Magical Express Travel Time Poll

What is your experience with Magical Express travel time?

  • Less than one hour to the resort

    Votes: 31 23.3%
  • Approximately 1 hour

    Votes: 56 42.1%
  • 1-2 hours

    Votes: 38 28.6%
  • 2 + hours

    Votes: 3 2.3%
  • Other

    Votes: 5 3.8%

  • Total voters
    133
My first trip (solo) was Sept 2007. Got on the bus about 8AM and was rolling out by 8:20 - 9 people. I was at All Star Movies and was first to be dropped off.
My recent solo trip was Sept 2017. Plane landed at 6:20AM and I was first on the bus at 6:50.
7:10 a family got on. 7:30 an older couple got on. We waited 20 minutes. At 7:50 three girls got on. I've now been sitting on the bus for one hour. 8:05 (I was keeping notes in my travel journal) a solo woman got on and we rolled out about 8:10. That's a LONG tome to sit on the bus. Had I known it wasn't going to leave until 8:10 I would have either has breakfast in the terminal or sprung for a Lyft. Don't really mind that I get at 6:30 and the bus leaves at 8 - just would be nice to know.

And (of course) I was the last passenger dropped off - All Stars, Coronado Springs, Boardwalk, Caribbean Beach and then French Quarter. Not an issue IF I hadn't been the first on and waited over an hour.

It does seem there could be a way to load and dispatch busses with more thought of the guest...

Here's a situation where I would have written in to Guest Relations - and asked - "was this a normal wait?" "I found it uncomfortable, etc....... " Although you couldn't suggest that you were prevented spending $$ at the parks - since they weren't open yet..... but I would let them know that it was bordering on the unacceptable. See what they say.

I like to think I'm helping them right the ship when I let them know if something doesn't appear right. :)

The good news for us - the last three trips - there was nothing to write about, other than the great time & great service we had.
 
I would say just about one hour has been our experience. A few weeks ago it seemed like forever getting to BLT, but it had been a long day and I was getting very tired. We did receive our bags very speedily, so that was terrific.
 
I've only ridden it twice, but both times it was about an hour from airport-resort (once going to Pop! and once to AKL).

But I think it really depends on the time of day you arrive. Many people may be arriving in the late morning, so that could have higher waits. Both times I've arrived around 6ish, and no one was in the bus lines!
I agree with this. We travel from western Canada so we get in around 6-8ish and usually walk to the front of the line.
 


The experiences are all over the place, aren't they?

I, too, have arrived early, gotten on a bus and on the road in less than 15 minutes. I have never had an issue on the way back to the airport.

Does time of day matter? I always take a later flight out so I get picked up around 2/3PM
With us staying at CBR most of the time, they seem to be the last resort picked up. And the wait for the DME at AoA never showed up...we ended up taking a Mears van to the airport.

But for the inbound to CBR, we have never had a very long wait at all.
 
Does anyone know the ballpark cost of an uber or lyft from WDW to the airport? I feel like getting picked up 4 hours before your flight is a bit excessive. I'm debating whether the cost of an uber to the airport is work the potential extra hour or so of park time. Any thoughts?

It's back to 3 hours now, isn't it?
 


I found that Disney is very accommodating and never feel the need to demand anything. We had an issue with our bill (they didn't split the charges to separate credit cards), and the manager felt we might cut it too close using Magical Express. He gave us a cab voucher and sent us on our way.
 
The travel time itself isn't bad, it's just timing of the bus. We've had some times when we walked up while they were loading the bus, and others when we've waited 45 minutes for the next one.
This.

Once the bus is on it's way to the resort, it's pretty much been the same timing for us. But at the airport, we've walked right on the bus sometimes, but other times we've had to wait over an hour. I would say our average wait has 20-30 minutes at the airport.
 
I come from the west coast, so even w/ a non stop early morning take off out of SFO, I'm lucky if I get in by 6 pm east coast time. W/ the early morning start and the time change I sort of lose track of how long things take. Lately we've been going to AKL, which for us is always the last resort dropped off - typically after some combo of the all stars/AOA/POP, CBR and/or Coronado. I've been first drop off for Poly and for GF, but that was a while ago. Don't remember where YC has been - so probably in the middle.
The worst DME trip was several years ago to AKL which was the 7th - yes the 7th - stop, that was a 3 hour + DME jaunt & I did mention my displeasure about it in the survey.
Most recently I was first on the bus, which meant a long wait sitting - maybe half an hour, then several stops before (I'm thinking 3 or so) then again last at AKL where a number of people got off, and since I was first on the bus my carry on was deepest under the bus so I was the last to get my carry on too - that was over 2 hours by the time I escaped DME's clutches and was able to finally stroll into AKL's lobby.
 

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