Can anyone tell me please if there is an order or list that the Magical Express uses when they drop guest off at their hotel from the airport? I'm staying at the Carribean Beach and will be with my two year old and Husband after flying in from LAX on a 5 hour flight. I'm wondering if it's just easier to get off at the first hotel they stop at and take resort buses back to our hotel? (Hope that makes sence?) What do you think? Thanks for your help!
All the info above is good, I'll just repackage it a bit ....
There is no pre-set order of resort drop-offs, and no pre-set groupings of resorts on buses. It is a dynamic situation. At 10 a.m. today someone going to CBR might get off at the first stop and the bus might go on to the Port Orleans resorts from there. At Noon today someone going to CBR might be the second stop after first stopping at Pop Century. There's no predicting -- it's all based on reservations and traffic flow. This makes for the most efficient system possible. As much as possible, they try to group the resorts on any single bus by geography, but sometimes that's not the most efficient way to do it. Since reservations are required, they know approximately how many people will be arriving at what time to go to which resorts.
Each stop is very quick, less than 5 minutes; each DME bus is dedicated to either pick-ups or drop-offs, so it's not like there will be an ebb and flow of people, or getting things slowed down by the driver loading luggage into the bus and then people having to find seats, etc.
If you got off at the first resort, you'd have to wait for a Disney Transport bus to go to a theme park or Downtown Disney, since there are no buses that go directly from one resort to another. So you could wait 20 minutes to go from, say, Pop Century to Epcot. Then ride for 5 minutes, then walk to the CBR bus stop, then wait up to another 20 minutes for a CBR bus, and then the 5 minute ride from Epcot to CBR. So that process could take you up to one hour, versus the 10 or 15 minutes it would take for the DME bus to make a couple stops before yours.
The average reported time from deplaning to resort drop-off is 70 minutes. The one time I went to CBR, it was 63 minutes from aircraft to lobby, and we happened to be the first stop. A car service or a rental car could not consistently beat that kind of time. The time savings with ME comes from not having to wait at baggage claim.
Expect your bags to be delivered to your room about 3 hours after you arrive at your resort. You don't have to sit around and wait for them -- they will be brought inside whether you're there or not. Well-stocked carry-ons are a smart way to travel anytime, but with DME they are a must.
Please post back with any other DME questions.
ENJOY!
