Magical Express at Night From Airport

[DizDaD7]

Hi there,


My husband and I are doing a last minute trip to WDW for labor day weekend (not great timing I know). The only flight we ca do arriving at MCO is an evening flight landing from NYC to MCO at 10:34PM. I've only ever landed at MCO late when I wasn't staying on property and used a Mears shuttle so I am not sure how long it takes for Magical Express at night. I would assume it's slower at night because maybe it waits for people longer to fill the bus up? Or it just runs less often in general?

Can you those of you who have taken the ME later in the evening give me an idea of how long it took you to get to your hotel? I'm staying at POP if it helps. Also my main reason for asking is we are probably going to want to eat if we can make it to POP in time before the food court closes. We're willing to take an Uber if needed but would prefer ME because magic lol

As others have already stated, you'll have to pick up your luggage which is on the opposite side of the airport, then up and over to ME.
So there in itself is already adding time.. However the 3 lat night flights that we've encountered, 1) at BWV, 1 at AKV and 1 at SSR all seemed to be faster....They definitely did not wait to fill up the bus on either of those 3 trips...So the stops were limited to 1 or 2 resorts at best...

 

[rstevens333]

Worth keeping in mind that late flights might mean riding on a smaller bus. Happened to me once when I arrived around 10pm. I actually preferred it- no TVs.

 

[pat fan]

You won't 'have' to, but I would. Baggage pick up stops at 10pm and resumes around 5am. Even if you have DME handle your bags, arriving at 9:17, you may not get those bags in your room until midnight or so, depending on your resort. I tend to leave the tags off my bags and get them myself if I'm arriving at MCO later than 7pm.

See here's my dilemma. Our first night is at Sports, then we move to Movies for our actual vacation. Can we ask the front desk to hold our luggage until the am and then just have them transfer it to Movies In the morning?

 

[SaintsManiac]

We landed at MCO at 9pm in January. We grabbed our own bags since it was late. We did not get to POP until 11pm. This was the longest experience we've ever had with DME. Line was long at check in for the bus and I'm guessing we had just missed it.

We had eaten dinner at our home airport, so food was not an issue for us.

 

[Mickey's Best Girl]

We land late at night about half the time.

My experience during the day is much different than late arrivals.

Day ME busses are full as soon as they pull up to the stop.

Night busses take longer to fill so we usually end up waiting on the bus for what seems like forever. Once it was 45 minutes - as another poster reported. And then it’s multiple resorts - as many as 5/6 stops whereas day busses usually only have 2/3 resort stops. There’s no way of knowing which order the bus will stop until the driver announces it.

These are my experiences with ME. YMMV

I think you should either bring some chow with you, prepare to order pizza or eat at the airport. I have little hope that you’ll arrive before the food court closes.

 

[dansdad]

See here's my dilemma. Our first night is at Sports, then we move to Movies for our actual vacation. Can we ask the front desk to hold our luggage until the am and then just have them transfer it to Movies In the morning?

Definitely. But you'll be asking Luggage Services, not the front desk.

 

[kbmartin]

I don't feel like the food court at Pop is any better than airport food, but YMMV. We've always done night flights (until this trip - now we'll have a morning adventure for once!). What we have done in the past is, first off, to eat at our home airport. A decent local pizza place is in the Southwest wing, so we're usually pretty happy having that for dinner. When we arrive in MCO, we go to the food court and get something small (for DH). I can't remember what all is open at that time, but for sure, Chick Fil A is (that's what DH always wants haha). We take the food to go and eat it while we wait for our luggage to come around. Typically, the luggage isn't even coming around until after we arrive with our food, so I don't think it's an advantage to RUSH to get your luggage. There's plenty of time to eat on the go.

We have stayed at Pop for the first night for three of our trips, and we're always first or second to be dropped off. Of course, that can change - we got lucky. I noticed on our last trip that they waited quite a while for the bus to be full - perhaps up to 20 min... On our previous trips, they didn't do that and we left within 10 minutes of boarding. Maybe it's another cost-saving measure to use as few buses as possible...

 

[kbmartin]

See here's my dilemma. Our first night is at Sports, then we move to Movies for our actual vacation. Can we ask the front desk to hold our luggage until the am and then just have them transfer it to Movies In the morning?

I would do it all yourself, or at the least, if you have them hold your luggage overnight, grab it yourself in the morning and take it to Movies. We transferred from Pop to Coronado last year, and we didn't receive our luggage until about 7 pm the next day. It was a huge inconvenience that kept us from swimming that day (we went in December, and day 1 at Coronado was the ONLY hot day of our trip). Maybe it was a fluke, but I would never do that again.

 

[maxiesmom]

I would do it all yourself, or at the least, if you have them hold your luggage overnight, grab it yourself in the morning and take it to Movies. We transferred from Pop to Coronado last year, and we didn't receive our luggage until about 7 pm the next day. It was a huge inconvenience that kept us from swimming that day (we went in December, and day 1 at Coronado was the ONLY hot day of our trip). Maybe it was a fluke, but I would never do that again.

I believe they only make one run with the bags, so they are typically delivered late in the day. If there is anything you may need for that day, then it needs to stay with your, or do as you suggest and move them yourself.

 

[Catvondita]

Thanks all! We never check our bags-we always bring it on the flight with us. I think we'll just try to eat a good big early meal before the flight and see if there is anything decent at the airport that we can get for a snack, water etc until the next day.

 

[sponica]

Thanks all! We never check our bags-we always bring it on the flight with us. I think we'll just try to eat a good big early meal before the flight and see if there is anything decent at the airport that we can get for a snack, water etc until the next day.

If you have Prime, or a code for a free membership, you could always have PrimeNow deliver some goodies before you get there. Luggage assistance would hold them. It would be better than nothing...

 

[rlk]

See here's my dilemma. Our first night is at Sports, then we move to Movies for our actual vacation. Can we ask the front desk to hold our luggage until the am and then just have them transfer it to Movies In the morning?

We stayed at All Star Sports for our first night this past April. I never thought to ask to store our bags. It could have been sheer exhaustion due to arriving at Sports, via DME, at 3:00 am. What I did do, was back a carry-on bag with everything we would need that first night/morning. Not having to open any other bag was helpful.

 

[maxiesmom]

If you have Prime, or a code for a free membership, you could always have PrimeNow deliver some goodies before you get there. Luggage assistance would hold them. It would be better than nothing...

Just a word of advice: That doesn't always end up working out either. I tried that one trip, flew in late so made sure I had some food waiting, and then the resort wouldn't deliver it to my room that night. Nor would they let me get it and take it to my room myself. This was at CSR.

 

[pat fan]

I would do it all yourself, or at the least, if you have them hold your luggage overnight, grab it yourself in the morning and take it to Movies. We transferred from Pop to Coronado last year, and we didn't receive our luggage until about 7 pm the next day. It was a huge inconvenience that kept us from swimming that day (we went in December, and day 1 at Coronado was the ONLY hot day of our trip). Maybe it was a fluke, but I would never do that again.

I plan on having all essentials in our carry ons, and theres no way I am Schlepping luggage for four adults and a toddler for 10 days across parking lots, driveways and Music to to get from Sports to Movies. Heck no!

 

[IrishNYC]

I plan on having all essentials in our carry ons, and theres no way I am Schlepping luggage for four adults and a toddler for 10 days across parking lots, driveways and Music to to get from Sports to Movies. Heck no!

Disney will move it for you. When you arrive on DME bell services will help you to your room, and if you're changing resorts they'll move it for you as well.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

You should make it before midnight, no guarantees, but a lot of the quick food joints at the airport will be closed or closing.

Baggage pickup won't happen on flights that land after 10 PM. Landing after 10 you have to pick up your luggage.

 

[Animal]

We have different definitions of “last-minute”. I kid, I kid. Labor Day weekend is not too crowded; wouldn’t worry about crowds.

 

[Catvondita]

We have different definitions of “last-minute”. I kid, I kid. Labor Day weekend is not too crowded; wouldn’t worry about crowds.

Lol! Last minute in that normally we plan almost a year before hand. You may give me hope for labor day!

 

[Animal]

Lol! Last minute in that normally we plan almost a year before hand. You may give me hope for labor day!

As usual, Magic Kingdom on the Saturday will be crowded. There should be plenty of room to stretch at Epcot and Animal Kingdom. The Studios will of course be crowded in Toy Story Land, but rest of park should be manageable. The heat and the fact that schools are already in session really make Labor Day a minor holiday.