Have you ever missed your Magical Express departure bus?

[FaithTrustPixieDust]

On our last day, we will be in the parks until mid-afternoon and then fly out around dinner time. I hear we can now check our luggage for the flight right at the hotel. What happens if we mess up and don't get back to the hotel for our designated DME bus? Can we just hop on the next one? Is there a schedule of how often they arrive, or is it a fairly steady stream like there is at the airport when you arrive?

Also, will our pre-checked luggage go on to the airport without us, or will we need to confirm it's location when we get on the DME bus?

Of course we plan to allow plenty of time, but just in cases buses are late, or lines are longer than quoted, etc. . . . Thanks.

[Fangorn]

If you miss your DME bus, you could be out of luck as far as DME goes and may have to take a cab or Uber/Lyft to the airport. DME schedules buses based on the reservations made and the flight times. If you miss your bus, you could 1) find that the next bus coming to your resort isn't for an hour or more, or 2) the next bus is completely full of scheduled passengers.

You might get lucky, but you cannot expect to "just get on the next bus". And there is no set frequency of buses.

As for your bags, RAC (Resort Airline Check-in) is essentially curbside check-in. It is only open from 5am to noon. You must check your bags during that time and they must be checked no later than 3 hours before your flight time. Once checked, your bags are totally unavailable to you and travel on their own with or without you. RAC and DME are completely separate from each other. Missing your bus won't (can't, actually) affect your bags on RAC. You don't even have to use DME to use RAC.

Steve

[BriarRose0708]

Yes I have. We never received our departure info on the last night of our stay, and I didn't contact them. I should have! I thought we were being picked up at 12:30, but nope it had been scheduled for noon. There was nothing they would do to help us and we were not allowed to get on the next ME bus that pulled up 15 minutes later. We had to pay for a cab (it was pre-Uber) at it cost over $70 to get to MCO. I learned that lesson the hard way.

[FaithTrustPixieDust]

Good info from both of you . . . especially the first hand experience of what happened when your missed your DME time. Hate that it happened to you though!!

[Becca3557]

I know that folks don’t like to hear this, but the security lines at MCO are often crazy busy. While three hours seems like way too early to leave for the airport, there have been times we’ve needed most of that extra time.

[mykidsmom]

I was able to change my departure time at the desk when I check in. All the stops that are made before actually getting to the airport make me very nervous, I request an earlier pick up and its never been a problem.