What *is* Magical Express?

[mom2jake]

I get the impression that it is a shuttle from Orlando International Airport to the resorts

How much does it cost?

Do you need reservations?

any other info that you are willing to share would be helpful.

TIA

Kim

 

[hugsquared]

First off, I'm not sure why this got moved from the transportation board to the resort board but here goes.
Disney Magical Express is a bus service from Orlando's airport to your Disney resort. You must be a resort guest, not staying off site. The transportation is free and there have been lots of opinions (good and bad) about the timeliness and such...but IMHO, free is free. You need to let Disney know when your flight will be in (date, time, airline) and they need this information no later than 10 days before you arrive. They ideally will send you luggage tags that will identify your luggage as disney bound. You get off the plane, check in, get on your assigned bus and on your way. They locate you baggage and deliver it to your hotel usually within about 4 hours from what I've read. When you're ready to leave, the bus takes you back to the airport. Selected airlines have resort check in so before you head back to the airport, you can check your luggage in your resort lobby and they take care of everything for you. Some of the other airline who don't participate don't have this and you just take your luggage with you and check it in at the airport when you get there. This sounds all jumbled right now but I work nights and I'm still kind of sleepy. But this is the jist.

 

[CleveRocks]

Everything said above is correct. I'll just reword it a bit.

Disney's Magical Express (DME) is a new FREE service that just started in May. Before DME, you had to pay to get from the Orlando airport (MCO) to your Disney resort (you paid a shuttle bus company, or a limo company, a cab company, or you rented a car). DME is a free bus ride AND luggage handling. It's ONLY for people staying at Disney hotels. Wording can be confusing -- Disney calls its hotels "resorts," but if you're like me the first time I saw something referring to a Disney "resort" I incorrectly figured it was talking about a theme park.

Anyway, in addition to being FREE, the main perk of DME is after you check in your luggage at your home airport, you won't see it again until it "magically" appears in your resort room a few hours after your flight lands at MCO. After your flight arrives, you don't go to baggage claim, Instead, you go to the DIsney Welcome Center, which is just a fancy phrase for the DME counter. You check in, get bus vouchers, and they tell you where to get in line for your bus. You'll be on a bus with people staying at up to 3 other resorts. The buses are air conditioned, plushly upholstered, and have TV screens for an entertaining WDW infomercial.

When it's time to get back to the airport, some people (who fly a "participating" airline) will get to check their luggage at their resort rather than at the airport; they won't see it again until the arrive back at their home airport, and they also get to get their boarding passes actually at the hotel, which speeds things up at the airport. For the rest of us on "non-participating" airlines, you just have the DME driver load your suitcases into the bus's cargo hold when the bus arrives at your resort. In both cases, everyone gets a free ride back to the airport.

It's actually a very simple system once you know how it works. I've read VERY few complaints from people who've actually used it, but I've read lots of fear and rumor-spreading by people who've never used it. All I know is, you'd expect a new system to be shaky at the beginning and then get better with experience, right? Well, I used DME on its 4th day of operation, May 8, and it took me all of 53 minutes from the time I first got in the DME line until I was dropped off at my resort. I was pleased.

-- Eric

 

[mom2jake]

Thanks, guys! I am new here and just beginning to plan a trip in Dec. of 2008 (is that a record for longest range planning? )

Wow! FREE shuttle from the airport to resort and back?!? AWESOME!!

Kim

 

[Mears_Driver]

Thanks, guys! I am new here and just beginning to plan a trip in Dec. of 2008 (is that a record for longest range planning? )

Wow! FREE shuttle from the airport to resort and back?!? AWESOME!!

Kim

Well, you need to know that this service will be around for sure during the next 18 months but after that it's future is unknown.