The good, the bad, and the ugly.....

[Honeymooners1021]

Alright everyone cough it up I need to know what you know about Disneys Magical Express. We are flying in via Delta and I just want some feedback.
Basically I just want to know what to expect no suprises!

 

[kmjmom]

We used ME last summer and it worked quite smoothly. Our luggage arrived shortly after we entered our room. We'll be using it again in just forty days for our next trip! Can't wait. Have a great trip!

 

[CleveRocks]

There are MANY DME threads around. Plus there are at least three "Stickies" at the top of the Transportation Forum that will answer MANY MANY of your questions. If you have any specific questions, many of us just love to talk on and on about DME.

Basically, its success speaks for itself. DME was meant to be around for the "Happiest Celebration in Earth" which ends this fall. It's been extended (and will remain FREE) through 2011. If it weren't a great system with literally MILLIONS of happy and satisfied users, it wouldn't still be around.

 

[skyscanr]

It works great but like anything else if your ina value get ready for a wait in line

 

[kaytieeldr]

I'm not sure I understand the comment about waiting in line...
Every DME user waits in line to check in, and again for their bus to arrive - doesn't matter which resort your staying at or how much you paid for your room.
Every Guest waits in line at their respective resorts to check in, doesn't matter which resort you're staying at or how much you paid for your room. The length of each line/wait depends how many people on that bus are staying at the same resort as you, how quickly you get off the bus and into the lobby, how many CMs are available to register Guests... if, for example, five parties from a given bus are staying at Pop Century, five parties at CBR and twelve parties at AKL, the twelfth party will not only be in line longer than any of the other 21 groups - but the Pop Guests will probably already be in their rooms by the time the last AKL party registers.

 

[dbarker]

I'm not sure I understand the comment about waiting in line...
Every DME user waits in line to check in, and again for their bus to arrive - doesn't matter which resort your staying at or how much you paid for your room.
Every Guest waits in line at their respective resorts to check in, doesn't matter which resort you're staying at or how much you paid for your room. The length of each line/wait depends how many people on that bus are staying at the same resort as you, how quickly you get off the bus and into the lobby, how many CMs are available to register Guests... if, for example, five parties from a given bus are staying at Pop Century, five parties at CBR and twelve parties at AKL, the twelfth party will not only be in line longer than any of the other 21 groups - but the Pop Guests will probably already be in their rooms by the time the last AKL party registers.

I think (and I may be wrong) that she meant the value of DME, not a Value Resort. (Just guessing a typ-o).

 

[n2mm]

Sept. 05: My daughter flew in to meet us at Pop Century and was at the resort in less than 45 minutes after landing. It was at 8:00AM and she said only a couple of people were on the bus. She did not use the luggage service and just had a carryon. It worked fine for her. (We drove her back to the airport, so she did not use it for her home flight).


Dec. 05: My other daughter and family used DME and said NEVER again. They were meeting us at the AKL. She had an afternoon flight. Landing at 5:00PM and did not get to the AKL until 8:45PM. Her luggage actually arrived before they did. She said the lines were huge, the CMs were slow and unorganized. And she was the last stop on the bus, after all three of the A/S. She used the luggage service. We took them back to the airport in our minivan for the flight home.

So our family is 50-50. I have one daughter who said she would use it again and the other daughter said no way--never--she is a dedicated car rental person now! DME changed her life. BTW--she did tell the CMs at the front desk at AKL about her horrible experience and they said it's unpredicatable and mornings seem to do better than evenings.

We always rent a car when we visit, so we have no plans to ever use DME ourselves. But do think it's a good option, as long as you don't have high expectations....the price is affordable!

 

[kaytieeldr]

Dec. 05: My other daughter ... said she was the last stop on the bus, after all three of the A/S. She used the luggage service. We took them back to the airport in our minivan for the flight home.

This is the only part of n2mm's post that I'm going to try to defend/explain (because overall her daughter did have an unusually long and annoying experience!), and I'm doing it for the education of readers who haven't used the service yet.
DME buses transport and drop passengers at up to four resorts. There are NO absolute routes, which resorts' Guests each bus carries depends on need and, to a degree, geography. The DME bus generally stops at its resort closest to the airport, then next closest, then next closest, then (if there are pax for four properties) the furthest. Based on this policy, Animal Kingdom Lodge would always be last, unless the driver bypassed one or more of the other resorts and went there first or second (and it does happen).

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

She had an afternoon flight. Landing at 5:00PM and did not get to the AKL until 8:45PM.

There's something I don't understand here. I can't see how Disney's Magical Express can take 3 hours and 45 minutes — even if the queue is backed up at the DME Welcome Center, the guest just missed a motorcoach to AKL, and AKL was the final stop.

My guess is that if DME takes more than 2 hours, there are factors involved beyond the control of DME — such as a delayed flight arrival, or guests who eat a meal at the airport before heading to the DME Welcome Center, or guests who wait at baggage claim to retrieve their luggage instead of using the yellow tags (or some combination of these).

Typical time from the arrival gate to the resort seems to run around 70 minutes — plus or minus 15 minutes — from the arrival gate to the resort. (This assumes the guest is using the yellow luggage tags, and goes directly from the arrival gate to the DME Welcome Center.)

The reviews of Disney's Magical Express on this board have been overwhelmingly positive. There have been occasional problems — just as there are occasional problems with towncar services and rental car companies.

The biggest "problem" with Disney's Magical Express is that some guests fail to read that they should bring a carry-on bag with anything they need right away, and that there's no reason to wait in the room for luggage delivery. Guests have complained that they had to wait in the room for several hours for luggage delivery because their shorts were in their checked luggage. Next time, they should read their Magical Express packet.

 

[tjmw2727]

I have to chime in and say the one bad experience I had with DME was for a stay at AKL. Our flight landed at 8:35pm and we were checking into AKL at midnight. We waited a LONG time in the lines at MCO and even the DME CM"s didn't know what was going on. Then when we were finally loaded on the bus the driver waited until he had an almost full bus, we were the third of three stops with one other family, this was in October 05.

FF to April 06 when we had a great experience with DME for a stay at BWI. We landed at 1:00pm and were checking in by 2:30pm.

I am planning on trying DME one more time in September!

TJ

 

[JerJan]

No problems with DME if you don't mind waiting for your luggage! We just always pick it up from the carousel ourselves and put it under the bus...then we don't have to worry about it.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

No problems with DME if you don't mind waiting for your luggage! We just always pick it up from the carousel ourselves and put it under the bus...then we don't have to worry about it.

That's one option.

The negative aspects of picking up your own luggage include:

• Having to go to baggage claim and wait for your luggage.
• Having to haul luggage through the airport.
• Arriving later at your resort because you'll typically be on a later motorcoach.
• Tipping the DME driver and the resort bell staff for luggage assistance. (If you use DME as designed, Disney covers the bell service gratuity.)
• Having to deal with your luggage at the resort if your room is not ready.

Some of us think the best part of Magical Express is having your luggage "magically appear" in your room while you're out having fun.

 

[seashoreCM]

Major traffic problem on the way and buses were caught up? I pity those on their way back to the airport!

What time did you get to the welcoming area?

Problem with the scanning of vouchers at the welcoming area and relaying of the information to the baggage handlers? --- I would say that if this should occur they should just keep on going, pretending to scan the vouchers at the welcoming area and summarily transport all the baggage with yellow DME tags. --- Except if some travelers who love to leave old tags all over their baggage on subsequent trips, theirs will be taken out of the airport too and spirited away to parts unknown (WDW) which by lay standards is an act of theft.

 

[n2mm]

There's something I don't understand here. I can't see how Disney's Magical Express can take 3 hours and 45 minutes — even if the queue is backed up at the DME Welcome Center, the guest just missed a motorcoach to AKL, and AKL was the final stop.

No, my daughter said she went straight to the terminal A and got in an extremely long line to check in. She said it took forever. She had used her luggage tags and her luggage was at the AKL waiting for her, so she didn't even stop for luggage pickup. She is a veteran of WDW as my hubby was a CM then so we all are frequent visitors, so she knows her way around MCO. She found DME to be completely disorganized. No sense in trying to blame this one on her and her family as we already had a member of our family use this several months before and it worked well. Face it, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I think it's a nice perk for guest to use. Not us.

 

[seashoreCM]

Perhaps if there is a problem with the buses the welcoming area will stop checking people in from the single welcoming center line thus keeping the multiple bus lines from becoming too disorganized (?)

 

[JerJan]

Some of us think the best part of Magical Express is having your luggage "magically appear" in your room while you're out having fun.

__________________
** Horace Horsecollar **

In a perfect world that's GREAT!!!! But in our uses of DME because we always arrive after 8:00 PM and we are traveling with 2 DD's 6 & 14. Our luggage has never gotten to our room in less than 4 hours!! We don't want to wait up for it and I want it there when I wake up!

 

[goofy4tink]

I've used it three times now. First time to BWV in June '05...worked quite well. We were at the resort checking in about 65 minutes after deplaning. In Aug.'05, again, it was about 70 mins to POP, we were the first stop. The lines were longish at the airport, but still it didn't take more than 10 minutes to get through it. Then, in mid-May '06, I used it once again to POP...took closer to 2 hrs that time. AKL was the first, then CBR, then POP. Seemed to be on that bus forever!!! Again, the lines were longish at MCO but through them again in 10 minutes. I haven't had a long wait in the bus line yet..no more than 5 minutes so far. Same with timing once on the bus..no more than a 10 min. wait.
I will say that I tend to arrive late morning, so that could have something to do with my decent experieinces. I'll be using it again in Oct but using a towncar service in Dec...DME won't get me to the Dolphin...at least not for free and since I'm sharing with 2 others, it will be cheap.

No, DME isn't perfect. But, for the most part it works pretty effectively.