Magic Express Question

[momto2]

Have all the kinks been worked out of this. When we went in June, although we drove, I remember reading all the posts problems. Has anyone gone recently and used ME? How well does it work?

Thanks

 

[Luv_my_Family]

I used ME just 2 weeks ago while staying at Wilderness Lodge. It went very well and I do not hesitate to recommend it to others.

We arrived about 8am. Because we made our ME reservations only a week before our trip, the luggage tags did not arrive before we left, so we just picked up our own bags and went down to the pick-up area. We waited less than 20 minutes before the bus left for WDW. We were lucky because Wilderness Lodge was the first drop-off location. (We were even more lucky in that our room was actually ready!!)

When going home, we had a 9:05am pick-up time. We checked the luggage and got our boarding passes there at the resort, so we did not have to worry about keeping track of our suitcases or having to check-in at the airport. The ME bus was on-time and took about 20 minutes for the driver to check everyone in and get going (there were about 25 of us at this pick-up location). We were lucky to be the last pick-up, so we went straight to the airport.

 

[arkansas mom]

It worked like a dream for us! We pretty much walked off the plane and onto the bus.
If I were going to do it again, and I will (!), I would make an effort to get off the bus and grab my bags quickly so I can get to the check-in desk ahead of the crowd getting off the bus with me. We kinda waited around and let others get their bags ahead of us . Next time I might be more aggressive and grab mine as soon as the driver pulls them out from under the bus.

 

[aubriee]

I used it in May (right after it started) and again in Sept and highly recommend it. In May I walked staight to the DME check in desk and then was able to walk onto the bus to POP, with maybe a five minute wait. Because they knew we were coming POP had LOTS of CMs at the front desk to check us in. My room was ready. I quickly dropped my carry on bag off, checked the room out and went to the MK to eat lunch. My plane arrived at MCO about 9:20am, by the way. When I got back to the room that night my bags were waiting for me in the room. On the day I checked out I went down early, checked both my regular bag and my carry on bag for the return flight, got my boarding pass, then went to MK for a character meal. I got back to the resort about 3:15pm and hopped on the DME bus about 3:30pm. It went straight to the airport with no stops. Because I had checked my carry on bag for the return flight I was able to walk straight through the airport. It was wonderful, feeling so light.

Except that we didn't check our carry on bags for the return flight (due to breakable souvineers) we had the exact same experience in Sept. My family got in the POP line while I checked us in at the DME counter. As I walked over to the POP line, my family was letting other people go in front of them and was calling to me to hurry as the bus was there. We had zero wait to get on the bus. POP is the first stop for DME, our room was already ready, and we were in the parks by lunch. Our checked bags were in the room waiting for us when we returned from the park that night. We checked our bags the morning of our departure, got our boarding passes, and went off to the parks. We picked up our carry ons that afternoon and hopped on the bus for the return trip to MCO. The bus returning us to the airport did not stop anywhere else.

I'll be using DME again in Dec and again in Jan. In Dec I'll have my 73 y/o mom and in Jan I'll have my 9 y/o GD with me. I have absolutely no hesitation in using DME.

 

[JustGottaGoDisney]

Just a newbie needing clarification: if my yellow tags should not show up before we leave, do we just plan on picking up on own luggage and then locating ME? How will they know we qualify for it without the yellow tags?

Thanks!

 

[aubriee]

In May (when DME first started) alot of people were not getting their luggage tags. In fact I got mine just a few days before I left (after being told by DME that I probably wouldn't be getting them at all). In Orlando the people who didn't get luggage tags just went to the DME desk, checked in, and then looked in a booklet the DME people had of all the common types of luggage, then had the DME people go down to baggage claim to locate their luggage. They had made sure that it was easily marked with their names and resort and some said they had put something really distinct on it. Before receiving my tags I had picked up some neon lime green duct tape at MJ Designs and wrapped it around my luggage handle and was planning on putting some neon green, pink, and yellow curly ribbon on it aso, if the tags hadn't shown up (just an idea).

Of course some people did go down and pick up their own luggage, but it wasn't necessary. Just go to the DME desk, look in the luggage booklet, identify your luggage for them, and haved them pick it up. You could also just take a picture of your luggage before you leave home and give that to them.

 

[Luv_my_Family]

If your tags don't show up in time you have two options:

1. Pick up your luggage yourself and proceed to the ME desk and check-in for your bus.

2. Go straight to the ME desk and check in. You just give them your luggage claim ticket, along with a description of your bag(s), and they will pick them up for you. You don't have to wait for the bags, you just board the bus and go.


Hope this helps!

 

[laurabelle]

I used it for the first time a couple of weeks ago and it went great! We were at our resort exactly one hour after our plane landed! The return trip was great too. We were flying on SW and only had carry on, so I don't have experience with the luggage part, but the transportation was excellent!

 

[momto2]

Thanks everyone. Good to know that it is working great!

 

[KCinVA]

Definately an improvement. We went in April, and the Mears shuttle was a disaster. We landed at MCO at 10:30, and didn't get to our hotel (Caribbean Beach) until 1:00 (at one point, or driver had to call someone for directions). We back in September, using ME, and it was great. We landed at 10:30 again, walked right off the plane onto the bus, and were checking in to All Star Music at 11:15. The CM's could not have been nicer or more helpful. We'll definately use it again when we go back next year.

 

[UMTerp]

Just back and used DME. It was just OK from the airport to the resort. We had to wait in line for quite a while while the buses for the better resorts got loaded (we stayed at Pop). I had read that the bus for Pop would only have that stop. No we had to drop off folks at better resorts first. I really felt somewhat like a second class citizen. I was hoping that this wasn't how the entire stay was going to be since I opted to stay at a value resort - my first time onsite. It took 1 1/2 hours from landing to resort with no bags. This was quite a bit longer than I anticipated since we flew in first thing in the morning and our flight arrived at 8:15 AM. Maybe we were too early? On the way back everything went very smoothly. Bus arrived on schedule and went directly to the airport.
Other than arrival, all bus service to and from Pop was good.

Have fun!

UMTerp

 

[oogie boogie]

Does anyone know what stop the CSR is? Middle, last, first, etc....