magical express-take cases ourselves or not

[cantwait!!!!!!!!!!!!]

Me and my husband are arguing about this !

I say get out of the airport and on our way asap, I will pack swim things and a change of clothes incase the cases take a while to come.

He thinks its much safer to collect them ourselves.

What do you think ?

 

[mcarthur205]

I'm a control freak when comes to our luggage so I'd have to collect it myself and take it on the bus. I don't think they provide luggage tags to UK customers (I could be wrong on this though) so I'd just be worried that our bags would disappear into oblivion lol!

 

[cantwait!!!!!!!!!!!!]

You are meant to agree with me not with him !!

Yes you are right no luggage labels, they must stick something on them or something though ?

 

[2Tiggies]

No luggage tags, but you give them your portions of the luggage tags with the bar code on and they sort it out. ME does not tend to mislay luggage. However the wait for it may be substantial.

If you want to get to your hotel quicker and aren't worried about having your luggage for up to 6 hours, then let them take care of the bags.

If you want to have your luggage when you get to your room, it is quicker to just collect it. However if you place them on the secondary baggage belt on your way up to the monorail, add 20 minutes at least before they arrive at the other terminal. I was forced to do this before because I couldn't manage my DD, hand luggage and 2 big cases up the escalator. This year she is to walk up herself in front of me so I will be taking our bags and we can go straight to the ME desk.

 

[mcarthur205]

Sorry lol. I think you're supposed to hand in your baggage claim tags (the ones you get when you check your luggage in for the flight) and the Magical Express people will collect your bags and deliver them to your room.

I couldn't trust anyone else to do this I'm afraid! Too much risk of missing luggage and that wouldn't be a good start to the holiday

 

[cantwait!!!!!!!!!!!!]

Monorail ??!! I thought we just got on a bus ?

Are there signs telling you where to go and what to do ?

Thanks for the replies

 

[Shazzie B]

2Tiggies is talking about the airport monorail -

1.Immigration
2.Collect Bags
3.Monorail to main terminal ( you can take your bags on the monrail if you can manage them your self or drop them off for transport to main terminal -and pick them up from another baggage reclaim)
4.Out to bus/ collect hire car etc.

Yes all well sign posted,

Have a great time.

 

[2Tiggies]

Monorail ??!! I thought we just got on a bus ?

Are there signs telling you where to go and what to do ?

Thanks for the replies

You have to go to a different terminal to get to the ME and you go up an escalator on board a monorail. Give me a minute and I will post you a link to a great step by step walk through with photos that shows you from when you leave the plane to getting to the monorail.

 

[2Tiggies]

Here you go.

http://www.orlandoairports.net/arrive/index.htm

 

[paulh]

as we travel from england and our flights land late in the day, it makes sense to pick up your bags yourself as it can take up to 4 hours to arrive at your room.
If its late at night they will bring them next morning
ME is great if you want them to pick your bags up if you arrive early in the morning and have the time to go to the parks all day more suite to American tourists
Paul

 

[mikki.young]

You have to pick up the cases for customs but it is up to you whether you then let them go to the main baggage carousel. We much prefer to take them straight to the bus with us - very little effort and you know you have them. Doesn't hurt to tip the bus driver for the lifting on and off of the cases for you!

 

[starrysky]

Hi

ME is located on level 1 B side right at the far end of that level. I would also say take your own bags if you can, I want to find my room and get unpacked first thing so I would hate to have to wait for hours for my luggage to be delivered.

It is very easy to find the ME once you get to the airport just make sure you are on the B side (there are big signs telling you what side you are on) and then make your way to level 1.

 

[cantwait!!!!!!!!!!!!]

Thank you , you are all really helpful

Not telling him he was right though !

I feel a bit more confident that I know where to go now

 

[2Tiggies]

I think Paulh hit the nail on the head. When you arrive past mid afternoon, you want to have your things to get settled in your room when you arrive, not wait for them.

Even if I arrived earlier, I would want a shower after the long flight before heading out for the day. If you can manage your bags from security to the monorail, it's a piece of cake.

 

[TCO]

We have transfers included with virgin as we aren't hiring a car, is this seperate to ME?

 

[2Tiggies]

We have transfers included with virgin as we aren't hiring a car, is this seperate to ME?

It could be. Virgin does have their own transfers, but if you are staying at a Disney hotel ME is free, although you have to request it (it SHOULD be offered by the sales consultant who books for you, or there should be an option to select it online, but they don't always do this). Check with them. If you want ME you need to ask for it and make sure that this is the transfer they have booked you on. Your confirmation should specifically state Magical Express if that is what you are getting.

 

[crabbie1]

When we went with virgin back in 06 I booked magical express seperate.If you ring the disney UK number they will book it for You or you can fill it in online.Saying that I dont know if you will have a disney ref number if you booked through VH. After having 2 long waits after landing at 14.20 and having our bags the first time at 2100 and 00.30 the second time as they had sent them to the WL I wont be leaving them on the bus in future.Apart from tht its a good service. Also they send the yellow mickey labels which are put on at the checkin desk before leaving the uk.

 

[2Tiggies]

When we went with virgin back in 06 I booked magical express seperate.If you ring the disney UK number they will book it for You or you can fill it in online.Saying that I dont know if you will have a disney ref number if you booked through VH. After having 2 long waits after landing at 14.20 and having our bags the first time at 2100 and 00.30 the second time as they had sent them to the WL I wont be leaving them on the bus in future.Apart from tht its a good service. Also they send the yellow mickey labels which are put on at the checkin desk before leaving the uk.

They stopped sending the yellow tags for ME a couple of years ago. They now only send them to the US guests.
You can get a US reference no. from VH by phoning or emailing and asking for it. You don't actually need it to book ME though. Disney UK flight inclusive bookings are handled by VH staff anyway so it is much the same. I would suggest that TCO makes sure which bus to wait for though as they aren't in the same place (ME and Virgin coach that is).

 

[crabbie1]

sorry tiggies its I havent been since dec 2008 and we still had our yellow labels then.Must have stopped after that. See I told you your a wealth of knowledge.

 

[2Tiggies]

sorry tiggies its I havent been since dec 2008 and we still had our yellow labels then.Must have stopped after that. See I told you your a wealth of knowledge.

They stopped it at the beginning of last year. When we flew in April they told us they had just stopped doing it, so yes, it is relatively recent.