Another Magical Express Question

[Halleysmom]

Can you only use Magical Express on your flight's arrival and departure days? I will be renting a car my first couple days in Florida because I will be attending a Memorial service. Then I will be going to Disney for the last couple days of my trip. I wont need the car while I am in Disney so would it be possible to drop the car off at the rental car place at the airport and take Magical Express to Disney?

 

[DisneyJoe]

There are rental places on Disney property at the Swan/Dolphin and the MK Car Care Center - why don't you see if you can return the car there?

Does the day you stop needing the car coincide with the first day of your Disney resort stay? If so, you can use Magical Express from the airport on that day.

 

[mickeysshoes]

I would check in at your resort and drop your bags then drop the car at the Swan then hop a bus to a park. Then you can use ME for the trip back to MCO.

 

[Rob562]

To answer the OP's question, you do not need to be arriving on a flight at MCO to use Magical Express to get from MCO to your Disney hotel on your check-in day. Some people arrive late in the day and stay at a budget hotel near the airport before going to their WDW resort.

To book the Arrival portion of DME, it'd be best to call DME directly (I don't have the number handy, but can come back tonight and provide it, if necessary), rather than try and go through Disney Central Reservations. CRO sometimes has problems working with anything out of the ordinary like this. But the DME office is used to requests like this one.

The one thing you *won't* be able to do is use the luggage delivery service. So if you get the yellow tags in the mail, just throw them away. There's no way to get your bags into the Disney baggage system without arriving on a flight that day. You'll have to bring your lugagge with you on the DME bus.


After all that's said, I agree with the other posters that said you should at least look into dropping your car off on Disney property. Alamo and National are the most convenient, as both have counters on-property that you can arrange to drop your car off (at the Car Care Center and the Dolphin). After checking into your hotel and dropping off your lugagge, you can drop your car off. If you drop it at the Dolphin and don't need to talk to anyone about any car/billing issues, you just leave it with the valet out front of the hotel. From there you can walk to Studios or Epcot, or bus to one of the other parks. At the CCC, they can arrange for a van to bring you back to your hotel or to one of the theme parks.

Some other major rental companies have desks at the hotels on hotel Plaza blvd near Downtown Disney.

-Rob

 

[CleveRocks]

Resort guests (with a DME reservation) are entitled to get a ride from the airport to their resort on or after their resort check-in day, and they are entitled to get a ride from their resort to the airport on or before their check-out day.

AND, you don't need to fly in or fly out on the days you get the rides. The DME rides are tied into your resort reservations and not your flights. To put it another way, Disney doesn't care when you fliy in or fly out ... they don't even care if you fly at all. It's just that they'll only give you a ride during your resort stay itself and not in the days before or the days after.

When you actually fly is none of their concern.

The direct number for DME is 866-599-0951.