Magical Express or Rental Car?

[amarberry]

Hi,

My DH and 1 yr old DD are taking advantage of the free dining program and planning a "budget" trip in September. I have been going back and forth whether or not to take advantage of the Magical Express program or to rent a car. Here's the deal...there is something about checking my bags in Chicago and not seeing them until we arrive in our hotel room that makes me nervous! I'm a little bit of a control freak and I just keep thinking that our oh-so-precious bags will be lost and then crazy me will flip out and more poor, poor DH will have to deal with me obsessing over our lost luggage. Have there been a lot of problems with luggage not making it to the resort? On the other hand, it would be SO NICE to not have to worry about hauling our bags (along with the baby).

Part of me would like to rent a car so we could hit a grocery store to pick up bottled water, diet coke, baby food, snacks, etc., but DH and I rented a car for the same reason in 2002 and we only used it to and from the airport. I'm thinking that I can just send a box to the resort ahead of time with baby food and snacks. The other reason a car would be nice would be for hitting the other resorts for dinner at night instead of relying on Disney transportation.

Any thought? Thanks everyone!

 

[jthom10003]

Hi,

My DH and 1 yr old DD are taking advantage of the free dining program and planning a "budget" trip in September. I have been going back and forth whether or not to take advantage of the Magical Express program or to rent a car. Here's the deal...there is something about checking my bags in Chicago and not seeing them until we arrive in our hotel room that makes me nervous! I'm a little bit of a control freak and I just keep thinking that our oh-so-precious bags will be lost and then crazy me will flip out and more poor, poor DH will have to deal with me obsessing over our lost luggage. Have there been a lot of problems with luggage not making it to the resort? On the other hand, it would be SO NICE to not have to worry about hauling our bags (along with the baby).

Part of me would like to rent a car so we could hit a grocery store to pick up bottled water, diet coke, baby food, snacks, etc., but DH and I rented a car for the same reason in 2002 and we only used it to and from the airport. I'm thinking that I can just send a box to the resort ahead of time with baby food and snacks. The other reason a car would be nice would be for hitting the other resorts for dinner at night instead of relying on Disney transportation.

Any thought? Thanks everyone!

I think all the kinks for ME have been worked out. We were very impressed with it.. and dh is hard to impress lol. We used their transportation to get around to the parks and other hotels for our meals. It went very smoothly. I have to say the busses can get crowded and was so proud of dh.. what a man.. he never took a seat but stood if they were crowded..All the busses that we were on people were great about giving up a seat to someone who had a baby in their arms. I would suggest ditching the rental car and use the money for other things.

 

[WillCAD]

Well, most of the kinks in ME may have been worked out, but they still lose bags once in a while, just as the airlines do.

They did lose 20,000 bags in the first ten days of operation, all of which are still sitting in a warehouse someplace at WDW because WDW management can't decide how to dispose of them. DUH! Ship them back to thier proper owners, maybe? But that would cost a lot of money...

Personally, I always rent a car, because I , too, am a bit of a control freak and cannot stand waiting for a bus to pull up, waiting to get on the bus, standing up on the bus (sometimes through multiple stops), being crushed into the bus like cattle, and waiting to get off the bus. I'd rather have a nice, clean rental car waiting for me in the parking lot; I never have to stand up in my rental car, never have to share it with anybody, never have to wait to get aboard or get out of it, and the only personal odors that may be wafting around it will be my own. Rental cars also tend to have much better air conditioning than the Disney busses.

I can also listen to the radio if I want to.

 

[paulh]

if its just coke and water you want why not get them from the onsite hess garages they are as cheap as going of site but geting to them if you are at the values ect you would have to catch bus to DD and walk across to it or if you are staying in the broardwalk area of hotels its right next to broardwalk within easy walking distance
Paulh