Magical Express Drop Off Sequence

[Raineman]

My family and I are most likely going to need to use the DME for our next trip to WDW, and, as we have never used it, I was wondering-in what order do they drop people off at the resorts? Do they start at resorts at the southern end of the property and work their way north?

 

[Stellajack]

My family and I are most likely going to need to use the DME for our next trip to WDW, and, as we have never used it, I was wondering-in what order do they drop people off at the resorts? Do they start at resorts at the southern end of the property and work their way north?

Hi and welcome!

This from JPVondrake: The motorcoach will make up to 4 stops (max) at Disney Resort Hotels. During the way, you will be entertained by a video presentation.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

My family and I are most likely going to need to use the DME for our next trip to WDW, and, as we have never used it, I was wondering-in what order do they drop people off at the resorts? Do they start at resorts at the southern end of the property and work their way north?

No, there are many different buses depending on the time of day. When I arrived last week, the Animal Kingdom Lodge bus ONLY went to Animal Kingdom Lodge. When I departed, we picked up some folks at Art of Animation. You'll never been on a "south" resort bus that also drops people at the Contemporary, for example.

 

[Rob562]

As mentioned, there are many bus routes, and those routes can change throughout the day based on crowd patterns. If they have enough to fill up an entire bus for one hotel, they'll do it.

But there are a few general guidelines to how the buses are grouped:
-Resorts are grouped by geographical "zone". A bus will make a maximum of 4 stops if all stops are within the same zone. If they have stops across two zones, they'll have a maximum of 3 stops.

-A bus driver has free reign to visit their stops in whatever order they wish. Most stop at the resort closest to the airport, but some drive to the farthest one and then make their way back. Some base their route on stopping at the hotel with the most Guests first.
Even then, there are two exceptions:
-If the bus has passengers for the Grand Floridian, it will go to the Grand Floridian first.
-But if the Grand Floridian also has Polynesian guests, it will stop at the Poly first to eliminate a tricky left turn into the Poly for the driver trying to come back from the GF.

I've run the gamut of experiences: Had an AKL only bus (though it made stops at both Kidani and Jambo), twice have been the second stop as Pop Century after stopping at Caribbean Beach, and was the 4th stop at Riverside after stopping at Saratoga, OKW and French Quarter.

-Rob

 

[Weather_Lady]

In our experience, other than the fact that a bus visiting multiple resorts will be stopping at resorts that are fairly close together (in "zones" as @Rob562 indicated), both the route and the combination of resorts is fairly random.

That being said, even when there are multiple stops and we're the last ones off, we've never spent more than 50 minutes on a ME bus -- on average, it's about 40 minutes.

 

[MorganKelly]

We luck out when staying at OKW because it has almost always been the shuttle's first stop. On the way back to the airport, we appear to be the 3rd stop after POR and POFQ (speculating here because they are "next door") and SSR has always been the last stop. When we've stayed at BLT, if memory serves correctly, inbound we were 2nd after WL.

 

[RonAnnArbor]

I have been using DME for years, and it never really follows the same route, even when I've been staying in the same resort for the past 6 years...though the morning pickup is always the same order because they run on a time schedule.