Transportation from the airport

[alliemanningsc]

If we don't book our flight with our Travel Agent....how can we arrange for transportation to our hotel?
TIA
Allie

 

[disneymomof6]

if you are staying at a disney resort... give them a call and set up the Magical Express transportation....

If you are staying offsite.... we have always used Mears when we werent at a disney resort.... always more then happy with them also. www.mearstransportation.com.

good luck!!

 

[alliemanningsc]

Do you know how much the magical express is? Just trying to compare the price for driving to florida verses flying and all the expenses that go along with each.

 

[Tamis3girls]

Magical express is a free service provided by Disney as long as you are staying at a Disney resort. All you have to do is call Disney, along with your confirmation # for your resort and they will need your flight #'s and arrival times. It works great.

Tami

 

[alliemanningsc]

Oh...that's great. Because the last two time was have went to disney we had to pay for mears shuttle...even though we were staying on disney property.
Thanks,
allie

 

[NoKatMom]

If you are unable to use the magical express and have to pay for Mears I would suggest a towncar service. You loose lots of time w/Mears because they pick up and deliver to multiple resorts and have to wait until the bus is full before leaving. We have used a towncar service and for a family of four it was about $100 round trip. This is very similar in price to Mears. The benefit is there is a driver that meets you at the airport holding one of those signs w/your name on it. He is responsible for you only. Some of the services also offer a free 30 minute grocery stop so you could pick up snacks, ets. Then when it is time to go back to the airport, they pick you up about 2 hrs prior to flight and again, they are only responsible for you so no others stops.

 

[alliemanningsc]

Do you have a name of one of these agencies with the limo or towncar service?

Thanks,
allie

 

[3doglovr]

We use a car service every time we travel to Orlando. Our preference is Legend Transportation. They give us the same driver every time and he remembers our little guy. They supply a booster seat for him so we don't have to worry about it. I love the fact that he handles our luggage for us and we sometimes take advantage of the grocery stop as well when going to Disney. Saves us a lot on breakfasts and snacks! The cost last time was $100round trip for a town car. Their phone number is: 800-995-5476.
I have friends that use other car services and they are happy as well.
We rode the Mears bus once when going to Disney and after being in a plane several hours we didn't appreciate all of the extra stops the bus made and all of the noise from everyone on the bus. Our guy at Legend gets us there so much quicker and quieter!

 

[hezreck]

We have always had GREAT service from Tiffany Town Car service. Always on time and very friendly. It costs about $90-$95 for a round trip for 4. There is a $5 off coupon on their website if you book online. Make sure you print it and take it with you.

 

[CleveRocks]

Disney's Magical Express is free. Only those staying at a Disney owned-and-operated resort can use it. It's not only a bus ride, but also a free automatic luggage transfer. You get special tags sent to you at home. You put them on your suitcases. When you land at Orlando, you save time and totally skip baggage claim, go right to the DME Welcome Center to then get on your bus. Your suitcases will be delivered to the inside of your resort room a few hours later, whether you are in there or not (you don't have to sit around and wait for them).

The reported average time from plane landing to DME drop-off at resort is 70 minutes. This is about the same time as a car service takes. DME buses make no more than 4 total stops, but 4 is rare and 3 is much more common. Your stop may be first, second, etc. No way to know in advance.

The time trade-off, the reason that either DME or car service is about the same, is that with car service you have to wait at baggage claim, then wait for the driver to retrieve the car from the garage, while with DME you skip baggage claim but have to (usually) wait for your bus to leave. The DME standard is that once a passenger boards a bus that bus should leave in no more than 15 minutes. This is VERY different from the old Mears system, where buses might wait a very long time until they filled up, and then made any number of stops. DME is run totally differently.

I've used it twice and loved it each time. The first time it was 63 minutes plane to drop off, and the second time it was only 56 minutes. Oh, and did I mention it's free?!

Car services are a great option if you want a private ride and personalized service. But if you're like me and don't mind sharing a ride with others as long as it's just as fast, then DME is a good option.

 

[all4fun]

If we don't book our flight with our Travel Agent....how can we arrange for transportation to our hotel?
TIA
Allie

Mousesavers is a great resource for this kind of thing. Here's a link to the DME info on their site (already mentioned by other posters). Only certain Disney properties offer this service (ie The Swan and Dolphin are on property but are not included in this service). So it really depends on where exactly you are staying if you can take advantage of this.

http://www.mousesavers.com/magicalexpress.html

and on that page are also links to towncar & rental car companies if you decide to go that route.

Before DME, we would just arrange for a rental car ourselves. DH could usually find good codes off of Mousesavers.

The last two trips we've used DME and on our last trip we rented a car for a couple of days during our trip from one of the on property rental car companies. The nice thing about that is - no airport fees.

Hth!!

 

[turning40withMickey]

Any suggestions for transportation for flights landing in Sanford? The rates are great, and the teacher rate at the Swan sealed the deal. We are coming in August, to celebrate my own birthday!