Magical Express or not

[Kazi7]

We have always rented a car, but not this time. Staying at SSR in July. So now everyone picks up their checked bags on their own and then boards the ME bus? We are arriving on a Wed afternoon. Should we try ME or just get the ride share? Its just DH and me. Not necessarily worried about the ride share cost, but would use ME if it's pretty easy.

 

[Marionnette]

We have always rented a car, but not this time. Staying at SSR in July. So now everyone picks up their checked bags on their own and then boards the ME bus? We are arriving on a Wed afternoon. Should we try ME or just get the ride share? Its just DH and me. Not necessarily worried about the ride share cost, but would use ME if it's pretty easy.

A rideshare will be quicker (no waiting, no extra stops at other resorts) but you will still need to go to baggage claim, wait for your luggage and take it to the pick up area. In that respect, it isn't any easier than DME.

 

[Mike Mantis]

We've done Magical Express many times and it is efficient and quick. Sometimes there are multiple stops but in this day and age of Uber/Lyft's being insanely priced (due to lack of riders) you may end up saving a bunch of money just using Magical Express.

 

[_19disnA]

We used DME during our last Disney trip and thought it was great. Although you have to get your own baggage due to changes made because of covid, it is still the way to go. Online taxis can be pricey while DME is free. Enjoyed the bus ride where someone else worries about the directions/parking.

 

[Adventureland]

I think it's worth trying ME. Sometimes the lines are long but it is free and I enjoy the ride and ease.

 

[kylenne]

I had a great experience with DME last week, both times. Baggage claim doesn't add that much more time at all, but depending on your airline it makes it slightly more confusing (I got turned around, since it was my first time getting my bags at MCO). The thing is rideshare is insanely expensive from MCO to the Disney resorts for the most part, depending on when your flight gets in you will almost assuredly get hit with surge pricing. It was like $80 to the Grand Floridian when I checked it for giggles. DME claimed a 45 minute wait for a bus when I checked in but it didn't take nearly that long.

 

[kanerf]

I have been using DME since I started staying on property at DVC and quite enjoy it. No worries how about getting to my resort and right now my luggage is on the bus. I will miss it when it goes away next year.

 

[Kazi7]

Thanks everyone! We always pick up our luggage so that's not a problem and we're very familiar with driving there so that's not an issue either. If the rideshare is $80, that's pretty high though!

If we reserve DME, can we change our minds last minute and not take it? I assume we can since we have to collect our luggage ourselves.

 

[Capitalangel]

If we reserve DME, can we change our minds last minute and not take it? I assume we can since we have to collect our luggage ourselves.

This is no problem to do. We had ME reserved but then decided to use Tiffany Towncar so we could have a grocery stop as well as avoid potentially holiday weekend lines at the airport. We were still able to ride ME back to the airport and had no issues with “missing” the first leg of the reservation

 

[CarolynFH]

Thanks everyone! We always pick up our luggage so that's not a problem and we're very familiar with driving there so that's not an issue either. If the rideshare is $80, that's pretty high though!

If we reserve DME, can we change our minds last minute and not take it? I assume we can since we have to collect our luggage ourselves.

Yes, you can change your mind last minute. The “reservation” you make isn’t for a specific seat on a specific bus. It just gives the DME folks a rough idea of how many passengers to expect at different times of day and night.

 

[kj2mom]

I was super nervous after seeing some of the ME pics and hearing about the long lines so I prepared my travel party that we would try ME but if it was bad we were bailing and we were going to pay the difference. When we got to where we could see ME there were a handful of families in front of us but nothing horrible so we jumped in line. I decided to use the restroom and while I was washing my hands my daughter came running in come on mom lets go, we had to let two families go before us (and it was a super quick bathroom visit). We were on a bus in no time, it left as soon as the bags were all loaded and I think we were getting dropped off about 35 minutes later. I could not believe how quickly we got from the plane to the hotel room (I think all total from touch down, exiting the plane, collecting our bags, checking into ME, getting a bus, the drive and walking to our room was a total of 90 minutes). We were more than pleased with our entire travel day, door to door from our house in MA to our beds at Pop it was 8 1/2 hours which we thought was amazing!!!!

 

[tentaguasu]

We've done Magical Express many times and it is efficient and quick. Sometimes there are multiple stops but in this day and age of Uber/Lyft's being insanely priced (due to lack of riders) you may end up saving a bunch of money just using Magical Express.

I'm curious about this - just how much has ride share pricing gone up?

 

[WNYDisneyDad]

I'm curious about this - just how much has ride share pricing gone up?

I'm curious too. I just checked and saw 30 bucks from MCO to CBR, but that was at like noon. I know the price can fluctuate greatly depending on the day, number of drivers, and people looking for rides.

I just booked my flights today and had to choose between an early AM flight (with a hotel stay the night before) or an evening flight the day before, and am now arriving the night before my resort reservation, and will likely be staying near MCO. So I'm trying to decide if I get up and go back to MCO for Magical Express or just take Uber from the hotel to my WDW resort.

 

[Belleandtinker]

We've done Magical Express many times and it is efficient and quick. Sometimes there are multiple stops but in this day and age of Uber/Lyft's being insanely priced (due to lack of riders) you may end up saving a bunch of money just using Magical Express.

"due to lack of riders" - Uber has lack of riders?

Trying to figure out the prices. Told Uber does surge pricing when busy but pricey also at time due to lack of business?

We have used DME off and on depending on our schedule. Trying to determine which to use for our July trip.