Magical Express & flight layovers

[DisneyJunkie]

Ok, here's the deal....on the day of our arriving in WDW, we'll first leave our home airport, fly up to Cincinnati for an hour layover before taking the flight from there to Orlando.

On the day that we leave WDW, from the Orlando airport we fly first to Atlanta, and then from there to our home airport.

We'll be using Magical Express in both instances. How exactly does it work when you don't have direct flights to/from Orlando? Our luggage will have the yellow ME tags, so will they follow along with us to our layover airports, or will they be set up to go directly to Orlando (or our home airport when our trip is over)?

 

[rainfully]

The airline should completely take care of your baggage. All you have to do is check them at your home airport and they should be waiting for your in Orlando. Or in the case with Magical Express... should be waiting for you at your resort.

 

[Agent1964fem]

When you get to the Orlando airport there are Disney people with Mickey gloves all over the airport they will give you the directions to Magical Express ..its downstairs in the airport. Then you have to wait in line for your bus to take you to your resort ..if your useing Disney transportation to get you to your resort.
Make sure you have yellow voucher tickets with your Magical Express tags they were not sent to us so.....we had a little trouble . We asked a very nice man you handles the luggage for Magical Express . he just said have them bring your voucher tickets to me and I will make sure you get your luggage. I had a time explaining the to the person at the Magical Express counter ...sigh I had to show her what my luggage looked like on a laminated sheet ...I felt stupid like I shouldn't have given my luggage to him ? We did get out luggage in about 2 and a half hours which from what I'm understanding is about the normal time.
Let us know how it works out for you!

 

[lawyergirl77]

Ok, here's the deal....on the day of our arriving in WDW, we'll first leave our home airport, fly up to Cincinnati for an hour layover before taking the flight from there to Orlando.

On the day that we leave WDW, from the Orlando airport we fly first to Atlanta, and then from there to our home airport.

We'll be using Magical Express in both instances. How exactly does it work when you don't have direct flights to/from Orlando? Our luggage will have the yellow ME tags, so will they follow along with us to our layover airports, or will they be set up to go directly to Orlando (or our home airport when our trip is over)?

Your baggage takes the normal trip that it would if you weren't using DME - i.e. it follows you from plane to plane. (Can you IMAGINE the cost if TWDC hired special airplanes to fly people's luggage directly to Orlando???)

The only difference is that, instead of having to pick it up from the baggage carrousel in Orlando, DME does that for you and takes it directly to your hotel.

But do remember to keep those squarish stickers that they put on your boarding pass at your original departure airport - you'll need to give them to Disney staff when you land!!!

 

[wannabeBelle]

Hey there, Id seriously recommend packing a carry on with all needed items for at least an overnight stay at Disney. Getting bags from one airline to another is a tricky thing at best. Lawyergirl is correct, the bags just follow the regular flight procedures until they get to Orlando. that is where the tags come into play. Until then it is just business as usual!!! Belle

 

[DisJosh]

Ok I need to add a question here seeing as how I set up DME for my trip yesterday.

If I wanted to, could I just not put the tags on my bags and grab my luggage myself and then bring it to the DME bus with me? I'm just extremely paranoid about someone else taking my luggage lol. I could just tell them my tags never arrived and my luggage would get put on the same bus as me.

I'm just used to doing it the old way with Mears. I was comfortable knowing my luggage was travelling close by.

 

[suzie_q183]

Ok I need to add a question here seeing as how I set up DME for my trip yesterday.

If I wanted to, could I just not put the tags on my bags and grab my luggage myself and then bring it to the DME bus with me? I'm just extremely paranoid about someone else taking my luggage lol. I could just tell them my tags never arrived and my luggage would get put on the same bus as me.

I'm just used to doing it the old way with Mears. I was comfortable knowing my luggage was travelling close by.

If you want to pick you luggage don't put the tags on. We let ME take care of our bags for us but that doesn't mean we weren't a little on edge wondering when they would show up. I have read on other boards that is what people did.

 

[wannabeBelle]

Absolutely true!!!! If you dont want Disney to take care of the bags, just dont tag them and pick them up yourself!!! They will be put in the Bus compartment for transport with you to the resort., no problem!!! Have a great time!!! Belle

 

[DisJosh]

Thanks!

I may or may not do it. I'm reading more and more positive experiences. So we'll see what I decide on lol.

 

[swimmom]

Anyone have any experience with late arriving flights into Orlando? I haven't decided to use ME or a towncar yet. It seems as though the smart thing to do if we want our luggage the first night would be to pick it up ourselves and put it on the bus. However if we were to use a towncar we would be immediately on our way to WL after picking up our luggage rather than waiting for a bus. Decisions? Money or Time?

 

[Cliffordsmon]

Anyone have any experience with late arriving flights into Orlando? I haven't decided to use ME or a town-car yet. It seems as though the smart thing to do if we want our luggage the first night would be to pick it up ourselves and put it on the bus. However if we were to use a town-car we would be immediately on our way to WL after picking up our luggage rather than waiting for a bus. Decisions? Money or Time?

We used a town-car on our last trip. The chauffeur met us, retrieved our luggage and then took us to a seating area and told us to sit and wait while he got the car. It took about 20 minutes so we really didn't save any time and it was $73.00 one way (Trio Town-cars).

The airport no longer lets the town-cars park by baggage claim.

 

[swimmom]

Hadn't thought about this. ME could be just as quick as a towncar service. Although a towncar takes you directly to your resort with no stops at other resorts. I am so undecided?