MAGICAL EXPRESS NOT VERY MAGICAL!!!!

[mickandvick]

Magical Express is a mess! It used to be very convenient and fantastic shuttle experience to the resort. I have been coming to DW for the past 20 years even before Magical Express and had to use Mears Taxi. When the Magical Express was implemented it had a few hiccups but once they were over, the service was great. I travel from the West Coast and can't get a flight to arrive before 4:00 pm. Most west coast flights arrive around 7-8 pm. Here is the problem and serious hiccup the Magical Express is having. If you arrive at the airport at 8, you usually have to wait about 45 min. on the bus before it leaves the Airport. When you arrive at your Resort, you expect to receive your luggage delivered to your room with in the 3 hrs they quote you from the time you land. This is a LIE! This has happened to me twice, my daughter twice, and a friend all in the past 6 months. Our luggage is delivered to the room at 2:00AM. Yes, 5 hrs after your flight lands! I will not be using the luggage tags from Magical Express again. I will pick up my bags myself so I can have my bags the same night I arrive. This never used to be a problem and is TOTALLY unacceptable! West Coast travelers should be told this when they receive their luggage tags so as to change plans West Coast travelers BEWARE!!!! THIS IS NOT AN ISOLATED SINGLE INCIDENT!

 

[Happiest.Haunt_999]

Then don't use Magical Express if it's such an issue. There's many of other options of getting yourself and your luggage from the airport to the resort.

 

[tobikaye]

It is actually listed as 3 hours after you arrive at your hotel, but even that has been reported for the last few years on this boards as not accurate. Many threads have suggested that if you are arriving as early as 5 or 6 pm that you have a carry on with first night/day items and asking the baggage desk to hold your luggage until you call for them the next day. I flew down in January and arrived about 6:30 pm and forgot to stop and ask them to hold my luggage until the next morning and it arrived at 11:45 pm. I had already decided that any flights after 5 will either be where I pick up my luggage or remember to ask them to hold my luggage when I arrive at my resort.

 

[cedricandsophie]

We always arrive in the am but I always get my own bags. I much prefer the 10 to 15 min wai5 for bags at the airport then several hours at hotel. Even in am we have waited 30 min or more for a bus. We don’t go to parks much so i just want to get to room and unpack ASAP

 

[Disneylover99]

Magical Express is a mess! It used to be very convenient and fantastic shuttle experience to the resort. I have been coming to DW for the past 20 years even before Magical Express and had to use Mears Taxi. When the Magical Express was implemented it had a few hiccups but once they were over, the service was great. I travel from the West Coast and can't get a flight to arrive before 4:00 pm. Most west coast flights arrive around 7-8 pm. Here is the problem and serious hiccup the Magical Express is having. If you arrive at the airport at 8, you usually have to wait about 45 min. on the bus before it leaves the Airport. When you arrive at your Resort, you expect to receive your luggage delivered to your room with in the 3 hrs they quote you from the time you land. This is a LIE! This has happened to me twice, my daughter twice, and a friend all in the past 6 months. Our luggage is delivered to the room at 2:00AM. Yes, 5 hrs after your flight lands! I will not be using the luggage tags from Magical Express again. I will pick up my bags myself so I can have my bags the same night I arrive. This never used to be a problem and is TOTALLY unacceptable! West Coast travelers should be told this when they receive their luggage tags so as to change plans West Coast travelers BEWARE!!!! THIS IS NOT AN ISOLATED SINGLE INCIDENT!

As @tobikaye mentioned, your luggage should arrive about 3 hours after arriving at your hotel, not after landing. Assuming you get to your resort at around 9:30pm, your luggage should probably be arriving at about 12:30am. Which is way too late to wait up for your luggage anyways. I would always pick up my luggage myself if I was arriving late afternoon, or later.

 

[FCDub]

Sorry you had a rough time.

You should write to Disney.

 

[gillep]

I am a fellow West Coast traveler but I never arrive that late, we take the red eye and land early in the morning so that we can have a full day at Disney on our arrival and have no complaints with ME. That said, the few times we have flown in from other locations and arrive in the evening we just grab our own bags, I actually grab my bag if landing any time after check in officially starts, but that doesn't happen too often.

 

[DebbieB]

After landing at 11:30am and not getting luggage until after 7:00pm, I pickup my own. No way to know if it was the airline or Disney but I want to have my luggage when my room is ready.

 

[Shanti]

When landing in the evening, I recommend packing enough for the night in your carryon bag, and then telling Bell Services to hold your Magical Express bags until morning. That way there is no disturbance at night.

 

[Shanti]

When you arrive at your Resort, you expect to receive your luggage delivered to your room with in the 3 hrs they quote you from the time you land. This is a LIE!

The Disney website states:
Be advised, your luggage will travel separately from you and may take up to 3 hours after you arrive at your hotel to be delivered to your room.

That is 3 hours after arriving at the hotel, not 3 hours from landing.

 

[tjmw2727]

I like DME but it is what it is - a free service that transports lots of travelers to and from Disney. Sometimes you wait for a bus, sometimes you wait on a bus and other times its board and go, just the luck of the draw. If I am arriving after 5ish I usually pick up my own bags as the likelihood of my room being ready so I can unpack is high, otherwise I do use the luggage delivery feature of DME.

The literature is clear that your bags will take at least 3 hours after check in (not after landing) to arrive. It seems that the later it gets the less staff there will be at the resorts bell services to deliver so it can take longer at night especially at the value resorts.

It could also be that your bags were delayed by the airlines and you would never know if DME transports them and there are also those Florida storms that can delay the offloading of bags. We once we waited over an hour for storms to pass before they could get the bags to the carousel.

Good rule of thumb is to have at least 24 hours of essentials in your carryon bags in case the airline misdirects your bags.

When arriving late you can always choose to pick up your own bags or ask bell services to bring them in the AM if you don't want to be disturbed.

 

[StageTek]

West Coast travelers should be told this when they receive their luggage tags so as to change plans West Coast travelers BEWARE!!!! THIS IS NOT AN ISOLATED SINGLE INCIDENT!

Yikes. A lot of yelling... but I understand the frustration. When things don't go as hoped it can be cathartic to yell on a message board. I hope this makes you feel a little better. And thanks for the warning.

All travelers are told about the time it takes to get luggage to the hotel; even West Coast travelers. But it is good advice to take your luggage with you if you are going to land at MCO after 8PM. It's too bad you (mickandvick) had this happen twice. At least you know and won't let it happen again.

I fly in from the west coast and have found many flights that leave before 4PM and arrive at MCO before 7 to 8PM. I suspect you're flying from a small airport. Not all west coast flights land so late. I've never had it happen so I find Magical Express quite magical.

 

[goofy4tink]

I've arrived later in the day...have yet to have a wait for the bus that is more than 25 mins. Once on the bus, the same thing. I know there are isolated incidents of longer wait times. Seems the OP, and family, have been very unlucky.
I always recommend leaving the yellow tags off checked bags, and getting them at baggage claim when arriving later than 6pm. If you really don't want to hassle with the bags, then tag them, allow DME to move them, and be sure to let Bell Services/Luggage Assistance know that you want your bags held until the next day. Then hang out the 'room occupied' sign on your door. That should prevent being disturbed during the night by luggage delivery.

DME isn't going to be acceptable to every single guest at WDW. You have to realize what it is....'free' transportation and baggage handling. And as we see Disney making cuts in services, it's safe to assume that DME will also take a hit...fewer buses, which will mean longer wait times. If this isn't acceptable to you, then you have other options....a rental car, Uber/Lyft, towncar service.

 

[holden]

I always grab my bags and take them on the bus with me. That way I have them when I want them.

If your room isn’t ready you can check the bags with bell services while you visit a park, swim, etc

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

I don't think arriving at 7-8pm is the problem. No matter what time of day, if you get to ME right after a bus has just left, you will have to wait awhile for the next one to arrive. Also if you want your bags right away it's a good idea to grab them yourself instead of having them delivered.

 

[verleniahall]

The only time we have had to wait on a me bus was right before thanksgiving but the lines were long -but we expected this and used the time to let family know we had arrived

 

[Hisgirl]

I have never understood why anyone wouldn't just get their own bags, in order to have your possessions as soon as you enter into your room.

 

[AngiTN]

I'm sorry you have had a disappointed service. I think if you had read the paperwork better you may not have had such a disappointing time.
So as many have pointed out, no one lied to you, you just didn't understand what you read, or read through everything quite right. Probably also explains why it's happened to so many in your party, it's normal wait time for bags.
When we land late in the evening we just ask bell services to hold our bags will morning.
We've used it equally as many times and found we depart within 30 min of boarding, which is their targeted time, no matter if you land at 1 PM or 1 AM, and we've landed at both.

I have never understood why anyone wouldn't just get their own bags, in order to have your possessions as soon as you enter into your room.

Because getting baggage from baggage claim is a huge PITA. One of the reasons I stay on site when I travel to Disney is to use ME and to have them get my bags. If I could find a way for them to get them and deliver them to my house I'd love it (sadly, Bag, Inc doesn't service my home airport yet)

I have no use for my possessions as soon as I enter my room. I'm off to the park. By the time I get back, my stuff is there. Win-win as far as I'm concerned.

I try to never plan a flight that lands after the cut off time for baggage service because it's after the cut off time. I'll use it no matter how close it gets to 10:00 because I never need what's in those bags right away.

 

[tjmw2727]

I have never understood why anyone wouldn't just get their own bags, in order to have your possessions as soon as you enter into your room.

I don't get my own bags if I arrive before 5 or 6 because its likely that my room won't be ready. This way I avoid the wait at bag claim, don't have to lug my bags back up a level and over and down two levels to the bus only to have to store them again at bell services at the resort. Add to that if there is a delay unloading due to storms or a misplaced bag - I am happy to let DME deal with that if necessary.

Instead I head to the bus and my resort, check in and head to a park, when we return to our room our bags are waiting in the room, that's magical to me

 

[Debbie Jean]

I have never understood why anyone wouldn't just get their own bags, in order to have your possessions as soon as you enter into your room.

Well, if you have mobility challenges, your flight arrived on the A side, and your luggage is on the carroussel furthest away..... even if the arrival is late, the temptation to simply check the bag through and go directly to MDE can be very tempting I travel solo which has its challenges but I'm sure families with little ones in the same predicament would find checking the backs through appealing as well.

Having said that, I also have had a very late arrival with a 45 minute wait for MDE and no luggage until 2 AM. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. Now if I'm arriving late I only do a carry on... no need to pick up luggage at the other end of the airport or wait for it at the resort. My only issue is finding some kind young person who can help me get the bag in and out of the overhead bin!