Magical Express Question

[Goofy's Wife007]

Last year when we stayed at Pop, we used Magical Express. Getting to the hotel was fine. Leaving for the airport, was a mess. We almost didn't make our flight. Is there a way to pick out the time you want to leave on Magical Express. (Were weird, but there's some stores in the airport, that we want to poke around in.) We don't want a photo finsh again for our flight.

thanks.

Courtney

 

[Tinkerbellz]

When we called for our time, we were asked when our flight left. They picked us up 3 hours before our scheduled flight. We were able to shop and eat all well before our flight left.

 

[MagicMe]

We were also picked up three hours before our flight. We had plenty of time for anything we wanted to do.

 

[littleladykaty]

We are using Tiffany Towncar...I've heard such horror stories about ME...something akin to a cattle call...heards of people trying to get to the bus, long drives, many stops...not a good way to start out my honeymoon!

that's my solution to the ME issues...don't use it!!

 

[aubriee]

In May we were at the DME stop early for our bus. As everyone was getting on the bus the bus driver saw we weren't moving and asked why. We told him we were supposed to be on the 3:30pm bus (it was 3:00). He looked around, saw there were empty seats on the bus and asked if we wanted to get to the airport early. We did and spent some time before our flight shopping. Last Sept we also arrived early. My D-I-L is always late so we were rushing her around making sure we weren't late and instead got there early. We again went on the bus that arrived just prior to ours with no problem. (We did ask the bus driver though, just in case he had to make another stop.)

 

[seashoreCM]

. Leaving for the airport, was a mess. We almost didn't make our flight. Is there a way to pick out the time you want to leave on Magical Express. tney

You can request a ME bus back to the airport more than 3 hours in advance (recommended for charter and international flights). Do this at least a day before checkout. If you are explicitly confirmed on an earlier bus and things are chaotic the CM's may not slough you off using the excuse "ME takes you back 3 hours before flight time".

Otherwise double check your confirmation to be sure you were not accidentally or mistakenly assigned a bus lgoing back less than 2:45 before flight time.

You are really supposed to be ready for the ME bus 15 minutes before the time (it's a departure time) printed on your bus confirmation. Occasionally buses leave early if filled. Ergo at that 15 minute warning a bus sitting there is fair game for you to join the end of the line for and then board unless the driver checks a passenger list for your name and tells you not to board.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/magicx.htm

 

[CleveRocks]

We are using Tiffany Towncar...I've heard such horror stories about ME...something akin to a cattle call...heards of people trying to get to the bus, long drives, many stops...not a good way to start out my honeymoon!

that's my solution to the ME issues...don't use it!!

You've heard 2 or 3 horror stories out of the millions of satisfied users. Unfortunately, you're passing along stories that you don't even know about builds some sort of urban myth about how "bad" DME supposedly is. Millions of people have used it, and it's so successful it was extended beyond its September 2006 ending date to 2011.

I've heard "horror stories" about towncar drivers not showing up, too, but that doesn't make me think towncars a re a bad system, it just makes me think there have been a few unfortunate incidents among the millions of great towncar rides.

"Cattle call?" Hardly. Then you should stay away from waiting in line at a restaurant, too. A line is a line, but "cattle call" is really uncalled for, especially since you're just spreading a rumor and not even speaking from your own experience. "Heards" of people? Is that like "herds" of people? Moo. Ever made an ADR and waited 10 minutes for a table? Were you "herded" into the restaurant? Ever taken Disney Transport or the monorail or a boat within WDW? Were you herded like cattle?

Long drives? Are the resorts farther away by bus???

Many stops. DME makes a total of not more than 4 stops, by the way. In practice, most reports have been three stops. And that means that one-third of people had no prior stops, and one-third had only one stop before theirs.

I'm sorry to sound so angry about this, but I just hate being put down by someone who doesn't even speak from experience. Go however you want to go, but why trash people who feel differently than you? For what it's worth, if I were going to WDW for my honeymoon I'd use a towncar service, too, for the pampering and individualized attention, the specialness of it all.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Done both and liked both...its all about preference and what you're willing to tolerate.

I don't want to poke any bears but if you are taking car service make sure you have a printout of your agreement with you. It is fast and convenient but its not perfect.

Every time we use any car service in Fl someone somewhere tries to plump the price. Alamo(no matter where the Alamo is) ALWAYS forgets that we are supposed to have a 2nd driver (me) for free on the reservation.

Tiffany wasn't so perky when the guy insisted my fare was $20 higher than the contract. I tried to get someone on the phone who was 'unavailable' so I gave him the extra $20 and told him he could keep it as his tip when he worked it out at the depot later that night.

One year a huge group of us had the Hummerzine and Happy Limos people weren't so happy when again, they tried to bump up the price & insisted no gratuities were included when it was right there in black & white in the contract...they also refused to take us where we wanted to shop(agreed to ahead of time)...I was afraid they wouldn't pick us up at the end of our stay.

To be honest ME was free, comfortable & easy but this was during Feb and we were only with 5 other families on the bus.

No matter what you do there are pros & cons...I don't know which way we'll go next time.

 

[TruBlu]

We were very happy with ME. Our flight time changed, so they just moved us to another bus. I'm sure you could call them and request any time that you wanted. Leaving 3 hours before our flight gave us pleanty of time to eat, shop, etc.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Oops, I think I clicked on the icon for reporting a bad post on accident when I scrolled over it (under Trublu) to see what it was. How do I take it back?

Sorry, I've got newbie fingers

 

[MeLaNie9]

We used ME in May. The trip to our resort was fine, but our bus driver for our trip back to the airport was a wierdo elderly guy who spent the entire trip telling stupid jokes and stories over the speaker. He was so caught up in himself/his stories that he missed a turn and we had to double back. We felt bad for some folks who became nervous that they would miss their flights. We had plenty of time, but some on board didn't. No one was happy! We actually exited the bus before our drop off spot so that we didn't have to endure him any longer!

 

[dbrokeking]

My family and I used this service last August, and it was great. They picked us up 3 hours before. I don't see any reason not to fit on the bus. When you make your reservation they ask how many people. They told me they do that to make sure there is enough seats, and if not send a second bus. I imagine the only problem are for people who miss there bus and now have to try to get to the airport. Now they are trying to get on a bus that's booked for other people making it difficult for everyone. I say use ME!