One way on Magical Express

[highoctane]

We are going in May with My DW's parent's and we will stay the first half of the trip in their time share and the last half at SSR, will the Magical express take us back or does it have to be RT?

 

[dvcdisney]

No, you can book a one way. Last vacation, we took ME there but had a car and drove ourselves to the airport. Just give them information about departure and not for the arrival.

 

[Kurby]

just courious (because i'm 99% sure we'll be driving down) if we flew down but were staying at 2 resorts during our trip, how do we check out of one resort and move to the next without a car?

do we pack up and take the bus to DTD then get on the bus that is going to our new resort?

or do we have to call a cab to take use over or the ME?

 

[highoctane]

No, you can book a one way. Last vacation, we took ME there but had a car and drove ourselves to the airport. Just give them information about departure and not for the arrival.

Thanks, I will do this.

 

[MLK-RI]

OP - we've taken ME on our departure a couple times now and it was just fine. On our most recent trip they didn't get it correct on the original booking though and sent us luggage tags etc. as if we were using arrival not departure. I simply called MS and they took care of it no problem.

Kurby - you can pack up and use regular Disney Transportation from your 1st resort to DD or any theme park, then switch to the bus going to your second resort. Only caveat is that if you are switching to Beach Club or Boardwalk don't go to Epcot unless you will be using a ticket anyway that day as there is no way to get from the arrival buses/monorail to the boats (or walk) from international gateway to the resorts without going through the park. So if your second resort is one of these 2 choose a different park than Epcot to make the switch.
As for your luggage, it is possible (not sure, someone will hopefully correct) that they will transfer it for you.
Enjoy.

 

[DMKEDM]

Transferring from one resort to another is easy...check out of the first resort and give your luggage to Bell Services...they will transfer your luggage to your new resort (during an "intra-resort time frame"--when we last did it that time frame was from between 1 and 3 in the afternoon)...when you get to your new resort, call their Bell Services and they'll bring your luggage to you (you have to be in your room to receive it -- that's different from Magical Express--you don't have to be in your room for ME to deliver your luggage). There's no charge for the luggage transfer (except for tips to both Bell Services CMs)...

As for getting yourselves from the first resort to the second, you can take a Disney bus to a park or to DTD or to any "hub" that will allow you to catch transportation to your new resort, or you can walk (e.g, it's an easy and very pleasant walk or boat ride from OKW to SSR (or visa versa)...there's also a boat from POR to DTD and then on to SSR and/or OKW)...to go from one resort to the Epcot area w/out going thru DTD, you should take a bus to the STudios (used to be MGM, now it's Hollywood Studios)...it's actually no different than going from your resort to a different resort for a dining reservation...

YOu can also take a cab...last time I took one, it was from SSR to the All Stars (where I met some family for b'fast and it was before the buses started running)...it was $15...

So long as you don't expect the whole transfer to be accomplished in just a few minutes, you'll probably find it easy and painless...

 

[Wedgeh]

Out of interest, what kind of tip would you suggest for bell services? Coming from the UK, it's always really tough to not a) throw my money away and b) not insult anyone!

Tom

 

[DMKEDM]

THe "general practice" here is $1 to $2/bag...at least that's the standard I use...I vary it some, tho...if there's only one or two bags and they're heavy, I'll give a $5 bill...one time we had a total of 12 bags, but 3 of them were Disney plastic bags (souvenirs) and the bell staff wouldn't give them to us to carry ourselves...I "undertipped" that time...I think I gave the CM $10 total...

Hope this helps...

 

[highoctane]

I found this link that might help with tipping all around.

http://www.disneyzone.net/tipping.htm