Magical express to the polynesian

[liveforholidays]

hi
My family of 4 will be flying in from the UK and are considering using to magical express to get to the Polynesian resort. Can anyone tell me how long it takes and if there is a lot of waiting around at the airport for the next bus to leave? Also are there loads of hotel stops before getting to the Poly? After a really long day of travelling and excitable children wanting to get to the hotel as quickly as possible should we book spend more money and book a taxi transfer?

 

[DisneyJoe]

The wait for DME can be 5 minutes or 30 or more, depends on many factors, time of day, how may passengers, etc.. Sometimes they wait for the bus to be filled to a certain level, other times they know that no one else will be coming and they just go.

There is never more than 4 stops, and they are usually in a geographic cluster, i.e. Polynesian, Grand Floridian, Contemporary, Wilderness Lodge. If memory serves, that is the loop that they use for that area, unless they visit the Wilderness Lodge before the Poly.

I believe the travel time from the airport to the hotel should be 30-40 minutes.

They play a video on the bus to pass the time.

 

[Tuvalu]

Poly is the first stop on the DME bus (it shares with Grand Floridian, Wilderness Lodge and Contemporary like @DisneyJoe said.) We used DME
to the Poly earlier this month. We waited 15 minutes for a bus, 15 minutes after boarding the bus and 25 minutes travel time. You would be hard pressed to beat that time using a taxi and the bus is much more comfortable and the video is fun to watch.

 

[jaklgreen]

Waiting for a ME bus is a crapshoot. There have been times that we got right on and left within a few minutes and other times we waiting in line to get on and then waited another 1/2 hour for the bus to fill. There is no way to predict how long it will take. I know after such a long flight the last thing you want to do is wait even longer but unless you get private transportation, we are all at Disney's mercy. LOL Enjoy your trip.

 

[liveforholidays]

Poly is the first stop on the DME bus (it shares with Grand Floridian, Wilderness Lodge and Contemporary like @DisneyJoe said.) We used DME
to the Poly earlier this month. We waited 15 minutes for a bus, 15 minutes after boarding the bus and 25 minutes travel time. You would be hard pressed to beat that time using a taxi and the bus is much more comfortable and the video is fun to watch.

Thank you. A half hour wait is not too bad at all and it's great news that the Poly is the first stop!

 

[liveforholidays]

Waiting for a ME bus is a crapshoot. There have been times that we got right on and left within a few minutes and other times we waiting in line to get on and then waited another 1/2 hour for the bus to fill. There is no way to predict how long it will take. I know after such a long flight the last thing you want to do is wait even longer but unless you get private transportation, we are all at Disney's mercy. LOL Enjoy your trip.

I am actually quite impressed that a long wait is around half an hour! I was expecting worse than that. I have obviously got far too used to public transport in the UK! Sounds like it is worth taking up the free magical express option rather than paying for a taxi. Thanks for your advice.

 

[jaklgreen]

I am actually quite impressed that a long wait is around half an hour! I was expecting worse than that. I have obviously got far too used to public transport in the UK! Sounds like it is worth taking up the free magical express option rather than paying for a taxi. Thanks for your advice.

It seems sooo much longer when you are sitting on the bus and just want to finally get there. LOL

 

[DuckTalesWooHoo1987]

The wait for DME can be 5 minutes or 30 or more, depends on many factors, time of day, how may passengers, etc.. Sometimes they wait for the bus to be filled to a certain level, other times they know that no one else will be coming and they just go.

There is never more than 4 stops, and they are usually in a geographic cluster, i.e. Polynesian, Grand Floridian, Contemporary, Wilderness Lodge. If memory serves, that is the loop that they use for that area, unless they visit the Wilderness Lodge before the Poly.

I believe the travel time from the airport to the hotel should be 30-40 minutes.

They play a video on the bus to pass the time.

Yeah we are members at BLT and they always stop there last and I think they always stop at Polynesian first. Also you should expect at LEAST an hour for the ME. We always use it and actually our trip in a couple of weeks will be the first time we've flown to an airport that's not MCO but as long as you fly to MCO you can use the Magical Express.

 

[liveforholidays]

Yeah we are members at BLT and they always stop there last and I think they always stop at Polynesian first. Also you should expect at LEAST an hour for the ME. We always use it and actually our trip in a couple of weeks will be the first time we've flown to an airport that's not MCO but as long as you fly to MCO you can use the Magical Express.

Thank you so much for your help. Good to hear that the poly is an early stop and get a rough idea of the time it takes. I think we will go with magical express expecting to hang about for half an hour or so and spend a further hour on the coach. More than that and I will start to think we have had a poor experience!

 

[DuckTalesWooHoo1987]

Thank you so much for your help. Good to hear that the poly is an early stop and get a rough idea of the time it takes. I think we will go with magical express expecting to hang about for half an hour or so and spend a further hour on the coach. More than that and I will start to think we have had a poor experience!

No problem. I highly recommend you take the ME. The main thing about it is that it's actually a good stress reliever after you've just had to fly. It's great for Disney to pick your luggage up for you and you not have to worry about it. This will be the first time we've not used it since we are flying to an airport where they don't pick up and I'm actually pretty sad that we're not getting to ride it just because it's sort of a tradition we've had for a long time and I love riding under the "Walt Disneyworld" sign. It's like the moment when I realize I'm "back" again.

 

[KatherineFern]

Something else to keep in mind is that the magical express bus doesn’t require car seats or booster seats. That is a big plus over taxi cars. I hope you enjoyed your trip! Just wanted to add this note in for others in the great ME debate.

 

[slappy magoo]

I am actually quite impressed that a long wait is around half an hour! I was expecting worse than that. I have obviously got far too used to public transport in the UK! Sounds like it is worth taking up the free magical express option rather than paying for a taxi. Thanks for your advice.

I've done Magical Express twice, once with my wife and kids in December of 2016, once on a solo flight but meeting other family at the Poly in April of 2017.

December of 2016, we were going to Kidani Village. There wasn't just a line for DME...there was a 30 minute line to get to the agent who directed us to the right line where we waited 75 minutes to get on a bus that took 30 minutes to depart and arrived at Kidani about 45 minutes after that.

The next trip, I passed the agent and was on a bus in 15 minutes...but they waited for the bus to fill up at least 3/4 before departing so I waited about 45 minutes before we left.