Talk me down or tell me to panic

[mccallister84]

So we go to Disney 10/9. A friend just got there today and she told me that they waited 45 minutes for the Magical Express and then sat on the bus at the airport for 30 minutes before they left.

We are due to arrive at 10:10. We are staying at the Grand Floridian. We have lunch reservations at Chef Mickeys at 12:55. I have always known this is not ideal but it’s a reservation for 14 so I didn’t have a ton of flexibility. FWIW all other members of the party will arrive in Disney no later than Tuesday night.

Do we chance it with magical express? Or should I book a car service? We will need car seats...

[Deleted]

I would book a car but my OCD tendencies come out when we travel and I get crazy anxious if things aren't running as I hoped in mind and planned for on my different spreadsheets. It's been a few years, but I remember sitting for quite a while on the ME as well before it left the airport.

[alleinesein]

You need a plan b and c. If your inbound flight gets delayed, you will be screwed. I've used the magical express once and will never use it again. I waited over an hour for the bus while multiple busses were leaving for other resorts.

[mccallister84]

I called Disney as well and she recommended booking the car service. Her concern was that if the plane was delayed we would be SOL and we wouldn’t have a ton of options at that point since we will need car seats so a regular Uber/can wouldn’t work.

I also asked if our bags could still be tagged and go on the bus without us and she said no so that’s a bit of a bummer.

[ksun]

I know it's only anecdotal, but we waited about 5 minutes to board and then another 5 minutes to leave the airport at 12:30 on a Friday. Can a Minnie Van pick you up at the airport? I also thought that there are certain Ubers you can request with car seats? I only use Lyft, so I'm not sure but I read on the DIS about it.

[stephm0188]

We use Lyft. Our time is more valuable to us than the free transportation. ME can be hit or miss. I've had trips where we walk right on a bus and it departs moments later and we're the first hotel stop... and I've had experiences where it took 2.5 hours door to door.

Orlando is supposed to be one of the cities where Uber Car Seat is available, but I don't have experience with it.

www.uber.com/us/en/ride/car-seat/

[cincodemayo]

We just got back and it took us 30+ minutes to board the ME from when we got in line. From getting off the plane to arrival was definitely about an hour and a half.

[curbsideprophet]

Honestly, I would be concerned about that timeline if I was renting a car. It is possible you will be fine on MDE but you just never know. I recently had family members wait about 25 minutes for MDE to depart.

If you definitely want to be at the reservation I would consider other options. Disboards has a thread on using ME for luggage only. I assume it on the transportation board.

[milano]

I just got back Saturday- and we waited awhile for the magical express. It felt like forever but it was probably about 40 minutes before we boarded. I think we were in our room about an hour and 45 min after landing (we stayed at bay lake). I'm tempted to take a minnie van next time but I really really really love not dealing with my luggage so will probably keep with the magical express.

[covergirl82]

We waited at least an hour for ME to go to the resort (Poly) last time. On the way home, the ME to the airport was running an hour late due to stop-and-go traffic between the airport and WDW. Our trip was Saturday-Saturday, which may be busier, though. (Trip was the first week of December 2018.)

If you plan at least 20 minutes to get to the ME line, 45 minutes for the ME wait and then 45 minutes for the ME ride, and then 30 minutes to get to Contempo, you would be cutting it very close to your reservation time. You probably want to have at least a plan B in case your plan is late arriving and/or the ME wait is longer than 45 minutes.

We had a situation on our last trip that we were cutting it close to not making a reservation last time, and they do have a 15 minute grace period, so just be aware of that as well.

[minniemouse]

I would get other transportation. When we have arrived in the morning, the wait for ME has been long. When we arrived in the evening we walked right on and were in our room within an hour of landing.
Worst case scenario, you miss your ADR but the rest of your group of 14 is there. The restaurant will let the rest of the group in if you can’t make it. They usually make you wait until the whole party is there, but when we have told them that members of our party were not coming, it was fine. This happened like 4x on our last trip due to illness/food poisoning.

[redheadk]

I’d get other transportation. A year later and my dd still tells me that the magical express was NOT magical. The rest of the trip was complete perfection. I’ll never bother with ME again.

[sent]

I know I'm in the minority but I have rented a car for our past 2 trips. I like having the flexibility and freedom that comes with it. And we hauled the car seat along with us from home. One seat for each trip, DD had aged out of the seat according to Florida law when DS came along on the second trip.

[ribollita]

We only Uber after multiple long waits on ME. completely worth the $40.

[mccallister84]

In case anyone is wondering we made it with plenty of time to spare. Our flight landed about 15 minutes late but we got right on a bus and it left right away. Coupled with being the first stop we even had time to go to our room and request a pack and play before heading to lunch.