Tragical Express, So Far Not Inspiring Confidence

[bgt2005]

Gearing up for a late July WDW trip, yeah!

On Friday, we got our Tragical Express booklet in the mail. 2 problems:

1. Our arrival information was completely wrong.
2. We received transportation vouchers only for the return to the airport, not the initial trip from the airport to the resort.

We called Disney and corrected the inaccurate arrival information and the very nice CM said everything would be taken care of, although I have to admit I am not full of confidence in the system. Sidebar: I almost called it the Tragical Express on the phone, LOL!!

However, I forgot to ask about the transportation vouchers. Do we only need one set?

And have others had similar issues with inaccurate arrival information? And if so, did things work out?

I'm starting to think it's worth it to pony-up a few bucks for a town car to know I'll be at the WL within a few minutes of landing WITH my bags and get my Disney vacation off to a stress-free start.

 

[krismom]

The vouchers for the return trip are the same you use for the trip from the airport to your resort. They stamp the back I think. We just got back and the magical express worked just fine.

 

[dopeys biggest fan]

Don't waste the money for a town car, you will be fine.

When you get off the plane and out of the gate look for the people with the mickey hands and they will tell you where to go. Go check in at the desk and everything will be taken care of. When we went, we never got anything in the mail before hand and were absolutely fine. There are so many people using this service at the same time there are always buses available to take you where you need to go. We arrived at MCO at about 11 am, checked in at the desk and waited about 10 minutes on the bus before we left. Got to our hotel at around noon, checked in to our room and headed to the parks. When we got back to our room around 6 our bags were in our room waiting for us! It was awesome! The only thing I should have done that I didn't was put my bathing suit in my carry on, b/c I really wanted to jump in the pool when we got to AKL! When you pack your carryon just put in everything you will need to survive the day without your bags. That way you can check in and start your vacation and when you get back to your room you'll be all set!

Seriously, don't worry about not getting the vouchers or the incorrect flight info, you need to check in anyway at MCO so it doesn't matter. Have fun!!

 

[lovethattink]

I think you'll find the ME personnel at the airport to be very helpful and things will go smoothly.

 

[Oldironsides]

My brother was a late add on, a suprise trip on leave from Iraq. He ended up on the the same flight as us, but he did not have a travel voucher. When we checked in at the ME desk, we were given totally new vouchers that were good for return trip as well. Any wrong information can be corrected as well. All in all I was highly impressed with the service. We arrived at MCO at 1pm, at the ME desk by 1:15 on the bus by 1:30 and at the WL @ 2:10. WE had our swim suits in a carry on, and went for a dip, and as we were walking back to the room we passed our luggage at about 4:30. The return trip was great too. Checke in luggage and got boarding passes at the WL and luggage was there to meet us our home airport.

 

[Skroops]

How great that your brother joined you! It made tears come to my eyes. Glad you had a great trip!

 

[Oldironsides]

My parents were the suprised ones. I arranged the whole thing with him and kept it a secret until I brought him over to their house the night before. It took him three days to get home. He left Camp Taji by helicopter, and went to Baghdad Airport. He said that the helicopter sensors sensed something and it started shooting flares. From Baghdad he flew to Kuwait, then he had to wait until the next night to fly to Germany. The following night he flew to Altanta. The next morning he flew from Atlanta to Newark, NJ. He was standing there waiting at the gate and a Delta pilot asked him if he's like to trade tickets. It turns out he gave him his first class seat. I then met him at the airport and we left for Disney the next day. We had a truly magical vacation in every regard. I learned so much on this board that our trip was flawless.

 

[fran99999]

If you are worried about your bags arriving just dont use the tags at your home airport and go pick them up yourself and bring to ME bus with you. As for the inaccurate info on your ME passes: mine said I was leaving 3 days prior to my actual departure ( I was staying on points at DVC). I just made a 5 minute call to ME when I got to WL and no problem. You do use the same vouchers for your return trip they stamp them at the airport ME desk when U arrive. You then go wait for your bus to arrive, have your luggage put under the bus and off you go. NO PROBLEM. and FREE!!!

Ok they dont help you put your bags under the bus, OH yes they do. They dont take them out OH yes they do. and bell services will take them right at the bus at the hotel.

When leaving you go to the desk at bell services and drop off your bags or call them to come get from your room and they go in a bin that looks amazing like the kind the airlines use to transfer bags. they are separated by airlines and when full which is pretty fast from my May trip. Off they go. I belive they are picked up on a set schedule as a big truck arrived and off mine went about 5 hours before I left for the airport.

Again NO problems.

 

[aubriee]

I'm another happy user of DME. I used it May 13th-May 22nd and had no problems. I didn't get my booklet until just a few days before I left, which made me kind of nervous. You only get one travel voucher in the booklet. They will stamp it when you check in at the DME desk and you'll show it to the bus driver both when you get on at the airport and again for the return trip to the airport. Because the resort knows how many people are coming in they know how many staff to have on duty for check-in, which makes check-in a breeze. I understand the people that use DME will also have rooms assigned prior to arrival. I know in my case my room was ready at check-in (which was before lunch), so I just dropped off my carry-on bag and went to the park for lunch. When I returned that evening my bag was waiting for me in the room. Checkout was also a breeze. I took my bags down early checking both and getting my boarding pass, then went to the park for a character breakfast, returning just in time to get on the DME bus. Having no luggage I then just walked straight to my gate. My bags (which I hadn't seen or dealt with since giving them to the DME guy early that morning) were waiting for me that evening in Dallas.

 

[CleveRocks]

I'm starting to think it's worth it to pony-up a few bucks for a town car to know I'll be at the WL within a few minutes of landing WITH my bags and get my Disney vacation off to a stress-free start.

Then just do it. You have to be comfortable with your decision, and if using Disney's Magical Express makes you so nervous, don't be so cheap! Spend your money for peace of mind.

I loved DME. I used it on its 4th day of operations, May 8 (and return to MCO May 14), and I had nothing but positive experiences; I got to CBR 53 minutes after I first got in the line at the DME counter. But I went into it with a positive attitude. I can't imagine about to begin a vacation with the anger and resentment that bgt2005 seems to have. It's not worth the money. I had $120 extra to spend on my kids. Bgt2005 should spend that money on a towncar service so he/she can enjoy vacation rather than be tense and miserable.

-- Eric

 

[seashoreCM]

Hints:

1. Get the name of each person you talked to when making or confirming reservations before your trip. Then your Tragical Express booklet (do not deface it) you received for this trip, with whatever it contains or does not contain, is good for transport of your family on DME from the airport to Disney when you get to Orlando.

2. You can add people (staying in your room) or change your departure time or change your departing resort, etc. for your DME return trip, at any time including after you get to the resort and before the day of departure. We recommend getting return vouchers and a bus time as soon as possible although sometimes they are not given out until the day before you return home.

More hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/magicx.htm