Magical Express from Airport to Disney Resort

[Alexa19]

Hi All fellow Canadians,

I have a question regarding the Magical Express....

Do you have to go through customs at the Orlando Airport (MCO)??

To me, this doesn't make sense because prior to leaving Canada you have to go through customs. It just doesn't make sense to through customs twice. Does anybody know? I Called The Disney Magical Express and it seems like we have to get our luggage when we disembark the plane at MCO, then go through customs and then put our luggage and go right Disney Magical Express. The only thing our Magical Express booklet says about International passengers is that: " For our International arriving guests, if the Orlando International Airport is your first point of entry into the U.S., please follow the U.S. Customs & Border Protection process and claim your luggage upon disembarking the airplane. Once you have completed this process, please proceed to the main Termainal Building where you will be met by a Disney Representative. Your luggage will be transferred to the Baggage claim area, where we will collect it. If you have already completed the U.S. Customs & Border protection process in another U.S. city or before entering the U.S., please proceed to the main Terminal building and we will claim your luggage."

The last line makes me think that because we go through customs in Toronto (YYZ), then we don't have to worry about anything at all. But the Disney employee on the phone said that security is really tight and that we have to go through customs twice.

This is driving me nuts! Any help would be much appreciated.


Thanks!

 

[u2bapeacock]

In July we went to florida out of toronto we did not do customs in toronto so when we got to orlando had to grab our luggage through first customs and go threw again and after putting luggage threw again were able to proceed to main terminal building and on to magical express yes security is very tight and can take awhile to get threw but if we went threw customs in toronto I'm sure it would'nt be so bad last year when we went we did customs in toronto so it was pretty quick when we landed. Hope that helps you out just be patient

 

[wjb]

Hi Alexa19,

This is what I'm going to do.. for better or worse...

I'm just going to put on yellow ME tags on before I leave, go through US customs in Toronto. When I arrive at MCO I will go directly to the ME desk and take the bus to my resort, then pray my bags show up when I come back from the parks!!

it's not the only thing we have to worry about.. a tropical depression is set to move through central Florida this Friday.

 

[u2bapeacock]

Hi Alexa19,

This is what I'm going to do.. for better or worse...

I'm just going to put on yellow ME tags on before I leave, go through US customs in Toronto. When I arrive at MCO I will go directly to the ME desk and take the bus to my resort, then pray my bags show up when I come back from the parks!!

it's not the only thing we have to worry about.. a tropical depression is set to move through central Florida this Friday.

Unless they changed things since July you won't be able to go stright to ME but yes we had our tags on before we left and we still had to grab luggage carry them threw customs check them and then proceed normaly

 

[wjb]

But that's if you don't clear customs in Toronto.

Maybe i'm putting too much faith in the system, but if I don't go through customs again at MCO wouldn't it be just like any US domestic flight?

 

[CdnDisneyNut]

If you clear customs in Toronto the flight would be considered a domestic flight. Luggage should be delivered to your room. Since you clear customs before you board the plane they do not sell any duty free items on the way down.

 

[wjb]

If you clear customs in Toronto the flight would be considered a domestic flight. Luggage should be delivered to your room. Since you clear customs before you board the plane they do not sell any duty free items on the way down.

Excellent.. that's what I've been waiting to hear..

Thanks everyone..

 

[pjpoohbear]

Although I now fly out of BUF instead of YYZ, we always dealt with US immigration at Person in the past at terminal three. Right after you check in, you go around the corner with your bags and fill in a form then, see the US immigration officer. After you answered the questions you then handed in your bag to the screener machines, then proceeded to your gate. Always flew out of terminal three, so have never gone thought customs at MCO.

Penny

 

[wdwr]

I think it depends on the airline or the airport you fly into.

I have done both US customs in Pearson and in the states.

But when I flew in Dec...cleared customs in MCO. What did find strange was going through security again before I got to my luggage and customs. I mean I literally walked off the plane, down a corridor and around a corner and I was looking at the security scanners again.

I guess it is just incase any flights come into MCO from areas that don't do proper scans...they take no chances before you get to US customs.

Trust me. It's painless either way. Actually, doing customs at MCO might let you give yourself a later arrival at Pearson since you don't have to get stuck in customs there.

 

[MouseKrazy]

When we flew to Orlando out of Edmonton two years ago, we went through customs in Edmonton and not in Orlando. I'm kind of hoping this will be the same on Wednesday, but who knows? It might be the airport you fly out of that determines this.

 

[SaraMc]

We went through Toronto to MCO in Feb. We went though security in TO, but when we landed in Orlando we took our luggage from one belt to another for a security check, then we went on a 15 minute walk down corridors of MCO to go through security again. This time shoes off and belts etc. Then down to get your luggage. DH's luggage went onto the same belt as mine right after mine. Mine went though fine. His was the last one off the belt.. Got it to disney He's unpacking and finds a note from custom saying that they opened his bag and found nothing unusual in it. Makes me wonder what looked unusual from the xray.

 

[blizzard]

As others have stated, it depends on which airline and which airport you fly out of. If you pre-clear US customs before leaving Canada, you will not have to do it again in Orlando (and you are considered a domestic flight arrival).

If you pre-clear, you can go ahead and proceed to the bus for Magical Express. If you do not pre-clear (customs in Orlando), then you can collect your luggage and go to the bus.

If you are not sure if you will be pre-clearing, you can check with the airline.

 

[TinkerBelle_325]

Im a bit confused....

In the few posts I've read, people seem to feel that you must clear customs after grabbing baggage from the baggage claim at MCO....even if you've cleared customs in YYZ....though everytime we've flown into Orlando, our baggage is spit out at the baggage claim and we simply leave the baggage claim area and go to get our rental car. Would it not work the same way for ME? Just don't put the yellow tags on....take it off the baggage claim and then proceed to ME check-in?

 

[OntFamily]

Im a bit confused....

In the few posts I've read, people seem to feel that you must clear customs after grabbing baggage from the baggage claim at MCO....even if you've cleared customs in YYZ

In re-reading the previous posts, it seems that while most people who fly through TO, clear US customs in TO. However, I have heard of some rare instances where the flight does not clear US customs in TO, but they do it in the USA. Not sure why this happens (back up @ US customs??). However, you do not have to clear customs twice. Only once.

Thus, if you clear US customs in TO, like 99.5% of all passengers who are enroute to the USA, once you hit MCO you can walk immediately into the airport.