magical express these days

[lillykat]

How is magical express running these days? A friend just came back who stayed at the poly. She said they landed at 1030 and didn't get to the park until 3. She was picked up at 8 amfor a 1230 flight. I have been hearing from friends months ago it has been quick. Is this new?

We are leaving on a monday mid may (day after mother's day) staying at por. People told us on here to expect with a 940 arrival to be at the hotel 11 maybe 12 at the latest, and to be picked up around 12 for a 3 pm flight home. Should we be expecting something else?

 

[OKW Lover]

ME has been running the same as always. Some people get great service, some a bit slower. They haven't changed anything - its just the luck of the draw.

 

[sam_gordon]

How is magical express running these days? A friend just came back who stayed at the poly. She said they landed at 1030 and didn't get to the park until 3. She was picked up at 8 amfor a 1230 flight. I have been hearing from friends months ago it has been quick. Is this new?

We are leaving on a monday mid may (day after mother's day) staying at por. People told us on here to expect with a 940 arrival to be at the hotel 11 maybe 12 at the latest, and to be picked up around 12 for a 3 pm flight home. Should we be expecting something else?

I think you need to get some more details from your friend. First, regarding their arrival. By landing at 10:30, you'd expect them to be arriving at their resort around Noon. By the time they check in (15 minutes), wait for a bus(?- 20 minutes), then ride to a park (20 minutes), they should have been at a park by 1pm. Did they stop for lunch? Did they go to their room? Did they go to MK and have to wait because the monorail went "down"? Did they collect their own bags at MCO? There are a lot of potential delays, none of which can be blamed on ME.

Getting picked up at 8am for a 12:30pm flight isn't right either. Either they requested an earlier bus or were on an international flight. Scheduled pickup time should be 3 hours before flight +/- 15 minutes.

 

[lillykat]

I think you need to get some more details from your friend. First, regarding their arrival. By landing at 10:30, you'd expect them to be arriving at their resort around Noon. By the time they check in (15 minutes), wait for a bus(?- 20 minutes), then ride to a park (20 minutes), they should have been at a park by 1pm. Did they stop for lunch? Did they go to their room? Did they go to MK and have to wait because the monorail went "down"? Did they collect their own bags at MCO? There are a lot of potential delays, none of which can be blamed on ME.

Getting picked up at 8am for a 12:30pm flight isn't right either. Either they requested an earlier bus or were on an international flight. Scheduled pickup time should be 3 hours before flight +/- 15 minutes.

I am waiting for more info on the drop off but she said it was all waiting in lines they got to the hotel very late. I know her plan was to get to the hotel, check in and head straight for the MK. She figured she would be there about 1pm.

She said pick up that was the time they were given. Not an international flight (ny). I do not believe they asked for a later pick up but just took what was given to them.

That was why I was asking. She said renting a car in the past was so much easier and faster.

 

[DizDaD7]

ME has always been spot on for us...Great relaxing quick service tbh.

We've done it both ways...What I mean is getting my own bags and then heading over to the buses, & also letting them do all the work...We've also done them at all different times of the day...From arriving at the airport at 9:40 AM to arriving at 2:30 pm to arriving at 9:20 p.m to arriving at 10:50PM and the dreaeded arriving real late at2:20 am..... All were very quick, in terms of actually getting on the bus & then over to the resort.

The time we stayed at POR, we arrived at 9:40 pm so we just got our bags & then went to DME desk....I believe there were 3 stops... 1st OKW then POFQ, then us.. All in all wasn't too bad...

This past trip at the beginning of April , we had 2 stops...1st off was Coronado Springs then AKV...Arrived at 9:40 am. Went to desk got on bus literally 2 minutes later, & left within 5 minutes... Got to resort in 35 minutes...Was able to get to Epcot around 11:30 or so.

Oh yeah forgot to add that...We've always been picked up 3 hours prior to our flight home...

 

[DizDaD7]

I am waiting for more info on the drop off but she said it was all waiting in lines they got to the hotel very late. I know her plan was to get to the hotel, check in and head straight for the MK. She figured she would be there about 1pm.

She said pick up that was the time they were given. Not an international flight (ny). I do not believe they asked for a later pick up but just took what was given to them.

That was why I was asking. She said renting a car in the past was so much easier and faster.

I definitely wouldn't do that. This is one of the best perks about staying on property....Plus it's sooo easy to use..

 

[maxiesmom]

Your friend's experience is not the new normal. Something strange must have happened. Even over peak times of the year we have never waiting to board a bus for more than maybe 30 minutes tops.

Looking at it again, it is not as horrible as it first sounds. She didn't get to the PARKS until 3. She lost maybe an hour and a half, which would not make me happy, but it isn't that horrendous. She still landed, had to get off the airplane, get to ME, wait, get on a bus, go to her resort, check in, drop off bags, and then wait for a bus to the park. Heck, I've been on an airplane where it has taken me half an hour to disembark.

 

[bumbershoot]

She said renting a car in the past was so much easier and faster.

Well I definitely agree with that. Car rental has been incredibly easy for us, and is almost entirely on YOUR schedule.

Our experiences with ME on our Feb trip weren't bad, but they weren't as simple as renting a car.

 

[lillykat]

Thanks! We are definitely doing ME. Not wanting to lug 2 car seats, get my own bags etc makes ME look really good. We had a good experience last time but that was 2010. So wasn't sure if things had gotten worse bc I hadn't been keeping up on ME.

 

[Kimberle]

We just took ME. Our trips were great, as usual. We had a very short wait for the bus to leave. We stopped at POR, BWI, then BC. Going back, we were picked up 3 hours before our flight (as always). We made two stops. The whole trip to the airport took about 1 hour. Since we checked our bags at the resort, we went right to security.

 

[seashoreCM]

Waiting in the check in line at your resort can sometimes eat up lots of time.

You cannot avoid this if you have a package or dining plan since in those cases you need to check in to get your park tickets. Otherwise you can drop the carryons with Bell Services and head for the park immediately.

 

[Sandi]

For her return trip to the airport, there might have been a mix-up on ME's end, but they would have fixed it. On the notice they leave for you, it says something like your pick up time should be about 3 hours before your flight departure time. They provide a phone number to call if it isn't in that range. Usually it's expected that those who have a too short time frame will call, but in your friend's case, I think they would have adjusted a 4.5 hour pick up to something closer to 3 hours.

Sorry she had a poor experience with the whole thing. I don't believe, however, that is the new normal.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

I am waiting for more info on the drop off but she said it was all waiting in lines they got to the hotel very late. I know her plan was to get to the hotel, check in and head straight for the MK. She figured she would be there about 1pm.

She said pick up that was the time they were given. Not an international flight (ny). I do not believe they asked for a later pick up but just took what was given to them.

That was why I was asking. She said renting a car in the past was so much easier and faster.

She is a little optimistic even with a car.

Landing at 10:30 means just that.....plan on around 30 to 45 minutes to get to baggage claim

So now we are at 11.

And the bag wait at MCO ranges from none to an hour. So we will go with 30 minutes 11:30

Go get rental car, load luggage etc.... Probably noon

Head to resort. Now is where the big unknown begins but....

With most families by now someone want to eat
Lines for check in
If room is ready, go to room


And so on. Probably not going to get all this done in an hour