ME question/Early Departing Flight

[Bird-Mom]

Our return flight is at 6:50 am, so I am thinking there will not be huge crowds for the ME. My question is, is the ME always a bus? Or might it be a van? We are not bringing a carseat for the 3 year old, and obviously she would not be able to ride in a van without one. Does anyone have any experience with an early departing flight?

TIA!

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Our return flight is at 6:50 am, so I am thinking there will not be huge crowds for the ME. My question is, is the ME always a bus? Or might it be a van? We are not bringing a carseat for the 3 year old, and obviously she would not be able to ride in a van without one. Does anyone have any experience with an early departing flight?

When you make your DME reservations, make it clear that you have special needs (a toddler) that require transportation on a motor coach, not in a van or taxi.

Normally, DME uses new luxury motor coaches, painted in DME livery. During very busy times, DME can augment their fleet with Disney Cruise Line coaches or yellow-and-black Mears coaches.

I've read of a few cases when guests have been given cab fare when a DME coach didn't appear in time. Theses reports were from the early days of DME, when bugs were still being worked out. I haven't read of any cases when DME has used Mears vans, but I wouldn't be surprised if this has happened in a pinch.

You won't be the only guests departing from WDW in the wee hours of the morning; there are plenty of early morning flights out of MCO. But it's also unlikely that extra vehicles will need to be pressed into service so early. So, it highly likely that your DME transportation will be on a normal DME motor coach.

 

[seashoreCM]

When you make your reservation clearly stating you have a toddler, Magical Express will get you there even if you did not bring your own car seat, period.

Once in awhile for one reason or another ME takes place in a car or van instead of a bus. FOr the most part this is a no-brainer because Mears owns and drives the ME buses and also owns several major cab companies in Orlando. My feeling is that guests should pretend it is Magical Express all the way down to the tip.

"Pile in and off we go!"

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/magicx.htm