Anyone use Magical Express?

[Metalfan]

Planning a trip for my girlfriend and I in september (yes I know it's a ways away) and wanted opinions on this service for anyone who has used it. We thought about renting a car but I love Disney transportation and we likely won't be leaving property much anyway. I thought we might use a cab once to run to the store or to a dinner offsite if we decide to do that but that's maybe $40 total where renting a car is a lot more and the car will sit there for 6 days out of our 7 day trip. It just didn't make much financial sense to me. So, is this service good? Any suggestions? Thanks!

[Epcotmaniac]

I stayed at the Pop Century for two weeks in 2010 and I did not have a car. I used the Magical Express to get from the airport to the resort and back to the airport when I left. I had absolutely no problems. I guess I just had to wait for 30 minutes at the airport for the bus to the resorts. Everything I needed I got at the Pop Store like shower gel. I once went to the supermarket which was close to Downtown Disney and it was a 15 minutes walk. I am not sure if the supermarket still exist. I once heard that it closed. I would do it again.

[Metalfan]

Thanks for the response! Honestly it seems like the best option so that we don't have to deal with a car. I don't think we'll need to go anywhere. Worst case we can walk from DTD across the street from property to go to Goodings and pick up some stuff. But really, the stores sell chips and stuff and honestly I don't think we'll spend much time in the hotel anyway. This will be my first trip not driving myself so it will be a new experience.

[Soarin08]

My mom uses it when she visits. She flys in and takes the DME all on her own and she absolutely loves it. Plus she has always had fantastic luck with the luggage delivery service they provide.

[Metalfan]

Yea it seems one thing I hear people complain about is not having their bags for up to 3 hours or sometimes even more after they check in. I guess that's an issue if you fly in late, but I think we're flying in early in the morning. When we get to Disney we'll probably be heading right to a park after we check in so I don't think it will be much of an issue at all. But good to hear positive reviews! It seems so simple.

[MmeLeota]

We've only used it once and it went smoothly for us...and we'd have no problem using it again.
I think even if you wanted to rent a car to go somewhere offsite, you could always just do a daily rental. This way you don't have to worry about the car sitting there for the week. I'm not sure where the car rental locations are on property or if there is one located at each resort, but that could be an option.

Can anyone shed some light on a 1 day car rental from Disney property?

[acp]

I've used it twice to get from the airport to Pop Century, and had no problems whatsoever (I don't rent a car because American roads scare the hell out of me - Learn to drive on the correct side of the road, silly Americans! ). Both times, I've had to wait at the airport no more than five minutes before being whisked away to WDW.

It's worth bearing in mind that you don't have to give your bags to Disney to deliver if you don't want. I've always kept it with me and taken it on the bus with me. There's plenty of space under the bus for putting your luggage if you don't want to wait for it to go through Disney's delivery system.

(Because I'm coming in from outside the US, Disney don't provide me with luggage tags to deliver my luggage to the resort (since I've got to go through customs etc), but do say that I can give my bags back to the airport for delivery. I just pick my luggage up as normal and take it with me. I see no reason why you couldn't just not use the tags Disney give you and take your luggage yourself anyway.)

[Metalfan]

Well not just American roads, but as someone who lived in Orlando for 8 years I can understand no one wanting to drive there! When me and my girlfriend drove down a few weeks ago I got there and was like, oh no here we go again lol.

The luggage tags, whats on them and I'm guessing you need to use them and write what resort, etc?

[Amy]

....I don't rent a car because American roads scare the hell out of me - Learn to drive on the correct side of the road, silly Americans!...

We've used the Magical Express several times and it always has gone smoothly for us Metalfan. We take whatever we absolutely have to have with us in our carry-on anyhow, so we don't mind not having our luggage for awhile. And much like you are planning, we fly in as early as we can and hit the parks running as soon as we check in. That way we can go right from the airplane to the Magical Express line without having to deal with the baggage carousel. We generally only have to wait 30 -45 minutes for the bus, but that all depends on the luck of the draw ~ when your plane lands and when the next ME arrives.
The luggage tags DME provides are already printed with your resort and a bar code, much like the tags they put on your luggage at the airport. All you have to do is attach them to your luggage handles and you are good to go. And since the whole operation is FREE, you can't beat the price!
You might check into renting a car for the day like MmeLeota suggested. I don't know if it would be cheaper than a taxi ride or not, but it very well could be. The taxi services are so expensive! I had to take a taxi for one of my tours as it began before the parks opened and it cost about $20 to get from the All Stars resort to the Contemporary. Maybe that isn't all that expensive, but to a little country mouse like me, that seemed like a small fortune! I know a few of the people here have rented a car on property and I think they did it at one of the deluxe resorts.
Here is a link I found that details where you can rent a car on WDW property ~ http://www.mousesavers.com/how-to-rent- ... ney-world/ Hope that helps a bit

[horizons1]

The DME is operated by Mears Transportation, which is the dominant shuttle, taxi and bus service in Orlando. Before DME, Mears operated a similar service that you had to pay for. Disney made it magical with the baggage transfers, on board video to get you into the mood, and of course, making it free.

The only downside for using the service is booking the return trip to the airport. They are ultra-conservative on the times, telling you you must leave the resort 3 hours before departure. 2 is plenty in most cases, especially if you only have carry-ons, so I guess in that case you could tell the, your flight leaves an hour later than it actually does. I prefer to maximize my last day at Disney.

MmeLeota, you asked about 1-day car rentals on property. I haven't used the official Disney locations for that, but several nearby off-property locations will do inexpensive 1-day rentals and they will pick you up at your resort. hertz did that for me.

Regarding renting a car for the whole trip vs taking DME, I prefer a car for the reason of controlling my time to the max as described above. A local agency, L&M, has DIRT CHEAP daily prices. They are in the airport (not offsite, no shuttle). Plus they usually have links to coupons on their website. I know they look cheesy and somewhat fly-by-night but I used them a couple of times and it was always fine. In fact, i did a one way rental picking up in TPA and returning in MCO and they didn't charge any extra fees.

[Metalfan]

Amy, thanks for the link and I'll check it out! The only thing I can really think of us needing the car for is that Universal is opening a new ride this summer and one of my best friends works there and wants us to go there for a day. So it's something we might have to check it out on. Outside of that I think we can get everything we need at the hotel or before we leave.

Horizons1 the 3 hour thing really works for me. I hate flying. It's my biggest fear so I usually head to the airport at least 2.5 hours before my flight so I can relax and just get into the flying mood. I think we're gonna be looking at leaving here at 8 am and leaving Orlando close to 10 pm. So we should be able to do a lot before we have to leave.

After talking with her and reading everything I really think we're gonna do Magical Express and not worry about a car. IF we need to take a cab somewhere it'll be what it is!

[Amy]

Amy, thanks for the link and I'll check it out! The only thing I can really think of us needing the car for is that Universal is opening a new ride this summer and one of my best friends works there and wants us to go there for a day. So it's something we might have to check it out on. Outside of that I think we can get everything we need at the hotel or before we leave.

Horizons1 the 3 hour thing really works for me. I hate flying. It's my biggest fear so I usually head to the airport at least 2.5 hours before my flight so I can relax and just get into the flying mood. I think we're gonna be looking at leaving here at 8 am and leaving Orlando close to 10 pm. So we should be able to do a lot before we have to leave.

After talking with her and reading everything I really think we're gonna do Magical Express and not worry about a car. IF we need to take a cab somewhere it'll be what it is!

Maybe your friend can pick you up for the day at Universal? That would be nice!

[theBIGyowski]

DW and I always use DME just because it frees us up to get to the parks ASAP. If you arrive earlier in the day, you most likely don't have a room ready, which means bell services will have your bags. So it's not like you are missing out on something special if your bags aren't with you when you check in.

As far as renting a car...DW and I rented a car on our last trip...but we just rented it for a day (and night). We did this for a few reasons. One was so we could go to church down there without paying $30 in cabs back and forth. The other reason was so we could drive over to Walmart to stock up on water/snacks/adult beverages. The money we saved by going to Walmart versus paying for the same things on Disney property saved us around $150. Smart Water is what they have on Disney property...and it costs $3.50 per bottle. We got it for $1 per bottle...and bought 24 of them to use throughout our trip. We saved $60 right there on water. We bought a 12-pack of beer for $13.99 I think...and compare that to paying around $7.50 per bottle on Disney property...we saved $76. Now throw in snacks and bagels and all that fun stuff...and we've saved $150. I can guarantee you we more than made up what it cost to rent a car for a day.

[cy1229]

The Disney portion of our last trip ended on a Friday, and we rented a car to drive to Cocoa Beach for the weekend before flying home on Sunday. We picked it up at the Hilton across from DTD and dropped it at the Orlando airport. I don't remember exactly the cost, but it was in the neighborhood of $120 for the whole weekend. They gave us a Hyundai Santa Fe, which was more than big enough for the 4 of us and our bags. My nephew wanted to ride with us. Walking over to the Hilton was pretty easy, too.

DME is so stress-free. Worst part is standing in line waiting for the bus because I'm always so anxious to JUST GET THERE ALREADY! Patience isn't my strength. But it's nice to just sit back, relax, and not deal with traffic, exit numbers, etc. I'm very independent, and having a car at my disposal is always high on my list of priorities, but the exception is when I'm at Disney because I can get where I want, when I want, with little or no fuss.

As a side note, I would HIGHLY recommend ending a Disney trip with a day on the beach. Aaaahhhhhhhh so relaxing.

[Metalfan]

Amy, yea I'm going to talk to him and see what he'll be doing that day. See if he can take the day off or pick us up before he leaves for work and just drive us up there. Worst case if we need to just take a cab back it's only half the price! Or we could do the fun thing and hop on a hotel shuttle and shuttle to a hotel closer to Disney and then cab from there! I know it's wrong, but you gotta do what you gotta do!

theBigGyoski That's something we were considering but really, we're not gonna be spending so much time in the hotel that it's gonna cost us a ton to buy stuff. There's 2 of us and we'll be at the parks, DTD, Boardwalk, Water Parks (maybe), mini golf, etc. We'll be in the hotel to relax before bed and go to sleep. We'll be getting the mugs and we'll likely grab 2-3 2 Liters of Soda and some other stuff. We could also pack our little water purifier jug if we want better water to drink. We've done it before. And also, we can grab some chips to snack on. I don't think we'll need to head to walmart but again, I'll talk to my buddy and see what he can do for us too. I might be able to get him to stop by a walmart and pick up some stuff we need and bring it to the hotel. He lives right down 192 from Disney.

cy1229, yea that could be my biggest issue! Waiting and waiting for the bus! I hope that we're in the group that arrives right before the bus gets there and we can get on it. I know Orlando like the back of my hand but driving from the airport to property after a flight early in the morning is probably not something I really would want to do!

As for the beach, well I am not a fan. I grew up in Fort Lauderdale and then moved to Orlando. I've been gone from FL for less than a year. Going to the beach isn't something I really see the need to do lol. If needed I can always take a weekend here and drive to the beach!