Need advice--Magical Express or van service?

[pianowoman]

My extended family and I are visiting WDW in mid-March. We are trying to decide if we want to take ME or hire a two-way van trip (there are 5 adults, 2 kids) to the Caribbean Beach Resort.

1. Would we actually save time by renting a van? I do love the idea of ME transporting the luggage. How long is the actual ride (by hired van) from MCO to Caribbean?
2. I am flying in separately from the rest of our group, as I live in a different state. Since I am staying in my parents' room, would I actually receive a luggage tag from ME anyway, or will they mail all the tags to my parents? This being the case, by the time they mail to my parents, would my parents have time to send a luggage tag to me? I am a registered guest.

Our flight arrives at MCO around 5 pm on a Saturday afternoon in mid-March.

Thanks for any advice on this!

 

[helenk]

The trip from the airport to WDW is about 30 minutes. You may save some time by going by van service, but not a whole lot as you still have to go down and wait for your luggage.
I like using Magical Express, first of all its free, second I hate schlepping all the luggage around for a larger group...or even just for myself really.
You get off the plane, head to the ME counter, go and wait in line for the bus. You get to your resort and then head to the parks or whatever and later on your luggage is in your room.
I would think that using a van service will save you about 30 minutes.

If you are on the same reservation as your parents your luggage tags will most likely get mailed to them. They can in turn mail them to you. There should be plenty of time to get them to you as the tags usually get mailed out a few weeks before the arrival date.

 

[pianowoman]

Thank you--this is useful information!

 

[dnmglenn]

We went to CB in dec and the "Magical Express" wasnt that at all. It took us forty minutes in line for the bus followed by 45-60min on the bus ride to the resort. Generally we take ME or Happy Limo but to that resort I would shy from ME unless the luggage is too much of a hassle because that is a great benefit.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Given that over a million (or is it ten million - CleveRocks?) Guests have used Magical Express in the last four and a half years, I wouldn't base a decision on one unusually long experience.

 

[Tozzie]

We went to CB in dec and the "Magical Express" wasnt that at all. It took us forty minutes in line for the bus followed by 45-60min on the bus ride to the resort. Generally we take ME or Happy Limo but to that resort I would shy from ME unless the luggage is too much of a hassle because that is a great benefit.

That is an anomaly rather than a normal DME experience. I have used ME about 8 times and it has always been 90 minutes or less usually less from the time I get off the plane to when I am checking into my hotel. I average 70minutes once it was under an hour.

 

[dburg30]

Until I get stuck waiting on / for a bus for a long time, meaning over an hour, I'll be using DME. Some people would just go bonkers waiting that long, but to me it's still just so darn easy to tag your bags at home, let DME handle that AND the driving. I'll give up an hour or 2 on my arrival and departure dates. Could you imagine what rental rates would be if there wasnt anything like DME? Or I wonder how much car services would be then? And since many, many more people would be driving to the parks since they already had a car, how the traffic and parking would be? We wouldnt go to WDW as much as we have if we had to drive / rent.

 

[tjmw2727]

I like DME - have used it many times and my average trip is about 70 minutes.

My past few trips were;

AKL in April - an average (70ish) trip for us
CBR in August ironicly our quickest trip ever - just under an hour from checking in to DME to checkin into CBR.
BWI in November - our longest trip so far almost 90 minutes but considering it was Thanksgiving week I was prepared for longer
WL last week - another average (70ish ) trip

To date I have always used the luggage delivery feature and our bags have always been in the room when we return from the parks/dtd. Since I don't wait in the room I can't comment on how quickly they were delivered after we checked in.

A towncar or van is great esp if you want personal service and maybe a grocery stop. We do use a towncar service when we stay at the Dolphin and my expereince is that it hasn't been quicker than DME for us.

 

[bradisgoofy]

We used Tiffanytowncars dot com. There were 7 of us so we needed a big van. The driver was at the baggage pick up with a large sign that had my name on it. He was very friendly and polite. Because we had over 14 bags the driver jump right in and helped us take the bags to the van. When I asked about our requested grocery stop he had overheard my DS say he forgot the stroller and offer to take us to the nearest WalMart even though it was out of the way going to SSR. The driver never complained about the extra wait even though it was more then 30 minutes that their website states. When we came out of WalMart he came right out and helped load the groceries and then it was on to SSR. Again at SSR he helped unload everything to bell service. We had the same driver for our return to MCO.


Since then we have used DME, just to save money, and have nothing to complain about.

 

[dnmglenn]

My statement wasnt that ME was terrible just that to that resort. But since I generally stay in another resort my basis may be different than others. The internal bus system in the resort was equally time consuming and therefore made the trip equally unnerving. I am sure I am not the only one who has had a less than enjoyable ME experience.

 

[aubriee]

You will occasionally hear a report of a bad experience with DME taking too long, but those experiences are the exception rather than the rule. I go to WDW several times a year and have been using DME since the first week it was in existence. Yeah, I was one of the original guinea pigs that first week. I've never had a bad experience with DME and highly recommend it. The service is great and it's free. I love not having to deal with my luggage. My average time is usually about 70-80 minutes using it.