Disney's Magical Express - anyone plan on using this?

[TDC Nala]

How are you totally in Disney's control when you still have the option of booking transportation on Mears or a towncar to go to Universal or Seaworld, or renting a car for a day or two at the Dolphin, or grabbing a cab to go out for groceries?

 

[goldilocks_63]

Sounds interesting....

Where is this coming from? Can anyone give me a link?

GOldi

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Sounds interesting....

Where is this coming from? Can anyone give me a link?

Press release: http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/041228/fltu007_1.html

 

[Luvdisney]

I wish it was available for our trip in April. :jumping4:

 

[DrTomorrow]

How are you totally in Disney's control when you still have the option of booking transportation on Mears or a towncar to go to Universal or Seaworld, or renting a car for a day or two at the Dolphin, or grabbing a cab to go out for groceries?

OK, Total Control is a bit strong - if you're staying at SSR, you can always go "over the wall" . However, for most WDW guests - particularly non-DVC folks - once they are on-site, and they don't have a car, they shift their focus to the options offered by Disney.

 

[goofy4dvc]

I have a question over the luggage issue. From reading the press release, it states that you put special tags on your luggage when you get on the plane in your hometown. Then Disney reps pick up your luggage and transport it to your room. Is there some way to know how many pieces you should have? If one piece of luggage didn't get taken off the plane and went on to Miami, aren't they going to need your baggage receipts to trace it? You won't know until after you are in your DVC room if you have all the luggage you left with. Maybe all that can be handled from your room. When it finally arrives, I would assume that Disney would handle that on their next shuttle. It will probably work okay. I'm sure they've thought of everything that can go wrong.

 

[Beca]

I have a question over the luggage issue. From reading the press release, it states that you put special tags on your luggage when you get on the plane in your hometown. Then Disney reps pick up your luggage and transport it to your room. Is there some way to know how many pieces you should have? If one piece of luggage didn't get taken off the plane and went on to Miami, aren't they going to need your baggage receipts to trace it? You won't know until after you are in your DVC room if you have all the luggage you left with. Maybe all that can be handled from your room. When it finally arrives, I would assume that Disney would handle that on their next shuttle. It will probably work okay. I'm sure they've thought of everything that can go wrong.

Hmm...maybe the tags have a spot for you to put, "1 of 3, 2 of 3, and 3 of 3, etc."



Beca

 

[Dis]

Will Disney still transport your luggage even if you have a rental car?

 

[goofy4tink]

Will MS make these reservations for us or should we be calling Disney directly? Anyone know?

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Will Disney still transport your luggage even if you have a rental car?

No. According to FAQ list elsewhere on theese boards, there is no luggage only option.

In other, WDW will only incur the expense if they'll have you as a more-or-less captive audience, unable to leave WDW easily.

 

[Johnnie Fedora]

I hope that this program is not funded by member dues, as it's really not part of the resort maintenance and operations.

We would typically not use this as we rent a car (if we fly). I also believe the more people involved in a process, the more likely there will be a screw-up. This adds several layers of handlers to baggage claim and delivery.

 

[Chuck S]

I actually agree with Johnnie Fedora ?! I hope that this "service" isn't reflected in our dues. I'd much rather see DVCers pay a few dollars when they use this service rather than increase dues. Of course, it could that Disney is fully funding this for the 50th anniversary as a "test" to see if it is a popular option, then after the "celebration" include it "free" with travel packages, but at a cost to those with room only or DVC ressies.

 

[NMW]

Sounds great for some but not for us. Reasons:

1. When staying at DVC we need a trip to the grocery store.
2. I also do not like to depend on Mears- they try to squeeze too many people in and you risk making several stops. Sure the concept works for cruises but they use a bus and everyone onboard is going to the same place.
3. We usually fly USair- not on the outbound list.

I cant wait to hear comments from actual users in the spring.

My girlfriends husband works for USAir out of Philly and just told us yesterday he expects the airline to go out of business sometime in 2005. Apparently the airline asked him and many other managers to work this weekend with out pay to "save" the airline. In fact, he told us Philly will probably have 2 less airlines before 2005 is over. I forget the other one. It makes me nervous about booking tickets too far ahead.

 

[NMW]

The whole concept sounds interesting. We usually get a limo because there are 5 of us and we always have multiple carseats and a LOT of luggage. I like knowing that guy is going to be standing there holding that sign with our name on it. We use Disney transportation once at the park. We are considering going to Sea World next trip but, we were planning on using Mears for that. I would maybe try the new Disney thing if it seems to be running smoothly. Now that we are DVC we were planning on having the limo stop at a grocery store but, I guess we could always use a delivery service for that. I'm interested in seeing how it all works out for people.

 

[dmbkmb]

Well, I have been to Disney many times and my husband and I always say, why doesn't Disney have their own transportation to their hotels? If you go to a Marriot, Sheraton or something like that, they have complimentary shuttles back and forth from the airport. For the number of people going from the airport to Disney, it just makes sense to have transportation. So I am all for it. Some trips we do rent a car, but for the other times, I would definitely take advantage of it. I pay Mears anyways....



Deanna

 

[FLYNZ4]

No. According to FAQ list elsewhere on theese boards, there is no luggage only option.

In other, WDW will only incur the expense if they'll have you as a more-or-less captive audience, unable to leave WDW easily.

I missed that part of the deal.

Generally when I travel alone, I never check luggage. However, when we travel as a family... that never quite seems to work out. I think it is a PITA to go to the luggage area... and I would love to have the bags sent along behind us as we just scooted out to the rental car and started to the resort.

I am not too worried about loosing luggage. Most problems can be mitigated by reasonable planning (ie: pack by day... not by person), and besides it is very rare that a bag is lost... and if so, it usually arrives within hours.

If it ends up we could sign up... but not take the shuttle, then we might do it. Otherwise, I suppose that we will only use it if one or more of our kids (or guests) is arriving seperately.

/Jim

 

[Duchie]

This could be a blessing for those traveling with small children. We've got 3 kids who were 4, 3, 18 months when we went the first time. Having to keep track of all 3 of them AND battle the mob for our luggage was trying, to say the least. I would have LOVED for someone else to take care of the luggage for me at that time, even if it meant having to make several stops before getting to our resort.

We normally don't rent a car (we did on this last trip and our experience with it was a nightmare!), so a service like this might just work for us. I haven't decided yet - it will be interesting to hear from others how it goes.

 

[MrShiny]

Hmm...maybe the tags have a spot for you to put, "1 of 3, 2 of 3, and 3 of 3, etc."



Beca

That's exactly how you do it for the DCL, so this should be very much the same. Now if they got some cool buses like DCL has...

 

[bgerner]

I would definitely use it--a complimentary shuttle from the airport to the Disney resorts is long overdue. And it will be better than the way it is now with Mears because you wouldn't be making stops at the non-Disney resorts.

 

[DrTomorrow]

I can just imagine the caravan of shuttles heading for DVC resorts on Sundays and leaving them for the airport on Fridays