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

[butternut]

Had a pick up at 3am this morning for our 7 am flight. We chose to miss the bus and took an Uber. Called from the lobby of GF at 4.45 am and he picked us up at 4.55. Got to airport before 5.30. Got to sleep in an extra few hours and was well worth it. 5 in our family so we used Uber xl.

 

[hllb]

Had a pick up at 3am this morning for our 7 am flight. We chose to miss the bus and took an Uber. Called from the lobby of GF at 4.45 am and he picked us up at 4.55. Got to airport before 5.30. Got to sleep in an extra few hours and was well worth it. 5 in our family so we used Uber xl.

Was it around $40? We are also a family of 5 staying at Poly. How was the airport?

 

[butternut]

It depends on the time you call for pick up. Uber goes by demand and it will be between 45 and 60. We looked it up the evening before and it was almost 60. Looked it up in the morning and paid 45. Well worth it. Tell them u need XL for 5 people. Hope this helps.

 

[butternut]

No problem at the airport either. 7am flight and we boarded 6.30 and departed on time

 

[JayBaileys]

They booked us in early Nov for a bus 2 hours and 40 minutes before our flight, we made it to the gate about 40 minutes before departure on a Saturday night.

 

[FootracerJ]

It does seem excessive, but I've had a flight moved up hour the night before, and came within minutes of missing it.

If possible, I think it's best to get an evening flight out and plan to eat supper at the airport.

 

[k2kten]

If we have a 5 PM flight and want more park time than having to leave for MCO at 1 PM, can we leave our luggage with Bell Services and take an Uber when we are ready to leave? Will Bell Services hold our luggage even though we won't be waiting on MDE?

 

[CarolynFH]

If we have a 5 PM flight and want more park time than having to leave for MCO at 1 PM, can we leave our luggage with Bell Services and take an Uber when we are ready to leave? Will Bell Services hold our luggage even though we won't be waiting on MDE?

Yes, you can leave your luggage with Bell Services and take an Uber when ready. Alternatively, since you have to check out of the hotel in the morning, you can check your luggage with RAC and then leave just the carryons with Bell Services.

 

[k2kten]

Yes, you can leave your luggage with Bell Services and take an Uber when ready. Alternatively, since you have to check out of the hotel in the morning, you can check your luggage with RAC and then leave just the carryons with Bell Services.

Thank you!!! What exactly is RAC?

 

[CarolynFH]

Thank you!!! What exactly is RAC?

RAC = Resort Airline Checkin. It's like curbside checkin, with the curb being at your hotel instead of at the airport. Not all airlines participate, and there are other restrictions (for instance, if you're flying internationally you're not eligible), so check out this thread: https://www.disboards.com/threads/dme-and-rac-faqs.944813/.

 

[k2kten]

RAC = Resort Airline Checkin. It's like curbside checkin, with the curb being at your hotel instead of at the airport. Not all airlines participate, and there are other restrictions (for instance, if you're flying internationally you're not eligible), so check out this thread: https://www.disboards.com/threads/dme-and-rac-faqs.944813/.

Thank you so much!

 

[AngiTN]

If we have a 5 PM flight and want more park time than having to leave for MCO at 1 PM, can we leave our luggage with Bell Services and take an Uber when we are ready to leave? Will Bell Services hold our luggage even though we won't be waiting on MDE?

Just for the record, Bell Services has nothing all to do with ME so yeah, they will hold bags for anyone. You plans to use ME (or not) won't come in to play for them at all.

 

[k2kten]

Just for the record, Bell Services has nothing all to do with ME so yeah, they will hold bags for anyone. You plans to use ME (or not) won't come in to play for them at all.

Thank you!

 

[jimmymc]

If you don't have Precheck, then hiring a car really only buys you about an hour. Lines at Orlando have been very long recently and I would never want to risk missing a flight. I would rather get to the airport early and have the opportunity for a sit-down meal than risk showing up last minute.

But if that hour is really important to you, for 6 people you probably want to pre-book a van or SUV transfer.

 

[brave321]

Normally I’d say 4 hours is outrageous. However I just got back from flying from Ohio to Fort Myers and back. These are both smaller and usually crowd free airports. I’ve never had to wait more than 10 minutes for security... until this past trip. Even compared to last year’s Thanksgiving it was by far more crowded. It took a little less than an hour to get through security in both airports. I don’t know if it’s increased TSA, people being clueless, or just a lot more people flying but it was bad. We’re going down to WDW for New Years and at first we hated the thought of going 4 hours in advance. Now considering that MCO is a lot larger and busier we’re ok with leaving that early. We did however change our 10 am flight to an 8 pm flight so we wouldn’t have to wake up early

 

[ScubaCat]

Normally I’d say 4 hours is outrageous. However I just got back from flying from Ohio to Fort Myers and back. These are both smaller and usually crowd free airports. I’ve never had to wait more than 10 minutes for security... until this past trip.

Sometimes the small airport security lanes are REALLY slow. As you said, usually it's not an issue, but when they get hit with a large crowd, they just proceed as usual and it can take forever. I flew out of Flint once with about 10 people in front of me in the one security line and it took a solid 10 minutes to get through. Crazy.

 

[brave321]

Sometimes the small airport security lanes are REALLY slow. As you said, usually it's not an issue, but when they get hit with a large crowd, they just proceed as usual and it can take forever. I flew out of Flint once with about 10 people in front of me in the one security line and it took a solid 10 minutes to get through. Crazy.

I thought the one in Columbus handled it pretty well. They opened up all the lanes to get people through which I haven't seen any other airport do, but it still took a long time to get through everyone because people can be slow.

 

[sunflare]

Thank you!!! What exactly is RAC?

Resort Airline Check In