Disney's Magical Express

In late 2004, the Walt Disney World Resort announced the creation of a "complimentary" guest service called Disney's Magical Express. The service would transport its resort guests from Orlando International Airport to their resort hotel. Guests would not have to worry about retrieving their luggage, as it would "magically" appear in their room within three hours of their arrival. It launched in May of the following year, and despite protests from the Orlando cab drivers (who claimed Disney was placing a monopoly on transportation to the property), it was an immediate success. However, the system is not without its flaws, and the requisite number of guest horror stories surely exist.

Luggage Tags and Ticket Booklet

But, let's start at the beginning. When you book your vacation, you'll be asked if you'd like to use Disney's Magical Express. If you're booking online, a window will appear asking you about it, if you book over the phone, the reservationist will ask you about it. Whether or not you book it at this point, depends on your planning habits. Are you the type of person who secures the flight first, then the resort reservations? Or do you secure your resort reservation, then find a flight to match your itinerary? Because of my "real" job as a teacher, I unfortunately fall into the latter category. I'm restricted as to when I can go, based on when we're off of school. That means I can't just take a spur of the moment trip when there's a last minute sale on airfare (as much as I'd like to). So, when I make my reservations, I usually don't know my flight information yet. Therefore, I have to skip the step of reserving Magical Express. Not a huge deal, as I'm a seasoned WDW traveler, and never forget to call back and give them my information. However, many other guests neglect to do this, and just assume they can show up at the counter and take Magical Express to the resort. This represents the first flaw in the system: Disney needs to make much clearer that you have to reserve Magical Express in advance. Scores of guests arrive at the counter, with no "tickets" (which come in the form of a booklet), demanding to be let on to a bus. This inevitably starts their vacation off on a less than magical note, as their first encounter with Disney staff (Although technically the people working for the Magical Express aren't 'Disney Cast') is not always a pleasant one, and they're forced to spend additional funds to either take a cab or rent a car. And there actually is a valid reason as to why Disney does not just let you show up and hop on a bus. Mainly, buses are dispatched based on need and based on guests that Disney knows to be arriving in a certain time period. Let's say for example, a family of 4 with no Magical Express reservation shows up at the counter demanding to be taken to the Polynesian. There's also another family of 4 arriving in 20 minutes that have Magical Express reservations and are also staying at the Poly. If the no reservation family gets on the bus, when the other family arrives, they're forced to wait, and the start of their vacation is delayed.

Luggage Tags

After you make your Magical Express reservations, Disney will send you your tickets and a set of yellow luggage tags, which have become an infinite source of confusion for guests. In theory, the tags identify your bags to the behind the scenes luggage handlers at the airport. The luggage handlers separate those bags and they get placed on a truck for delivery to your resort. It all sounds simple enough, but here's where the confusion comes in. If your flight is scheduled to land after 10 PM, you are not supposed to use the luggage tags. At that point, you're responsible for retrieving the luggage on your own before proceeding to the Magical Express counter. That's because the staff responsible for transporting luggage to the resorts stops working at 10 PM. So, if your flight lands after 10 PM, and you've used the yellow tags, your luggage will be separated out and sit somewhere in the bowels of Orlando International Airport until the following morning when the staff returns! You can just imagine the problems that causes for guests...long day of travel, late arrival, you just want to shower, change your clothes, and go to bed...but you can't because you don't have a change of clothes! The seasoned WDW traveler knows all of this, but the average guest surely doesn't. There is of course, another simple solution to this problem. When Disney mails the Magical Express packet to its guests, they should not include the yellow tags if the guests are arriving after 10 PM. Disney has your flight information, so they know when you're getting there. It would be very easy for them to just not include the luggage tags in the packet.

Once you've arrived at the Magical Express counter, you'll begin getting conditioned to the Disney regimen, that is to say, you'll wait in your first lines. A greeter will check you in, verify your reservation and destination, direct you to...another line. Depending on the time of day, and volume of air traffic, this process can take anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes. Of course, if you arrive at 4 AM, you won't have to wait at all, but I'll let Mike tell you about that one. (True, you won't have to wait on line to check-in, but you will have to wait for a bus or van - Mike)

The second line you are directed to is typically organized by resort. During most times of days, buses are constantly coming and going, and the cast members will arrange destinations based on guest demand. If you're staying at one of the larger resorts, like the Pop Century, you'll actually be whisked through this line fairly quickly, as it's likely there are many other guests at that resort waiting on line at that particular moment. However, if you're at one of the smaller resorts like French Quarter, you might be in for a longer wait. In actuality, this system works about as well as it possibly can. It doesn't make sense to send a bus off to Caribbean Beach with 8 guests when there are 40 guests waiting to get to the All Star Resorts.

Once you're on the bus, you can generally expect to ride anywhere from 30-60 minutes, depending on how many stops the bus is making (and where your resort fits in to the schedule). While on the bus, a rather annoying welcome video plays (especially annoying if you've seen it enough to recite the dialogue from memory), though I suppose it keeps the kids entertained. The bus will make various stops, with your driver frequently reminding you that he works for Mears, not Disney, and is therefore allowed to accept tips. One little tip- try to sit near the front of the bus, close to the door. When you get to the resort, you'll get off the bus faster, and be on your way in to check in ahead of everyone else. Think about it, if that aforementioned group of 40 people all gets off the bus at the same time, and you're sitting in the back, you're suddenly at the end of a long line at the check-in counter.

Upon arrival at your resort, within 3 hours, your luggage will be delivered directly to your room. Now, I have heard the horror stories about this. People claim it's taken 12 hours to get their luggage, or that their luggage was still sitting at the airport. I don't doubt it happens. However, I've used Magical Express many, many, times, and have never had a problem with luggage getting to my room.

Perhaps the biggest benefit to Magical Express, however, is the time it saves you the day of departure. The day before said departure, you'll find a little envelope hanging from your room. It's a rather depressing thing to come back and find, because it's the first sign that the end is near. Nevertheless, that paper will tell you what time you're being picked up (which is usually insanely early), and that you can take advantage of Express Check-In. This is worth its weight in gold, because Disney will handle not only your check-in (and the subsequent printing of boarding passes), but will also take your luggage for you the day of departure. You handle any fees for checked bags, and they weigh, then take control of your luggage. If all goes well (and again, for me, it always has), you don't see your luggage again until the baggage carousel at home. So, when you arrive at the airport, you skip all of the check-in lines and proceed immediately to the security checkpoint, where the friendly TSA workers will feel you up.

Airline Check-In, Port Orleans - Riverside

There you have it, Disney's Magical Express! This is, probably, by far, one of the most efficient transportation systems the resort runs. It has been, at least for me, a huge convenience as well. It's ostensibly free, though you know you're paying for it somewhere along the line. It also serves a great financial purpose for Disney, too. Without rental cars, its guests are sort of a captive audience, not visiting any of the other theme parks in the area, not eating at any other restaurants, spending all of their money right on property. It appears to be a win-win situation for all- guest feedback on the service is mostly positive, higher than most other transportation services Disney runs.