Magical Express ?

[brockash]

I have a question about the ME. We'll be flying Continental back, and will do the resort check-in, so we won't need to check in at the airport. I know they're going to try to schedule our ME departure time 3 hours before our flight, but I want to know if there is any way around this. We've taken the ME back to MCO before, and it was such a waste of time waiting at the airport for our flight. I want to get in as much Disney as possible, any suggestions? What happens if I "miss" our schedule departure time? Will there be another one that I'm able to get?

 

[supersuperwendy]

Last year our flight was early so our DME pick up was VERY early. We were afraid of oversleeping and missing it. They told us if that happened we would have to catch a later one but they couldn't gaurantee that we'd be on time for our flight. They had someone scheduled for a pick up about an hour after ours. The problem is...what if nobody had a later pick up? We would have been calling a cab! Luckily Bell Services banged on our door even before our alarm went off at 4:45 am! We made our DME bus!

 

[dburg30]

Well, is it SO important to get one more hour or 90 minutes of WDW and run the risk of something happening and missing your flight? If so, then forgo DME and just hire a towncar or something. DME is NOT going to chance cutting it closer in case of traffic or some other issue. If they pick you up 3 hours before your flight, you still are only about 2 - 2 1/2 hours before your flight at MOST. What if security is borked up that day at takes for ever to get thru? I dont see why people really complain about 3 hours before the flight for pick up?

Maybe I'm missing something that people can explain the huge deal?

And of course IF they closed the window some, SOMEONE would say that 'they were late getting to the airport using DME and disney RUINED their vacation'. You KNOW that would be posted..

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

No way around it unfortunately. ME ALWAYS picks you up at least 3 hours before your flight. Sorry!

 

[brockash]

Thanks for all the input. I guess the reason I'm trying to find a way around it is because we had originally made our flight for the evening, and I had made plans for our last day, but the airline has cancelled that flight, and stuck us on a flight that leaves 4 hours earlier. They did the same thing with our flight going into Orlando, so now we're getting in much later and leaving much earlier Plus, both times I've left through the ME we end up spending A LOT of time at the gate, since we don't have luggage or anything to check in. Oh well, sounds like I'll just have to get over it

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

Ya it stinks...especially if you are going at a slow time of year and aren't driving at a commuter time. Even worse if when you have all that time and then your flight home is delayed (which seems to happen to us every year!) But there is no way around it. You don't know if ME will be coming back to your hotel so I wouldn't chance missing your assigned time. You could always fork up the cash and take a towncar service to the airport (about $60 plus tip I believe). This will buy you a little more time (maybe a half hour) but I personally don't think that $60 is worth a half hour!

 

[a1tinkfans]

Thanks for all the input. I guess the reason I'm trying to find a way around it is because we had originally made our flight for the evening, and I had made plans for our last day, but the airline has cancelled that flight, and stuck us on a flight that leaves 4 hours earlier. They did the same thing with our flight going into Orlando, so now we're getting in much later and leaving much earlier Plus, both times I've left through the ME we end up spending A LOT of time at the gate, since we don't have luggage or anything to check in. Oh well, sounds like I'll just have to get over it

Well, if you REALLY want to stay later you could just take a cab back, my brother chose to do that without a hitch. I have personally gotten on an EARLIER bus back to airport as we had some flight issue last year. That was fine by driver and no big deal, but the bus was not packed, so maybe if it was full, we would have had to wait I suppose.
Sorry to hear about your flights being changed I am hearing that A LOT lately and I would be SO frustrated especially on a DISNEY vacation!! I LOVE Southwest for so many reasons and THAT is another reason to love them!!!
Have a great trip!!

 

[brockash]

Well, if you REALLY want to stay later you could just take a cab back, my brother chose to do that without a hitch. I have personally gotten on an EARLIER bus back to airport as we had some flight issue last year. That was fine by driver and no big deal, but the bus was not packed, so maybe if it was full, we would have had to wait I suppose.
Sorry to hear about your flights being changed I am hearing that A LOT lately and I would be SO frustrated especially on a DISNEY vacation!! I LOVE Southwest for so many reasons and THAT is another reason to love them!!!
Have a great trip!!

Yeah, I wish they'd fly out of Colorado Springs, especially since they've actually changed both our flights twice but I will at some point be at Disney

 

[Erin13178]

Ohhhh great! This means they will want to pick us up at the hotel at 3am, LOVELY. Our flight out is at 6am on a Friday morning. Geesh I'm praying they will settle for getting us at 4am.

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

Ohhhh great! This means they will want to pick us up at the hotel at 3am, LOVELY. Our flight out is at 6am on a Friday morning. Geesh I'm praying they will settle for getting us at 4am.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but plan on 3am!!! You'll have to check in at 2:45am!!! I'm so sorry Oh and you won't be able to check in at the hotel since that service doesn't start until 5am.

 

[Erin13178]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but plan on 3am!!! You'll have to check in at 2:45am!!! I'm so sorry Oh and you won't be able to check in at the hotel since that service doesn't start until 5am.

I'm so confused. So if my flight out of Orlando is at 6am, and the ME picks us up at 3am, who do we tell and where do we check in? Sorry if I sound dumb but we've never done this.

 

[dburg30]

For the bus ride you just need to be at the bus stop about 15 minutes or maybe even 20 before your time. The time they will give you is when the bus should be LEAVING, not getting there. So if it's 3am, and you get there at 3:01 or even 2:59 you may miss it.

Yes, I guess it sucks, but as I said, WDW wants to make sure they do everything in their power to get you to the airport with PLENTY of time. And since flights start boarding 20-30 min before departure time, if they are on schedule, you really are only getting to the airport 90 min to the max of 2 hours before on average I would guess..

 

[disneypolybride2008]

That 3 hours can go by quickly if you have a situation like we did. We were staying at All-Star Movies and it was our first trip. We were on the ME back to the airport and the driver got lost. She turned around in the McDonalds parking lot, and asked us personally if we knew the way....um no!

Somehow she figured it out and we were at the airport, she entered the wrong lane and the attendant made her back up (ran over the curb doing this) and enter the correct lane.

By the time we got there we had to RUN to get on our plan, it already boarded!!!

I could'nt believe that!

 

[aubriee]

Thanks for all the input. I guess the reason I'm trying to find a way around it is because we had originally made our flight for the evening, and I had made plans for our last day, but the airline has cancelled that flight, and stuck us on a flight that leaves 4 hours earlier. They did the same thing with our flight going into Orlando, so now we're getting in much later and leaving much earlier Plus, both times I've left through the ME we end up spending A LOT of time at the gate, since we don't have luggage or anything to check in. Oh well, sounds like I'll just have to get over it

Definitely don't plan on getting on a later bus. I posted this when I got back from my trip, but I'll post it again. When I was there May '07, a family came running up just as our bus pulled up. They were saying that they had got tied up in DTD, then the bus was late arriving. Anyway they had missed their DME bus. They were insisting on getting on ours. When told there was no room for them on our bus, the dad went ballistic. In all of his yelling it came out that they had intentionally missed their assigned DME bus, because they had thought it was ridiculous to leave three hours before their flight time and they had just planned to catch a later bus. However, time got away from them and then the DTD bus back to the resort took forever to arrive, so they were later than they intended and if they didn't get on our bus they'd miss their flight. They were again told that our bus would be full and basically it wasn't DME's problem to get them to the airport, if they missed their assigned bus. The dad demanded that some of us be put on the next bus, so they could have our seats. They were told, no way that was happening! The dad said fine, they'd just stand then and tried to force his way onto the bus. He stood in the well area and basically refused to get off, even though both the bus driver and the guy that stands out front with the clipboard was arguing with him. A manager was called and was walking the family back into the resort (with the dad yelling bloody murder that they'd better not miss their flights), as we pulled away. Our bus was not full at that time, but we had to make another stop at CSR, where it did fill up, except for a couple of seats. On the way to the airport we got slowed down by a wreck. My stop was the second stop at the airport. Between all the little delays (the long argument with the family, the dad refusing to step off the bus, traffic, the wreck, being the second stop, really long security lines, getting off the little tram thingy, etc), by the time we got through we only had about 40 minutes before our flight started boarding.

That family, by the way, apparently had nothing but a couple of backpacks for carryons.

 

[davidb69]

Last year we had a lot to worry about since our flight didn't head back home till 8pm at night. We checked out early in the morning and Disney held our bags for the day while we went out for the day and relaxed.

Bus arrived right on time we got on the bus. My only wish was that we didn't have to check our luggage at the airport. That was a pain. I think ME does check in luggage for some airlines for you. Of course with everything going smooth the airline was delayed for an hour.

But we really enjoy ME service. I wish I had that DVD that they play when getting close to the park. The kids really enjoyed that. We are driving there this year.

 

[brockash]

Well I don't have to worry anymore. After 4 long hours on the phone with 3 different airlines, I found out that those airlines(FYI Continental, Frontier, United) still hadn't agreed on who was basically going to pay the difference for us because our flights had been cancelled twice since we booked. I finally just told them to refund our money, and booked on Southwest for a little less. It's an extra drive for me, but the times are excellent and I know we're actually confirmed on a flight that shouldn't get cancelled, not to mention the no baggage fees Thanks for all the info. and experiences!

 

[MichaelH]

The only thing I could think of is calling a cab. You usually have to get on the bus you are assigned. You never know how bad the secruity will be at MCO, so getting there early is not bad for us. We usually grab a bite to eat to kill time in the airport.