Magical Express to POP Century

[MuchLovedMama]

I've read that there are 5 different bus routes that take you from MCO to the Disney Hotels meaning that all hotels (in the plan) are divided up between those 5 routes. We are staying at POP & I was wondering does anybody know is that like one of the first stops on it's bus rounte or is it one of the last stops. Anybody aware of how many stops that bus takes? I've read to expcet it to take 70-100 mins from the time you arrive at the welcome center to the time you arrive at your hotel. I was just trying to figure out about what time we can expect to arrive at a park. In case anybody is wondering out flight gets in at 10:40 a.m. Thanks in advance.

[hoop de do]

On our last trip and several before, POP was the first stop from the airport and was about a 25-30 minute ride. You may have to check your carry-on bags because your room may not be ready on your check-in. No big deal. We have had no problem with that part of it. If you have questions just ask at check-in. I hope you have a great vaca. :thumbsup::thumbsup:

[Momof2boys]

In October, we took DME to AKL and we stopped at POP first. On the way back to the airport, we were picked up first and then went to POP before heading for the airport. The pickup zone at POP was NUTS going home - so many people wanting to get on any bus to the airport and not paying attention to their pickup times. People were coming on & off the bus for close to 30 minutes.

[CleveRocks]

I've read that there are 5 different bus routes that take you from MCO to the Disney Hotels meaning that all hotels (in the plan) are divided up between those 5 routes. We are staying at POP & I was wondering does anybody know is that like one of the first stops on it's bus rounte or is it one of the last stops. Anybody aware of how many stops that bus takes? I've read to expcet it to take 70-100 mins from the time you arrive at the welcome center to the time you arrive at your hotel. I was just trying to figure out about what time we can expect to arrive at a park. In case anybody is wondering out flight gets in at 10:40 a.m. Thanks in advance.What you read was not accurate.

It is true that there are four (4) DME zones: Magic Kingdom (Contemporary, Polynesian, Grand Floridian, Wilderness Lodge), Epcot (Beach Club, Beach Club Villas, Yacht Club, YC Villas, BoardWalk Inn, BWI Villas, Caribbean Beach Resort), Animal Kingdom (Animal Kingdom Lodge, AK Villas, Coronado Springs Resort, Pop Century, each of the 3 All-Star resorts) and Downtown Disney (Port Orleans French Quarter, Port Orleans Riverside, Old Key West, Saratoga Springs Resort, Fort Wilderness Campground). It is true that the WDW resorts are divided among these 4 zones. However, there are no pre-set routes. Please allow me to explain ...

DME does its best to make efficient bus runs from the airport. Since reservations are required, they know about how many people are going to which resorts at about what time. There are times when it wil make the best sense to have a particular DME run cross into 2 or more zones rather than remain in one.

WHen a bus run stays inside a single zone, there is a maximum of 4 resorts per run (even if there are more than 4 resorts in that zone). But when a bus crosses zones, there's a maximum of 3 resorts on that bus (to allow for increased travel time between resorts that might be farther away from each other than resorts all in the same zone).

Regardless of the above, there's another fact: The bus driver decides on the order of stops. The driver is told what stops he/she must make on a particular run, but there's no pre-set order for that run ... the driver decides. In fact, one person here at Intercot is a former DME driver; in one post she wrote that sometimes she pulled away from the airport still unsure which resort she would drop off first.

So the short answer is that there is no way for you to absolutely know what other resorts will be on your bus or what the order of the drop-offs will be.

I also disagree with what you read about expecting it to take between 70-100 minutes from when you get to the DME Welcome Center. The reported average time from AIRPLANE EXIT to resort drop-off is 70 minutes. That means 70 minutes from the time you walk off the airplane. I've used DME twice, and timed it both times. One time it was 56 minutes and one time it was 63 minutes ... both of these was shorter than the reported average of 70 minutes from airplane to resort.

So let's look at your case. Assuming your plane lands on-time, expect it to be at least another 5 minutes until you leave the plane, so 10:45. Then let's say it takes you longer than average, and you're dropped off at Pop at 12:15 p.m. (90 minutes from airplane exit). Check-in, including waiting to be served, could easily take 15-20 minutes if there's a line. So now let's say it's 12:30. Then maybe another 5 minutes to walk to your room (if it's ready), 15 minutes to freshen up, then another 5 minutes back to the bus stop, so it's 12:55 p.m.

Park buses run every 20 minutes. SO you could walk right onto a bus when you get to the bus stop, or you could wait up to 20 minutes. Assuming you have to wait 20 minutes, then a 15 minute ride to MK (if that's where you're going), so you're at MK at 1:30 p.m.Including walking from the bus area, going through bag check, waiting at the turnstiles, walking a little bit, you're on Main Street by 1:40 p.m., 3 hours after you landed.

Of course, things could go a lot faster. You could get to Pop in 60 minutes instead of 90. You could have a 5-minute check-in instead of 15. Your room might not be ready, so forget the 25 minutes going to and from your room. And you might wait only 5 minutes for the bus instead of 20. In this scenario, you'd be on Main Street by 12:30 p.m. instead of 1:40 p.m.

[MuchLovedMama]

Wow! Thanks for the thorough reply. I was hoping to get there about 1 so that's right in the middle of your estimates so hopefully it'll all work out. We plan to do to HS that day. Thanks again for the info. Intercot Rocks! :thumbsup:

[Bethanymouse]

On all of our trips to the POP we were the first stop. It was great!

[WinnipegDisneyFanatic]

On all of our trips to the POP we were the first stop. It was great!

:ditto:

Chris :hatter:

[Crow]

:ditto:

Chris :hatter:
yep. worked well for me

[BigRedDad]

We were the first stop when we went in April. There were the 3 of us and 4 others on the bus. Not too cost-effective, but I think we missed a huge rush to the buses when our flight landed.

[Volunteer]

On all of our trips to the POP we were the first stop. It was great!

:ditto: