Magical Express from the Airport?

[rmjkharrisfam]

We are planning to take the express service from the Airport to ASMusic. I've heard good and bad about it. What are your experiences? How long does it take your luggage to catch up?

 

[GoofyBaseballMom26]

We've used ME three times and never had any problems. I always arrange flights that arrive early in the morning and by the time we are back in the room that evening everything is always there. They ask how many bags you have when you check in at the airport,they have never misplaced any of ours . Just be sure you attach the yellow tags on your suitcases before you leave and take them off before your return flight (or they might end up back at the resort). Take what you think you might need, change of clothes, camera etc in a carryon and if your room isn't ready, you can leave your carryon with bell services to hold. Then you can call them when you are back in your room and they will deliver it to you.

Some people complain about the wait on the bus before leaving the airport but we've never had to wait more than 20 minutes before we leave the airport to go to the resort. They usually show a video on the bus so be sure to sit where you can see the little TV screens. (They don't ALWAYS show one but most of the time they do).

I think ME is great!

 

[RangerPooh]

We've had mostly good experiences. Sometimes our baggage arrives shortly after we check in, other times we have had to wait a few hours. The line to get on the bus at MCO varies depending on the time of day that you arrive, but there are always buses. We have picke dup our bags at luggage claim and brought them ove to DME so tht we ahd them when we checked in.. this was a lot of wrk as we had an infant. So we settled on the yellow claim ticket and let them lod it for us. Not a problem. We just had to wait for our bags on the other end as it can take a while.

The only bad experience that we have had was last Aug when one of our bags failed to get onto the bus. Don't know if DME driver forgot to load it or if my niece forgot to put it with the bags (probably this was the case). BUt we arrived at MCO and had to do a mad scramble to have it arrive at the airport in time, as we were not flying home without it and then having to either wait for many hours for it to arrive or to drive home and then 3 hours back to retrieve it.

 

[TheDizMom]

We had a great experience with it. I highly recommend it, especially since we don't have to deal with baggage claim. They tell you to expect to wait up to 3 hours for your bags, but depending on the time of day and season it could take longer. Just pack whatever you will need right away like suits or jammies, again depending on the time of day, and any medications you can't wait for.

 

[Tinkerbell2002]

We used ME 3 times to 3 different hotels. Great experuence each time. I don't remember how long the wait to get on the bus was, but it wasn't long. Otherwise I would have been looking at my watch.

 

[LuvOrlando]

I used it twice and both times it was relatively smooth.

I read somewhere on these boards that its a good idea to grab your own luggage if you have a flight landing later than 6 pm. I would tend to agree since last year they misplaced one of my bags (no biggie since I took my essentials + jammies & a change of clothes with us in carry-on) and bell services woke us up needlessly to deliver it near midnight even though I put a do not disturb sign on my door. This year we landed at 5 and had our stuff when we got back from dinner.

Other than that one tip I'd say enjoy not needing to tangle with your stuff.

 

[CleveRocks]

Used DME twice and loved it both times.

Over 4 million people have used it since it started in May 2005. It was originally supposed to end in the Fall of 2006 but it was so successful and popular that they extended it through 2011.

OP, when you said you've heard good and bad, I'm curious what the "bad" was. ALMOST all of the "bad" things I've personally read involved unrealistic expectations, people expecting things that Disney never ever promised or advertised.

The reported average time between airplane and resort drop-off is 70 minutes. My two experiences were 63 minutes and 56 minutes (yes, I timed them!). In the printed materials, Disney says your luggage can take about three hours after you arrive at your resort. The important thing to note here is that the luggage gets delivered to the inside of your resort room whether you are in there or not (part of the procedure is that Disney itself pre-tips the Bell Services CMs for each piece of DME luggage, so it's not like they are losing out on the deal). In other words, you don't need to wait around for your luggage, you can go out and play.

There is LOTS of DME info over at the Transportation forum. There are many of us there who've both used DME and have learned a lot of cool information about it that we like to share, PLUS someone who is not only a current Disney CM but was also a DME driver at one point.

 

[LISAVWL]

we just used ME last week and it was a breeze! once we checked in at the ME counter we waited for a bus for about 5 minutes and then we were off to the resort. Our luggage showed up about 3 hours later, as we were on our way out for dinner. We realized that one of our bags was missing and called Bell Services right away. They took our information and told us they'd get right on it. In the meantime DH realized he didn't put the yellow tag on that bag. Not to worry, ME found our bag at MCO and had it in our room by 10PM! They were wonderful! I'd highly recommend this service!

 

[bnorm27]

I would highly recommend using ME. It is great, especially when traveling with kids. I couldn't imagine having to try and recover my luggage at MCO, and get my family on a bus or to the rental car counter. They do specifically state that it could take up to 3 hours for your luggage to arrive. Be sure to pack any necessities in your carry on (like bathing suits). We got on the bus with no problem,checked in at POP, went to the pool, and when we came back......LUGGAGE! It is magical, and was pretty fast too!

What you also need to remember is, that some days (Saturday and Sunday especially) there are often 10-12,000 people checking in to a WDW resort who use ME. It is an incredible feat for them to process all those bags and move all those people.....and don't forget the people checking out too! We arrived on a Monday, and our bus driver said there was only about 5,000 people coming in on that day.