Recent Experiences with Magical Express?

[pearland1]

Hi,
Any advice on Magical Express?
Is it a good service? How are your experiences? I am assuming so...we'll be using this service after flying into Florida, but it will be late at night (10:30-ish PM).
Also, am I right that they do not allow car seats?
Thanks!

 

[CleveRocks]

Hi,
Any advice on Magical Express?
Is it a good service? How are your experiences? I am assuming so...we'll be using this service after flying into Florida, but it will be late at night (10:30-ish PM).
Also, am I right that they do not allow car seats?
Thanks!

DME has apparently been an overwhelming success. Over 3.5 million people have used it so far. When it began, it was scheduled to end this fall, but it's since been extended (and kept free) through at least 2011.

The average reported time from landing to resort drop-off is 70 minutes.

I used it once, loved it, and will be using it again in November.

 

[CleveRocks]

I forgot to address the car seat issue. No seat belts = no way to secure a car seat. DME buses, like almost all buses in the world, do not have seat belts, thus you can't use your car seat. If you are taking a car seat for the airplane, then the driver will stow it under the bus for you and return it to you when you arrive at your resort.

If riding a bus without a car seat concerns you, then your only option is to rent a car. If you got a car service or taxi to take you to your WDW resort, your problem would be that you wouldn't be comfortable using Disney Transport buses to get to the theme parks. So unless you are staying at a monorail resort AND will be going only to Magic Kingdom and Epcot, you'd be stranded without a rental car.

Mty wife and I are huge safety fanatics, but have no problem with our little kids riding buses without car seats. Buses are fundamentally different from cars and SUVs.

 

[Stacy's a freak]

Ditto to CleveRocks - I used it last year for my post-thanksgiving trip and had no problems. I took other's advice and packed my immediate needs in my carry on. I was at my resort about 60 minutes after landing, checked in, dropped my carryon in the room and headed out to the parks. I got back around 4 hours later and found my luggage safely in the room.
I was VERY happy with the service and I would have even paid for it!

 

[MousekaMaddi]

have been to WDW 20 times and used ME for the first time last week, flawless!
Easy to find in the airport, funny driver, no line whatsoever(course it was Sept so very low crowds everywhere)and great clean busses. Arrived at resort 40 min after disembarking plane!
Picked up by ME at 4am for our trip home........uggh, we werent happy but driver was! even friendly at 4 am! Great service. I realize WDW wants to keep guests on property and with no rental cars so we wont eat or "play" elsewhere, but they get my vote, its easy free and great! I will be a "kept woman" any day LOL

 

[aubriee]

I used it May '05, Sept '05, Dec '05, Jan '06, and May '06 and have yet to have a problem. I'm using it again this Friday (Sept 22nd) and can't wait. So far I've arrived at my resort about an hour after landing at MCO and my bags have always been in my room when I returned from the parks, so I don't really know exactly how long it takes for the luggage to arrive.

No car seats on buses.

 

[goofy4tink]

I've used DME about 3-4 times now and I love it. Even my dh who is not a public transportation type person enjoys it!!! But, the one thing I would be tempted to do is this....I wouldn't put the yellow tags on the checked bags. I would just check the bags as usual and then go to baggage claim, the old fashioned way, and grab them myself at this late hour. If you are arriving at MCO around 10:30ish, you won't be getting to your resort until close to midnight...no way of telling when your bags might arrive. Could be soon after midnight, could be 2 am, or not until the next morning. I would take the time to get them myself, have them put underneath the bus I was traveling on and arrive at my resort with everything I needed, rather than wait.

 

[tmt martins]

used it twice with no problems at all.

We are now soley using ME and picking up a rental at either a DTD or the CCC locations from now on. You can cut a full day off your rental this way and it's eaier to fill with gas for the return.

 

[clkelley]

used it twice with no problems at all.

We are now soley using ME and picking up a rental at either a DTD or the CCC locations from now on. You can cut a full day off your rental this way and it's eaier to fill with gas for the return.

But if you are using ME to get to Disney why would you need a rental once you arrive????

 

[CleveRocks]

But if you are using ME to get to Disney why would you need a rental once you arrive????

While I have NO desire to do this, I realize that many other people enjoy going to locations outside of the WDW cocoon.

 

[cybrkitn]

But if you are using ME to get to Disney why would you need a rental once you arrive????

I can see that. Some families may want to visit other places outside of Disney. We are renting a car 10/27-10/29 so that we can take our DS to Medieval Times on the 27th and Sea World on the 28th (trick-or-treating there as well as MNSHP).

Most of the rental places we checked out were a bit on the pricey side for us. Except for Enterprise; they were the cheapest. They have a place right by Disney and will pick us up at Pop. We used our Entertainment Card to get a discount on the car rental and are paying about $24 a day instead of $31-$34 a day.

 

[tmt martins]

But if you are using ME to get to Disney why would you need a rental once you arrive????

Yes we also like the idea of being able to jump in the car for a quick trip mid-day to the waterpark or to another resort for an ADR.

We also use the grocery store as DD needs different milk then we can get on-sight . Disney will get it for us and we could use one of the delivery services but by then it's about the same as getting a car for a few days and gong on my time not waiting for someone.

We are using Enterprise as well for our Oct trip but we got a $17 perday for a standadr for a few of our days so you can't beat that.