Tell me a bout magical express

[a_hobden]

Hi guys

looking for views, opinions and experiences with Magical express, Im in 2 minds as to weather or not I should rent a car for our May trip, I have used towncar services before but never M.E so any info would be great

 

[Mrs Stonfiesta]

We have used them on all our trips and its great, we always take our own bags so its really just a transfer to the hotel (the magical bit used to be that you disnt see you luggage until it arrived in your room but we have never done this bit) but we love the disney feel of it and never waited more than 10 mins for the coach to leave for the hotel and as its free can def reccomend it

 

[match]

We have done the All Stars route on two trips now. Haven't waited long in the airport for the bus and it did drop at all 3 All Stars but we were too excited to mind. We keep our luggage with us so we can go to bed as soon as we get to the hotel if we like instead of getting it delivered later. Pick up times are quite early going back but better safe than sorry. We never have a car so the ME is great for us though we are good friends/fans with Disney transport generally.

 

[Strawberry's mom&dad]

We have used them.
It is great. Check in our luggage at airport, arrive in Orlando, walk to ME get on bus relax and ride to resort. Luggage shows up in room.
Going back- they pick you up about 3 hours before your flight.( for a domestic flight) for us 3:20pm pick up for a 6:10pm flight.

We use them every time we go.

 

[VailaTigger]

Have used it many times and love it!

Have learned to take our luggage with us though, and not use the Disney delivery service. Lovely idea, but it can take around 2 hours for your luggage to find you once you've got to your resort...

 

[a_hobden]

Sounds good so far! can someone explain exactly how it works so that im clear lol. Also how many resorts does the bus go to, I'll be staying at OKW.

 

[Dave_uk]

We used DMA on our last trip we stayed at PORS and it is very very easy. After you get through immigration you take the monorail to the other side. Once there you want the bottom floor you go all the way to the far side past all the car rental desks.

At the far end you will find the DME check in. Here you check in with some lovely cast members they tell you what lane you need. There are a number of roped off lanes which take you to a number of different busses each bus serves a number of hotels close to each other. You follow your lane until you reach the end. Wait for you bus, once on the bus a nice video is played and the bus takes you to your resort. I would say OKW would be one of the first drop offs due to its location but it may be different.

If you return using DME the day before we got a little envelope hanging on our door telling us what time the bus would pick us up. You wait for the bus at the hotel lobby and it returns you to the airport.

Its all very easy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&list=PL2C30D2845ABEA04A&v=BLOytzQJCcs
Skip to about 7:30mins

 

[a_hobden]

cheers dave, seems very very easy, just 1 last thing, whats the deal with bags etc... how does this work and what are the options, and last but not least how do you book it?

 

[Elise79]

Magical Express Booking

They used to post you special luggage labels to attach to your suitcases so they would be collected from behind the scenes and then transferred to your resort. They no longer send the tags to the UK so when you check in for ME you can provide your baggage receipts from the airline and they will go find your bags and transfer them to the resort.

Personally I would rather take them on the coach as they can take up to 4 hours to be delivered.

We are using ME to the resort for the first time in Feb so we can have a drink on the plane We will then hire a car the next day.

 

[Dave_uk]

Quick question about DME. We will be getting a car hire for the first 6 days so wont need DME to resort but would like it back to the hotel. Can we book this at the resort once we arive.

Thanks all

 

[diberry]

That's really helpful, thank you. We are due to go in just under 5 weeks and I was beginning to worry that we hadn't received our luggage tags yet. Now I know what we have to do when we get there.

 

[starrysky]

Quick question about DME. We will be getting a car hire for the first 6 days so wont need DME to resort but would like it back to the hotel. Can we book this at the resort once we arive.

Thanks all

I have always understood that you need to take it both there ande back, I do know of people who have used it just to the hotel and never taken it back to the airport as they have taken the hire car or used a taxi to get back.

We love the DME its a great service and its free. We always take our bags as like pps have said it can take so long to get your bags and we just like to check into the resort and unpack. To us its just easier to do that than to wait for them.

We stayed at OKW last year and it was the first stop, on our trips before it was the first one on the way to POR and POFQ so it must stay to a fairly simillar route.

 

[westgrove]

I too a have a question abou this please,

I've called to arrange my ME to and from the airport and they took my flight numbers only, I assume this is to track when to expect you as it would be more accurate than giving a time if the flight is delayed etc?

Also, I booked my flight through continental but it is operated by virgin who is a partner company of continental. I was given a flight number but the CM I spoke to couldnt find it and also didnt seem to grasp the concept of booking a flight through an operator that was not virgin. I found what I presume is the same flight on the viring website (same destination and time etc) and wrote down the virgin flight number which I'll give them next time I call.

I suppose what I'm getting at is does anyone have any experience with this kind of problem and am I better to leave my flight number or the flight number!

 

[Kim84]

Magical Express has been hassle free for us when we have used it, all run very well. Still like a car though but handy to pick it up within WDW rather than out of the airport after so much travel time and already feeling tired..