That moment when you leave for a vacation at a Disney theme park stands apart as one of the best feelings in life. For a few perfect days, you’ll leave all your worries behind and relish in a carefree existence at a place with the self-professed but widely accepted claim as the Happiest Place on Earth. The Walt Disney Company wants you to get in the mood as quickly as possible, and they also desperately want you to stay at one of their resorts instead of an offsite competitor.
In order to accomplish both goals, Disney created one of the most innovative methods to ease the central aggravation of travel: keeping up with your stuff. They understand that the instant you pack your bags, you’re already in the Disney mindset, and you’re ready to leave your worries behind. That’s why the company introduced a brilliant strategy that allows guests at Walt Disney resorts to lay down their burdens, even before they arrive at the park. Here’s everything you need to know if you want to ride the Magical Express.
1. It’s not a train
Image: Flickr
Don’t let the terminology confuse you. Magical Express is a system you’ll use when you fly to Walt Disney World. The concept is simple. You don’t want the aggravation of keeping up with your luggage when you fly to Orlando, Florida. In order to relieve you of the responsibility, Disney will take care of everything on their end.
All you need to do is notify them of your travel itinerary. They’ll handle it from there. If this sounds too good to be true, you obviously don’t have much experience dealing with Disney. They predicate the business model of their Parks and Resorts division on the premise, “Let us take care of all the busy work. You just have a great time (and spend a lot of money).”
2. Engineering the Magical Express
Image: Flickr
You’re probably wondering how this works. You’re right to be a bit skeptical. When something sounds unreasonably great, it usually is. That’s not the case here, though. You see, when Walt Disney originally envisioned E.P.C.O.T., one of his goals was to build the airport of the future. He understood that transportation is the primary limitation that kept people from visiting Disneyland. In order to address the matter directly, he intended to construct a state of the art airport facility that he would own and operate.
While Disney’s death prevented this particular dream from coming true, Imagineers respected his wishes over the years, eventually curtailing the stress of airplane travel through Magical Express. From a user perspective, what you have to do is simple. You contact Disney and provide your flight information once you’ve booked your trip for arrival at Orlando International Airport. Note that while there are other airports in the greater Orlando area, this is the only place that provides Magical Express service.
Disney will then mail you a set of tags that you’ll attach to your luggage. On the day of your flight, you show up at the airport and drop off your belongings. That’s all that’s required on your end to use Magical Express.
3. Baggage claims explained
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Note that you will likely have to pay the baggage fee if you’re flying in coach. Disney has deals with a few air carriers for some specific routes, but you shouldn’t bank on that. I’d advise your researching baggage fees prior to your flight to avoid any surprises. If you somehow avoid charges, consider yourself very lucky and enjoy the extra Disney souvenirs you can buy with the cash.
The beauty of the system is that even when you have connecting flights, you’re done with your luggage concerns. Disney takes care of everything once you drop your bags off at the initial airport. From that point forward, you’ll have no need for the baggage claims section. That’s one less thing to worry about, especially if you’re like me and hate to fly.
4. Magic bus
Image: Flickr
Once you exit the plane, signs will direct you to the Main Terminal Building on Side B, Level 1. When you reach this section of the airport, you’re basically at Walt Disney World, even if you don’t quite feel like it yet. Your MagicBand will work, which Is how you check in. So, make sure to have it so that cast members will welcome you to your vacation.
They’ll guide you to the designated waiting area for your resort. Here, you’ll stand in line until the correct bus arrives. There isn’t a one-to-one ratio of buses to resorts, which means that the vehicles route to multiple resorts. That’s a good news/bad news situation for you. On the one hand, you’ll depart from the airport quicker since Disney understandably prefers to wait for the buses to have maximum occupancy.
On the other hand, if your resort is the last stop, you can spend a great deal of time on the bus itself, which isn’t ideal. People who don’t like to wait are under no obligation to wait for the bus. You can simply take an Uber straight to your resort. It won’t impact the arrival of your luggage in any way.
The bus itself provides a relaxing ride. You’ll enjoy comfy seating, and there are multiple TVs on board, all of which feature Disney programming. Yes, some of it is shamelessly promotional in tone, but since you’re about to be a tourist at the Most Magical Place on Earth, you might find many of the promotions of interest. At the very least, you can unwind after the stress of the airport and possibly even take a nap before the Walt Disney World fun begins.
5. But where are your bags?
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That’s the obvious question here. The answer is that Disney has crafted a delivery system that requires no involvement from you, the hotel guest. The tags you placed on your luggage do all the work. Disney’s infrastructure guarantees that airport employees across the world will direct your baggage to its eventual destination at Orlando International Airport. There, cast members will load up your stuff and take it to your resort. For obvious reasons, it won’t be there when you arrive to check-in, but Disney estimates that your luggage will be available three hours after you reach the hotel.
Since you want to head straight to one of the theme parks anyway, that’s not a big deal. You should understand that you have to plan for this, though. Store any tickets, itinerary plans, and personal items you know you’ll need in your carry-on luggage, which won’t be a part of Magical Express shipping. Anything you have with you once you board for a flight to Orlando International Airport will be your responsibility, but that’s also an advantage. With a backpack/purse, a MagicBand, and a cellphone, you can do anything you want at Walt Disney World these days.
6. But what’s the catch?
Image: Disney
There’s no catch per se, but there are a few things you should know. The most important one is financial in nature. When you load your luggage for departure to Disney, you’re only paying for one-way service. You’ll have a similar expense on the return trip, presuming that you have to pay baggage fees. Since you don’t want to get hit with a surprise bill at the end of your trip when you’ve likely spent most of your budget, please remember to plan for this. Alternately, consider an airline credit card that includes extra luggage as a membership benefit.
The other potential sticking points with Magical Express involve the program itself. The bus drivers receive a list of passengers prior to driving away from the airport. This manifest is not always accurate. Make sure that the driver knows which resort is your destination. Otherwise, they’ll drive right by. This has actually happened to me before. My wife and I wound up having to drag our carry-ons through the Grand Floridian in order to take the monorail to the Polynesian. You definitely don’t want to have that happen at the start of your trip. It sets the wrong tone. Also note that it’s customary to tip the driver, which is something you might have to plan in advance to do if you’re like me and rarely carry cash.
Another potential aggravation is the departure from the airport. During less trafficked hours of operation, you could have to wait as long as an hour for a bus to take you to your destination. And that is NOT including travel time from the airport to the resort. You could waste a significant portion of your Disney playtime on the first day if you’re unlucky. This is why I mentioned Uber above. Something else to keep in mind is that the service isn’t 24 hours. It operates from 5 a.m. until 10 p.m. EST. If you arrive from 11PM-4AM,, you DO have to pick up your own luggage at baggage claim and carry it with you on the Magical Express. So, you should avoid those hours whenever possible.
Finally, we’re talking about luggage transfer. Disney has a better track record in this regard than actual airline services, but they’re not wizards. There’s always a chance that your luggage will get delayed or even lost, which is true whether you use Magical Express or not. This kind of unavoidable aggravation is why I’m all about the Hyperloop, people.
