no magical express to orlando/sanford

[cara loves the poly]

Just to let you know it cost us $130.00 to take a taxi from the Polynesian to Orlando/Sanford airport. We should have used Mears, a towncar would have only been $95.00! No one at Polynesian Concierge told us we could not use magical express.

 

[Kae]

Sorry everthing I read says Orlando Int Airport. And I know part of the deal with MCO was that Disney could not offer the service from any other airport.

Kae

 

[grimley1968]

I'm sorry it cost that much to taxi there, but it IS pretty far from WDW to Sanford. The lack of volume at Sanford compared to MCO is the overwhelming reason there is no ME from Sanford. I would never have expected that service there to begin with. I've always assumed that it was only offered at MCO.

 

[goofy4tink]

Just to let you know it cost us $130.00 to take a taxi from the Polynesian to Orlando/Sanford airport. We should have used Mears, a towncar would have only been $95.00! No one at Polynesian Concierge told us we could not use magical express.

Where did you get the impression it was available at Sanford? Did you fly into Sanford or MCO? If you flew into Sanford, how did you get to WDW?? Just curious. I flew in to Sanford back in '01...really liked the airport but it did cost us $200 to get 6 of us to WDW roundtrip!

 

[ducklite]

OK, I'm confused. When you book with WDW, you are told about ME and asked if you want to use it. If you tell them yes, you are sent "tags." You are asked specifics about your flights. If this happened and you got tags, someone should have caught the error at ME, not the IPO.

Are you saying that you told the IPO you were flying into Sanford and planned on taking ME? If so, they should have told you that ME doesn't service Sanford.

Or did you just assume that you could take ME, and are now trying to pass the blame on your error?

Anne

 

[zurgswife]

HOw did you get to the Poly in the first place?

I can't belive that nobody told you when you make your ressie that it was only into orlando. All the literature you recieve after making your reservation says Orlando International Airport.

 

[cara loves the poly]

Before we left I let the Poly concierge know (over the phone) that we would use magical express on our way home, flight time and info. including airport. O.k. all taken care of. We flew into Orlando Sanford on March 31, rented a minivan to spend 3 days in Ft. Myers. On Monday April 3, drove to Disney and dropped the van off at the car care center. The night before we left April 9, (left on April 10) their was a magical express envelope that said we were unable to retieve your information. So I took it to the concierge desk and that's when we found out. We had no idea how far the airport was either. Now we do! Not really that big of a deal, but just one of those little things you wish you could have planned for sooner instead of feeling kind of pressured at the last minute w/o knowing the area.

 

[cara loves the poly]

Also I guess I'm just saying go ahead and use Mears! LOL

 

[cara loves the poly]

Ducklite, we did receive our tags. Again, not really that big of a deal to us, just letting anyone else who may not realize it be aware. If we didn't realize it I'm sure someone else may not. I guess I just assumed everything is handled through concierge, we had an ADR mix-up too. They emailed me they made a change of date I had requested but in reality cancelled both. We discovered this when we received our itinerary upon check in.

 

[cara loves the poly]

I'm sorry it cost that much to taxi there, but it IS pretty far from WDW to Sanford. The lack of volume at Sanford compared to MCO is the overwhelming reason there is no ME from Sanford. I would never have expected that service there to begin with. I've always assumed that it was only offered at MCO.

We had no idea it was so far away, we gave Poly concierge our info and that was that. Nothing was said to us. We are not farmiliar w/ Florida.

 

[cara loves the poly]

OK, I'm confused. When you book with WDW, you are told about ME and asked if you want to use it. If you tell them yes, you are sent "tags." You are asked specifics about your flights. If this happened and you got tags, someone should have caught the error at ME, not the IPO.

Are you saying that you told the IPO you were flying into Sanford and planned on taking ME? If so, they should have told you that ME doesn't service Sanford.

Or did you just assume that you could take ME, and are now trying to pass the blame on your error?

Anne

When we made our origianal package ressie, Magical Express was not offered, I relayed through Poly concierge we would like to use it a couple of weeks before our trip. I can't remember if our tags came before or after that conversation. But they came!

 

[zurgswife]

Before we left I let the Poly concierge know (over the phone) that we would use magical express on our way home, flight time and info. including airport. O.k. all taken care of. We flew into Orlando Sanford on March 31, rented a minivan to spend 3 days in Ft. Myers. On Monday April 3, drove to Disney and dropped the van off at the car care center. The night before we left April 9, (left on April 10) their was a magical express envelope that said we were unable to retieve your information. So I took it to the concierge desk and that's when we found out. We had no idea how far the airport was either. Now we do! Not really that big of a deal, but just one of those little things you wish you could have planned for sooner instead of feeling kind of pressured at the last minute w/o knowing the area.

That must of been very frustrating....sorry that you had such a mixup with concierge...they should have known the minute they saw the airport. shame on them..

 

[cara loves the poly]

Oh gosh no! We still had a MAGICAL time!!!! Not a big deal! Just a little bug! Thanks for your reply. I did post on another thread that you do have to do some work on your own even staying concierge. This just kind of proves that.

 

[ducklite]

When we made our origianal package ressie, Magical Express was not offered, I relayed through Poly concierge we would like to use it a couple of weeks before our trip. I can't remember if our tags came before or after that conversation. But they came!

The concierge really blew it. If they knew you were going to sanford, they never should have told you they would arrange it, and DME never should have sent you tags.

Anne

 

[bicker]

Part of the requirements imposed on Disney by the state agencies to gain their approval to continue Magical Express was that Disney would continue not to offer Magical Express at Sanford.

 

[Allison]

In case it helps anyone for future trips, we were able to rent a van for one day to get from Sanford to WDW (returning it on property) for only $38.

 

[cara loves the poly]

That's why I posted this! LOL Thanks Allison!

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Part of the requirements imposed on Disney by the state agencies to gain their approval to continue Magical Express was that Disney would continue not to offer Magical Express at Sanford.

Just to clarify...

One of the terms of the new, March 2006 agreement (for 2007 through 2011) is that Disney is not allowed to establish a transportation and baggage service similar to Magical Express at any airports within 100 miles of Orlando International.

That's not due to state agencies. It was one of the terms that Orlando International Airport wanted.

 

[bicker]

Okay, thanks. I thought I read that it was the airport authority that imposed that restriction. (Or is it that in Florida, the airport authority isn't a state agency?)

 

[goofy4tink]

Thanks for the explanation Cara. I do remember another thread on the Resorts board about Polynesian Concierge being a bit less than stellar lately. Seems to be just another example. Sorry you had to suffer the consequences. They should have told you when you first asked about DME to Sanford that you couldn't use it. They really dropped the ball on this one.
Yes, everyone should do a little homework on their end, but there comes a point when Disney (or their agent, in this case concierge) should tell you the actual facts.
I'm glad it wasn't a vacation ruiner. And again, sorry it had to happen at all.