Early Magical Express

[Llamaface]

I have a departing flight from Orlando at 6:15am. Is Magical Express going to be able to get me to the airport early enough to get through security, etc in time?

What are my alternatives? Am I going to have to rent a car on my last day just so I can make it to the airport on time?

I'm starting to wonder about cancelling my last night hotel stay and take the last Magical Express to the airport the night before. Too extreme?

 

[disneygirl1]

No, they should get you there in time... They typically pick up 3 hours prior to departure. We have a 730a flight home next month!

 

[betteratmk]

No worries, we've taken them for early flights, no problem!!

 

[Llamaface]

I could have sworn I read somewhere that they only start up at 5am, hence my concern.

 

[jlmct52]

Below is what the Disney site states in regard to Disney Magical Express.

Luggage delivery service provided by Disney's Magical Express is available for flights arriving between 5:00 am and 10:00 pm daily. For airport arrivals after 10:00 pm, Guests may collect their luggage at Baggage Claim and transport it with them on the motor coach.

No where does it state the operating hours for the buses themselves....just the available times for the luggage service.

 

[Mukta]

My Mom flew out early on our trip last year.
The night before, they gave her the boarding pass.
She decided to use her bag as a carry on and gave me all of her liquids for my bag. They picked her up 2 hours early (I guess they didn't have as many pick-ups that early). She made it through security in plenty of time.

 

[mousefan1972]

I could have sworn I read somewhere that they only start up at 5am, hence my concern.

That would be the resort check in service, which is open 5 am to 1 pm daily. The ME buses run 24/7. Your pick up will be at approximately 3:15 am.

 

[Llamaface]

Eeeesh. Thanks guys...I guess. Too bad EMH wouldn't go that late at the end of August or I might have just cancelled the last nights room and marathoned it through at a park until DME pick-up.

 

[erstwo]

Yes, you might as well marathon it! We had a 7:15 departure two years ago, and were picked up at 5:15 (AT the bus stop at 5 am mind you!) We were at the airport by 5:45 and had to kill TWO HOURS (our flight was a little late) with 2 cranky kids. Booooo......!!!!!


But, we survived and so shall you! Have a great one!

 

[cabihler]

magic express people can get a little funny

i have used magic express many times and i love it. here is how i have tried to use ME in the past.

during fall/winter trips when i use magic express park hours are usually over early so then i would go back to my room and rest/sleep and get up about 430am to use ME..... in the summer or holiday times when the parks are open late what i typically do is what you asked; i would check out of the resort in the am and store my bags in luggage then would stay in the parks until the wee hours of the morning and go back to the resort to wait a couple of hours for ME to pick me up.....

but here is the rub. you typically have to argue with ME to do this. WHY??? well its because ME typically says that its service for taking you to the airport is for the day that you check out of your room. when i would explain to the ME person on the phone that i will be in the park till past 2 am and by the time i get back to my resort it will be almost 3am so it makes NO SENSE for me to have to pay for a room for less than 1 1/2 hours.... well they usually tell me that i am not entitled to use ME then. after about 15 minutes going back and forth with them they have always in the past approved my using ME this way.

its one of the quirky ways that disney runs some things

 

[Llamaface]

Yes I was thinking they'd have something to say about checking out a "day" earlier.

At any rate I looked into EMH on my departure day and it only runs until 10pm so I think I'll keep the room on that last night. At least I don't have to rent a car just to get to the airport.

Thanks all for your input.

 

[CleveRocks]

i will be in the park till past 2 am and by the time i get back to my resort it will be almost 3am so it makes NO SENSE for me to have to pay for a room for less than 1 1/2 hours....
its one of the quirky ways that disney runs some things

I'm not arguing with you ... I'm glad you found a way to make things work for you!

But what I'm comnmenting on is that I hardly find it quirky or silly that you'd pay for a room for "less than 1 1/2 hours." From Disney's perspective, you're not using it for 1.5 hours if you leave at 3:30 a.m. You're using it for 16.5 hours, since check-out time is 11 a.m. the day before.

 

[cabihler]

good point except

I'm not arguing with you ... I'm glad you found a way to make things work for you!

But what I'm comnmenting on is that I hardly find it quirky or silly that you'd pay for a room for "less than 1 1/2 hours." From Disney's perspective, you're not using it for 1.5 hours if you leave at 3:30 a.m. You're using it for 16.5 hours, since check-out time is 11 a.m. the day before.

no offense taken and your point would be dead on EXCEPT FOR....

after you check out of your resort for the day the exsisting Disney policy is that you have FULL access to all of disney parks as long as you have a ticket including Extra Magic Hours and most especially the Disney Dining Plan as long as you have credits available. Furthermore, if you wanted to go to the park for the entire day and then use the Magical Express returning to the airport before midnight then Disney is perfectly fine with that even though you are not paying for another night's resort.

now it has always been my practice that if i do not have reservations for the first flight out of the morning then usually it is for late afternoon or early evening in which case i of course have stayed the additional night. and again i point out that during the months that the parks close earlier in the evening where i am out of the park before 11pm then we do stay that night at the resort even with the early morning flight.

anyway that's just my view of things. thanks for you point of view.

 

[blackthidot]

No, they should get you there in time... They typically pick up 3 hours prior to departure. We have a 730a flight home next month!

That is going to suck!

 

[Rob562]

I think the easier way of looking at things is that the DME system is tied to the "workday" of the airport. At some point, flights stop departing the airport, and (scheduled) arrivals finish arriving. At that point you reach the end of the operating day. Anything after that is then tied to the NEXT day's checkouts.

I just checked the flight schedules for MCO, and tomorrow night (Wednesday) there are only 4 departing flights after 11pm, and they're all international flights (three on Jetblue, one on TAM).

And on the other end, the earliest departing flight is 5:01AM, but it's only 1 of 2 departing before 6am...

-Rob

 

[cabihler]

great post

excellent point. i have long thought that had something to do with it but just never bothered to ever check airline schedules to check out what you just confirmed.

the only problem with this is the practices of young students traveling. it is not uncommon for college students traveling to spend a night at the airport waiting for their morning flights. we use to see this all of the time going from WDW to Orlando INTL back before DME when Mears was the coach service being used. major difference back then is that you paid Mears to use their coaches while today it is comp. still at 3 or 4 am you can see a lot of students waiting for planes sitting there or laying on the floor with their bags.

 

[amykissangel]

Just an FYI to the OP - as young, slightly immature adults (age 22 in 2005), we didn't want to get up for a 7 AM flight at 3:30 to be on the ME by 4 AM. When we called the front desk, the front desk employee told us that if we absolutely needed to, we could "miss" our 4 AM bus and "catch" the 5 AM one. The only problem would be if the bus was full - then we'd have to find our own ride.

 

[CleveRocks]

Just an FYI to the OP - as young, slightly immature adults (age 22 in 2005), we didn't want to get up for a 7 AM flight at 3:30 to be on the ME by 4 AM. When we called the front desk, the front desk employee told us that if we absolutely needed to, we could "miss" our 4 AM bus and "catch" the 5 AM one. The only problem would be if the bus was full - then we'd have to find our own ride.

The other problem is that the front desk staff has no knowledge of when buses will be coming in. DME doesn't run on a constant basis like the Disney Transport buses do. DME buses come only when there are reservations for pick-ups. So if, by bad luck, no one at your resort was using DME to get to an approximately 8 a.m. departing flight, then there would be no 5 a.m. bus coming to that resort for pick-ups.