Magic Express

[misslissa]

Has anyone taken it recently? I am wondering if you live in Canada, when you will approximately get your luggage tags

 

[usetheforceluke]

Two to three weeks prior to your flight.

Jim.

 

[surfer_ed]

I used it on the return to the airport only. Got my tags about 3 weeks prior to the trip.

 

[ottawa-newbie]

Our TA got ours about 3 weeks before our trip... - then she realized they made an error on our hotel!!! She called and corrected the error and our new passes came in by courier 3 days later

 

[talicskai]

I am a TA and my co-worker went down at the end of Sept. She used ME for her transfers and wished she had arranged her own transfer for the arrival. It took forever (they were very unorganized) and she wasted alot of precious time (4 parks in 3 days!). The return transfer was fine.
Teresa

 

[surfer_ed]

I have to say that when I was renting a car, ME looked VERY busy and slow. I dropped the car off at MK and took ME back a few days later and it was fine for the return trip.

 

[maryliz]

We used DME in August and it was so fast it was incredible. We arrived at MCO just before 10:30AM, stopped at the washroom, went down to ME desk, no lineup, checked in, walked over and right onto a bus and we were pulling out of MCO before 11AM. MUCH faster than when we had to meet our shuttle driver, get our ownluggage and then get to his van, back in January. DH and I are using DME in December and I can't wait. I think it's all pretty much luck as to time of day you're arriving versus everyone else using the service, how many people are in line for your resort, etc. But hey, it's FREE ! I have read on the transportation board of many renting their car, returning it and then only using DME to get back to the airport. This works really well, I've read.

MaryLiz

 

[OntFamily]

Echoing the poster talking about the quickness of DME. I used it one month ago, and I found it fast and efficient. No more than a 10 minute wait from arriving at the DME desk, to being on the bus and the bus leaving the airport. At our hotel 45 minutes later.

 

[legendsguy]

Does the Magical Express busses have restrooms on them? I have a member of our family that has Irritable Bowel Syndrome. There is nothing worse than being someplace new without access to facilities. If no restrooms on the bus, how long is the trip to the resort (Port Orleans) from the airport? This will be on Dec. 30. Any suggestions for people with IBS? Thanks.

 

[huey578]

Does the Magical Express busses have restrooms on them? I have a member of our family that has Irritable Bowel Syndrome. There is nothing worse than being someplace new without access to facilities. If no restrooms on the bus, how long is the trip to the resort (Port Orleans) from the airport? This will be on Dec. 30. Any suggestions for people with IBS? Thanks.

Yes they do.

 

[misslissa]

I leave on Saturday, called Customer Service twice about it, and still haven't gotten my luggage tags!

 

[Goofy's apprentice]

We leave on Tuesday morning and thus far no tags ! Emailed and they cnfirmed that they are expecting us but that the tags should have arrived already. Apparently not too much of a problem. We can go to the ME counter at arrival, give our luggage claim slips and they will collect our luggage. Alternatively we can get our own luggage and take it with us to the ME counter. All sounds very good if the luggage carousel is somewhere near where the ME desk is. It's been years since we have flown. I can't remember Orlando airport too well. ARe we going to be frustrated ?

 

[NancyK]

We leave on Tuesday morning and thus far no tags ! Emailed and they cnfirmed that they are expecting us but that the tags should have arrived already. Apparently not too much of a problem. We can go to the ME counter at arrival, give our luggage claim slips and they will collect our luggage. Alternatively we can get our own luggage and take it with us to the ME counter. All sounds very good if the luggage carousel is somewhere near where the ME desk is. It's been years since we have flown. I can't remember Orlando airport too well. ARe we going to be frustrated ?

We used Magical Express in September and had no problems at all. Although I'm not 100% certain, it seems to me that the ME check-in desk was on the same level as the luggage carousels. Maybe someone else can verify this for you? Hope everything works out for you.

 

[misslissa]

I'm not sure where the ME desk is located 'cause we visited Disney last year before they had it... but I can tell you that I found Orlando Airport very easy to get around.

I find in airports, if you haven't travelled in a while, the best thing to do is just be patient with yourself. It is sometimes frustrating when everyone around seems like they know where they're going and have a plan. But, just ignore them... make sure you keep your tags from the airline close to you... they should be stickers with a barcode on them and then just bring those to the ME desk.

There should be lots of signs

 

[usetheforceluke]

on the same level as the luggage carousels

I remember the luggage carousels being on the level above the ME checkin counter... also another vague memory of going down an escalator to get to the car rental shuttle bus area, and that's where the ME section is. Maybe someone can confirm this or update us when they return in the near future.

I also recall a CM standing on the arrival level at a mini-booth. He was waving a Mickey hand and spieling welcome-to-Orlando-Magical-Express-information-here, or something like that.

I also remember remarking that you couldn't miss ME because there seemed to be CMs everywhere.

I wasn't specifically looking for ME last time I was there (a month ago) so that's why I'm not more specific.

Jim.

 

[Debbie]

As I understand it, the CMs have been given the boot by the other ground transportation companies. I guess they figured Disney was taking away their sales-even though ME is used 97% by people who have previously booked. So you probably won't see the Mickey hands before you get to the bottom level. We followed the signs for Ground Transportation and found ME with no problems. Have a great time!

 

[disney funseeker]

We'll be using ME too next week.

From the transportation board, I've got in my notes to proceed to A side before taking elevator or escalator down to level 1 of main terminal.

If you need directions, CM's are on Level 2, A & B side.

 

[Inga]

We recieved our tags today by FedEx and our trip starts on Dec 2nd (25 days ahead of trip). There was a note in the package stating that "..there will be no Disney representatives located on Level 3 when you exit the tram." As folks stated earlier, it should not be hard to get to the first level (car rental) on the A side to find the Disney Welcome Center.

 

[misslissa]

I called Disney today and told them I hadn't received anything yet and they said that is no problem at all... I just need to bring my luggage claim tags to the ME desk... as we already discussed here.

However, she did notice that I was coming from Canada and said if I had been flying out of Canada, I would have had to pick up my own bags at luggage claim because then I would have to take them through customs on my own. They are unable to do that...

Thankfully, I am flying out of Detroit so won't have to bother with customs. I can understand their perspective, they can't bring bags into the country for someone else, but I hadn't heard of this before!!!

 

[maryliz]

YIKES ! I had totally forgotten that I should be expecting my ME tags. We fly out on Dec 1st from Buffalo. We were originally only going to each take a small rollerboard as carryon since we're only going for the weekend. But being this close to Christmas, I hesitate because what if I see something down there for presents that I just HAVE TO HAVE, and won't have room in the small suitcase ???

MaryLiz