what would you do? early AM dept flight

[DawnAK]

I am finally in the process of booking our January trip. I booked our airline tickets yesterday and an 8:30am flight departing Orlando was the best (and pretty much) only option for us on Alaska Airlines.

We planned on using Magical Express to/from the POP Century. So, now the question is...do we get up at 4am to be ready for pick up at 5ish. Or, should we check out the night before and find a hotel close to MCO? We are travelling with our 2 yr old son and will have a llooonnnggg day on the way home. We will travel for 15 hours to get home. The first flight is MCO to Seattle...6 hours no stops! Ugh.

Thanks for any advice you may have. If the best option is to check out the night before and find an airport hotel. How would that work with ME? Would we just tell them a phony flight to get to the airport then take a shuttle to an area hotel?

Thanks, Dawn

 

[sjanus]

Hi Dawn,

That's a tough one. It has been since 2007 since we stayed at Disney and used the Magical Express. As I recall, you have to have your suitcases down to the desk ahead of time, but I thought when you got off the bus at the airport you took your suitcases with you and checked them in yourself at the airport, at least we flew on Southwest and I think that's the way we did it for that airline. But I recall there was somewhat a different procedure depending on which airline you were on??? So I would first check on that.

If you would decide to stay at the airport, maybe ahead of time, find out if they will work with you on it. Disney is usually pretty accommodating especially if they know you have a little one and a long trip ahead of you.

If you can buy yourself another hour or so in the morning, it might make the world of difference for your little one. The other thing is just to let your little one sleep in until the last minute and just take him in his pajamas. You can always dress him in the restroom at the airport!

Transitioning to another hotel though can also be stressful, as you will have to check out 11:00 or 12:00 and still have the day ahead of you, whereas, you can have the room still available for a nap, break, etc. Then you have to pack up, unpack somewhat, pack up again. So, what you gain in the extra hour you may lose here.

It probably would be less complication overall to just get up a little earlier. Honestly, you'll have to be at the airport by 6:30 a.m. for an 8:30 a.m. flight adn will have to be off by 6:00 a.m. on the Shuttle from a nearby hotel anyway and the Magical Express does make it easier for you. They may even have an opportunity for you to get your boarding pass ahead of time at the hotel concierge, packing up your suitcases for you and then just receiving them at the airport, but not sure may even be an option that you give them your flight number and they just have them put on the plane. Like I said, it has been a couple of years since we utilized the service.

But, overall, make some calls and check out with your airline what the procedure is, then you will better know which way to go.

Our children are grown now, but we travelled with two small grandchildren in 2007, ages 1 and 3 at the time, and the Magical Express made it easy for us getting to the airport and taking our baggage ahead of time, etc.

Anyway, I don't know if I helped any! Just trying to work through the process with you and let us know what you decide! January will be a great time to do Disney. We'll be there ourselves, but staying in our villa near Disney. We plan on doing Disney for two days though and are looking forward to it!

Sandy

 

[EastonCat]

I've never used Magical express, but you can contact them for advice. You will want to make sure that you don't lose track of your bags.

We travelled with a 1 and 4 year old on our last trip. We moved to the Airport Marriott the night before and it made a huge difference in the morning. We got the girls bathed and fed (room service for simplicity) early and in bed. The relatively tame surroundings helped reduce the hyper factor and they crashed. We got up early, packed the small bag that had our overnight stuff, and hopped on the shuttle with little ceremony or stress. With the exception that I left the boarding passes in our room and had to go back up and grab them.

We plan to use this step-down approach for any morning flight in the future.

 

[KayR]

Many a time I have had to get up at 4am for a long flight either to or from Orlando, and with little ones in tow!

Personally with a long a days travel, I think that we are all going to be tired anyway so I tend not to move to a hotel closer to the airport. Its only a 30 minute drive to MCO. I would rather not have to pack twice and I kind of feel that we loose a day of our vacation if we leave our main accommodations early (consider what time you would have to check out by). My kids tend to sleep on the planes if they are tired.

If it were more than perhaps an hour-ish to the airport, I would then consider moving closer for a night prior.

HTH

-Kay

 

[DawnAK]

thank you for the suggestions and shared experience. I didn't even consider the fact that we would have to check out of POP late-morning and would be "homeless" all day and then still have to get to an airport hotel late that evening. I guess we will just suck it up and get up at 4:30am! I better be one organized momma the night before!

Thanks again!
Dawn

 

[AnnetteF]

We did the same thing last year, but our DD was four at the time. We had an early flight out of MCO. We had taken Magical Express on the way in, but we decided to leave the night before and go to the airport hotel.

We actually spent our full day at the Magic Kingdom like we planned and stayed until after dark. Then we took our bus back to OKW where they had stored all our luggage for us when we checked out earlier that day. We got our luggage and had them get us a cab (we didn't want to be subject to ME's schedule for our last day) to the airport hotel. I packed our stuff so that everything we needed to pull out that night was in one little bag for the 3 of us. The next morning we were able to sleep later than we would have if we'd been taking ME and it was so relaxed to already be there. Of course, your son would have to nap in his stroller that last day, but unless that's a big problem I would highly recommend going to the airport hotel the night before. Also, our flight was only going to NY so we didn't even have the long travel day coming up like you will.

Yes, it cost us a little more money, but we thought it was so worth it. I was also very relaxed on our last day because my packing was already done and we were still on our own schedule, as far as we could stay in the parks as late as we wanted .

 

[CFedor1]

We have stayed at the Hyatt that is right in the airport on several occasions where we had an early morning flight. You simply take the elevator down in the morning and you are at the ticket counter and/or security screening. MCO is lots of fun -- great shopping and restaurants. The pool for the Hyatt is on the roof and you can see planes taking off. The restaurant in the Hyatt is very good too. When we stay there, we think of it as a fun way to end the vacation. The AAA rate is often reasonable for the convenience.

 

[patelaine1953]

You can book Magical Express. They will send you the luggage tags for your luggage. I was told to put them on anyway even though we were travelling Southwest. The tags tell the baggage handlers at MCO where to put your luggage. It really doesn't have anything to do with the airline on the way to Disney. It's the return trip where you will have to check you luggage in at your airline by yourself (unless the airline is one of those participating in Disney's program). We don't have anywhere near as long a flight from Boston, MA or Providence, RI as you have. We always book one of the first flights out since it gives us practically the whole day at Disney (even though we don't officially check in until 4). Last trip (Sept.) we arrived at Kidani Village at about 1 pm and the room was all ready. Love that online check in!!!!!!

 

[seashoreCM]

There is nothing special or unusual about checking out on such and such a day, taking Magical Express back to the airport that evening, and staying in a hotel there before flying out the next morning.

Pick a flight, any flight, any airline leaving at about the time you want to be back at the airport. You might not have to give the DME reservationist this information but if on that day he only works with whole numbers (flight numbers) as opposed to two numbers separated by a colon (times), this bogus flight number will come in handy.

>>> ... different procedure ...

For all airlines you may bring your bags to the DME bus and at the airport take your bags to a skycap or up to the ticket counter. For a few airlines you can check bags at your resort Some limitations such as times apply.

Disney hints: http://www.cockam.com/magicx.htm