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magical express
- Thread starter trr1
- Start date
Rob562
Well-Known Member
(This should be one of those stickies at the top of the board...)
Do not confuse Magical Express with Resort Airline Check-In.
*ALL* airlines arriving at Orlando International Airport "participate" in Magical Express, in that bags with the yellow ME tags coming off *any* plane will be diverted to the Disney baggage facility for transportation to WDW property. All passengers heading to a Disney resort can use the DME buses regardless of which airline they arrived on.
Heading home, any passenger can receive bus transportation back to the airport, regardless of airline.
Where "participating airline" comes into play is the ability to check your luggage at your Disney resort *before* going to Orlando International. Think of the RAC as being like a curb-side check-in podium, it's just located 20 miles away from the airport's curb. And that check-in can only be done for certain airlines (just like not all airlines have curb-side check-in at all airports)
If you're talking about arriving luggage and bus service, yes, Southwest "participates". If you're talking about departure RAC, then no, Southwest does not participate.
-Rob
Do not confuse Magical Express with Resort Airline Check-In.
*ALL* airlines arriving at Orlando International Airport "participate" in Magical Express, in that bags with the yellow ME tags coming off *any* plane will be diverted to the Disney baggage facility for transportation to WDW property. All passengers heading to a Disney resort can use the DME buses regardless of which airline they arrived on.
Heading home, any passenger can receive bus transportation back to the airport, regardless of airline.
Where "participating airline" comes into play is the ability to check your luggage at your Disney resort *before* going to Orlando International. Think of the RAC as being like a curb-side check-in podium, it's just located 20 miles away from the airport's curb. And that check-in can only be done for certain airlines (just like not all airlines have curb-side check-in at all airports)
If you're talking about arriving luggage and bus service, yes, Southwest "participates". If you're talking about departure RAC, then no, Southwest does not participate.
-Rob
wdwCC
New Member
I don't remember Southwest being listed on the video in the bus 2 weeks ago being available for hotel airline check in for returning to the airport. The website lists: Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Continental, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue, Northwest, and United/Ted AirTran. I don't think it matters what airline when arriving at MCO.
RiversideBunny
New Member
For resort airlines check in, when leaving, how are they handling the fact that some of those airlines now charge for checked baggage?
Do they collect it there?
_______
One tip is to be sure your airline is part of the resort check in system before you stand in the line at the resort when leaving. I have seen people finally make it to the front of the line only to find out that their airline is not part of the resort check in service.
_______
As stated very well above, Magical Express is a different thing from the ability to check your luggage at your Disney resort when leaving.
As far as your luggage goes, Magical Express is for arriving at WDW.
The yellow tags get your luggage sent to your room.
The yellow tags must be on your luggage.
For you yourself, you use Magical Express from Orlando airport to your Disney resort and then use it to get back to the airport.
The Magical Express voucher that they send you is your 'ticket' for Magical Express. Don't leave home without it.
Tks.
:king:
Do they collect it there?
_______
One tip is to be sure your airline is part of the resort check in system before you stand in the line at the resort when leaving. I have seen people finally make it to the front of the line only to find out that their airline is not part of the resort check in service.
_______
As stated very well above, Magical Express is a different thing from the ability to check your luggage at your Disney resort when leaving.
As far as your luggage goes, Magical Express is for arriving at WDW.
The yellow tags get your luggage sent to your room.
The yellow tags must be on your luggage.
For you yourself, you use Magical Express from Orlando airport to your Disney resort and then use it to get back to the airport.
The Magical Express voucher that they send you is your 'ticket' for Magical Express. Don't leave home without it.
Tks.
:king:
Rob562
Well-Known Member
I don't have the specifics in front of me, but you must pre-pay the excess luggage fees before heading to the luggage desk, and it must be done over the phone with a credit card. There is no way to pay cash, and there is no way to pay this at the RAC counter. If you can't do that, you have to take your luggage with you on the bus to the airport and check it there.
They give you multiple copies of paperwork that says which airlines participate. I know it's stated in the DME packet you get in the mail, there was a paper on the table in our room when we checked in, and there was another copy of that paper in with our DME pickup time info that was delivered to our room the night before checkout.
Another bit of info that I hadn't read about in all of the discussion of DME before:
We were staying at Pop Century in early September, our first time using DME and RAC. When we got our envelope of DME information the day before checkout, it included our boarding passes as well as "pre-check-in" luggage tags. These were similar to the yellow DME tags and the regular airline luggage tags, but were smaller and very temporary-looking. They were all white, and had some basic information on them about our names and flights. The paperwork said to put them on our bags before coming to the RAC desk, just like you put the yellow DME tags on.
When we got down to the RAC desk, the line was HUGE! And it wasn't really moving at all. My guess would be 30-45 minute wait. But we'd been there less than 5 minutes when a CM came along the line. When he saw that we had these white tags on our bags, he said that he could take them right then and there, and that we didn't have to stand in line.
I was a little wary, but let him take them, and he wheeled them away. (And to jump to the end of the story, the bags made it to our home airports safe and sound, complete with "real" airline baggage tags on them in place of the temporary ones) Oh, and before someone asks, I was flying JetBlue, my friend was flying AirTran.
We still had carry-on bags that we wanted to have Bell Services store until our pickup time that afternoon, but the line for that was VERY short, only a few people. As we walked away to get breakfast, the RAC line had barely moved.
I'm presuming that all this "pre-check tag" stuff happened because we'd given DME all of our flight info, were able to give us our boarding passes the night before, and there were no additional luggage fees to pay. They then probably had a couple of people in the back room just tagging bags using the pre-tags. Why other people in line didn't have these tags on their bags, I don't know. Perhaps they didn't get them, or perhaps they didn't bother to read the information they were given that could have saved them a bunch of time in line...
Moral of the story: Make sure to *read* the information that Disney gives you!
-Rob
pixiesteno
Well-Known Member
My DSIL and I were at Pop in Feb 08 and used ME and RAC and we had the very same experience as ROB562 did. We actually had our check in "packet" first thing in the am on Wed for our Thus departure. Again, we put the temporary tags on our bags took them to RAC and there was a big line and within 30 seconds we had a CM come and take our bags as they were already tagged.
Due to our wonderful experience with ME and on-site transporation I have convinced DH that we don't need a rental for our Dec trip and are using ME, RAC, and the Disney bus system; talk about your complete vacation, no driving, no cooking!!!! 42 days to go:xmas:
Due to our wonderful experience with ME and on-site transporation I have convinced DH that we don't need a rental for our Dec trip and are using ME, RAC, and the Disney bus system; talk about your complete vacation, no driving, no cooking!!!! 42 days to go:xmas:
wdwCC
New Member
We bought a WDW suitcase at Pop and paid an extra fee by credit card the day before and gave them a confirmation number at the Pop Century DME check in.
One thing also, if you luggage is over 50 pounds they can't process it through the luggage service. You would have to check it at the airport yourself.
RiversideBunny
New Member
On the 50 lb limit-
I saw a guy once who had to get out of line and repack his family's suitcases so none would be over 50 lb. He was laughing about it and he did make it OK after about ten minutes.
They seem to be strict about the weight limit.
Tks
I saw a guy once who had to get out of line and repack his family's suitcases so none would be over 50 lb. He was laughing about it and he did make it OK after about ten minutes.
They seem to be strict about the weight limit.
Tks
shoppingnut
Active Member
On the 50 lb limit-
I saw a guy once who had to get out of line and repack his family's suitcases so none would be over 50 lb. He was laughing about it and he did make it OK after about ten minutes.
They seem to be strict about the weight limit.
Tks
In september, my mother's bag was over by 2 lbs, so I took out a pair of shoes and stuffed them in my sister's bag. You gotta do what you gotta do.
luckyeye13
New Member
On the 50 lb limit-
I saw a guy once who had to get out of line and repack his family's suitcases so none would be over 50 lb. He was laughing about it and he did make it OK after about ten minutes.
They seem to be strict about the weight limit.
Tks
They have to be because, if the bag exceeds the airline's baggage weight limits, the airline probably won't accept it once Disney delivers it to them (as no overweight fees would have been collected). Then, there would be some upset Guests on the other side of the flight! I've had to repack a 54 lbs. bag at the airport a few years back to reduce it to 50 lbs., so I know that the airlines are most strict with that.