Magical Express Alternate pick-up site???

[icarus]

Is it possible to board the Magical Express for the trip to the Airport At another pick-up spot like The Disney Marketplace?

On the day we leave for home, we like to spend the morning at the marketplace area. In the past, we've had to go back to the Wilderness Lodge from the marketplace and and catch the MEARS bus to the airport, which seemed to be a drag because we'd be going backward to the resort and then forward to the airport, which gave us less time to shop or do other things. One time we were running late and we had to catch a cab back to the resort to catch the bus. The flight was at 5:00 or so, and it seemed that we had to be ready at about 12:30 or 1:00 just to catch the bus.

Also, Is it possible to have the Magical Express take our bags and then us get to the airport another way, or do we need to be on the bus with our luggage?

Thanks.

 

[Jestocost]

DME only will pick you up at your resort. However, the RAC service is separate and there is nothing to prevent you from using it to check your bags and get your boarding passes, then take a cab, town car, Lynx bus or any other form of transportation back to the airport.

DME pick ups at your resort are roughly three hours before your scheduled flight time.

 

[bradk]

if you can take advantage of RAC (which is not actually DME), you can get to the airport any way you wish.

otherwise, DME will only pick you up from your home resort and will not physically transport luggage without you (someone needs to get it to the check-in desk?)

 

[icarus]

DME only will pick you up at your resort. However, the RAC service is separate and there is nothing to prevent you from using it to check your bags and get your boarding passes, then take a cab, town car, Lynx bus or any other form of transportation back to the airport.

DME pick ups at your resort are roughly three hours before your scheduled flight time.

I guess I'm confused about RAC. Doesn't this service use the Magical Express busses to transport luggage, and if so wouldn't what BradK says be true? If so, this would mean that I couldn't use the service without actually being there to pick up my luggage at the bus after it reached the airport . . . Correct?

 

[CleveRocks]

if you can take advantage of RAC (which is not actually DME), you can get to the airport any way you wish.

otherwise, DME will only pick you up from your home resort and will not physically transport luggage without you (someone needs to get it to the check-in desk?)

If you are not flying a participating airline, then of course we all know you can't use RAC. As bradk said, if you use RAC for your luggage, it doesn't matter how you get your bodies to the airport. It could be on a DME bus but it doesn't have to be. RAC luggage is transported to your airline at the airport by truck.

If you can't use RAC (that is, if you are flying on a "non-participating airline"), then the only way to get your luggage to the airport is to ride with it on the bus. There's absolutely no way to have your luggage on a DME bus unless you are also on the bus with it. I guess the only exception would be if some of your party rode the bus and took responsibility for everyone's luggage. In that case, you'd have to be sure that the person/people on the bus are physically able to carry your luggage, since there's no guarantee that they will find a skycap to assist them at the DME drop-off point at the airport.

To take this a step further, those in your party wouldn't be able to check in without you (you'd have to meet up with them before getting in line at the ticket counter), since they can't check your luggage with the airline without you, unless they say it's their luggage (and if they do that, they'd have to be at or below the per person baggage maximum or they'd be charged for extra bags).

 

[CleveRocks]

I guess I'm confused about RAC. Doesn't this service use the Magical Express busses to transport luggage, and if so wouldn't what BradK says be true? If so, this would mean that I couldn't use the service without actually being there to pick up my luggage at the bus after it reached the airport . . . Correct?

RAC is totally separate from DME. RAC is exactly like curbside check-in at the airport. Once the luggage is in the custody of the RAC folks, so one except RAC folks have any access to it until they turn it over to your airline at the airport. It is not simply loaded onto DME buses ... it is delivered to the airport via truck. The whole beauty of Resort Airline Check-in is that you check your luggage in at your resort, and then don't see it again until it's on your home airport's baggage claim carousel. Again, think of RAC as curbside check-in, only it's pretty far away from the curb. At curbside check-in at the airport, you kiss your checked bags goodbye and you get your boarding passes (and you tip the person who helped you). RAC is exactly the same.

Disney specifically says it's OK to use RAC without riding the DME bus. Again, RAC and DME are separate entities.

 

[dudspizza]

I guess I'm confused about RAC. Doesn't this service use the Magical Express busses to transport luggage, and if so wouldn't what BradK says be true? If so, this would mean that I couldn't use the service without actually being there to pick up my luggage at the bus after it reached the airport . . . Correct?

They are totally separate things. RAC is Remote Airline Check In. You must be flying one of the participating airlines to use it. You can use it and then find your own means of transport to the airport. Your bags are transported by truck.

As far as ME, you need to board at your resort. They only board at resorts anyways. They don't have stops at the park or DTD.

Duds

 

[Lewisc]

When you were paying Mears you could have been picked up at another location. I'm not sure about DTD but you could have been picked up at one of the DTD hotels.

Other posters gave you the correct answer, you can only board a DME bus from your own resort. It would be nice if Disney, in the future offered guests the option of being picked up at one of the theme parks.

 

[icarus]

Thanks for the info.

I must have missed the RAC last time. I didn't realize that the resorts had this. This sounds like a great thing to use.

 

[clkelley]

Yep, before DME, you could take Mears from anywhere, and it didn't matter where your vouchers stated either.

We sent my son home for the week a couple of years ago (only stayed the two weekends).

When we got to the airport we purchased the RT voucher at the desk, then the night before he was to go home, we figure out where we would be the next day and had them pick him up from there. (Animal Kingdom Lodge, it turned out).

When he returned, we were eating dinner at Cape May Buffet, so he returned there.

FYI, we were staying at All-Stars.

As previous posters stated, if you can use RAC, AND you are willing to keep up with your carryons, you could get a taxi to pick you up from anywhere on Disney property, or Mears is allowed to pick you up from the Swan/Dolphin, Shades of Green, or any of the hotels on Hotel Plaza Boulevard (right across from DTD).