FYI on Magical Express

[colleen costello]

Hi everyone. Just back from a great trip to BCV. My parents used Magical Express and it worked fairly well, although better on arrival than departure. Wanted to give you all the scoop.

Coming to WDW was great. They got off the plane, headed to the area for ME folks, and were on the bus and headed to WDW in no time. The only thing that stood out for me was that I had told my Dad, based on what I had read here, that the bus driver was not someone who needed to be tipped. Dad said the driver in fact made a little speech about how we was employed that seemed like a "tip me" plea. Just FYI. Dad did not tip him.

The trip back to MCO was trickier. The bus picked them up at BCV on schedule, about 3 hours before their flight. Because they were not on one of the 5 airlines that have a special deal with Disney, their luggage was loaded on the bus with them. With the affiliated airlines, you can get your luggage checked and even get a boarding pass RIGHT AT THE RESORT... Mom and Dad were upset when the bus got to MCO. They were dropped off -- with their luggage -- in a area they say was "far out" and with no Skycaps in sight. For some this may not be an issue; for my parents it was. Mom can barely walk and certainly can't carry luggage. My Dad had to leave her sitting and go off to find a Skycap and a wheelchair. Mom said it was about a half hour before they returned for her and she was beginning to get nervous about making their flight.

I just wanted to warn everyone that if you take ME back to the airport, you need to be prepared to lug your luggage a bit! Mom and Dad are now forewarned and in the future they will choose one of the "approved" airlines that can make life so much easier. For some this might not be an issue at all but for anyone disabled or even traveling alone, using one of the preferred airlines is probably best.

 

[T.E. Yeary]

Thanks for the "heads-up"!

 

[sanmc12]

My family just returned from a week at Saratoga Springs last week and had the opposite problem with ME. Are arrival went smooth with the check-in and finding the que to wait for the buses. It was the 45-50 wait at the airport that delayed us. For some reason people who got into line after us were on their way before us. Despite this the rest of the arrival was smooth. Our depature was flawless. We were the last ones picked up before the bus left for the airport. Once we arrived a skycap came up to me asking if we needed any help. I know how frustrating it can be for older folks traveling especially when they need help with their bags. Hopefully next time they'll get the help they need......

 

[JerJan]

Just wondering if someone could list the "APPROVED" airlines that Disney deals directly with, thanks!

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

Just wondering if someone could list the "APPROVED" airlines that Disney deals directly with, thanks!

The participating airlines are:

American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Jet Blue, Delta Air Lines, Song, United Airlines and Ted

HBC

 

[Timon71]

Hello everyone,
I was wondering if the buses following a set pattern of hotels or is it random? We are staying at GF and were wondering the time it takes from MCO to GF. We will have our 20 month old daugther(at travel time) with us. She will have been in an airplane for the last 2 hours and know she will not be up for another 2 or more hours in a bus. Any help is apprciated.


Have a Disney Day,
Jay, Monica, & Alexis Angoff
Sunset Pointe Wedding
10-29-02

Alexis's official WDW trip 12-2/12-11
GO THE OHIO STATE BUCKEYES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[RobDoc]

We used DME going to the GF 2 weeks ago and the trip took about 35 minutes- that night we were the first stop. The routes will vary, but should not take much over an hour to any of the resorts.

 

[colleen costello]

Mom and Dad's driver told them the route, which was Riverside, Port Orleans and Old Key West, plus one other -- maybe Ft. Wilderness? He seemed to indicate the order he stopped in was regular, and Mom and Dad were right in the middle since they started the trip at PO.

A call to Disney might let you know where your hotel is in the drop-off order.

 

[TammyNC]

Thanks for the information. We are going to be trying this in January and then hope it works well so that in-laws can use it in March when coming down to meet us.

 

[sonogirl]

I would love to know the drop off order for the Wilderness Lodge if any one knows, and do they always pick up 3 hours early!! Seems really early. Lori

 

[Man_Of_Leisure]

We are going to BCV over the Labor Day Weekend for our anniversary and will be using DME. I was looking at the information I received and it states that each guest will be given a departure time the day of check-out. That departure time will be at least 2 hours and 45 minutes prior to your flight. I guess that will give the bus the opportunity to make multiple stops if necessary, get to the airport, and allow people enough time to check in and go through airport security.

Anyone know which resorts are on the BCV route?

Man of Leisure

 

[jiggerj]

Anyone know which resorts are on the BCV route?

Man of Leisure

Our trip this past May included...YC and Port Orleans stops. Might have changed since then it was the first week of DME.

 

[changjoe]

just a warning on the check-out at resorts. my wife and i stayed at AKL and on the day we were flying out, we were told that our airline has flagged us so we couldn't check-in to the airline from the resort. The same thing happened to the people ahead of us, and also the people after us, the resort airline personnel said it might be a glitch in the system because it basically flagged EVERYBODY. So instead of checking-in at noon and leave the resort at 3, we had to leave the resort at noon so we could go to the airport to check-in.

we were flying delta, the people before us were flying American, and the people after us were flying continental.

 

[stacy6552]

Consider yourself lucky. WE didnt have to lug our bags, because we were on a partner airline. But ME couldnt be bothered to pick us up at all.

 

[mzzbuzzlightyear]

We just came back...Magical Express worked perfectly on the way down. We checked our bags at Newark, and after we checked into our room, we went to dinner; upon our return, found the bags waiting for us in our room!

Yesterday, Sunday, we could not check our bags because the M E desk is only opened from about 6 am to 2 pm at BCV. Since our flight, on Continental, left at 6:45 am, we could not check our luggage. You can only check luggage and get Boarding passes from 12 hours before to 3 hours before your departure. This would be 6:45 pm, so, because they were closed, we had to take the luggage on board the bus and check them at the airport.

The person at Concierge printed our Boarding passes; the Front desk said that they did not have access to that area on the computer.

And yes, we were left in an unfamiliar location, to carry bags to an upper level. We usually fly down several times a year, and this area seemed way out of the way to us!

We had so much fun, the worst part was coming back!!!!!!!!!

June

 

[Simba's Mom]

I've used DME on 2 trips (one was the second day after it began), and things have always gone smoothly. Different resorts each trip (BCV, then BWV), and different airlines (Continental and then Southwest). One nice little tip with Southwest is that Lobby Concierge was very nice about printing out a Boarding pass for me. But yes, they pick you up for return about 3 hrs before flight departure. On my trip last week, I got to the airport so early, they hadn't even put my flight on the monitor yet so I didn't know which gate to go to.

 

[kathleena]

We were there a few weeks ago and coming in the order was:

Old Key West, Ft Wilderness and Wilderness Lodge

Leaving the order was:

BoardWalk Villas (pick up there, but had some folks on the bus, not sure where it was before?)
Caribbean Beach

Our airline also isn't participating yet. We were dropped off closer to the USAirways checkin at the airport than we usually are if we rented a car so I had no complaints about the location. I think it will depend on which terminal and which airline you are leaving on.

Since they have set parking spots, they do not drop you off at each airline.

 

[iankh]

I thought that ME worked great for our trip, but I take exception with what people on these boards call "approved" airlines. There is no such thing, there are participating airlines and non-participating airlines. The word "approved" makes it sound like the onus is on Disney.

For instance, the participating airlines are all ones who have interline agreements, meaning that they use common ticket stock and baggage can be interlined (transferred) from one carrier to another. These days it also means there is a degree of interconnectivty between the systems.

An example of an airline who does not have interline agreements is SWA. You can not check your baggage from SWA through to another connecting airline.

I would suppose that one major hurdle for an airline to even be able to participate is that they would have to be in line with all the other carriers so that one computer and one program could be used to check in the passengers at the resort, and that they participate in standard interline agreements.

Our upcoming trip, we're taking SWA, having experience the fabulous convienence with ME flying AA I thought I'd do it again, but somehow, saving $200 on the two tickets was more compelling this time around.

Though I have to admit, checking in at the resort and not seeing my luggage again until Chicago was great.

 

[colleen costello]

June, thanks for the update. I will warn my parents about flying during "regular hours." They tend to get into Orlando by noon and leave by early evening, so I think they would usually be fine. But they said they never want to be "left in that Timbuktu area" again!

 

[Mickmse2002]

We looked into doing the ME on our recent trip to WDW. We were concerned from some of the stories of how it took several hours either to get to the resort or to get your luggage to show up. As opposed to using one of the town car services or Mears shuttle we looked into getting one-day car rentals through National. This worked great for us. We walked right into our car at the airport and we at BCV within 35 minutes of landing. Had all of our luggage with us and were able to do whatever we wanted. Went out grocery shopping with the rental car which made getting food very simple. We were then able to drop the rental car off at the Dolphin. We did the reverse on the way back. The combined cost for the cars, a full-size both ways, was less than if we had used either Mears or a town car service. We will definitely do this again.