Late Night Arrival & Magical Express

[Bamboo7ster]

It's right there in the DME booklet that they send to every party... I'm talking about reading the stuff mailed to me by the place I'm paying thousands of dollars to vacation at.

I participated in Disney's Magical Express last January of '07. Arrival went as planned according to what the booklet said was to happen, but when it came time to depart I had received no prior instructions in my hotel room as to when I should be ready to catch a bus for my flight. If I remember correctly, the booklet said I should receive that information in my room the night before. So, when I woke up the next morning I wandered down to the lobby and asked what I should do. The answer I got was that Disney's Magical Express only picked up passengers of the particular airline I used from the airport, they didn't transport them back. I don't remember the booklet mentioning anything about preparing for that type of situation.

 

[CleveRocks]

I participated in Disney's Magical Express last January of '07. Arrival went as planned according to what the booklet said was to happen, but when it came time to depart I had received no prior instructions in my hotel room as to when I should be ready to catch a bus for my flight. If I remember correctly, the booklet said I should receive that information in my room the night before. So, when I woke up the next morning I wandered down to the lobby and asked what I should do. The answer I got was that Disney's Magical Express only picked up passengers of the particular airline I used from the airport, they didn't transport them back. I don't remember the booklet mentioning anything about preparing for that type of situation.

You were given very very bad information that morning.

Everyone on every airline gets ROUND-TRIP bus rides and inbound baggage delivery.

The only way airline matters at all is for checking bags through to your home airport on the way home -- THAT is only for certain airlines, but the round-trip bus is for everyone.

I'm a detail-oriented person. I'm also not very trusting of huge systems. It I had been in your shoes, and I was expecting news that night, I wouldn't have gone to sleep without finding out the answer. Of course, if I got the same wrong answer from the same dummy as you had the bad luck of asking, I suppose I would have been in the same boat as you. Of course, your DME bookelt also had a RETURN bus voucher in it, so that should have told you something, also ....

 

[emmersandjack]

Right on to the poster above!

Just consider all of these things lesson's learned. If you have only used DME or fly infrequently, then just learn from your own mistakes or from other dummy's mistakes and misinformation.

DME and Disney itself are huge entities that employ many people. And every now and then I'm sure a few schleps slip through the cracks. There are participating airlines that will allow you to precheck your bags and print out your boarding pass. But if you are using one of the airlines that are not participating that just means you bring your luggage with you. That doesn't exclude you from the bus service. Some people are just turds.
But, I bet for many of the posters who have had problems with the service it will be the last time you pack a carry-on bag without all the necessities that you need. Or the last time some dumb CM tries to tell you that you can't use DME for a return trip to the airport.


I also just thought of something, if you arrive late and are unable to pack any liquids that are needed upon your arrival, couldn't you just stop at one of the little drug store type places in the airport before you head to WDW? Not trying to sound know-it-all-y just kind of wondering out loud. My sister is coming with us on our trip in 12 days zipit: can't wait!!!) and she wears contacts. I told her to wear her glasses on the plane so she didn't have to worry about that stuff. Maybe I could tell her differently now....hmmmm.

 

[Monty]

I also just thought of something, if you arrive late and are unable to pack any liquids that are needed upon your arrival, couldn't you just stop at one of the little drug store type places in the airport before you head to WDW? Not trying to sound know-it-all-y just kind of wondering out loud. My sister is coming with us on our trip in 12 days zipit: can't wait!!!) and she wears contacts. I told her to wear her glasses on the plane so she didn't have to worry about that stuff. Maybe I could tell her differently now....hmmmm.

Only if they're open when you go through...

 

[wannabeBelle]

Hi All, I have done a late night arrival and had no problem with any travel size liquids in a quart sized ziploc type bag. I was able to get myself changed for bed and then dressed the following day before I had to call for my bags to be brought. Incidentally when I arrived at the Coronado, the bell staff actually asked us if we wanted our bags held when they arrived or delivered!!! We had planned on having them held but it was nice of them to take the initiative to ask us. I say let Disney handle your bags, it is part of the DME experience and makes your arrival easier!!!! Have a great time!!! Bele

 

[Nansafan]

It may be that I'm a control freak but I can't imagine not traveling with a carry-on that contains prescription meds, "must have" toiletries (contact lens stuff, toothpaste and brush and deoderant), a change of clothes including underwear and socks, a bathing suit and t-shirt for sleeping in (if necessary). My mother always insisted we do this when we were young and I have now carried on the tradition as a 48 year old mother myself. I have this irrational fear that the airlines are going to lose my luggage so I want to have 1 day's worth of stuff ready. Another thing I like to do is pack a little of everyone's stuff in each suitcase so that if one bag is lost, one person didn't lose all their clothes. A co-worker had this happen this summer. She, husband and 2 other couples were going on a cruise. Her bag was the only one that didn't arrive on the plane from Chicago. It caught up to her 3 days later. She spent the first 3 days wearing Carnival logoed clothes everyday that she had bought at the gift shop.

 

[dizniz6]

I also just thought of something, if you arrive late and are unable to pack any liquids that are needed upon your arrival, couldn't you just stop at one of the little drug store type places in the airport before you head to WDW? Not trying to sound know-it-all-y just kind of wondering out loud. My sister is coming with us on our trip in 12 days zipit: can't wait!!!) and she wears contacts. I told her to wear her glasses on the plane so she didn't have to worry about that stuff. Maybe I could tell her differently now....hmmmm.

Believe me, we would have, but we arrived so late that the stores at the airport were closed and the gift shop and little store by the Coronado food court were both closed. Since they had nothing at the front desk to give us, they actually had to have someone come open up the gift shop to get us some contact solution, which took over an hour.

 

[wannabeBelle]

I wear contacts as well and hd no problem with a travel size bottle of solution getting through any of the check points. Belle

 

[Bamboo7ster]

Of course, your DME bookelt also had a RETURN bus voucher in it.

Nope.

 

[BigKahuna]

Midnight Magical Express

A couple of years ago, we arrived late, and we did not get our baggage until morning. They held our baggage for us. Unless you feel you might need something from your luggage, don't worry-they will have it delivered in the am for you. Have a great trip!

 

[Monty]

Nope.

Actually, yep.

It's the same voucher both ways. At the top it says "DISNEY'S MAGICAL EXPRESS TRANSPORTATION VOUCHER" and at the bottom it says "This voucher will be used for both your transportation to your resort and back to the airport". There are four blank vouchers on the page and they are printed one each for the passengers in your party, with the passenger name, resort and arrival date, a serial number and a bar code..

 

[H20Babie]

Hi All, I have done a late night arrival and had no problem with any travel size liquids in a quart sized ziploc type bag. I was able to get myself changed for bed and then dressed the following day before I had to call for my bags to be brought. Incidentally when I arrived at the Coronado, the bell staff actually asked us if we wanted our bags held when they arrived or delivered!!! We had planned on having them held but it was nice of them to take the initiative to ask us. I say let Disney handle your bags, it is part of the DME experience and makes your arrival easier!!!! Have a great time!!! Bele

Same here. Last year, our flight arrived at about 8 pm. We were checked into POR by 9-9:30 pm. We were advised at check-in that our bags would take up to 3 hours to be delivered and asked what would we like done. We opted to have them delivered in the morning, and were given the extension to call in the morning.

BTW, I also wear contacts and had no problem with having the solution in my carryon. I have now switched to the one-day disposables and again, never had any problems. And that's going through Customs and security.

 

[skeeder]

Last month we stayed a few days at BWV. We used magical express. We got to our room about 10pm. We got room service and after eating we were trying to stay awake until our luggage got there. We ended up falling asleep. We woke up about 3am and called the front desk to let them know we still hadn't received our luggage. There was no fault with magical express--we just ended up falling asleep. After calling the front desk-they had our bags up to our room in no time. We have used magical express for five trips now and have never had a problem.

I dont think bell services would have a problem at all with holding your luggage until the am. Maybe try mentioning it at check-in.

 

[gsimpson]

I have flown into MCO several times with arrivals between 3:30 and 4:30 am. On the first occasion I was surprised that DME was even running at those hours and one of the hosts made the comment "well if we didn't run 24 hours a day we wouldn't be very magical". I am guilty of not reading much of what should be read so on my first DME trip I didn't realize that it would take time to get the bags to our room, my fault NOT theirs, but on every time since then when I arrive late I just tell the front desk to keep the bags until morning and everyone is happy happy joy joy. TSA on the other hand can be complete jerks and to all non-US citizens who have had to suffer through their behavior I can only say I am sorry we did that to you. Having worked for and having many friends who currently work for the airlines (hence the reason for late arrival, I travel SA) I can quote most of the official rules but many of the malcontents who work for TSA don't have the first clue what the rules actually are and simply enjoy the power trip of making up their own rules and screwing with people just because "they have the power". I guess when you give someone who flunked out of Circle K cashier training a badge and a job that they can almost never be fired from that is what you should expect.

 

[Crazy4WDW1]

I've found it easier to just grab our luggage from the baggage claim and take it to the ME busses. We have a flight next month that gets us into MCO at 10:00 p.m. I wouldn't take the chance of waiting for someone to deliver my bags. Just grab them and be on my merry way.