ME late at night question

[tio2girl]

We're getting into the Orlando airport near midnight and plan to use the Magical Express shuttle to get to our Disney hotel. I know that they won't handle our luggage for us that late, but I'm curious about what else to expect. Are they easy to find? Will we have to call them (like we would other hotel shuttles)? Will we have to wait long for the shuttle? Any tips for using ME that might help groggy parents dragging 2 tired little kids around late at night?

 

[PictureJumpr]

This thread will probably be moved to the Transportation board, but hello anyways!

ME will run as normal even late at night, there will be someone waiting to check you in after you pick up your own baggage and bring it to the check-in desk for ME.

The wait for a bus does tend to run longer late at night, simply because they are combining arrivals to try and get as many folks as possible on one bus. If you luck out and are the last person they are waiting for before dispatching the bus you are going to be on you'll walk on and they'll leave... it really depends. If you're one of the ones who has to wait for another arrival, then at least in many cases they've let us wait on the bus (seated, kids can sleep). In most cases where we've arrived very late at night (as in, after 11pm), we've really not waited too much longer than arriving mid-day.. it just feels like it

 

[tio2girl]

Whoops! I actually meant to post this on the transportation board! Thanks for answering anyway.

 

[Jestocost]

This thread will probably be moved to the Transportation board, but hello anyways!

ME will run as normal even late at night, there will be someone waiting to check you in after you pick up your own baggage and bring it to the check-in desk for ME.

The wait for a bus does tend to run longer late at night, simply because they are combining arrivals to try and get as many folks as possible on one bus. If you luck out and are the last person they are waiting for before dispatching the bus you are going to be on you'll walk on and they'll leave... it really depends. If you're one of the ones who has to wait for another arrival, then at least in many cases they've let us wait on the bus (seated, kids can sleep). In most cases where we've arrived very late at night (as in, after 11pm), we've really not waited too much longer than arriving mid-day.. it just feels like it

I'm not convinced that they bother to wait for too many people unless they know that they are expecting a bunch to come through soon. The last time we came in late we had our own private motor coach to the Poly. We waited a couple of minutes (if at all) to board the bus and maybe 10 minutes on the bus before it headed out to the resort with no other guests on board.

 

[Donaldswife]

We used ME on our quick Labor Day Weekend trip late on that Friday night. It worked pretty much the same as normal, except for the fact that they were just putting everyone arriving on the same bus since they were down to the last couple of batches of arrivals for the evening. Normally when you board ME they put you with maybe 1 or 2 other resort stops, this bus had people from 6 different resorts on it, so 6 stops (compared to the normal 2 or 3.) Luckily our resort was the first stop, but I'm sure it was a LONG ride for the family going to the 6th stop with a bus that didn't even depart MCO until midnight!

 

[maxiesmom]

I'm not convinced that they bother to wait for too many people unless they know that they are expecting a bunch to come through soon. The last time we came in late we had our own private motor coach to the Poly. We waited a couple of minutes (if at all) to board the bus and maybe 10 minutes on the bus before it headed out to the resort with no other guests on board.

I think it just depends on how lucky you are. The one time we arrived at 11pm at night, we didn't get to our resort check in counter until 1am. We loaded on the bus right away, but we sat there. And sat there. I felt really bad for the people who we already on the bus! Then, as luck would have it, our resort was the 4th stop.

I love Magical Express. But I would say as you now have to get your own luggage late at night anyway, I would probably spring for a car to my resort.