Magical Express - Just got back

[blueskies9999]

Hi Everyone! I'm a lurker, but would like to thank everyone for their comments and reviews. They really helped with my family's Disney trip.

We had a blast. We were there nine days and stayed at All Star Movies. Great hotel for kids.

We did the Magic Your Way package with dining which was a great deal, unfortunately the Magical Express still has some bugs in it. It took 7 hours for our luggage to arrive which really put a damper on our first day plan, which was to lie around the pool and swim at the hotel. So my suggestion to you is to pack whatever you think you will need the first day in your carry on.

thanks again, guys!
Melanie

 

[fran99999]

Thanks Melanie. I will heed your advise. This seems to be the way with ME. I already packed up a suitcase to take on the plane with first day necessities. I usually pack the smallest bag with all the heavy stuff ie shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrushes, bathing suits, etc.

I was thinking I would collect my own bags and put under the bus. Do you think this would be a problem. Then I could take off at the resort and deliver to bell services myself. I am so worried I will pack something and have to wait 7 hours for it to arrive.

Do you think this would work or will they take the bags at MCO and send in another truck??

 

[Daxx]

I was thinking I would collect my own bags and put under the bus. Do you think this would be a problem.

We wound up not receiving our ME luggage tags and had to cart our luggage to the ME check in line. Since we arrived at ME (on their first day) late at night, the CM's didn't take my bags from me although I was told they would. I think they knew things were so botched at that point that they were avoiding any more problems and, therefore, didn't want to deal w/our luggage. Well, my having to haul my own luggage was the best thing that happened to me! We had no problems w/taking our things on/off the bus. I am sure they will allow this. I cannot see them refusing you!

Do you think this would work or will they take the bags at MCO and send in another truck??

Well, they might ask to take your bags, but you could always tell them you'd prefer to carry them yourself. I'm sure that they've had people doing this. We had no other choice than to deal w/our own bags on 5/5! Again, I cannot see them refusing you this option.

Some people we ran into had the 7 hour luggage wait w/the ME tags and others, who handed their luggage over to the CM's at ME had just as long of a wait

We heard the same stories when we were there (5/5 - 5/9). Yes, even those who picked up their luggage from baggage check and gave it to the CM's at the DME check in desk had just as long of a wait as those using ME luggage tags exclusively.

Do not go through the hassle of packing an extra bag for the plane. Just deal w/your own luggage, load it on the bus, haul it to your room and don't let DME take it. You can bet that some people who have received tags aren't planning on using them b/c of this problem. As for taking more time at the resorts to unload the bus, the drivers were putting luggage for each resort into its own compartment. When the bus would arrive at the resort, the driver would only pull luggage from that resort's compartment ... therefore, it didn't take forever for people to locate luggage from under the bus. The driver hauled everything out and left.

When we go back in July, we're handling our own luggage on the DME b/c we don't want to deal w/the hassles that we've heard about.

HTH! Warmly,
Daxx's Wife

 

[blueskies9999]

We did have our ME luggage tags, so that didn't make a difference. Actually, collecting your own bags and have it loaded in the bus with you seems the best way to go for now. I saw quite a few people do that (I wish we would have). I'm not sure how many bags you're allowed to do this with though. Unfortunately for us, when we got to the hotel and inquired about our luggage, they were not very sympathic, which makes me believe this was not out of the ordinary (7hours). When I stated that I was told the bags would be waiting for us in our hotel, they said "who told you that?" Everyone knows its a 5 hour minimum wait.

I do think that eventually they will iron out the kinks and when they do it will be great. All in all, we should have gotten our on transportation to the hotel because with waiting in 2 lines and stops at other resorts it took approx. 1 and 1/2 hours to get to hotel.

Be prepared

 

[hojo]

how old are you kids Blue? Which building did you stay in? I am off at the end of Sept and staying at the Movies too!

 

[Alice's Mom]

We just got back from the All Star Movies on May 16th and took advantage of Magical Express. Everything was smooth sailing at the airport and we were on a bus right away (we were the only two people bound for WDW at that time I guess). I was told our luggage would be delivered to the room within 2 hours. My little girl wanted to go swimming upon arrival, but we couldn't still being without our luggage, she was so sad, but relieved quickly as our luggage arrived right as we were leaving to pick up some snacks. My luggage was there about an hour and a half after we arrived in the room. I told him my gal was sad about not swimming because we lacked suits. While we were getting ready for the pool he came back with 3 balloons telling my gal that Mickey doesn't want anyone sad at WDW.

It was on the way to the airport where we ran into snags on the ME. It turns out they use only one bus for all the All Stars. Our bus driver only wanted to take passengers with checked luggage (thank goodness I had, but what about those who can't?) causing a huge problem. He explained that he hoped more busses were coming for the other resorts because 185 people were scheduled for pickup and he would normally pick up Sports first, but this time around he went out of order.

WDW should stop treating the All Stars as one, this system was tough to deal with coming from MGM and Epcot at night too.

 

[blueskies9999]

My grandchildren are 4 and 6. And All Star Movies was great. They loved it. I was a little concern about the rooms, because of what I had read, but the were great. Not too small and very clean. The cleaning woman would position their stuffed animals in amusing ways, like in front of the TV watching the Disney Channel or looking out the window waiting for us to come back. The pool was also very, very nice.

All in all, I would stay at All Star Movies again.

Alice's mom,
I'm glad that your experience with Magical Express was better than ours and the balloons was a nice added touch. I guess it all depends on who you get for your customer service because we didn't get any special attention for your inconvenience. We arrived on 5/7 so maybe it was just an extremely busy day for them.