magical express?

[mbtileguy]

this will be my 1st time useing magical express can you get your own bags from the baggage claim then bring them to the bus yourself? or do they take them as hey unload the plane i am confussed? i would rather handle my own bags and bring them to the bus.

 

[Magical JenK]

Yes you can. We did because we arrived late & I didn't want to be sleeping when they delivered our luggage! Just be sure to NOT put the yellow DME tags on your luggage!!

 

[MaeDaisy]

You CAN, but my question is, why do you want to? Not having to get your luggage is a big benefit of Magical Express. We all just packed PJs in each of our carry-ons in case the bags weren't there by time we wanted to hit the sack, and an extra shirt plus a pair of socks & underwear in case someone's bag got lost (figured they could wear their same pants the next day if necessary, who cares?) We checked in, dropped off our carry-ons, and headed to MK for the evening. Turns out our bags (everyone's) beat us back to the room.

Also, by getting your own luggage, that makes everyone else on your bus have to wait longer. I was really aggravated when I learned that the reason we were sitting there for 20 minutes was that some people had decided to get their own checked luggage and bring it to the bus.

 

[mbtileguy]

i just have trouble putting my faith in other people and luggage is the most important thing to have go right. last year they droped us off on the wrong side of the airport and i almost missed my flight. they also were late in picking us up so much for gettting to the airport 2 hrs ahead of time.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

this will be my 1st time useing magical express can you get your own bags from the baggage claim then bring them to the bus yourself? or do they take them as hey unload the plane i am confussed? i would rather handle my own bags and bring them to the bus.

If you use the yellow Disney's Magical Express (DME) luggage tags, then your bags never go to baggage claim. The DME team takes control of the bags "behind the scenes." They're sorted at the airport, sent to WDW resorts on luggage trucks, and delivered by bellmen and luggage assistance CMs at the resorts. Because there's a lot of handling involved, the bags typically make it to your room a few hours after you do. Disney has a sophisticated process in which the barcodes on the yellow tags are scanned at numerous steps to keep track of your luggage and to get your bags to your room. When you use DME in this manner, Disney pays the bellman tips so you don't have to be in your room when the luggage is delivered.

If you don't use the yellow DME tags, your bags will go to baggage claim. You must wait for your bags at baggage claim, retrieve them, and drag them through the airport (which can be a substantial distance and will involve taking elevators once or twice. The Magical Express driver will handle your bag(s) at the motorcoach, so a tip for the driver is appropriate. You can get get bell service assistance at your resort, but you're then responsible for tipping the bellman. And you must be in your room for the luggage to be delivered, so if bell services is busy, you could wait in your room for a while.

You CAN, but my question is, why do you want to? Not having to get your luggage is a big benefit of Magical Express.

I agree.

Why would someone want to deal with luggage at the airport and at the hotel? Why would someone want to spend an extra 20-60 minutes at the airport before boarding a DME motorcoach? Why would someone want to pay tips to those who assist with the luggage, rather than letting Disney pays the tip for inbound luggage service?

Actually there are some good reasons not to use the DME luggage service, such as wanting to be able to set up a tent (that was sent as checked luggage) at Fort Wilderness, without possibly having to wait until after dark.

It seems the number one reason why some people choose to retrieve their own luggage has to do with control — wanting to know that the luggage made it onto the flight, and wanting to arrive at their resort hotel with luggage.

For the rest of us, it's great to breeze through the airport and arrive at the resort as soon as possible. It's great to check in at the resort without the burden of checked luggage. And it's great to find our bags waiting in the room after returning from a park, from a pool, or from dinner.

My advice is to pack carry-ons with anything you'll need right away. Then let Magical Express deliver your checked bag(s) to your room while you're out dining or having fun. Disney pays the inbound bellman tip for luggage delivery, so you don't have to wait in your room.

(Even if you don't use DME luggage delivery, you should pack carry-ons with anything you'll need right away because airline luggage delays are way too common.)

Also, by getting your own luggage, that makes everyone else on your bus have to wait longer. I was really aggravated when I learned that the reason we were sitting there for 20 minutes was that some people had decided to get their own checked luggage and bring it to the bus.

Just a quick clarification... The DME motorcoaches don't wait for specific passengers. If guests detour to baggage claim to get their own bags and arrive at the DME counter 20-30 minutes later than if they had gone straight from the arrival gate to the DME counter, those guests would usually end up on a later motorcoach dispatch.

The only extra time that DME guests with their own bags chew up is the time it takes a driver to load and unload the bags from the luggage hold of the motorcoach.

Motorcoaches are dispatched as needed, based on actual check-ins at the DME counter. DME doesn't wait for motorcoaches to fill up. But if you arrive soon after another motorcoach left to your resort, you can end up waiting around 20 minutes for your motorcoach to be dispatched.

 

[chrismom2005]

i'm thinking of grabbing at least one of my bags myself putting the things i dont want to go without in it if luggage gets delayed it wont be a big deal

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

i'm thinking of grabbing at least one of my bags myself putting the things i dont want to go without in it if luggage gets delayed it wont be a big deal

That sounds good on the surface, but my opinion is that doing so would giving you "the worst of both worlds."

You would have to waste time at the airport detouring to baggage claim, waiting for your bag of essential things, and then finally going to the Magical Express counter. So you'll almost certainly be on a later motorcoach.

And, if the airline delays your bags (which happens too frequently), you won't have the essential items that you want to have right away. Instead, you'll have to wait in line to make arrangements with the airline's baggage services department to get delivery to your resort, which can take up to 24 hours.

You're much better off putting anything you want right away into carry-ons. That way, you can go straight from your arrival gate to Magical Express. When you arrive in your WDW resort room, you'll have the swimwear or change of clothes that you packed in the carry-ons. In a few hours, your checked bags will be in your room, even if you're not.

 

[goofy4tink]

I can see both sides of the coin so to speak. While I am a strong advocate for DME...just love it...I can understand why some may want to grab their own bags. They are allowed to do just that. It seems that every time someone asks here if it's okay to get their own bags, we jump all over them, practically calling them stupid for wanting to do this. I have yet, in about 5 trips with DME, had to wait because people were having their bags stowed. We did wait for more people to show up though, and yes they did have their bags stowed but that took about 30 seconds.
I like the bus, I like not having to spend the money for a rental or a towncar, I like not having to drag my bags behind me at MCO. But, if others prefer to get their own bags, then they should be able to. Sometimes I think there are some of us that are being paid to get more people to use DME the 'right way'!!! And yes, that would include me at some times!!!

So, if someone wants to take the time to go to baggage, stand around waiting for their bags to come out, then drag them down a level, and then haul them into the bus line, and then have them stowed underneath the bus...well, heck, that's their choice. Of course, they then have everything they need, right there, at hand, rather than waiting a few hours for their bags to show up.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

It seems that every time someone asks here if it's okay to get their own bags, we jump all over them, practically calling them stupid for wanting to do this.

I hope I've never came across as calling anyone stupid. (If I have, I apologize.)

I've just tried to help people understand that it's not a simple matter of "grabbing" bags. Orlando is a big airport. Going to and from baggage claim adds time at the airport. Bags usually don't appear immediately. If the luggage is delayed by the airline, the guest has to deal with the airline and arrange delivery. Handling ones own checked bags adds the expense of tipping the DME driver. If the room isn't ready, it adds the inconvenience (and more tipping expense) of having to check and retrieve bags with bell services. If someone uses bell services to deliver their bags to the room, the guest, not Disney, pays the tip to the bellman (and the guest has to wait in the room for luggage delivery).

It's true that bags with yellow Magical Express bags usually arrive in the room several hours after the guest. But some people don't realize that this really isn't a problem if they pack a carry-on with items for the first day (which is always a good idea when traveling with checked luggage). And they don't realize that they don't have to wait in their room for their bags to arrive.

I hope that I've helped people make informed decisions about whether or not to use the Magical Express inbound luggage service as designed.

I hope I haven't called anyone stupid.

 

[goofy4tink]

I hope I've never came across as calling anyone stupid. (If I have, I apologize.)

I've just tried to help people understand that it's not a simple matter of "grabbing" bags. Orlando is a big airport. Going to and from baggage claim adds time at the airport. Bags usually don't appear immediately. If the luggage is delayed by the airline, the guest has to deal with the airline and arrange delivery. Handling ones own checked bags adds the expense of tipping the DME driver. If the room isn't ready, it adds the inconvenience (and more tipping expense) of having to check and retrieve bags with bell services. If someone uses bell services to deliver their bags to the room, the guest, not Disney, pays the tip to the bellman (and the guest has to wait in the room for luggage delivery).

It's true that bags with yellow Magical Express bags usually arrive in the room several hours after the guest. But some people don't realize that this really isn't a problem if they pack a carry-on with items for the first day (which is always a good idea when traveling with checked luggage). And they don't realize that they don't have to wait in their room for their bags to arrive.

I hope that I've helped people make informed decisions about whether or not to use the Magical Express inbound luggage service as designed.

I hope I haven't called anyone stupid.

Ah, come on now.....I said 'practically calling them stupid'. No one actually used that phase.
HH....of course you have helped many people, in many ways here on the Transportation board. You have been invaluable. It's just that sometimes we forget that others may have a different idea of what is the 'best' way of doing things.
Like I said...I love DME. I can't imagine anyone wanting to head to baggage claim and then take the bus. But, it does look like there are those out there that do want to do just that. So...in the interest of keeping our nice little trans. community happy and friendly, I just wanted those that choose a different way to not feel, oh, I don't know....that they were making a bad choice. I certainly didn't mean for anyone here, that feels differently, to feel badly about their posts. Far from it. I just want everyone to be happy and to feel the love here Okay, okay..enough. You know what I mean.

 

[CleveRocks]

Also, by getting your own luggage, that makes everyone else on your bus have to wait longer. I was really aggravated when I learned that the reason we were sitting there for 20 minutes was that some people had decided to get their own checked luggage and bring it to the bus.

This may have been a rumor floating about on your bus, but it's not the way DME is designed to work. When you arrive at MCO, you are not assigned to a certain specific bus. When you get to the DME Welcome Center (which can be a 10 minute walk from the other side of the airport), you check in and then they point out which bus queue to get in. But even then, if someone decided to get out of line the bus still would not wait for them.

The standard, as I understand it, is that once the first person boards the bus, the bus is supposed to sit there no longer than 15 minutes. They don't wait for the bus to fill up. Even if on occasion a bus waits longer, it isn't because it's waiting for someone to get there from baggage claim. How would they know the party is at baggage claim and not in a restaurant or bar?

So when your bus waited around for 20 minutes, and the last guests to board had brought their own suitcases to the bus with them, and then the bus left, it may have coincidentally looked like the bus was waiting for them to get there from baggage claim, but I assure you it was just a coincidence. The driver wasn't waiting for the Schwartzes from Brooklyn to arrive, or for the Wilsons from Omaha to arrive ... he/she wasn't waiting for any specific party.

 

[TDC Nala]

ME is, without a doubt, the best way to do things, barring a snafu which does not happen all that often.

I had to bypass the luggage service on my last trip because my roommate for the trip, who lives in another state, had all the luggage tags and forgot to send me one. I only had two bags, one of which was checked. I waited 20 minutes for the checked bag to appear and then had to haul the bags from the A side of the airport where the baggage claim was, to the B side of the airport where the ME terminal is. Not to mention the fact that the ME terminal is at the very far end of the B side. It is a very long walk. It will be longer with a massive amount of luggage and a couple of children.

I do understand that ME says they'll collect your bags at luggage claim without a yellow luggage tag if you give them the baggage claim checks and a description of the bags, but I didn't trust that one.

 

[sarbah77]

This may have been a rumor floating about on your bus, but it's not the way DME is designed to work. When you arrive at MCO, you are not assigned to a certain specific bus. When you get to the DME Welcome Center (which can be a 10 minute walk from the other side of the airport), you check in and then they point out which bus queue to get in. But even then, if someone decided to get out of line the bus still would not wait for them.
(snip)

So when your bus waited around for 20 minutes, and the last guests to board had brought their own suitcases to the bus with them, and then the bus left, it may have coincidentally looked like the bus was waiting for them to get there from baggage claim, but I assure you it was just a coincidence. The driver wasn't waiting for the Schwartzes from Brooklyn to arrive, or for the Wilsons from Omaha to arrive ... he/she wasn't waiting for any specific party.

Thanks! I just popped over and I'm glad to hear this is how it works. I'm arriving almost two hours before my friend is (rant for another day at the airline!) and I wasn't sure how the whole check-in process works. I guess I can just park my butt somewhere comfy and wait for my friend, without worrying whether or not I was missing some specific bus!

I'd considered not putting the yellow tags on my luggage until I realized that it's February and I'm flying out of the Frozen North and with my luck, my flight will be delayed and then we'd have to wait for my luggage! I'll just make sure that, if I need warm weather clothes or need to shed cold weather clothing, I have a bag with or for the clothes on me!!

THANKS!!

Sarah (5 days!)

 

[chrismom2005]

That sounds good on the surface, but my opinion is that doing so would giving you "the worst of both worlds."

You would have to waste time at the airport detouring to baggage claim, waiting for your bag of essential things, and then finally going to the Magical Express counter. So you'll almost certainly be on a later motorcoach.

And, if the airline delays your bags (which happens too frequently), you won't have the essential items that you want to have right away. Instead, you'll have to wait in line to make arrangements with the airline's baggage services department to get delivery to your resort, which can take up to 24 hours.

You're much better off putting anything you want right away into carry-ons. That way, you can go straight from your arrival gate to Magical Express. When you arrive in your WDW resort room, you'll have the swimwear or change of clothes that you packed in the carry-ons. In a few hours, your checked bags will be in your room, even if you're not.

your prob right with three carry ons we should be able to get everything we need on too the plane but we also will be traveling with a six month old and i'm not sure how much formula we would be allowed to bring on the plane.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I do understand that ME says they'll collect your bags at luggage claim without a yellow luggage tag if you give them the baggage claim checks and a description of the bags, but I didn't trust that one.

Fair enough; so far, nobody in that situation has reported NOT getting their luggage but that just means if/when it's happened, the 'victim' does not know about the DISboards

your prob right with three carry ons we should be able to get everything we need on too the plane but we also will be traveling with a six month old and i'm not sure how much formula we would be allowed to bring on the plane

You could probably ship some down to your resort in advance, for safety.

i just have trouble putting my faith in other people and luggage is the most important thing to have go right. last year they droped us off on the wrong side of the airport and i almost missed my flight. they also were late in picking us up so much for gettting to the airport 2 hrs ahead of time.

So trust the airline to transport your luggage X-hundred or X-thousand miles, but you have no faith in Magical Express transporting it the last twenty or so miles? Remembering that DME luggage transport is entirely separate from DME Guest transport, the fact that there were problems on your trip back to the airport last time reasonably has no effect on your luggage being transported TO your resort. Too, if luggage does get misdirected by the airline, DME takes responsibility for tracking it and for getting it to you when it does arrive at MCO.

 

[paras4ri]

We'll be using DME for the first time this month and I really appreciate all the info shared on this thread. Sounds like it will be perfect for us!

 

[Helsbells]

My son is having a hard time getting a room in April at a value or moderate WDW resort. You see h e is a Disney long time employee. They give discounts to their people but they only offer a limited amount of tickets. Here is my question if with this pass and say stay at the WDW Hilton could he still use the Magical Express?

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Here is my question if with this pass and say stay at the WDW Hilton could he still use the Magical Express?

Sorry, no.

Disney's Magical Express only serves guests with reservations at Disney-operated resorts at WDW. That includes all value, moderate, deluxe and DVC resorts, and Ft. Wilderness.

DME doesn't serve Hotel Plaza properties such as the Hilton, nor the Swan & Dolphin, nor Shades of Green.

 

[Helsbells]

The pass my son has gets him free into all the parks plus discounts for restaurants. Are you absolutely sure his pass would not work on the Magical Express. If not what would be his best choice for transportation to WDW and back to airport.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

The pass my son has gets him free into all the parks plus discounts for restaurants. Are you absolutely sure his pass would not work on the Magical Express. If not what would be his best choice for transportation to WDW and back to airport.

Disney's Magical Express (DME) is a perk of staying at a Disney-operated resort. And DME only goes to Disney-operated resorts (except that DME motorcoaches are sometimes used for Disney Cruise Line guests staying at the Swan/Dolphin).

So I really don't think that DME would transport a passenger (and deliver his luggage) to the Hilton at WDW, even if the passenger is employed by Disney. Your son's best bet would probably be to keep looking for a Disney-operated resort.

As far as transportation to the Hilton at WDW is concerned, the usual choices apply -- rental car, Mears motorcoach/shuttle, or a towncar/limo service. What's best depends upon numerous factors, including the number of guests, the length of the stay, whether he'll want a car during his stay, and price sensitivity. Before DME, I really liked using towncar services, but I've also had rental cars.