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Magical Express ?
- Thread starter Pooh Bear
- Start date
JWG
Well-Known Member
It's very slick.
You'll get a packet in the mail with luggage tags and something very similar to a ticket you used to get for air travel before e-ticket. If you're flying an airline partner to Magical Express, the bright yellow Magical Express luggage tags will inform luggage handlers to pull your checked luggage for delivery to you at your resort room.
You'll then turn in your "ticket" to a Magical Express check-in desk and will then be funneled to the appropriate line for the resort you're going to.
It's great. You don't have to pull your checked luggage from the carousel, you get a free ride to your hotel and your bags end up at your door.
Enjoy!
You'll get a packet in the mail with luggage tags and something very similar to a ticket you used to get for air travel before e-ticket. If you're flying an airline partner to Magical Express, the bright yellow Magical Express luggage tags will inform luggage handlers to pull your checked luggage for delivery to you at your resort room.
You'll then turn in your "ticket" to a Magical Express check-in desk and will then be funneled to the appropriate line for the resort you're going to.
It's great. You don't have to pull your checked luggage from the carousel, you get a free ride to your hotel and your bags end up at your door.
Enjoy!
Tiggerdude
New Member
And you get the same service returning to the airport with some airlines. If you airline is not participating, you just need to do your own baggage check in. The return bus will leave your resort about three hours before your flight time.
One of the best services Disney has offered in my opinion.
One of the best services Disney has offered in my opinion.
wishesjake
Member
And the best thing is, it's free!
Monty
Brilliant...and Canadian
- In the Parks
- No
The Resort Airline Check-in service won't be available to the OP, they're from Canada.
For the OP: I'll guess you're flying out of either Ottawa or Toronto. This works well since you pre-clear U.S. Customs before you leave. That means you don't have to retrieve your luggage to clear Customs in the U.S. and DME works best that way. Tag your checked luggage with the yellow tags provided and let DME worry about your luggage [unless you're arriving late at night, after 1030PM, then don't tag the bags and retrieve them yourselves]. When you arrive, head down to the DME check-in and they'll confirm how many bags you checked and send you to your bus.
WARNING: The new security regulations are wreaking havoc on air travel at the moment and will for the foreseeable future... Make sure you read up on what's involved and get to the airport as early as you possibly can.
Tom
Beta Return
Pooh Bear, everyone has been helpful so far. But, if you're Obsessive/Compulsive like me and want to know every detail before you embark, here is a bit more info on DME:
Look on the inside cover of the DME booklet they mailed you (If you didn't get this booket, call Disney right away). There is a map of the airport. Based on your airline, figure out which part of the terminal you'll be arriving at.
If you land on the A side, you'll need to take the tram to the main terminal and follow signs to the B side of the terminal. Then take the elevator or escalator down to Level 1 and find the DME counter, which is almost at the far left end as you face all the bus counters.
Send one person to go stand in line at the DME counter (with your booklet in hand, since they need your vouchers). The rest of your party should wait in the lobby area. Once you're checked-in, you'll all get in the appropriate bus line and get on the next bus to your resort. The bus will stop at 3-4 resorts, total, and you could be first or last - you never know.
Regarding luggage. If you are a control freak, like me, and want to know where your luggage is all the time, DO NOT use the yellow tags (also, if you'll be landing after 10:00pm, you can't use their luggage service either). Just check your bags normally in Canada and then when you get to Orlando, go to the baggage claim carousel for your arrival gate/zone and get your bags.
Then, follow the instructions to get down to the DME counter at Level 1. (Note: when you get in line to check-in at DME, leave all your bags with the person sitting in the lobby. Do NOT take them in line with you). Then just have the bus driver stow your bags under the bus, and he'll get them out for you at your resort. Recommend tipping is $1/bag at unloading.
However, if you DO want to use DME's luggage service, just put the yellow luggage tags on your main luggage handle (same place the airport will put your airline tag) before you check your bags in Canada. Then, skip baggage at Orlando and go straight to DME. Your bags will (hopefully) arrive in your room 2-4 hours later.
Monty
Brilliant...and Canadian
- In the Parks
- No
One minor correction: If they've used the yellow tags on all their checked bags or have picked up their luggage and have it with them and have their DME booklet with them, they can go straight to the entranceway to the bus line-ups, a CM will scan their bar-codes and confirm how many bags were checked. No need to go to the counter unless they A) didn't get tags or didn't have enough for all their bags, and/or B) don't have their DME booklet. The counter check-in can print off new bus tickets if they don't have the booklet and can get a description of any checkeded bags and baggage claim tag info so they can retrieve un-tagged bags.
Tom
Beta Return
Um......huh?
Are you saying that if you have your DME booklet, and it has all your vouchers in it, you DO NOT have to go to the counter when you arrive at MCO?If so, this is new. I've used DME probably 10 times and have always been sent to the counter to "check in". I've always had a booklet with bar-coded vouchers. And I've done it with and without my bags with me.
Can you clarify? Can anyone else confirm? I would give my left, and perhaps right arm to bypass the DME counter. It is an extremely inefficient system!
Princess Tiana
Member
When I visited in October, they did have us bypass the counter with our booklet. I am not sure if this is an everday occurrence though?Um......huh?
If so, this is new. I've used DME probably 10 times and have always been sent to the counter to "check in". I've always had a booklet with bar-coded vouchers. And I've done it with and without my bags with me.
Can you clarify? Can anyone else confirm? I would give my left, and perhaps right arm to bypass the DME counter. It is an extremely inefficient system!
mousefan1972
Well-Known Member
Um......huh?
If so, this is new. I've used DME probably 10 times and have always been sent to the counter to "check in". I've always had a booklet with bar-coded vouchers. And I've done it with and without my bags with me.
Can you clarify? Can anyone else confirm? I would give my left, and perhaps right arm to bypass the DME counter. It is an extremely inefficient system!
Monty speaks the truth. (as per usual) :animwink:
I can confirm. Just returned from 9 nights at the Poly. Since we had our DME booklet, we bypassed the counter and went straight to the red carpet. You do have to stop and have your ticket scanned, and the CM will confirm how many bags you checked (if you used the yellow tags) then you are on your way.
This was also the procedure when we visited in late July and September, so it has been this way for at least 5 months. Much more efficient than having to go to the counter.
Tom
Beta Return
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ok, I consider myself me to be a "very experienced" WDW vacationer. Like I said, I've used DME probably 10 times - sometimes using the yellow tags, and other times taking my luggage with me.
I've been told by the CMs at the queues to go back to the counter and check-in. Since then, I've always just gone to the counter, and I've never had that CM say anything like, "You have your vouchers, you don't need to come to the counter." They take my book, scan it and tell me to head to the queues.
We'll be flying in to MCO on Sunday, and I'll definitely be walking immediately to the bus queues to see if this really works. If so, I've wasted SOOOOO much of my life standing in that awful DME line.
I just looked at my booklet again, to see if anything has changed, and on the ARRIVAL instructions page, it says "...proceed to the DME Welcome Center located on the B side on Level 1." Hmmmm. I'm very excited, and very angry - all at once! :lol:
mousefan1972
Well-Known Member
:lol:
Make sure you have your booklet out and show it to the CM at the entrance to the counter (the one you no longer have to go to) :animwink: He/she will then direct you to the red carpet. Have fun!
Tom
Beta Return
Well, I'm seriously not sure which emotion to feel right now! :lol:
I guess I should forget the past, forgive those CMs who made me stand in that unforgiving line, behind a hundred idiots who can't work a bus pass....and just rejoice in the fact that I'll never stand in that line again.
Merry Christmas to me!!! :xmas:
stefan74
Well-Known Member
This is correct. When we went December 5-12, we bypassed the counter and went straight to a CM who scanned our bar codes, asked how much luggage did we check and then directed us to the appropriate line. It was fantastic!!!
The only bad thing was the trip back. We were the second family to arrive to wait for Magical Express to come get us from the GF. By the time the bus arrived at GF, there was only room for 10 people on the bus and there must have been at least 25 of us standing there. Since we were the second family to arrive at the pick up point and since the first family told the bus driver we were the second family, we were very lucky to get on the bus. The bus was packed!! Just an FYI. We had to leave some people at the resort and they had to call for a backup bus.
The only bad thing was the trip back. We were the second family to arrive to wait for Magical Express to come get us from the GF. By the time the bus arrived at GF, there was only room for 10 people on the bus and there must have been at least 25 of us standing there. Since we were the second family to arrive at the pick up point and since the first family told the bus driver we were the second family, we were very lucky to get on the bus. The bus was packed!! Just an FYI. We had to leave some people at the resort and they had to call for a backup bus.
Monty
Brilliant...and Canadian
- In the Parks
- No
Don't feel too bad, it wasn't always thus. I first experienced it in August and we were on our 13th WDW trip. It was certainly the case in the past that everyone went into the queue at the counter just to wait for them to scan your booklet and send you to the other queue for buses.
I think they finally figured out that if your luggage is all tagged and you have your bus booklet, the scan and confirmation of number of bags can just as easily be done at the bus queue and you don't have to wait for the crowd that didn't get tags or lost their booklet, which is a longer process.
Monty
Brilliant...and Canadian
- In the Parks
- No
:ROFLOL:
Thank you! :kiss:
Of course, was there any doubt? :lookaroun
Maybe I should just add that to my sig... :drevil:
:lol:
Tom
Beta Return
Well, it sounds like Sunday may just be my BEST ARRIVAL DAY EVER! I will have my vouchers in hand and proudly walk past the greeter at the Counter Queue. If he/she tries to direct me into the queue I'll tip my top hat and say, "Oh, no good Sir, I have all of my credentials in order and will just continue to the bus queue as I have always done. Good day."
:lol:
Monty
Brilliant...and Canadian
- In the Parks
- No
I am truly honoured that I have had the good fortune to have positively influenced your upcoming trip and many more to come with my simple provision of updated information! :king:
Rob562
Well-Known Member
Well, I wouldn't go so far as to walk past the Greeter without acknowledging them... (Especially as he/she is stationed at the start of the red carpet to the bus queues)
What's happened on my trips in June and September this year is that the Greeter asked us if we had our DME packet, and if we'd tagged all our checked luggage with yellow tags (he had a laminated page with photos of each of those items in case Guests didn't know what he was asking about).
If the answer was "yes" to both questions, we were directed down the red carpet to the entrance of the bus queues. Total pause time with the Greeter, including "hello" pleasantries: about 8 seconds.
If the answer to either question was "no", then the Guests were directed into the queue for the DME counter. Each time I was there, there seemed to be little or no wait at the counter.
At the entrance to the bus queue, the CM stationed there ripped the back cover off the DME packet, asked how many yellow-tagged bags we had, wrote that number on the booklet cover and kept it. (I presume that after a bunch have been collected, a CM takes them and enters the baggage info into the system) They then directed us to our individual bus queue.
No muss, no fuss.
-Rob
Tom
Beta Return
Well, I wouldn't go so far as to walk past the Greeter without acknowledging them... (Especially as he/she is stationed at the start of the red carpet to the bus queues)
What's happened on my trips in June and September this year is that the Greeter asked us if we had our DME packet, and if we'd tagged all our checked luggage with yellow tags (he had a laminated page with photos of each of those items in case Guests didn't know what he was asking about).
If the answer was "yes" to both questions, we were directed down the red carpet to the entrance of the bus queues. Total pause time with the Greeter, including "hello" pleasantries: about 8 seconds.
If the answer to either question was "no", then the Guests were directed into the queue for the DME counter. Each time I was there, there seemed to be little or no wait at the counter.
At the entrance to the bus queue, the CM stationed there ripped the back cover off the DME packet, asked how many yellow-tagged bags we had, wrote that number on the booklet cover and kept it. (I presume that after a bunch have been collected, a CM takes them and enters the baggage info into the system) They then directed us to our individual bus queue.
No muss, no fuss.
-Rob
First, I was just being a tad silly. And I meant the CM who stands at the entrance to the queue for the DME counter - which is the one I can hopefully avoid. I'm not mean enough to actually ignore someone anyway
It sounds like I pass both tests because we'll have our vouchers and my answer to "how many bags with yellow tags" will be 0. We'll be taking our own bags and stowing them under the bus. The only person who has ever been concerned with the number of bags I have (when I take my own) was the bus driver.
I'm just beside myself with this news. So many years of standing in that stupid line. The only time it was ever short was when we got in at 7pm on a Sunday. There were 10 people in front of me, and it seemed as if every one of them had a life-threatening problem - based on the time they spent at the counter.
Every other time I've arrived at MCO (which will be the case this Sunday) it's been a cruise departure day, which makes the counter that much worse - since the cruise buses share that system.