don't see why not but I would call CRO and ask them. Just make sure no matter what that they put it on your itinerary or it won't work. They told me that you're only scheduled for ME if it shows up on your itinerary.

Good luck!

 

[Bill From PA]

Regarding the 'all or nothing' nature of this, I'd say it's too early to tell as the 'soft opening' of this hasn't featured taking the guests to WDW, only the luggage. There are those who seem to think that Michael Eisner will personally see to it that you board the bus before he throws your bags on the truck to your resort. I think there will be some sort of desk or kiosk where you will check-in, possibly one member doing this for a whole family. This, IMHO, releases your bags to be transported. If the check-in is remote from the busses themselves which I suspect is the case, there would be nothing to keep you from using a rental or TC to get your bones to WDW to either get the checkin there over with before the hordes in the bus get there or perhaps to go straight to the parks. Time will tell. Disney does not want this to happen, but if they take no measures to prevent it, I'm not much concerned about Mickey's hurt feelings.

Bill From PA

 

[localdriver]

Regarding the 'all or nothing' nature of this, I'd say it's too early to tell as the 'soft opening' of this hasn't featured taking the guests to WDW, only the luggage. There are those who seem to think that Michael Eisner will personally see to it that you board the bus before he throws your bags on the truck to your resort. I think there will be some sort of desk or kiosk where you will check-in, possibly one member doing this for a whole family. This, IMHO, releases your bags to be transported. If the check-in is remote from the busses themselves which I suspect is the case, there would be nothing to keep you from using a rental or TC to get your bones to WDW to either get the checkin there over with before the hordes in the bus get there or perhaps to go straight to the parks. Time will tell. Disney does not want this to happen, but if they take no measures to prevent it, I'm not much concerned about Mickey's hurt feelings.

Bill From PA

"It's my understanding" luggage will stay at the airport until the guests owning it check in at the "Welcome Center".

How will they know?, I've heard scanners that will scan a boarding pass of some sort, put into the system and somehow the matching luggage gets released to the resorts. If that's the case what you stated above might work.

That's what I've heard lately.

 

[CarolA]

Well... if you are an early arriver I wouldn't try anything creative. Once we see how it works then you try creativity.

Disney's FAQs say that you have to get on the bus at the airport to have your luggage transported. How they will enforce that remains to be seen, but I can't see them wanting just to transport your luggage. (The idea is to trap you there spending money LOL!)

However, I don't see why they won't just pick up part of your team and take them to Disney so in the case where the realtives are arriving via plane and going to the Poly I would call and book!

 

[Cplofdisneynutz]

ok how about this scenario. Arrive in orlando signed on for magical express, but don't use it to get to WDW ( say take a town car & transport your own luggage) could you use it for the return to the airport when you leave, or does not taking it on arrival kick you out of the system? wanted to ask this question before, but wanted to wait until ME got rolling, but since someone brought up something similar.....might as well.

 

[the kabuki]

I'm thinking security concerns here. Don't think I'd want to be on a bus that has luggage with luggage owner somewhere else. Airlines will remove your luggage if you don't board the plane. On the other hand, unless there's some sort of tracking system, I can't see how they would know whether you're on or not

 

[valeriekc]

Well I wondered about using ME and I have to say that it is a very attractive thought to have the buses handle our luggage and delivered right to our room. In fact that is enticing enough to make me almost consider boarding the bus in order to ensure it happening
I would like to hear about the experiences from others as time will tell. As far as having you trapped...they will only be offering this service to those who have a WDW room booked on arrival, so I don't sense that as a big concern.
I'm worried that we might get off the bus and check into our rooms, and our bags won't make it for another 3-4 hours after being sorted and stuff.
Not a big deal in the middle of the day, however if you're arriving at 8:30pm that could be a big problem.

 

[CleveRocks]

I'm thinking security concerns here. Don't think I'd want to be on a bus that has luggage with luggage owner somewhere else. Airlines will remove your luggage if you don't board the plane. On the other hand, unless there's some sort of tracking system, I can't see how they would know whether you're on or not

No need to worry. The luggage will be transported separately from the people. This will help speed up the process. Let's say the bus stops at 3 other resorts before yours. Your wait time will be substantially shortened by waiting only for the people to get off, and not for the people to get off and get their luggage off.

-- Eric

 

[goofy4tink]

Keep in mind tht the info put out by Disney does state that DME is not a luggage only transfer service. The question was..can I transfer just my luggage? And the answer was no, you must take the bus also. It will be interesting to hear how it all shakes out. I for one, am curious to see how long that bus is going to sit there, waiting for the people that signed up for it and then got a rental car, thereby using DME just for their luggage.
I'm sure that Disney has it figured out...but, then again, they state one things for those darned mugs and adhere to a different policy!!

 

[Bill From PA]

Until this officially starts up, we're just speculating, so I'll add my speculation to the mix.

1. There are numerous legitimate reasons why someone might not catch the first bus out on arrival at MCO, such as waiting for others to arrive on another flight, need to hit the john, grab a bite, recover from air-sickness, etc., etc.

2. Disney wants to make sure guests and their luggage are both at MCO at the same time, not separated due to lost baggage, passenger getting bumped to a later flight, flying early on stand-by etc.

3. Disney will hold luggage until one or more party members 'checks in', and here's the crux of the matter. Will the check in be at a central station remote from the busses? I think so, and if so, one only needs to leave the plane, go to this location, check in then do what they will, be it getting on the bus or giong to WDW in another fashion. I don't see Disney waiting until everyone who checked in gets on a given bus as there will be many instances when someone does the check in and then wants to take a later bus for the reasons cited in #1. I see Disney's interest in making sure you and your luggage are there at the same time, I don't see them spending time and effort beyond that.

4. If Disney wants to actually see you on the bus before releasing your luggage, I see only one efficient means of doing it. They could have hand-held barcode readers to swipe your portion of any ticket you received with your luggage tags. These would likely be WiFi devices that instantly send the info that you arrived to a central computer that then releases your luggage. The glitch here is, what happens when, not if, someone looses their tag? They'd need a kiosk or desk to handle these exceptions. This technology is not cheap. I'm a programmer and I've worked on such things in the past. I just don't see Disney spending the extra bucks to track us right on to the bus.

All our questions will be answered in a few short weeks. Our next trip is next March so I'll have plenty of time to see if this works for me. We will arrive just before 9 am and my goal is to capture the first day. If I can skip the baggage carousel, hop a TownCar to our resort and check in quickly, we can be in Epcot before WS opens.

Bill From PA

 

[n2mm]

I know that on the CM website it specially says that it will NOT transfer luggage only. This wonderful FREE perk is for either one-way or round trip guest and luggage transportation. The folks at Disney are pretty smart and if there's a way around something, they have already thought of it and are ahead of the game. With that being said, I personally would not want to take a chance that my luggage will still be at the airport when I get to my resort because it could not be matched up with a passenger on the bus. Seems folks are trying to save time, but if YOU have to take a taxi back to the airport to pick up your luggage because you tried to take a shortcut, surely this is going to cost someone vacation time. Is it a chance you are willing to take? If you have to checkin at a welcome center to sign up so that your luggage gets transferred, then your name or party name will be on a check-list. Surely the bus drivers will check you off as you board the bus. If you don't board, your luggage will not leave the airport, sounds simple enough. If you don't want to use this wonderful FREE perk, then don't use it. If you want to take another way to the resort, then deal with your luggage. We plan to continue to rent a car as always and will have our luggage with us. But we also have family members arriving that do plan to use the ME perk later in the year for another trip.

 

[Lewisc]

All checked luggage is screened. There is no longer a requirement that passengers be on the same plane as the luggage.

Disney has stated that your luggage won't be shipped to your resort until you check in. MAKES SENSE, in some cases you might be bumped from your flight but your luggage may go on. Disney wants to keep your luggage at the airport in case you never make it to MCO and the luggage has to be shipped back.

You may be able to check in without boarding the bus or split your family but at that point it would be a lot easier to just rent a car once you get to WDW.