How Magical is the Magical Express

[Jennykerty]

I saw a blurb on the web that said it was not that great: long wait for bus, many bus stops, etc.

In theory it sounds wonderful, so I thought I would ask those who have used it, for their experiences.

thanks
Jenny

 

[kaytieeldr]

Okay, you read "a" blurb on the web. If you read this board recently, you'll see one person extremely disappointed with Magical Express, and another person in that same thread posting their own negative impression, and a third person who had to call for his luggage several hours after it should have been in the room.
Between 5,000 and 10,000 Guests per day use DME. Even surmising that all three Guests used DME the same day (which they didn't) and it was a slow day, these three people represent a mere six one hundredths of one percent of DME riders. Looks like a pretty good service to me

 

[twotoohappy]

I've taken ME twice and thought it was great.
In August, staying at BCV from the time we got off the plane until my feet entered the lobby it was an hour and the last stop.
In Dec., about an hour total, 1st stop at VWL!

Getting back, had a looooong walk to the SWA area on the 1st trip, but the bus pulled up in front of the door on the 2nd trip. It's wherever there's room.

It's a free service.

except...Don't forget to tip your driver both ways

 

[Alysa]

twotoohappy - thank you for reminding me about the tip! how much would you give for a family of 15?
plus, how many seats are there on a bus - will we take up much of the bus?

 

[KarenP99]

We have used Magical Express once. We had a good experience with it, service was just as expected. Very little waiting at the airport, luggage arrived about 6 hours after touchdown.

That being said, if I can get a good car rental rate (bet 200-300 for a week minivan), I'll take it. This is a little splurge for us, and it gives us the freedom to go to non WDW restaurants (oh the horror, I know ) as well as drive to the parks, downtown disney etc.

I did the College Program waaaay back, so I am quite familiar with the roads, therfore very comfortable going it on our own with a rental.

Karen

 

[Buzz's Buddy]

We just used ME for the first time and were very happy with it.

Our plane touched down @ 10:35am on Feb 4th. We immediately went to check in at the ME desk (short wait) and then got into the line for OKW. We waited about 15 minutes for a bus. It seemed that within about 5 minutes we were on the road. We pulled into OKW at 11:30am. Our bags were delivered to our room at 3:00pm, or 4 1/2 hours after landing.

For the return, we were able to use the airline check-in desk which meant we didn't have to worry about our luggage. We checked in around 6:50am for our 10:30am flight. The ME bus was scheduled to pick us up at 7:20am, but it actually arrived at 7:10am. We got on the bus and made 1 stop at SSR. I believe we arrived at the airport by 8:00am.

I know that some people have had bad experiences, but ours couldn't have been better and we wouldn't hesitate to use it again.

 

[Showe]

Ok, here's my 2 cents.
Prior to our WDW trip (2/10-2/19) I was very skeptical about ME. THey had sent our luggage tags with wrong resort on it. I called and they said it would be fine to just cross off the wrong resort and this would flag them to check their system to find out where we were REALLY staying. ( I even crossed off the bar codes on the tags)

I was a bit nervous about using ME reading this and that on the boards etc, but I figured how bad could it be and what was the worst that could happen ?

We had absolutely no problems. Our flight left Flint - two hours late - becuse of weather. We arrived at MCO and went to the ME check-in and waited long enough to use the restroom. Got in line for the bus and waited about 10 minutes. We were staying at SSR so we happened to be the first group off the bus. Total time from airport to SSR - less than one hour.

Our room of course was not ready yet so we had swimsuits in our carrying on bags so we spent the afternoon at the pool.

ALL of our bags were in our room by 6:00 p.m. Four arrived at 4:30 p.m. and the last one arrived at 6:00 p.m.

I was very pleasantly surprised and would definitely recommend ME to anyone who is not renting a car for their stay.

 

[princessjv]

Okay, you read "a" blurb on the web. If you read this board recently, you'll see one person extremely disappointed with Magical Express, and another person in that same thread posting their own negative impression, and a third person who had to call for his luggage several hours after it should have been in the room.
Between 5,000 and 10,000 Guests per day use DME. Even surmising that all three Guests used DME the same day (which they didn't) and it was a slow day, these three people represent a mere six one hundredths of one percent of DME riders. Looks like a pretty good service to me

ME lost our luggage from the hotel to the airport. Our experience was horrible! Would I use it again, NEVER! Although I was the 'six one hundredths of a %", it is not worth the loss that I had to ever experience it again. For the 1,000 other guests that used it the day they lost my loot, I am sure it was great! Bottom line... There is risk in everything. You could rent a car and crash on your way to/from the airport... now that wouldn't be too Magical either!

 

[dsneygirl]

If you're nervous about losing your luggage or not getting it in time, you can retrieve it yourself and it will go on the same bus you are riding on. I've used it twice and had good experiences both times.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

If you read this board recently, you'll see one person extremely disappointed with Magical Express, and another person in that same thread posting their own negative impression, and a third person who had to call for his luggage several hours after it should have been in the room.

I'm the person who had to call for our luggage seven hours after we landed. (It was then delivered promptly.) I should not have had to call. The luggage should have shown up while we were out having fun. That's what usually happens. But it was really no big deal. I still think Magical Express is great, and I would gladly use it again.

A few people on this board people have had legitimate complaints about Magical Express. But most of the other complaints have been from people who didn't bother to understand fully how Magical Express works. In another recent thread, I wrote:

There have been numerous people on this board who have complained that they had to wait several hours in their room for their luggage to be delivered before they could do anything else. Those people missed the point about DME. Yes, it's going to take a few hours for the baggage to be delivered. After all, the baggage needs to be unloaded from the aircraft, sorted at the airport, transported on a baggage truck, unloaded at the resort, and delivered when the bellmen aren't busy with guests who are checking in or with earlier DME baggage. However, there's no reason to wait in the room. Disney pays the inbound gratuity, so you don't have to be in the room. The trick is to take a small carry-on with anything you need upon arrival; that's what Disney recommends.​

 

[TDC Nala]

I have never had too much of a problem with it (I don't really mind the waits, and I've had varying waits) but I have never used the luggage service.

I don't think I could go to WDW so often without it.

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

Ok, here's my 2 cents.
Prior to our WDW trip (2/10-2/19) I was very skeptical about ME. THey had sent our luggage tags with wrong resort on it. I called and they said it would be fine to just cross off the wrong resort and this would flag them to check their system to find out where we were REALLY staying. ( I even crossed off the bar codes on the tags)

I was a bit nervous about using ME reading this and that on the boards etc, but I figured how bad could it be and what was the worst that could happen ?

We had absolutely no problems. Our flight left Flint - two hours late - becuse of weather. We arrived at MCO and went to the ME check-in and waited long enough to use the restroom. Got in line for the bus and waited about 10 minutes. We were staying at SSR so we happened to be the first group off the bus. Total time from airport to SSR - less than one hour.

Our room of course was not ready yet so we had swimsuits in our carrying on bags so we spent the afternoon at the pool.

ALL of our bags were in our room by 6:00 p.m. Four arrived at 4:30 p.m. and the last one arrived at 6:00 p.m.

I was very pleasantly surprised and would definitely recommend ME to anyone who is not renting a car for their stay.

Just an FYI, crossing off the name of the resort is okay... but crossing off the barcode will delay your bags. All bags must have a readable barcode on them to be processed. So, if they can't be scanned, they get set aside, and dealt with later. THen, they have to research the bag, and reprint a tag for it, all of which takes time. The barcode is linked to the computer reservation, which can be modified, so it doesnt matter what the tags say, as long as the reservation that its linked to is proper.