Use of the Magical Express bus

Cindylieu

Mouseketeer
Joined
Jan 31, 2010
We plan to use the ME bus from MCO to the ASMu for our early June trip. I am not inclined to let them pick up our bags from baggage claim, since I've heard that they can take up to 5-6 hours to deliver the bags to the rooms. We are flying in from Idaho and the earliest we will be at the airport will be 3:30pm-ish. That would put our bags in our rooms after 9pm or later and I'm just not ok with that.

My first question is, if we get our own bags- do we just bring them with us to the bus and they stow them underneath?

Also- will getting our own bags screw things up and make us miss our bus to the hotel?

And finally- I hear that we can check our luggage quite early on the morning of departure at the baggage check counter at the resort...then they handle the bags while we get breakfast and relax until our ME bus back to the airport. I'm thinking we would need to catch a 9am bus, so we could check bags around 7:30 and grab some breakfast. We would be able then to bypass the lines to check bags at the airport. Is this a good idea or should I just keep managing our own luggage?
 
Personally I would just let them get the bags but I understand your concern. Typically we found it was three hours form landing. Once was four and these are all peak season travel times.

Yes, you can get your bags and stow them under the bus.
Maybe you would miss "our" bus but they run nonstop and you don't have an exact bus dedicated to you. They load the bus based on who is going where, amount of people, and times of flights.
Can't recall when they open in the morning but I want to say 7-12. If they are open, yes, you can check them/get boarding passes and skip the one at the airport.
 
If you collect your own bags at MCO (Orlando Int'l), yes, just bring them to the ME bus with you. The driver will stow them in the bus and unload them when you reach your resort.

You will not "miss" your bus. When you arrive and take ME from MCO to your resort, you are not assigned to a specific bus/time. Just go to the ME check in spot and they will direct you to the line for your resort, a bus will come, and you'll get on. One year, when I got off the plane, I went to the airport food court and ate lunch before I went down to ME.

When you take ME from your resort back to MCO on departure day, you will be assigned a bus pick up time about 3 hours before your flight time. Resort Airline Check-in opens at 5 am, so you can definitely check your bags there then get breakfast. I LOVE RAC! It is so nice not to have to haul my big bag to / through the airport, go to the counter, etc. I just go straight to the security line with my carry-on, so much easier.
 
We plan to use the ME bus from MCO to the ASMu for our early June trip.

1. I am not inclined to let them pick up our bags from baggage claim, since I've heard that they can take up to 5-6 hours to deliver the bags to the rooms.

2. We are flying in from Idaho and the earliest we will be at the airport will be 3:30pm-ish. That would put our bags in our rooms after 9pm or later and I'm just not ok with that.

3. My first question is, if we get our own bags- do we just bring them with us to the bus and they stow them underneath?

4. Also- will getting our own bags screw things up and make us miss our bus to the hotel?

5. And finally- I hear that we can check our luggage quite early on the morning of departure at the baggage check counter at the resort...then they handle the bags while we get breakfast and relax until our ME bus back to the airport.

6. I'm thinking we would need to catch a 9am bus, so we could check bags around 7:30 and grab some breakfast. We would be able then to bypass the lines to check bags at the airport.

7. Is this a good idea or should I just keep managing our own luggage?

1. It should take 3-4 hours from the time you check in to your hotel.

2. With a flight arrival time of 3:30, ME should get you to your hotel by 5:00, so you would get your luggage between 8-9.

3. Yes, and make sure you don't use the yellow luggage tags.

4. No. You're not assigned to a particular bus.

5. Yep.

6. You will be assigned a bus pick up time (so this is different from getting the bus from the airport) that's about 3 hours before your flight time. The pickup time is actually when the bus is supposed to leave your hotel though, so you should be waiting at the pickup at least 15 minutes.

7. I love not having to deal with my luggage at the airport.
 


We plan to use the ME bus from MCO to the ASMu for our early June trip. I am not inclined to let them pick up our bags from baggage claim, since I've heard that they can take up to 5-6 hours to deliver the bags to the rooms. We are flying in from Idaho and the earliest we will be at the airport will be 3:30pm-ish. That would put our bags in our rooms after 9pm or later and I'm just not ok with that.
Dealing with baggage claim is the worse part of flying. I avoid it any way possible. We always let ME get our bags, no matter what time we arrive. Well, as long as it's before 10. If we arrive late (something we usually avoid) we just bring a separate bag with what we need for the night and don't worry about the rest. I let Bell Services hold them till morning.
 
No matter what we bring a carryon bag with items for that whole day and the night. Just in case. We rarely take advantage of luggage delivery because of flight time, but we still do that.
 
We usually have a good experience with luggage delivery using MDE. Two trips ago though they left our luggage sitting in the open during a thunderstorm and every item in the luggage was soaked through when it arrived in our room. The resort (Yacht Club) agreed to launder all of the items but then charged us like $160 for that service when we checked out. I was able to get that charge removed from the bill but it was all a bit of a hassle.
 


Dealing with baggage claim is the worse part of flying. I avoid it any way possible. We always let ME get our bags, no matter what time we arrive. Well, as long as it's before 10. If we arrive late (something we usually avoid) we just bring a separate bag with what we need for the night and don't worry about the rest. I let Bell Services hold them till morning.
Is this easy to tell Bell Services to do? We'll be flying at night next trip, something we don't normally do, arriving late after work/school all day. We're only spending one night at ASSports, then transferring to CBR the next day. I'd love to just leave our luggage with bell services and then have them transfer it while we're at the parks.
 
We usually have a good experience with luggage delivery using MDE. Two trips ago though they left our luggage sitting in the open during a thunderstorm and every item in the luggage was soaked through when it arrived in our room. The resort (Yacht Club) agreed to launder all of the items but then charged us like $160 for that service when we checked out. I was able to get that charge removed from the bill but it was all a bit of a hassle.

It was likely the airline that left your bags out.
 
Is this easy to tell Bell Services to do? We'll be flying at night next trip, something we don't normally do, arriving late after work/school all day. We're only spending one night at ASSports, then transferring to CBR the next day. I'd love to just leave our luggage with bell services and then have them transfer it while we're at the parks.
It has been for us. Like you, we don't routinely fly in late but sometimes it's cheaper to fly in late and stay in a value than to take the early flight out next morning. When we do, we always tell them to hold our bags. They have without issue. Then we give them our carry on stuff and have them move it all to the next resort.

You can add 1 additional step by putting the Do Not Disturb sign out, just in case someone working overnight misses the note and brings your bags trying to be nice
 
We plan to use the ME bus from MCO to the ASMu for our early June trip. I am not inclined to let them pick up our bags from baggage claim, since I've heard that they can take up to 5-6 hours to deliver the bags to the rooms. We are flying in from Idaho and the earliest we will be at the airport will be 3:30pm-ish. That would put our bags in our rooms after 9pm or later and I'm just not ok with that.

My first question is, if we get our own bags- do we just bring them with us to the bus and they stow them underneath? Yes.

Also- will getting our own bags screw things up and make us miss our bus to the hotel? NO, you aren't scheduled for a particular bus, so there's no bus for you to miss. You can take your time at the airport, get your bags, do some shopping, eat, whatever you want, and you just get on the next bus to your resort after you check in.

And finally- I hear that we can check our luggage quite early on the morning of departure at the baggage check counter at the resort...then they handle the bags while we get breakfast and relax until our ME bus back to the airport. I'm thinking we would need to catch a 9am bus, so we could check bags around 7:30 and grab some breakfast. We would be able then to bypass the lines to check bags at the airport. Is this a good idea or should I just keep managing our own luggage?

Yes you can do exactly that. We do it every trip and it is nice to check your bag at the resort and not have to worry about seeing it again until you are at your home airport. When you check in your bags, you are also checking in for your flight, so be sure that you have everyone in your party present, and they all need their ID, just as they would at airport check in. Once you arrive at the airport, you can just go to the gate, no need to wait in another line. The one thing I suggest (and you should do this anytime you check bags anyway) is make sure they put the correct airport tags on your bag.
 
Yes you can do exactly that. We do it every trip and it is nice to check your bag at the resort and not have to worry about seeing it again until you are at your home airport. When you check in your bags, you are also checking in for your flight, so be sure that you have everyone in your party present, and they all need their ID, just as they would at airport check in. Once you arrive at the airport, you can just go to the gate, no need to wait in another line. The one thing I suggest (and you should do this anytime you check bags anyway) is make sure they put the correct airport tags on your bag.
Worth noting, you do have to still go through security, so there will be another line. Obvious to some but to anyone not used to using the service they may not quite understand.
 
We plan to use the ME bus from MCO to the ASMu for our early June trip. I am not inclined to let them pick up our bags from baggage claim, since I've heard that they can take up to 5-6 hours to deliver the bags to the rooms. We are flying in from Idaho and the earliest we will be at the airport will be 3:30pm-ish. That would put our bags in our rooms after 9pm or later and I'm just not ok with that.

MDE luggage is definitely hit or miss. I had a flight from New England around the same times as yours listed above and my bags were still missing as of 9 pm. So yes 5-6 hours is possible although previously I never had a problem with it. It got to the point where one of the kids was ready for bed and had no PJs. We were hoping to do some swimming but that was also all packed and checked - with pools closing at 10 that night I managed to sneak out with my son for some quick pool time but the wife and daughter lost out on that.

Moral of the story, just like you read, pack a small/medium sized carry-on bag of what you want for the first day and first night don't let Disney touch it and then you don't worry about it like I had to.
 
We always collect our own bags and bring them with us to MDE. I just prefer it that way and it has never been a problem at all. If there are only a few things you need you can always just put those items in your carry-on provided it isn't a prohibited item.

If you want to grab your own luggage just don't put the MDE luggage tags on them.
 
I like leaving the airport with my luggage with me so we always pick up our bags. I know the airline can misplace my luggage either way but I don't want to wait at the hotel for 5 hours and then find out my luggage is missing. If I know before I leave the airport the airline can start looking for it.
 
I also always get our bags and put them on bus with us. If room isn't ready yet we go to lunch or to pool. But we always arrive in late morning and never plan on a park day. We often luck out and get a room early so I love having bags there so I can unpack right away.
 
MDE luggage is definitely hit or miss. I had a flight from New England around the same times as yours listed above and my bags were still missing as of 9 pm. So yes 5-6 hours is possible although previously I never had a problem with it.

But Disney tells you to expect your luggage 3-4 hours from your arrival at your hotel, not your arrival at the airport. So if your flight landed at 3:30 (like the OP's), then you probably got to your hotel at 5, which means that 9pm was within that 3-4 hours.
 
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Just to reiterate, if you want to pick up your own bags, do *NOT* use the yellow luggage tags that you'll get in the mail before your trip. Those yellow tags are what signal MDE to get your bags, so if you've tagged them, your bags won't ever make it to baggage claim to begin with.

Also, this may sound stupid, but I personally know someone who was confused and did this: Its an all-or-nothing proposition. If you put on the yellow bag tag, the bags will be handled totally by MDE and show up in your room. But if you pick up your bags from baggage claim, they are now totally your responsibility, and you need to get them off of the bus once you get to the hotel and take them to your room (or have bell services help). The person I know thought that MDE would handle the bags all the way to the hotel room once they gave them to them on the bus.
 
MDE luggage is definitely hit or miss. I had a flight from New England around the same times as yours listed above and my bags were still missing as of 9 pm. So yes 5-6 hours is possible although previously I never had a problem with it. It got to the point where one of the kids was ready for bed and had no PJs. We were hoping to do some swimming but that was also all packed and checked - with pools closing at 10 that night I managed to sneak out with my son for some quick pool time but the wife and daughter lost out on that.

Moral of the story, just like you read, pack a small/medium sized carry-on bag of what you want for the first day and first night don't let Disney touch it and then you don't worry about it like I had to.

I just wanted to echo that last bit about packing the necessities in a carry-on bag if you decide to let ME handle your luggage. On our last trip, we arrived at our hotel around 3, and our luggage didn't show up until 10:30-11. That was the longest it's ever taken for us to get our luggage. When we walked over to Bell Services to check on it (after spending 30 minutes trying to get through on the phone), there were several other guests who were in the same position. We were told the airlines had been holding luggage longer than they used to, and that was causing the delay. (Obviously, I have no way of knowing if that's true.) We've always had good luck with letting ME deliver our luggage - and will continue to use the service in the future - but things do wrong. I felt much calmer knowing I had clean underwear, deodorant and a toothbrush just in case.
 
Like others have already posted, we packed a carry on with everything we would need for 24 hours. The last thing we wanted to do was try and drag suitcases through the airport on arrival day.
 

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