Tell me about Disney's Magical Express

[MELSMICE]

We have always rented a car & have one booked for a trip for just DH & I in a few weeks, however, we are now wondering about the Magical Express.

First of all, could we even book it this close to our trip? We leave on October 14.

Second, are there certain times the "Express" runs from MCO & back to MCO? I think our return flight is around 4 p.m. Would we need to get on a bus at 10 a.m. or something like that?

Are there different "Expresses" that go to different resorts or is it just one bus that stops at all the resorts?

About how long does it take to get your luggage once you arrive at your resort? We arrive in the morning. We are usually non-carry-on people, but if I'm not going to get my luggage for the entire day we may do just carry on.

Any info - good & bad - you can give me would be appreciated.

 

[helenk]

It is not too late to use ME, call WDW now and make your reservations, you may not get your tags in time, but if you search the boards you'll see posts about what other's did w/o having the tags.
The buses do not have a set schedule leaving MCO, as soon as a bus is full off they go. Generally there are 3 or 4 resorts that are included on each run.
Going back to MCO you are picked up aprox 3 hours before your flight, this is because other resorts are included in the pick up, You are not dropped off at the airline's gate but rather at a kind of central location for lack of a better word. It depends on your airline, but you are dropped off at concourse A or B and then you need to got to airline's gate and check in.
I'm not sure how long it takes to get your luggage, as I checked my carry on with luggage services and went straight to the parks. I did pack my bathing suit etc in my carryon just in case though. When I came back to my room around 5 my luggage was there.

 

[CarolRN]

It shouldn't be to late to get Magical Express. I was told by a CM that even if you do not get the yellow ME tags all you have to do is give the ME desk at MCO your baggage claims numbers and they will pull those bags for you. I am leaving Monday so I don't have first hand experience yet but have been told by many people to pack what you may need soon after arriving in your carry on. You are supposed to allow 4 hours for your luggage to arrive before you inquire. I have also heard horror stories of people not getting luggage for 12+ hours but were given clothing credit to buy clothes at a on site shop. I don't know, I've heard good and bad. There's no way to please everyone and since it's not a perfect world things will happen. Hope all goes well with your trip.