Disney Magical Express

[gayles]

If we do Magical Express from the Airport --Is it pretty fast or do you have to wait till the Van get's full? Any "Hint's " would be helpful-- never did this before ////

 

[Evil Genius]

It's a large bus. They do not wait until it gets full. Each bus stops at certain resorts. If they've got all the passengers for the resorts they stop at, then off you go.

 

[Jestocost]

Unless you're arriving very late at night, ME will transport you on a full-size bus (complete with video presentation and rest room), not on a van. You generally do have to wait until the bus fills up (or gets reasonbly close), but in my experience it never has taken very long. Guests going to three or four resorts are grouped on a bus, so they fill up pretty quickly. If they know that things are slow, they don't even wait for them to fill up.

Unless you're picking up your own luggage for some reason, just go directly from your flight to the ME desk in the lower level of Terminal B to check in, then find the right line (CMs will be there to direct you) and board your bus.

Check out some of the stickies about ME on the Transportation Board for lots of great information.

 

[jimmiej]

I think it's generally pretty fast, depending on the time of year you go & the time of day. We waited MAYBE 10 minutes to get on a bus (not a van), & we arrived July 4th weekend around 11 am. We made it to Beach Club less than an hour after touch down. Our luggage was in our room within 3 hours. Overall, we were very pleased.

Have you read this?

http://allearsnet.com/acc/mexpress.htm

 

[kimis]

If we do Magical Express from the Airport --Is it pretty fast or do you have to wait till the Van get's full? Any "Hint's " would be helpful-- never did this before ////

It is very fast! The bus usually waits for about 20-30 minutes to make sure they can take as many people as possible but that is still faster than waiting for your lagguage and than catching a ride. We figured we are at the resort a good hour to hour and a half before ME was around. We love it and hope they keep it forever. Enjoy

 

[twinklebug]

I love magical express and will continue to use it as long as it's free, however, Fast is a relative term.

Compared to a snail, it's a rocket.
Compared to having family or a town car waiting to pick you up it's a tad slow.
On average, as compared to renting a car & driving on your own, its about the same, maybe a touch longer.

If you get the driver we had last time, he'll drive you back to the state you came from before he realizes lost and then refuse to admit it to anyone (including the dispatcher) while asking the 3yo sitting up front for help finding Wilderness Lodge (and insisting the campground is it). In retrospect, I think it would have been faster to get off at Ft. W after the driver's second illegal U-turn over Disney grass and hike the mile to WL with luggage in tow.

 

[disney1313131313]

It was very fast for us. We went in Aug. We landed at 9:15 am, checked in at the CR and were in the MK by 10:30! I thought it was great! We called about 2, and our room was ready. When we got to the room, our luggage was there. No hassles at all.

 

[Minnie & Me]

twinklebug-LOL!

 

[CleveRocks]

The reported average time from airplane to resort drop-off is 70 minutes. This is comparable with other modes of ground transportation.

The time savings comes from not having to go to baggage claim and wait for your bags. You get sent special luggage tags, and you put them on at home. WHen you luggage arrives in Orlando, it gets pulled from the rest of the luggage, and gets sent on its way to the inside of your resort room, and should arrive there about 3 hours or so after you do. It's important to take this into account, and to allow for it by smartly packing in carry-ons, packing for your immediate needs. You don;t have to wait around for your bags to arrive, they will be brought inside your room whether you're there or not. The DME tags have barcodes, and those barcodes are scanned 5 times between airplane and the inside of your room. And even the trucks that deliver the luggage are tracked by GPS. It's a very sophisticated, tech-savvy system.

DME buses are supposed to leave the airport no longer than 15 minutes after the first guest boards the bus. The service is NOT designed to wait around until buses are full.

My two experiences with DME were great. The first time (the 4th day DME was in service) it took us 63 minutes from walking off the airplane to being dropped off at CBR, and this recent time it took us 56 minutes from walking off the airplane to being dropped off at POFQ. I can't imagine a car service getting me to my resort much quicker than 56 minutes. You have to get from the airplane to baggage claim, which won't be any quicker than about 5 minutes (including waiting for the next tram, etc.). Waiting for your bags, ALL your bags, can easily take 15 minutes. Waiting for the driver to bring the vehicle to you from the parking garage, then loading up, let's say that's accomplished in 5 minutes. Then the ride to most WDW resorts is about 30 minutes. So the quickest I could see it happening with a car service is 55 minutes (if you checked bags), and 3 months ago I did it in 56 minutes with DME.

Decide between private transportation and DME not on speed, but on level of service. If a private ride and personalized service is important for you, then you should hire a car service. But if sharing a bus with a lot of other people doesn't bother you, and paying ZERO appeals to you, then DME sounds just fine. Choose on service, because speed is comparable.

 

[DisneyBride'03]

This great news how efficient this service appears to be, we leave next week. Especially with the rest room...my mom will be thrilled! Thanks everyone for the great info!

 

[SunKat]

Last February, we arrived at MCO on Presidents Day at 9:10am. There were no lines for DME. We boarded the bus immediately, waited about 10 minutes (at the most) while some other people boarded and were on our way. There were maybe 10 people on the bus, total. In the past we have used towncar service, rental cars and van transport. DME was the quickest and most magical transport to Disney that we've taken!

 

[qman]

One other way ME saves you time is at check-in. After you complete you check-in at your hotel you simply walk to your room and your bags are "magically" delivered to your room several hours later. Without ME you have to round up a bellperson (with a cart) to help you get your bags to your room.