Magical Express - no return flight home

[lil5tarz]

Here’s my situation – I plan to stay at WDW a couple of days before I head to Orlando for a work conference. The day I leave WDW I need to pick up a rental car at MCO for the remainder of my trip. I’m currently taking advantage of Magical Express for my arrival but am wondering how to use it to get back to the airport. Do I need to give Disney a return flight to take advantage of Magical Express or can I just request a shuttle back to the airport at a given time when I check into my hotel? Thanks for any help!

 

[poohs_hunny]

If you're no longer staying at a Disney resort at the time you'll be going back to the airport, you won't be able to use Magical Express for the return trip. The buses only stop at Disney resorts.

 

[bradk]

so you want to return to MCO via DME to rent the car and go on to your conference but you don't actually have a flight scheduled because you're not really leaving orlando?

you should be able to provide DME with any flight that day. just bear in mind DME will expect to pick you up 3 hours prior to that flight's scheduled departure. you may want to consider just renting a car directly on site.

 

[CarolA]

I think the OP wants to go from his/her DIsney resort to MCO to get a car for the rest of thier stay.

What I did was just gave Disney a flight time approximately three hours after the time I wanted transport BACK to the airport to pick up my rental car. Worked just fine. That said, last time I did some digging I actually got a better price picking up at the Dollar location in DTD and returning to MCO then if I had picked up at MCO so look around.

 

[poohs_hunny]

OK, I think I misunderstood the OP. Did you mean that you want to take Magical Express to the airport to pick up your rental? In this case, I believe you could take it, but I'm not sure how without a return flight. They usually base your pickup time on your flight time. Sorry I misunderstood. Hopefully someone else can help you more.

 

[ParrotBill]

Oh I get what you're asking... you want to take ME the day you check out back to the airport to pick up your rental car.

What I would do is find a flight that departs 3 hours after you want to head to the airport and tell them that is your return flight. ME schedules the pickups for about 3 hours prior to your flight.

You don't have to prove what flight you are on.

 

[lil5tarz]

Yep. I want to use ME the day I check out of my WDW hotel to pick up a rental for the remainder of my stay in Orlando. I plan to return to WDW for a few days after my conference but stay off site and use my company paid rental car =)

Thanks for all the advice! I'll just find a flight 3 hours after I want to leave.

 

[I'mNoPrince]

I would still go with either an onsight rental or one of the DTD locations. Or does it have to be done from MCO for the company to cover it.

If it has to be MCO then yes just find a flight close to the time (with the 3 hour buffer) you want to be there.

 

[goofy4tink]

That's exactly what we are doing in August. We are heading to Cocoa Beach for a few days before our cruise, after 6 days at BWV. So, rather than have to drive back that way, we are taking DME back to MCO where we will rent our car. We are getting the rental car at noon, so have given DME a flight time of 2:00. Back in Jan we had to rent a car and found it to be cheaper to rent at MCO rather than at the Dolphin...even though we were staying at the Swan. So, we took our towncar back to MCO, rented the car and then drove back to the Swan to pick up our bags before traveling to Tampa. Even with paying for the towncar, it was cheaper that way.

 

[BCV23]

Without making up a flight, why not just ask ME?

Since the purpose is to provide transportation from/to MCO I would think it would not be a problem.

 

[Tony]

Back in Jan we had to rent a car and found it to be cheaper to rent at MCO rather than at the Dolphin...even though we were staying at the Swan.

Do bear in mind that Avis have a desk at the Hilton in DTD as well.

 

[brooker]

I think the OP wants to go from his/her DIsney resort to MCO to get a car for the rest of thier stay.

What I did was just gave Disney a flight time approximately three hours after the time I wanted transport BACK to the airport to pick up my rental car. Worked just fine. That said, last time I did some digging I actually got a better price picking up at the Dollar location in DTD and returning to MCO then if I had picked up at MCO so look around.

I will be doing the same as you. How hard is it to find the parking for Dollar at the Airport? Are there good signs to follow? We will be coming in from the Royal PAcific at around 5:00 AM.

 

[goofy4tink]

Do bear in mind that Avis have a desk at the Hilton in DTD as well.

Yep, I knew that. But we had to return to MCO in order to pick up my dd who was being dropped off there. Huge pain in the neck but what can you do??

 

[OntFamily]

All of the major car rental companies have desks either in the DTD area (or on site - National / Alamo).

Off airport car rental rates are usually much less expensive, as you are not charged the airport user fee.