Opted Out of Magical Express

[MomLC]

Well after reading all of the comments about the ME I decided to use a town car service instead. It seems like Disney still has a lot of kinks to iron out of this free service. I was amazed how some people had to wait almost 6 hours for their luggage to reach their room and how it took some almost 2 hours to reach their hotel. I will be traveling with my 3yr DD and 68yr mom and I do not want to start off my vacation looking like this I want to step off the plane, know my luggage is safe and in hand, get into a car and reach the hotel ASAP, check-in and look like this . So thanks to all of you who responded so quickly to the ME service and for all of your feed back. I feel much better about my decision and spending the extra $.

 

[needmyears]

Same here. We just decided last night to get a towncar for our early June trip. We were really excited for DME, but I just don't want any problems. It's an expense we would have had to incur anyway if we would have gone a month ago. I think it may be worth the money to just get to the hotel and back again to the airport in a timely manner and with no worries. I bet as the program gets more into a groove it'll be a great service.

 

[Alaska DogCat]

We're ditching the ME after hearing the bad reviews. After talking to the ME folks on the phone about the lack of luggage tags, I wasn't inspired to believe they could actually get my DW and I to our hotel along with our luggage without hassle. It's worth the cost of a towncar to avoid the inconvenience.

 

[*Fantasia*]

I just booked the DME service yesterday. But at the same time, I have a rental car reservation already. We don't go until June 21, and hopefully by this time all the kinks are ironed out. If not, then I still have my rental car.

I just don't understand why the tags are not going out or not on time. I guess Disney was not prepared to take on this service, but yet they have advertisements on this some time ago.

There is no excuse why the luggages were taking 5 hours to get to their resorts. I don't care if it's their first day of service. They should have thought it all out, the "what ifs"...and have strategies. Poor service. Yes, it's FREE...that's great... BUT not if you have to wait a loooong time to get to your resort and then wait 5 hours for your bags to get there. It's nerve wrecking to imagine where your bags are and if they got all your bags or maybe one is left behind at the airport.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

There are good reasons and bad reasons to use a towncar service instead of Magical Express.

The good reasons include the personal service, privacy, grocery stop, and sense of luxury that you get with a towncar service.

But I would consider it a bad resaon if someone opts for a towncar only because of the startup problems that Magical Express had -- tags not mailed, flight info dropped from the computer system, check-in at Welcome Center taking too long because guests did not receive packets, time-consuming manual luggage processing due to problems with scanner-based system, Disney CM and subcontractor inexperience, drivers making wrong turns, and delayed luggage at resorts.

Yes the problems were real, but none of them are permanent. The startup problems should not have been so numerous and severe. The problems reflect poorly on Disney. But there's no reason to believe that the startup problems indicate the Magical Express will never mail out luggage tags in a timely manner or have a properly functioning computer system.

Even when Magical Express runs as it's supposed to, it will never be as good as a private towncar. But I'm sure Magical Express will soon be an excellent service for anyone who doesn't mind travelling on a shared motor coach that will potentially make several stops. Magical Express will be much better than the old Mears service, especially due to the "magical" luggage transfers.

 

[MikeyMcG]

We decided to book a town car also since we were meeting family at a specific time and didn't want to risk any delay.
We leave tomorrow morning (5/14) and wouldn't you know it, the fedex package arrived last night.

Our friends left this morning and are using DME, they got their package yesterday also.

UPDATE: They called from the bus at 10:15am after getting off the plane at 9:45am. No problems at all....

 

[goofy4tink]

Well, we're still using DME in a month. I can't see why people can't figure out why the big deal with the luggage tags. Disney could not get them printed too far in advance due to the 'personalization' of them so to speak. So, when the ones that did get printed for those early trips came back wrong, there just wouldn't be enough time to get new ones printed for those traveling on 5/5. And then they had to figure out which pieces of luggage go where, by eye. No tags with bar codes means extra time finding and disbursing the bags.
I'm seeing a lot of people posting now that have had good experiences with DME. THere are a lot more people posting that they are getting their tags in time. We all knew there would be kinks...of course, no one thought those kinks would be quite so massive!!! But, now they seem to be shaking out. I will be happy to ride a bus, with people going to one of maybe 4 other resorts, for no charge. WIll it be the same as when I have had a driver standing there with my name on a card and then driving off in my private towncar? No, of course not. But, since I'll be saving that $150, I'm happy. I'm on vacation and don't want to bother with a rental car yet. I'm happy to let those purple-panted wonders drive me around. Even my public transit phobic dh is happy with the bus system and is looking forward to trying DME.

So, if you are not comfortable with DME, by all means, use a private service. Or rent a car. But, it looks like things are going okay at this point. Of course, there will be a huge snafu on June 17...just you watch. Then I'll be singing a whole different song!!!

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Our friends left this morning and are using DME, they got their package yesterday also.

UPDATE: They called from the bus at 10:15am after getting off the plane at 9:45am. No problems at all....

Great! It's good to hear new that Magical Express is starting to work as it's supposed to.