Magical Express - Bad Experience

[Dopey19]

We just returned from our Disney vacation (me, husband & 2-year old daughter). The Magical Epxress trip to the resort was great, we were out of the airport in 15 minutes and arrived at Beach Club within 45 minutes of our flight landing but going home was not so good . . .

We had been given a pick up time of 8:15 a.m. and we arrived at the lobby by 8:00 and saw the bus outside. I was then asked to participate in a quick survey for the hotel and agreed; she said it would only take 5 minutes. My husband and daughter waited and hubby struck up a conversation with the doorman (both Steelers fans). The doorman was aware that we were getting on the Express. Well at 8:05 the bus pulled away - 10 minutes before I scheduled p/u! The doorman went to get the manager who apologized and said the hotel would pay for a cab for us and then said that the bus outside wasn't the 8:15 bus but the 7:45 . . .ok so where was the 8:15 because at this time it was 8:10 and no other bus had pulled up? No big deal though, we would just take the cab. The manager realized we had a toddler and asked if we would require a car seat and we said yes. She spoke with the valet and arranged a cab for us. The cab drive informed the valet, hotel manager and us that he had a car seat . . .yes he did, with no base and no way to secure it in the cab!! We were so annoyed but felt trapped because we needed to get to the airport. My husband sat seatbelted in with my daughter because the car seat was useless. When we arrived at the airport the second problem arouse - while the hotel graciously paid for the cab ride we were now in a situation to feel like we had to tip the cab driver (money we shouldn't have to spend since we had Magical Express reservations). After the car seat fiasco we choose not to tip but I felt uncomfortable.

When we arrived home I contacted Disney to tell them what happened and I was told that the Hotel Managers would be advised to check the cabs to be sure they really have a car seat and not just trust the word of the driver.

I hope this never happens to anyone else but just a heads up if it does, ask the driver to show the carseat to you before the manager leaves and ask how the tip is handled as well.

Good Luck!

 

[seashoreCM]

(Ph.D. in the Disney CM equivalent of hamburgerology needed)

The correct thing to do was to wait for "the 8:15 bus" that the manager described. Then, if it didn't come by 8:30 or was too full for you then you take up the manager on the cab ride.

Regrettably, once you opt for the cab ride, the only purpose of the car seat is so the driver doesn't get pulled over and fined for letting your kid ride without it.

Never put the seat belt around both yourself and your kid on your lap. Having your kid on the bare taxi seat with the seat belt around him alone is better.

Given that the airport ride is a "long ride" as opposed to a "short ride" the latter which taxi drivers prefer less, and also given that taxi drivers, being from the same company Mears, are expected to "play magical express", I believe that a ME style tip as opposed to a taxi style tip is appropriate.

Disney hints: http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

 

[goofy4tink]

I'm really sorry you had to end your great vacation this way. I'm not sure who is to blame...seems to be a series of mishaps. I think I would have told the survey person that I would have loved to help but I had a bus to catch. I always tell guests to be at the bus stop, ready for the bus, 15 mins before departure time. Now....I hate hearing that the bus left early. I doubt that was the 7:45 bus...the 7:45 bus should have been gone for at least 15 mins by the time you got there. That was the 8:15 bus you saw..not sure why you would have been told otherwise. In fact, if it had been the 7:45 bus, why in heaven's name would the manager put you in a cab? Why didn't they just tell you to hang out for another 10 mins..the 8:15 would be right there. Nope, they messed up..the bus left early because it didn't see anyone who looked like they were getting on the bus because you and your dh were otherwise occupied. Were you wrong? No, not really. You would have thought that someone would have alerted the bus driver that you were there.

So...again....I say, be at that bus stop, bags in hand, 15 mins before the bus is due to pull out. That bus isn't going to sit there for an extended time, probably only about 10 mins. Plan accordingly.

 

[CleveRocks]

Unfortunately, you fell into one of the few bad cracks in the Disney system.

The CMs at the resorts, even the managers, are not as well-versed on DME as they should be. And there are no dedicated DME CMs stationed at the resorts. The people manning the Resort Airline Check-in desks aren't even Disney CMs .. and even if they were, DME and RAC are completely separate systems, anyway.

Sorry that you had such a difficult experience!

 

[Alexander]

Who is at fault here? I think the OP is... You decided to do the survey instead of getting on the bus. I think it was incredibly gracious of the manager to get a cab for you! I think that he went way out of his way and above and beyond the call of duty. Your DME letter should have clearly stated to arrive at least 15 minutes prior to your departure time. YOU chose to take a survey and your DH chose to chat with the bellman. If you had been at the bus 15 minutes early, you would have made the 8:05 bus.

Sorry, JMHO.

 

[clkelley]

I'm so sorry you had this experience. However, it sounds like Disney did their best to make up for a mishap, and they did get you to the airport!!

 

[CleveRocks]

Who is at fault here? I think the OP is... You decided to do the survey instead of getting on the bus. I think it was incredibly gracious of the manager to get a cab for you! I think that he went way out of his way and above and beyond the call of duty. Your DME letter should have clearly stated to arrive at least 15 minutes prior to your departure time. YOU chose to take a survey and your DH chose to chat with the bellman. If you had been at the bus 15 minutes early, you would have made the 8:05 bus.

Sorry, JMHO.

By the "letter of the law" you're correct.

But in the spirit of things, in reality, the wording of the letter is vague, and we all have experiences when people tell us to be early when it's not absolutely necessary. Yes, we here at the DIS know it IS necessary with DME, but I can appreciate that that is not common knowledge. For most people, people who aren't well-versed in DME, it would not seem risky or ill-advised to NOT be at the bus stop 10 minutes early, if you know what I mean.

The staff should have known better, but they are not trained in that sort of thing. I blame the overall system, not any individual CM or the bus driver or the OP.

 

[IlovePiglet]

Unless they've changed the pickup time at the Beach Club the bus is scheduled at 8:10 so whoever told you 8:15 was incorrect, regardless it does sound like the bus left early if it did leave at 8:05. I do find a discrepancy between Disney time and Mears (they run the DME buses).
And to add a word about the people who do the surveys telling you it will just take a minute - I've had to actually tell them the bus was leaving and the person they were talking to needed to be on it - these surveys take more like 10 or 15 minutes, it seems.

 

[Melrosgirl]

On the bright side, you made your airline flight.

If I was going to blame someone though (and I use that term loosely), you needed to be at the bus stop 10 minutes or whatever before it leaves. If you aren't there, they presume you aren't there. It's not the doorman's job to keep tabs on the bus.

 

[jodifla]

Sorry you had this experience!

My strategy is to get on the bus as soon as I see it and the doors open (after I make sure it's heading where I want to go....) I figure that way, it can't leave without me.


Yours is a good cautionary tale.

 

[mom_rules]

Sorry about your experience.

We always tip ME driver-Your comment regarding tipping the cab driver suggests you wouldn't tip the ME driver normally?

Do other people tip the ME driver?

 

[NeedaVacation03]

Do other people tip the ME driver?

We have always tipped the driver. We have always had a good experience with them.

 

[sorul82?]

We had a similar situation last Sept at AKL, only our bus never came. We were where we were supposed to be 15 minutes early and just waited and waited and waited. The Bell Services guys were great and kept calling and calling. After about 45 minutes, Junior (that was the name on his tag) said "this is ridiculous; I'll be right back." He came back with $60 to cover a cab(mini van) and tip.

 

[gmboy95]

Who is at fault here? I think the OP is... You decided to do the survey instead of getting on the bus. I think it was incredibly gracious of the manager to get a cab for you! I think that he went way out of his way and above and beyond the call of duty. Your DME letter should have clearly stated to arrive at least 15 minutes prior to your departure time. YOU chose to take a survey and your DH chose to chat with the bellman. If you had been at the bus 15 minutes early, you would have made the 8:05 bus.

Sorry, JMHO.

I guess i agree with the above.....I dont know if anyone is at fault here. it sounds like the busses where running late and the hotel manager was gracious in his offer....as far as people giving you advice on how to seatbelt your kids, I think some people forget what it was like growing up and riding shotgun in the back of a pickup on the highway...other then that, I think you just had a bad break. No harm no foul.

 

[paults]

Please remember that there are others already (unless it's the first pick-up stop) on the bus that would like to make there flights. So we need to be there on time to keep this FINELY TUNED MACHINE ON TRACK)

 

[donmil723]

Are you sure that it was the ME bus to the airport that you saw? It seems like whenever we are waiting for the ME bus to the airport, a ME bus arrives that is dropping off passengers. If they are dropping off, they don't pick up. A separate bus picks up those going back to the airport.

I'm sorry you had a bad experience with ME but it sounds like the BC management was very gracious about paying for a cab for you. That is a good idea for BC management to make sure about a car seat before putting their guests in the taxi. Of course, you could have asked for a different cab. Usually there is a couple of them sitting outside the BC.

 

[OntFamily]

Unless they've changed the pickup time at the Beach Club the bus is scheduled at 8:10 so whoever told you 8:15 was incorrect, regardless it does sound like the bus left early if it did leave at 8:05.

There is no set pick up time, for any resort. The pick up time will vary each day, dependent on the passengers schedule.

 

[CleveRocks]

There is no set pick up time, for any resort. The pick up time will vary each day, dependent on the passengers schedule.

Not exactly.

Each resort has set times after the hour when DME pick-ups might be scheduled, and these set times after the hour are always 30 minutes apart. Whether or not a bus comes to make pick-ups depends on reservations.

In other words, (and I'm making up the exact numbers), let's say Pop Century DME pick-ups, when there are reservations, occur at :10 and :40 after the hour. And let's say CBR has pick-ups at :25 and :55 after the hour, and so on.

As you know, this doesn't mean that a DME bus will swing by Pop Century for pick-ups at :10 and :40 after every hour, but when there are reservations for pick-ups at Pop (using this hypothetical), they will be scheduled for either :10 or :40 after the hour.

That's what the prior poster was referring to.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

There is no set pick up time, for any resort. The pick up time will vary each day, dependent on the passengers schedule.

Actually, there are set pick-up times for Disney's Magical Express service from the Disney-operated WDW resort hotels to Orlando International Airport.

Typically, a DME motorcoach picks up twice per hour at a given resort, such as at :00 and :30 after the hour or :10 and :40 after the hour. DME quests are mapped to a pickup time approximately 3 hours before their scheduled flight departure for domestic flights and 4 hours for international flights.

The alternative would be to completely "reinvent" airport-bound DME routes and schedules every day.

Let's suppose one family is flying at 5:45 p.m. on Southwest, another at 5:50 p.m. on American, and a third at 5:55 p.m. on JetBlue. They're all staying at the same hotel, and they all have domestic flights. DME doesn't send three separate motorcoaches to the hotel. If the hotel normally has pickups at :20 and :50 past the hour, then all three families are given a 2:50 p.m. pickup time.

If there are no guests for a particular time or too many guests, then the motorcoach schedule can be tweaked.

 

[Madi100]

We've always had really good luck with DME. But, we also realize that we are at the mercy of them. So, we follow the letter to a T. We arrive exactly when we should, and we sit there and wait. The second we see that bus, we are sitting on it. And, when we had luggage, we tipped the driver a dollar per bag. Now that we check our luggage in at the airport, we just give him a dollar or two.

What a great manager to help you out like that.