Disney Magical Express

[KarenG]

I’ve used the “deliver luggage to room” many times when entering Orlando on a domestic flight. It is perfect for that.

Never bothered when flying direct because a) I’d already have collected luggage and gone through customs and b) I don’t want to wait hours to unpack after a long travel day and jet lag.

[Disney Bear]

I might be wrong but I think you have to travel with your luggage - you can’t ask them to pick it up then make your own way to the hotel.

[Andi]

Originally Posted by Clarky

Final question, if you left your luggage but decided to hop in a cab would they still deliver your luggage even though you weren’t on a bus?

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Mmm not sure they would take your luggage if you didn’t go on the ME, although I could be wrong.

I definitely prefer taking my luggage on the ME with me.

[VicStar]

It says on the website:

Luggage Delivery

You have two options:
1. You can pick up your luggage at baggage claim located on Level 2 and bring it with you on the motorcoach. Bell Services can provide assistance to your room upon check-in.
2. You may proceed to Disney's Magical Express and Disney will collect your luggage. You will need to provide your airline baggage claim check numbers to the Disney representatives.

Luggage delivery to your resort room may take up to 3 hours to arrive after you have checked in at the resort. You do not need to be in your room to receive your luggage.

I'm a bit confused by the whole thing We've never used the ME and will be arriving from an indirect flight via Chicago. Will we need to do the double luggage drop or do we bypass that coming in 'domestically' as it were? We land quite late, after 10pm and am not sure what to do - wait ages for the cases then stagger off to bed after check-in at the hotel, or zoom straight for the ME, check-in at hotel but be woken a few hours later by the cases!

[sha9]

Originally Posted by Andi

Mmm not sure they would take your luggage if you didn’t go on the ME, although I could be wrong.

I definitely prefer taking my luggage on the ME with me.

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They will. My parents arrived on a domestic flight from New York. We had booked ME for them to save us collecting them from the airport but after their flight got cancelled and they ended up on a later one we decided to just go and get them. Their luggage had already been collected by Disney and taken to the hotel.

[Nimbus]

Originally Posted by Clarky

Hmmmm so mixed! I wonder if I can book and if we get there and it’s a huge wait we could jump in a taxi instead... obviously tell them and not just leave the bus hanging around!

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You don't actually book onto a specific coach. You just get on the next one going to your resort that comes along when you get there (like you would with a regular bus).

So if you get to the Magical Express area of Orlando Airport and find that it's very busy you can just change your mind and hire a taxi, request an Uber/Lyft, whatever. You don't have to tell them you're not going to use the ME; the bus won't be hanging around for you to get on.

Originally Posted by Claudette

I have never been on the ME. I have always been put off by the potential waiting about and the potential for a painstaking multiple resort drop offs. No, I have never fancied it and have always thought it would be like the package holiday coach transfers in Ibiza from my 20s. DH travelled separately to me last time and he took it, but he didn’t say much about it.

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I've only used ME twice so, y'know, limited experience and all that. However, on the two occasions I have used it we've never waited for very long. Certainly not much longer than you would wait for a taxi. The buses are on a regular schedule so it's not like they have to wait for everyone on a list to get on the bus (like package holiday transfers do). The bus parks up, it waits for a while for whatever people are there to get on, then it goes and is replaced by another bus a few minutes later.

And the ME bus went straight to our resort. This was CBR. There were no multiple resort drop offs. That's not the case for all of them - some are shared (I wouldn't be surprised if the All-Star resorts share a bus). But there are only usually 2 or 3 drop off at most. There are around a dozen lines at the ME area of MCO, each going to a different resort (or couple of resorts) and each being serviced by a different set of buses.

That said, I often use airport transfers when holidaying in Europe and don't usually find them to be an issue. The ME is usually quicker than these though.

[dumbomum]

We had a bad experience, after a delay at Gatwick and a long wait for our luggage. The queue for the bus was huge with multiple lanes depending on the hotel you were staying at. I don't mind a queue provided I know roughly how long the wait is. Other people were boarding for their buses for their hotels but ours took over an hour. With two small kids, this year we are paying for a private transfer. $100 all in and worth every cent for us. I am booked on the Disney express back to the airport.

[YLL]

As far as I'm aware, Disney will not collect luggage for you if you're on an international flight. So don't hop on the Magical Express without yours if you're flying direct from the UK!

In terms of queues, I have not waited more than 10-15 mins in May and September.

[tinytots]

Anyone know what MDE would be like mid July ? Queue wise.

[liz2206]

We have used ME for the last four years and we have never waited more than 10 minutes to get on a bus. We go at the end of August and have been to a variety of different hotels.
It I’d definitely part of the holiday and the kids love the Disney trivia.