Magical Express Question

[have2getaway]

We will be flying out of MCO January 20th at 6:00 am. We are using Magical Express for our 5:00 pm arrival, but will we be able to use it for transport to the airport, which will need to be before 5:00 am?

 

[indoshakespeare]

It runs 24 hours a day. They should tell you what time your Magical Express Bus is for your flight

 

[kaytieeldr]

Magical Express operates 24/7. Your departure pickup time will be around 3 AM(!), plus/minus 15 minutes. You won't be able to use RAC, even if your airline participates.

 

[have2getaway]

It runs 24 hours a day. They should tell you what time your Magical Express Bus is for your flight

Thank you! I guess I thought it only ran between certain hours.

 

[have2getaway]

Magical Express operates 24/7. Your departure pickup time will be around 3 AM(!), plus/minus 15 minutes. You won't be able to use RAC, even if your airline participates.

Thank you. I’m relieved we will still have transportation, but what is RAC?

 

[ncc1701]

Thank you. I’m relieved we will still have transportation, but what is RAC?

A baggage checkin service at the resorts for certain airlines. They don't open until after you leave so you will need to take any checked luggage with you on DME.

 

[Vertical]

Thank you. I’m relieved we will still have transportation, but what is RAC?

Resort Airline Check-in. It allows you to get your boarding passes and check your bags.

 

[have2getaway]

A baggage checkin service at the resorts for certain airlines. They don't open until after you leave so you will need to take any checked luggage with you on DME.

Thank you. I understand what you’re saying now. We used this last time we went 2 years ago. I guess that’s not a huge deal. We will still have the free transportation.

 

[sndral]

Been there, done that!
The 3 a.m. DME pick up is interesting. In our case it was a couple of years ago & bell services at POFQ was not open so we had to schlep our own bags. We got to MCO so early it was like a ghost town & we had to wait quite awhile for the airline ticket/bag check counter to open & for someplace that sold coffee to open.

 

[SouloTravlr]

Remember, the airline ticket counters don't open until two hours before their first flight of the day, so you may have to wait around for them to open so you can check your bags. MCO at 4am is certainly different!

 

[have2getaway]

Been there, done that!
The 3 a.m. DME pick up is interesting. In our case it was a couple of years ago & bell services at POFQ was not open so we had to schlep our own bags. We got to MCO so early it was like a ghost town & we had to wait quite awhile for the airline ticket/bag check counter to open & for someplace that sold coffee to open.

Remember, the airline ticket counters don't open until two hours before their first flight of the day, so you may have to wait around for them to open so you can check your bags. MCO at 4am is certainly different!

Do you think we don’t need to arrive until a couple hours before departure then? Why get there 3 hours ahead if we won’t be able to do anything anyway?

 

[sndral]

Do you think we don’t need to arrive until a couple hours before departure then? Why get there 3 hours ahead if we won’t be able to do anything anyway?

DME will schedule your pick up time generally 3 hr.s before your flight.
I suppose you could pick a later flight and enter that pretend flight as if it were your true flight, say pick a 7 a.m. flight to get a 4 a.m. pick up instead of 3 a.m..
I personally wouldn’t, because I’m one of those compulsive rule followers

 

[Lovinallthingsdisney]

Worth noting, last year during the “holiday months” they extended the pick up window to 4 hours. I don’t recall when it ended, but we were there in early January and had a 4 hour lead-time.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Do you think we don’t need to arrive until a couple hours before departure then? Why get there 3 hours ahead if we won’t be able to do anything anyway?

Standard timing. DME doesn't change its scheduling based on time of day. Plus, you're may be the first of three or four.