Need help w/ Magical Express

[nksteckler]

Hi all,

I will be flying solo to meet my family at WDW this March. On our last trip, we used Magical Express and it took exactly 3 hours from the time we landed at MCO to when we arrived at our hotel. It was a rather long-winded affair, and I'd almost rather shell out the money for a taxi this time (especially since it will be spring break season). I did really appreciate using Magical Express to get back to the airport on our departure day, though.

Anyways, my question is: can I choose to not arrive via Magical Express, but strictly use it for my departure from WDW? I have no idea how that works. I would really appreciate any advice or help you could offer me.

 

[Camille59]

I don't see why you shouldn't be able to take DME one way. Why not call Disney reservation or the hotel you are planning to stay at and talk with a lobby conceirge? Good luck.

 

[Deadmanwalking]

We've done that way and also done it where we used them to the hotel but not to the airport. Just sign up for it like you are going to use it both ways, then if you see that the lines aren't too long when you get there you can save cab fair. The only thing you want to remember is not to put the yellow tags on your luggage so that you can pick up your own bags in case you decide not to use the express.

I've seen how long those lines can get and understand your frustration.

 

[maelstrom]

I have taken DME to my hotel and not back to the airport, so I'd imagine you can do it the other way around. Just don't put the tags on your luggage.

 

[nksteckler]

Thank you so much for the suggestions! I think what I'll do is sign up for Magical Express, then decide what to do when I reach the airport and see the lines. I can't wait!

Thanks again!

 

[CleveRocks]

Your first DME experience sounded just awful!

Rest assured it's not at all typical. A CM who's a moderator on another board reports that the average time from airplane to resort drop-off is 70 minutes. The two times I used it, it was 63 minutes and 56 minutes.

If I had your experience I guess I'd be gun-shy, too, but like I said, your experience was far from typical.

Also, don't let the line at the DME counter scare you off -- even though it can get long, each person is served for about 60-90 seconds, and they usually have MANY CMs working the counter, so under normal circumstances the line goes pretty quickly even if it looks huge. That was my experience my first time using DME. I saw the huge line and thought, "Oh geez, I can't believe this," but before I could find a pen to write a complaint letter to Disney I heard those beautiful words "Next guest please" spoken to me.

 

[nksteckler]

I think several factors contributed to our long wait. I stood in the check-in line for about half an hour, then we were in the individual bus line for over an hour. It seemed they got through two rotations with the other lines until we were able to board. Plus, our hotel was the last drop-off for the bus. I know many people are happy with Magical Express, and I know my wait wasn't typical, so I don't really have a right to complain. Still, at the end of the 3 hours, I felt I'd wasted precious time that could have been spent getting some warm fuzzies at the parks.

Thanks again for your suggestions. I'll feel out the situation when I get to MCO. Only 42 days away!!!!!

 

[Carolla5501]

We signed my boyfriend up for DME back to the airport while at Disney. No problem and they didn't care that he hadn't taken it too the resort.

I do think your experience was unusual. I have taken DME several times and never gone much over an hour. (And the over an hour was actually not DME's fault. There was an accident at the entrance to the BC which took a while to get past.)

 

[isitingood]

Sorry to hear about your experience,but like some people have said it's not normal.

 

[Deadmanwalking]

Your first DME experience sounded just awful!

Rest assured it's not at all typical. A CM who's a moderator on another board reports that the average time from airplane to resort drop-off is 70 minutes. The two times I used it, it was 63 minutes and 56 minutes.

So if the average time is 70 minutes... I guess about 50% of the people get their faster than 70 minutes for the other 50% it takes longer than 70 minutes... assuming a natural distribution... anyone know what the standard deviation is?

 

[CleveRocks]

So if the average time is 70 minutes... I guess about 50% of the people get their faster than 70 minutes for the other 50% it takes longer than 70 minutes... assuming a natural distribution... anyone know what the standard deviation is?

Oh boy, you really stepped into this one ... no joke, I happen to have a Master's degree in statistics and experimental design.

I have no blessed clue what the standard deviation is. I don't have access to the raw data. The 70 minute figure I reported is straight from a current resorts CM (and former part-time DME driver), a moderator on another board, who has as one of his job duties remotely monitoring the flow of people and luggage through the DME system.

Anyway, if your question was serious (and God help me if it wasn't, because if it was a joke then I'm about to become the biggest geek this side of ... well, I'll just be the biggest geek ever!) ....

When you wrote "natural distribution," I'm guessing you meant "normal distribution." I highly doubt there is a normal distribution at work here. I'm sure the data are skewed towards the lower end. I'm sure of this because there is no other possibility here in the real world. For example, I'm sure there have been some unlucky folks who took 2 hours to get to their resorts. 120 minutes is 50 minutes above the mean. If the data made a normal distribution, then that would mean an equal number of people made it to their resorts in 50 minutes quicker than the mean time. Well, it's physicially impossible for someone to get off a plane, walk to the DME Welcome Center, check in, get on a bus, and get a ride to their resort in 20 minutes. The ride itself is a minimum of 25 minutes.

Now, I'll ungeek myself for a minute and say that my 2 DME experiences were 63 minutes from airplane to resort (May 2005) and 56 minutes airplane to resort (Nov. 2006).

 

[Deadmanwalking]

Oh boy, you really stepped into this one ... no joke, I happen to have a Master's degree in statistics and experimental design.

I have no blessed clue what the standard deviation is. I don't have access to the raw data. The 70 minute figure I reported is straight from a current resorts CM (and former part-time DME driver), a moderator on another board, who has as one of his job duties remotely monitoring the flow of people and luggage through the DME system.

Anyway, if your question was serious (and God help me if it wasn't, because if it was a joke then I'm about to become the biggest geek this side of ... well, I'll just be the biggest geek ever!) ....

When you wrote "natural distribution," I'm guessing you meant "normal distribution." I highly doubt there is a normal distribution at work here. I'm sure the data are skewed towards the lower end. I'm sure of this because there is no other possibility here in the real world. For example, I'm sure there have been some unlucky folks who took 2 hours to get to their resorts. 120 minutes is 50 minutes above the mean. If the data made a normal distribution, then that would mean an equal number of people made it to their resorts in 50 minutes quicker than the mean time. Well, it's physicially impossible for someone to get off a plane, walk to the DME Welcome Center, check in, get on a bus, and get a ride to their resort in 20 minutes. The ride itself is a minimum of 25 minutes.

Now, I'll ungeek myself for a minute and say that my 2 DME experiences were 63 minutes from airplane to resort (May 2005) and 56 minutes airplane to resort (Nov. 2006).

Your right I hadn't thought about it but I guess the physical reality of traffic would put a lower limit on how fast someone could get there... Of course when you accept that some people do have horrible 3 or 4 hour experiences with magic express, what are the odds that the disney stat gurus toss those facts out as an anomoly?

And yes I meant normal distribution, its been to many years since my stat classes which I wished I would not remember... I guess I got part of my wish.

 

[CleveRocks]

Your right I hadn't thought about it but I guess the physical reality of traffic would put a lower limit on how fast someone could get there... Of course when you accept that some people do have horrible 3 or 4 hour experiences with magic express, what are the odds that the disney stat gurus toss those facts out as an anomoly?

The guy I'm referring to, from the other board ... he's proven himself to be a straight shooter. When something doesn't go right with his employer, he reports on that, too. He's no public relations shill.

Personally, I've never read a single first-person account of anyone who's taken 3 or 4 hours to get to their resort from MCO via DME. I'm a very active member of that other board, and it gets tons of posts, and like I said, I've never seen such first hand reports. What I have read, however, are people saying they've heard of people having such problems. Kind of like an urban legend, it gets talked about but it always happens to someone's brother-in-law's sister's uncle's ex-wife's plumber.

 

[Deadmanwalking]

The guy I'm referring to, from the other board ... he's proven himself to be a straight shooter. When something doesn't go right with his employer, he reports on that, too. He's no public relations shill.

Personally, I've never read a single first-person account of anyone who's taken 3 or 4 hours to get to their resort from MCO via DME. I'm a very active member of that other board, and it gets tons of posts, and like I said, I've never seen such first hand reports. What I have read, however, are people saying they've heard of people having such problems. Kind of like an urban legend, it gets talked about but it always happens to someone's brother-in-law's sister's uncle's ex-wife's plumber.

Any idea how they figure the 70 minute time... is it based on the time you get off the plane to the time you get to the resort or the time you get past the first line at the Magic express checkin to be told which bus to get on?

I can attest that I have personally stood for over 1 hour just waiting in the lines where they verify you have reservations and are told which bus you'll be getting on.... from that point it was another 15 minute wait in the bus lines before boarding... At the point we got on the bus I have no idea how long the ride was as we were so relieved to moving we stopped looking at our watches.

 

[CleveRocks]

Any idea how they figure the 70 minute time... is it based on the time you get off the plane to the time you get to the resort or the time you get past the first line at the Magic express checkin to be told which bus to get on?

I can attest that I have personally stood for over 1 hour just waiting in the lines where they verify you have reservations and are told which bus you'll be getting on.... from that point it was another 15 minute wait in the bus lines before boarding... At the point we got on the bus I have no idea how long the ride was as we were so relieved to moving we stopped looking at our watches.

The reported 70 minute figure is from getting off the plane to being dropped off at resort.

Sounds like you had an "above average" experience, which in this case is NOT good!

I'll just guess at your time -- 10 minutes from plane to line, 1 hour in line (YIKES!), 15 minutes in bus line, 30 minutes ride to resort. That's 1 hour 55 minutes, call it 2 hours. Two hours is unusual from everything I've read over the past 21 months (first-hand accounts). Still, even though I'm glad I didn't have your 2 hour experience, that's still a very far cry from it taking 3 or 4 hours. I'm still wondering where you read or heard first-person accounts of 3 or 4 hours on the way to the resort.

Anyway, I'll try to get the skinny on how they actually collect that data. Hopefully he'll divulge the method. If he doesn't, then I'll strongly assume it's proprietary information that he's not permitted to divulge.

Maverick: "It's classified."
Charley: "Classified?"
Maverick: "Yes, classified. I could tell you but then I'd have to kill you."