Disney Magical Express

[chrisb26]

We will be staying on resort for the first time this trip! Unfortunately it will only be for one night I do however need to know how the Magic Express bus works. Is there a certain time you have to go to the bus or when its there you can just board it? Also the next day we will need to get back to the airport to be able to get our rental car so we can go stay at my grandma’s house for the remainder of our trip. Could somebody please tell me what we need to do to get the bus when we first arrive as well as when we are going back to the airport? It sounds like you have to schedule times to get the bus. However the day we are leaving we where just going to go around the resort before we leave exploring so not sure when we would actually be going back to the airport. I don’t think that matters as much since we would probably just need to set a time to catch the bus right?

[noahdove]

I would suggest that when you check in to the resort, ask the CM about the time table of the bus. Explain what you need and I am sure that they will be able to tell you times etc. I know that the Magical Express arrives several times during the day and evening and I'm also sure that one of those times you will be able to get on. When you need to check out of the resort and you need to catch a flight, the day before you are given a message as to when you NEED to catch the bus..you don't decide, Magical Express does. Since they handled my luggage, I felt like I was a Princess in more ways than one:mickey: Enjoy every minute:cloud9:

[NH Disneyfan]

Magical Express is pretty simple. You head down to Terminal B past the rental cars on the first floor to the desk. Here, you check in for ME. They stamp your ticket that is received in the mail a month earlier and you are directed to the "red carpet" where the line separates by resort. Here you wait, and wait, and wait about 15-30 minutes until the cast member shows you to your bus.

Once on the bus, you wait, and wait, and wait about 30-45 minutes - until the bus is full enough to justify the drive to WDW. There is no waiting if you are the lucky last to board person. Remember though, you have just bypassed baggage claim, and are embarking on a free, very comfortable ride to WDW.

After a short film, the bus stops at a few hotels, we were the last one on the list but you might be lucky enough to be the first hotel. Baggage was delivered 3 hours later while we were out to dinner.

The return home is just as easy. We had a 4:12pm flight and received notification the day prior of a 1:20pm pickup. We simply went to the bus stop and waited and sure enough, at precisely 1:20pm, the bus showed up. To board, you provide the stamped ticket you received in the mail and had stamped upon arrival. We then stopped at another resort before heading to the airport - arriving about 2:20. By the time we got through security we had enough time to grab Burger King, eat at the gate and board - it worked perfect. Luggage was checked at 7am - you need lots of time to check bags if that's what you want to do.

Know this - you can take bags with you in both directions - just DO NOT use the yellow luggage tags. Instead, use carry-on or visit baggage claim and all is good. The return was nice because we were able to checkin, obtain boarding passes, and check luggage between 7am and 1pm so our airport time was easy.

Have fun!!!

[SBETigg]

WDW sets your bus departure time for you, at about three hours before your plane departure. They give you your departure forms with an assigned departure time on the day before you leave. If you're only staying for one day, I'm not sure how that will work out for you.

[Piglet822]

Magical Express is pretty simple. You head down to Terminal B past the rental cars on the first floor to the desk. Here, you check in for ME. They stamp your ticket that is received in the mail a month earlier and you are directed to the "red carpet" where the line separates by resort. Here you wait, and wait, and wait about 15-30 minutes until the cast member shows you to your bus.

Once on the bus, you wait, and wait, and wait about 30-45 minutes - until the bus is full enough to justify the drive to WDW. There is no waiting if you are the lucky last to board person. Remember though, you have just bypassed baggage claim, and are embarking on a free, very comfortable ride to WDW.

After a short film, the bus stops at a few hotels, we were the last one on the list but you might be lucky enough to be the first hotel. Baggage was delivered 3 hours later while we were out to dinner.

The return home is just as easy. We had a 4:12pm flight and received notification the day prior of a 1:20pm pickup. We simply went to the bus stop and waited and sure enough, at precisely 1:20pm, the bus showed up. To board, you provide the stamped ticket you received in the mail and had stamped upon arrival. We then stopped at another resort before heading to the airport - arriving about 2:20. By the time we got through security we had enough time to grab Burger King, eat at the gate and board - it worked perfect. Luggage was checked at 7am - you need lots of time to check bags if that's what you want to do.

Know this - you can take bags with you in both directions - just DO NOT use the yellow luggage tags. Instead, use carry-on or visit baggage claim and all is good. The return was nice because we were able to checkin, obtain boarding passes, and check luggage between 7am and 1pm so our airport time was easy.

Have fun!!!


While you will have a wait at the airport before boarding your bus the wait time is usually minimal.
You will not have to wait for the bus to fill up enough to "justify" the drive to WDW. I have left the airport with as little as one person aboard and as many as 55. It all depends on the time of day and what flights Disney is expecting. They do have a list of which flights, how many people on those flights, and which resort they are going to. This is the reason you need reservations.
The return trip to the airport is usually schedule 3 hours prior to your scheduled flight departure. Since you are not catching a flight you can pretty much leave when you want. You do need reservations for the return trip. We will not send a bus to a resort if we show no reservations waiting to be picked up. Guest Services at your resort can help you with that.
If you have any further questions about DME please feel free to post them here. There are several people on the boards that are quite knowledgeable about DME and can help you and I drive a DME bus.

[chrisb26]

Hmm well we shouldn't have a problem when we arrive since everything will just be sent to the hotel.


While you will have a wait at the airport before boarding your bus the wait time is usually minimal.
You will not have to wait for the bus to fill up enough to "justify" the drive to WDW. I have left the airport with as little as one person aboard and as many as 55. It all depends on the time of day and what flights Disney is expecting. They do have a list of which flights, how many people on those flights, and which resort they are going to. This is the reason you need reservations.
The return trip to the airport is usually schedule 3 hours prior to your scheduled flight departure. Since you are not catching a flight you can pretty much leave when you want. You do need reservations for the return trip. We will not send a bus to a resort if we show no reservations waiting to be picked up. Guest Services at your resort can help you with that.
If you have any further questions about DME please feel free to post them here. There are several people on the boards that are quite knowledgeable about DME and can help you and I drive a DME bus.

So when we just need to talk to Guest Services? Do we need to tell them around the time we will be leaving? Also would we carry our luggage on the Bus? I'm guessing when you go back to the airport it isn't on the bus normally so what would we do for this? One more thing somebody said they send you your papers for your trip a month before but we wont be booking a month before since it is already less then that :blush: is there a different way to get them?

[Marker]

Departure time back to the airport is typically based on your flight's departure time. Typically you leave your resort 3 hours before your flight time. However, since you are not flying away, merely returning to the airport to rent a car, I don't know what the procedure will be.

Perhaps you've already considered this, but you can rent a car right there at WDW. There is a National/Alamo right on the WDW property. They send one of their shuttles right on over to pick you up at your resort.

[chrisb26]

We booked our trip today! We decided we would be taking the Magical Express bus to the resort however we are just going to rent a car from the alamo on resort. I talked to a CM while booking the trip through their live chat feature they told me that I wasn't able to take the bus back to the airport unless we where leaving on an airplane they where not able to take you to the airport.

Thanks for the help everybody :)

[Piglet822]

I talked to a CM while booking the trip through their live chat feature they told me that I wasn't able to take the bus back to the airport unless we where leaving on an airplane they where not able to take you to the airport.



This information is not correct. You can take DME back to the airport for a rental car pickup but it is usually limited to one person.
I pick people up all the time going for rental cars.

[chrisb26]

This information is not correct. You can take DME back to the airport for a rental car pickup but it is usually limited to one person.
I pick people up all the time going for rental cars.

Really that is intresting and good to know also It would be my mom that would be going back to the airport to rent the car so she would be going by herself would we just tell guest services that we need to take the DME to go get a rental car?

[ElenitaB]

Your mom will still need to have a reservation - DME does not typically send buses into the resorts if there are no reservations showing on the computer.
You will need a voucher to board the bus - if you don't have one you can get one from guest services or the valet stand.