Magical Epress - no car seats allowed? Is it legal?

[wrighter]

We're Disney bound in February with a 3 year old and 1 year old. We were SO excited to hear about Magical Express, and then befuddled to hear that car seats are not allowed. How are we supposed to utilize this great service? Or is it not for families with young children? Are we supposed to bring them on with NO car seats? I'm confused. Isn't the trip from the airport to the property on a large/fast road?

Any thoughts here? Are we simply on the hook for a rental car or car service?

 

[CleveRocks]

We're Disney bound in February with a 3 year old and 1 year old. We were SO excited to hear about Magical Express, and then befuddled to hear that car seats are not allowed. How are we supposed to utilize this great service? Or is it not for families with young children? Are we supposed to bring them on with NO car seats? I'm confused. Isn't the trip from the airport to the property on a large/fast road?

Any thoughts here? Are we simply on the hook for a rental car or car service?

There's no such thing as seat belts on buses. Without seat belts, car seats can't be fastened. If car seats can't be fastened, they are more dangerous than NOT using car seats.

Disney Transport, the buses that take you from your resort to the parks, also don't have seat belts and thus no car seats are possible.

Buses are different from cars, and it is the general prevailing wisdom all over the country that buses don't need seat belts (and that car seats aren't necessary on buses).

If you are uncomfortable with this, then your only recourse is to rent a car and drive not only to and from the airport but also to and from the parks. A car service won't do you any good if you have the "no car seats on DME" concern, because then you'll be dropped off at your resort without an acceptable way to get to and from the parks (except if you're staying at a monorail resort and will be going ONLY to MK and Epcot).

Everyone has to make up their own minds on what is safe and what isn't.

I'll just give you my example to show you what we did. We know about safety. Safety is paramount to us. My wife is a pediatrician, I am a therapist who works with accident trauma victims. We see the horrible results of motor vehicle accidents. And we had no qualms about taking our 5 year old and 2.5 year old on DME and Disney Transport last May. We'll be doing so again in November.

Good luck with your decision, and HAVE FUN AT WDW!

 

[Microcell]

What Cleve said! I am taking DS 4 and figure he is only a couple of inches smaller than he will be on the Kindergarten bus (insert sobbing here) next year.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

CleveRocks gave a perfect answer.

I'll only add that although you can't use a car seat on a Magical Express motorcoach, you can transport car seats in a Magical Express motorcoach. The car seats would be carried as luggage down in the luggage hold, while the passengers (including the children) sit in individual seats in the passenger compartment (or are held on a lap if the child is very young).

In other words, if you've bought airline seats for both children, and you want to use the car seats on the aircraft, you won't have to abandon your car seats at the airport. And if you'll need car seats at WDW because you plan to rent a car for a few days while you're there, you can use Magical Express to transport your car seats. But your car seats will be luggage while on the motorcoach because it's not safe for a child to sit in an unsecured car seat on a motorcoach.

 

[Edd]

The bus lobby has paid a good amount of money to achieve legislation that does not require seat belts on busses. Say all you want, if a bus gets into a wreck that child or adult is going to go bouncing all over the bus. The ME busses travel 50 - 70 miles an hour for a period of 20 minutes before arriving at the Disney resorts. Disney busses on the property travel 25 - 30 miles an hour for 5 - 10 minutes.

Busses travel the same roads cars do, run on rubber tires and pass or are passed by the same stupid drivers. Busses are bigger, but that does not make them undestructable. The prevailing wisdom all over the country is not that busses don't need seat belts. The bus companies and manufacturers do not provide the belts, the states let the big lobbyists off the hook and the prevailing wisdom is if that is the only way I guess I will have to live with it. They put little kids in seat belts on some of the kiddie rides, but do not provide seat belts on the DME. Does that say anything.

 

[CleveRocks]

The ME busses travel 50 - 70 miles an hour for a period of 20 minutes before arriving at the Disney resorts. Disney busses on the property travel 25 - 30 miles an hour for 5 - 10 minutes.

The only time I was ever seriously injured in a motor vehicle accident, I was only one block from where I started, on a 25 MPH street. Slower and less distance doesn't have to equal safer.

Can anyone explain the logic behind saying that DME is per se unsafe but Disney Transport is per se safe?

If seat belts are a must regardless of mode of transportation, then someone who flies to WDW has no choice but to rent a car at the airport.

 

[debster812]

Can anyone explain the logic behind saying that DME is per se unsafe but Disney Transport is per se safe?

Edd couldn't explain it the last time he went on this tirade, I doubt he'll be able to this time either.

To the OP--take all the advice you've been given here with a grain of salt, and choose the right decision for you and your family.

I can tell you, my DS has been riding a school bus (sans seatbelts) since he was 5, has ridden Disney Transportation busses countless times from age 4 and up, and had ridden DME 2x.

 

[CarolA]

Can anyone explain the logic behind saying that DME is per se unsafe but Disney Transport is per se safe?

.

Only Edd and he has chosen not to share this logic with us.

(And I routinely see Disney buses on property going the speed limit 45 to 50 which is faster then Edd's quote)

All I can figure is that once you cross under the giant "Welcome to WDW" sign Pixie Dust takes over...

 

[Edd]

I guess you carry a radar gun with you.

Let me share this with you. If either one hit the other head-on at any speed they probably wouldn't be considered safe. Neither one would be safe for a unbelted 3 year old. You might look for the 3 year old two or three seats up toward the front.

On the other hand if the child were belted he may get away with a few black and blue marks across its chest.

 

[rhiannonwales]

I knew it was only a matter of time until Edd showed up.

OP: Edd is a town car driver, with an objective here: he just LOVES to jump on any thread about disney busses, and trash talk them. He will tell you about how unsafe they are, and yet in the same breath, admits to taking his grandchild on one without a seat belt!!

Opinions aside, choose whats best for you, but dont base your choice solely on the scare tactics of a person who has a website that misrepresents himself and a few others as drivers for well known respected town car companies.
Sherrie

 

[Edd]

Edd is not a town car driver.

He never admitted taking his gandson on a bus. Actually Edd doesn't have to use the busses as he can go from home to any Disney park in his private car, park and walk in.

Also Edd does not have a web site that misrepresents himself and a few others as drivers for well known respected town car companies.

Is there anything else you would like to say that is not true.

 

[rhiannonwales]

Ok i take back what i said about your grandson. I just went back and re-read it, and your right. I got confused because in that first encounter with you, you were slamming DME left and right but somehow the resort busses were ok.

However, do you not admit that you said this on 5/24/06?

" I do drive many passengers to Disney and guess what, everyone is required to use the seat belts that are available, including myself. The passengers return to me year after year. People have talked about the service I give, on the Disney boards many times."

Do you deny that this is your website, and that this is you?

taxi-mco
I was wrong, i admit it. But you just outright lied.

 

[rhiannonwales]

I noticed that you no longer have your picture or your friends listed under Tiffany and Mears, they now have their own title.What happened? did you get a nice Cease and Desist?

 

[Edd]

No, I did not lie.

I do not drive a town car.

I do not have a website that misrepresents myself and and a few others as drivers for well known respected town car companies. The drivers on that website are highly respected, professional and are not afraid to show their face and personal preferences to prospective visitors in the Orlando area, unlike most sites on the net representing the Orlando area.

In fact I have stated that the DME does not provide seat belts and that I am a strict seat belt person, being in a wreck and in good health because I was belted down. That is my opinion and I am entitled to it.

I do not deny that is my web site, but it does not misrepresent anything.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Ok i take back what i said about your grandson. I just went back and re-read it, and your right. I got confused because in that first encounter with you, you were slamming DME left and right but somehow the resort busses were ok.

Well, but he DID say

Yes, I ride the busses when I stay at the resorts, no seatbelts and even though my grandson is 7 years old I watch over him close.

(see post number 68 http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1117896&page=5&pp=15 ), from which a reasonable person would infer that he watches his grandson closely while riding Disney buses seatbeltless

 

[rhiannonwales]

Oh Edd, are we going to play the semantics game? Ok, you don't drive a "town car" you drive a SUV. The fact remains. You drive a car for hire. At one point in time on that page, you had a link saying "mears" and another saying "Tiffany Towncar" and when clicked they reverted to YOUR bio, and another persons. Unless you can provide a paystub from either of those companies, that IS misrepresentation.

 

[Edd]

I am afraid you are wrong about that, like you were wrong in a few other statements. The link to the BIO comes from another topic.

 

[goofy4tink]

We've been over and over the whole seat belt issue in our town with the school buses. I can see the points on both sides. Statistics have shown that the 'more likely' type of accident would be if a bus were broadsided and then caught fire. It would be a nightmare to get 40 1st graders off that bus!! I 'guess' that those in the know have decided that you are basically safer on a bus, than in a car, so the need for seatbelts is less.
I have never felt unsafe in the DME bus....in fact, on one or two occasions I have been tempted to ask the driver to 'pick it up a little'!!! Compared to some of the drivers on-site who I think must train with Richard Petty on their off duty days!!!!

So, to the OP...you little one will be quite safe on the DME bus. Hold him/her in your lap so they can look out the window. It's a safe ride.

 

[Lewisc]

Passengers who are concerned with seat belts and car seats have no option but renting a car. Buses don't have seat belts. That includes DME motor coaches, buses that take you to the parks, school buses and city buses.

We can certainly have a debate or discussion regarding the safety of government regulations that allow buses to skip seat belts.

Edd you lose most of your credibility when you post half truths and misleading statements.

 

[CarolA]

I guess you carry a radar gun with you.

Let me share this with you. If either one hit the other head-on at any speed they probably wouldn't be considered safe. Neither one would be safe for a unbelted 3 year old. You might look for the 3 year old two or three seats up toward the front.

On the other hand if the child were belted he may get away with a few black and blue marks across its chest.

Nope, but I know what speed I am driving and the buses are keeping up with me.

And your argument means that everyone should use a rental car. Not a towncar because then they are on the bus again at Disney if they use a towncar.

(And last time I posted it the thread got pulled but Edd has a website. His "towncar" of choice is an SUV. )