Magical Express resort pick up now FOUR hours before flights? Alternatives?

[disneyfreak202]

MCO is by far the worst airport with security lines. Having the home airport for me be LAX, I would way rather deal with LAX's traffic and security, even on a holiday weekend, than deal with MCO on a normal day.

 

[ScubaCat]

for me it's the TSA agents. they are rude and have no shame. a TSA agent told a lady in front of me to use her brain and go to a shorter line while the other TSA agents started laughing. who talks like that?! I was so embarrassed for the lady, I told he that she needed to call and speak to a higher up. it's not professional.

I agree. It's not MCO though - it's the TSA. They keep adding inane rules and policies in order to pretend they're keeping us safe, and the airport has to accommodate with whatever size facility they have. Clearly they need more lanes and to be operating more efficiently. And it's not like you can complain They have all the power. You just get through it as best you can.

Overall, MCO simply needs that new terminal to be open 2 years ago, not 2 years from now. Other airports have suffered similar growing pains and have built out/reconfigured/etc to correct them. I lived in and flew out of Atlanta for many years. They used to have obscene lines, but they've made adjustments and things are definitely better now. I'm sure Orlando will be better when the expansion is done. For now, it is what it is unfortunately, and Disney/Universal/Sea World/everyone else will only continue to add hotels and attractions as time goes on, which will inevitably make it progressively worse.

 

[ScubaCat]

MCO is by far the worst airport with security lines. Having the home airport for me be LAX, I would way rather deal with LAX's traffic and security, even on a holiday weekend, than deal with MCO on a normal day.

Again, it's a lot better now than it used to be. I've dealt with some pretty insane security lines at LAX, but in recent years it has improved exponentially.

 

[phabric]

Before Internatioanal flights were picked up 4 hours before flights.

I am wondering if Disney will change the pick up to 5 hours?

 

[22Tink]

Before Internatioanal flights were picked up 4 hours before flights.

I am wondering if Disney will change the pick up to 5 hours?

Reports I’ve seen say it’s 4 hours for everyone, international and domestic.

 

[ScubaCat]

4 hours is crazy for domestic. That's going to take at least a small bite out of Disney's bottom line. And talk about annoying... if you have a noon flight, you have to be ON the shuttle by 8am or earlier if you're the first pickup. Nuts. All for security theater.

 

[oceanmarina]

Agreed a few trips ago we arranged for a 3.5 hr pickup so to have a nice lunch at Ruby Tuesday. Due to the line at security we only had time for a quick sandwich & fries from Wendy's . MCO is the worst security lines we have experienced so far. Our home airport is Philadelphia and even that isn't as bad.

Not thinking I put the candy from the Halloween party in our carry-ons as our checked luggage was full. Lesson learned as they swabbed every piece of candy Made it to our gate just as they were starting boarding.

MCO is a hot mess at the best of times, though. I have seen pre-check break at MCO as well.

Holiday travel is painful, though, even in well-oiled TSA operations. "But you can't make me check this 32 ounce shampoo! It's salon shampoo and expensive!"

Yep to that. I agree with Auroraborealis that MCO is a mess on a good day. They always have the worst / longest security lines.

We did MNsSHP this summer, my kids brought home candy in our suitcases, not in our carry on so no swabbing.

 

[HairyChest]

4 hours is crazy. I'm thinking of checking into magical express and getting the boarding passes, sending my luggage with magical express, and then using uber to go to the airport 2 hours in advance.

 

[Farro]

4 hours is crazy. I'm thinking of checking into magical express and getting the boarding passes, sending my luggage with magical express, and then using uber to go to the airport 2 hours in advance.

Do your resort and airline offer the resort/airline check in - RAC? If so, you can check your bags, get your boarding pass at the hotel. The service transports your bags to the airport and you grab them at your home airport. Completely separate from Magical Express. We use it and love it.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

You cannot send luggage with ME going back. You have to be there to remove it and check it.

RAC is where you check bags in advance and can be done without ME

 

[KrazeeK120]

Do your resort and airline offer the resort/airline check in - RAC? If so, you can check your bags, get your boarding pass at the hotel. The service transports your bags to the airport and you grab them at your home airport. Completely separate from Magical Express. We use it and love it.

Yes. This. You cannot send your bags to the airport on Magical Express if you’re not on the bus. All of the Disney owner and operated resorts have RAC - it’s best to use that service.

 

[Nohal]

Our flight out of MCO is at 8am. Does this mean ME will pick us up at 4am? I know RAC opens at 6am so I guess I am dealing with checking my luggage at the airport. I wasn't aware that ME operates to the airport that early.

 

[Moliphino]

That's a very important point. Most of the MDEs I've been on (both directions) were filled to capacity. I would not operate under the assumption that you can just grab the next one if you miss your time.

We almost couldn't get on our scheduled bus two years ago at Coronado because of a big tour group. The Disney guys just threw their hands up and said it was up to the bus drivers if they let us on or not. There were multiple buses there and one driver did let us on (I think the tour group leaders were annoyed because it threw off their arrangements, but that wasn't my problem).
Huge multi-bus tour groups really ought to have special arrangements.

 

[Pdollar88]

I’m still considering just doing DME for my 7:20 am flight. Just cause I don’t have to worry about it. And I can sleep when I get home at 11:30. Might Uber on my arrival night at midnight if I check the bus and think it’ll be a long wait.

Do they show any videos on your return ride to the airport?

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Our flight out of MCO is at 8am. Does this mean ME will pick us up at 4am? I know RAC opens at 6am so I guess I am dealing with checking my luggage at the airport. I wasn't aware that ME operates to the airport that early.

Yes, ME pickup will be approximately 4AM for an 8AM flight.

RAC hours are 4AM-Noon (https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/guest-services/resort-airline-check-in/). In theory you could use them in your circumstances but may depend on the exact ME pick-up time you are given. I think that 4AM opening for RAC may be new - it used to be 5AM if I’m not mistaken?.

 

[MonaMN]

I think another reason it's bananas at MCO are the large groups arriving at the same time... ME buses, buses with folks from cruises... that influx of a lot of people at one time causes lots of bottlenecks and confusion.

I'm on the side of preferring to have extra time at the gate than running through the airport to catch my flight... so I'm cool with this.

 

[ScubaCat]

I think another reason it's bananas at MCO are the large groups arriving at the same time... ME buses, buses with folks from cruises... that influx of a lot of people at one time causes lots of bottlenecks and confusion.

I'm on the side of preferring to have extra time at the gate than running through the airport to catch my flight... so I'm cool with this.

It's partially all of the inexperienced travelers and the families (you notice that part even upon outbound departure on an MCO flight compared to anywhere else), and the facility just hasn't been expanded to keep up with the constantly growing demand. Think of how many hotels and attractions are opening up every year in Orlando, yet the airport has been the same size for decades.

I compare it to Atlanta which is what I'm most familiar with living the biggest portion of my life there. When I moved there in 1993 for college, it had concourses A thru D (with about 40-50 gates each.) They extended the main terminal and added about 15 "T" gates. Then, built concourse E as a separate international terminal for the Olympics in 1996. More recently they moved a lot of international to a newly built concourse "F", and even built a new international terminal on the other side of "F", so domestic and international flights have completely different facilities for checking in baggage and security. Compare that to Orlando, which seems fairly similar to what I remember as a kid plus maybe a few new gates squeezed in here and there.

Hopefully the new south terminal (which will be known as "Terminal C") will help. With a 4 hour MDE time on top of hellishly crowded security checkpoints, it can't get here fast enough...

 

[Sparkly]

Even London Gatwick is better then MCO! Gatwick has a nice big space for security, lots of lines of conveyor belts for sending your bags through and space to repack and sort yourself out before going into the departures lounge.

 

[Nohal]

Yes, ME pickup will be approximately 4AM for an 8AM flight.

RAC hours are 4AM-Noon (https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/guest-services/resort-airline-check-in/). In theory you could use them in your circumstances but may depend on the exact ME pick-up time you are given. I think that 4AM opening for RAC may be new - it used to be 5AM if I’m not mistaken?.

Glad they moved the time for RAC. When we were there in October they opened at 5. I'm glad we have an early flight as the airport won't be as crowded.

 

[Sandiz08]

With a 3 hour pickup last trip on an evening flight ,we made it through security and had 15 minutes to grab dinner. I guess 4 hours might not be such a bad idea in some cases. Had kids with us and we have no precheck so going through the airport does take longer.