Car Service

[dismommy]

On our upcoming trip to Disney my husband wants to get a car service to and from MCO, even though I booked with magical express. He says it will get us to the resort quicker and while this may be the case we will also lose time if we have to claim our luggage and I really don't want to add the expense. DH seems to believe that we can have magical express bring our luggage even if we take the car service, how is that fair or right if we are not using the service or am i over thinking this.

[Tygger7]

I don't believe your luggage can travel on Magical Express without you, but I'm not 100% certain. Hopefully someone will be along to confirm either way.

[Itchy]

When we went to WDW last week we used DME we went directly to level 1 b side and showed our documents, directed to the correct line ( no one else there. ( 2 min tops ) Stood there about another 2 min and got on the bus. We sat maybe another 5 min and were on our way to POR which was the first stop. We arrived at around 2:15 and we checked in at the resort about 3:30. I dont know if a private carrier could get you there any quicker.

Just my thought, hope it helps.

[WDWForever]

IMHO, the time it takes to pickup the luggage could be the same as getting on the DME. Granted, you'd have your luggage already when you check-in at your resort but I don't think it's worth the cost of a car service.

[TheHD]

I took the Magical Express for the first time last trip in 2009-2010. This was our fourth trip overall. I expected the ME to take around three hours once we arrived, but it was much less than this. In part, because we were the first stop. I agree with the others that renting a car service is not worth it in my opinion, unless you are not on a dining plan and you stop by a grocery store on your way to the resort, filling up on groceries for the trip.

[SBETigg]

DME will not take your bags if they are not taking you. We've done DME twice and hired a car twice. I love DME and have had no problems, but the car service was much nicer, more efficient, faster to get there even with picking up luggage, and yes, more expensive but well worth the cost for us. We're using Quicksilver again on our October trip.

The difference is predictability. The car service, you know what you're getting. The driver holds his sign, greets you, picks up your bags with you and takes them right to the car (baggage claim really never takes a very long time) and gets you straight to your resort, no other stops (unless you request them). Yes, baggage claim could be unpredictable timewise, but usually it's an extra fifteen minutes that you would spend in line waiting for your DME bus anyway (or more, for the DME bus). And, then you have the peace of mind of knowing all your bags have arrived and you have them with you.

With DME, you have no idea how long it will take you to wait for that bus, how long it will take to get all the people loaded on the bus and get on your way, and you will probably have multiple stops before your stop. Not that this is a huge problem. For no extra cost, it's a very nice service. We've waited as little as ten minutes for a bus, and another ten to get on the road. We've waited as long as forty-five minutes to get a bus, and another sixteen minutes to get on the road. My husband really hates the unknown wait time, so we keep using the car service on our most recent trips.

[faline]

And just to reiterate, you can't use the Magical Express service to transport your luggage from the airport to your resort unless a member of your party is also riding on the bus. If you use a car service, you will need to pick up your baggage at the carousel and take it with you.

On your way back to the airport, you can use the resort airline check-in service so that you don't need to bring your bags with you back to the airport - as long as your airline participates in this program.