How to Use Disney’s Magical Express
Guests can start and end their Disney World stay with complimentary bus transportation between Orlando International Airport and select Walt Disney World Resort hotels—featuring complimentary luggage delivery to your room. Disney’s Magical Express is a benefit of staying at select Disney Resort hotels. Check out a few tips on this free service, below!
Making a Reservation
When making your hotel reservation on Disney property guests are able to also reserve transportation from Orlando International Airport (MCO) to their resort. This service is known as Disney’s Magical Express! In order to take this free bus service to your hotel, you will need to reserve a spot for you and everyone in your party. If you use a Travel Agent to book everything, like Catherine Koth, she will make sure this is taken care of! For those of you booking yourself, there will be a place to add in Magical Express after reserving your room. You will enter your arrival time and airline for each person staying in the room. This will allow them to ensure there are enough spots on the bus for everyone! If your flights change, you will still be able to get on Magical Express, as this reservation will see the delay and they will be prepared for your arrival!
Before your flight, Disney will send you a packet in the mail with bag tags for everyone in the party. These yellow bag tags can be added to your check baggage with participating airlines in order to have the Magical Express luggage service pick them up from MCO! This service is only offered for arrivals between 5:00am and 10:00pm. Carry-on bags are recommended with anything you will need within the first few hours of your arrival, as this might take up to 3 hours for the luggage to show up to your room!
Arrival
Arriving at MCO before your vacation officially kicks off can cause a lot of chaos. Because of this, the ease of Disney’s Magical Express is a great way to start. Once you arrive at MCO, you will be able to follow signs to Disney’s Magical Express. Assuming no one in your party checked a bag without that yellow tag Disney sent, you are able to head straight there! The Magical Express area is located in the Ground Transportation Area in Terminal B, Level 1. Here, a cast member will scan the magic band that was sent to you prior to your trip, and ensure everyone has arrived. From there, they will send you to the bus that will get you to your hotel! Easy as that!
If you do not use Disney’s luggage service for your checked bags, be sure to go to Baggage Claim BEFORE going to the Transportation area. The bags will need to come with you on your trip, and should not be left behind at MCO!
Departure
Heading back home after your trip can be a very sad experience for travelers. This has dubbed the trip back the “Tragical Express” for frequent users. The day before you check out of your Disney Resort, Disney will deliver a Disney’s Magical Express transportation notice to your room. This notice will tell you when and where to pick up the bus back to the airport. To give everyone enough time to catch their flights, this is usually around 4 hours before your scheduled departure. If you would like more time, or need to try and get on a slightly later bus, reach out to the phone number provided on this form!
Other Tips for use
When to Use Magical Express:
This service is best used for people who are not in a rush to get to the Hotel to the Airport and vice-a-versa. Sometimes, with multiple stops at multiple resorts it can take longer than anticipated to get to the final destination. Leave yourself plenty of time when using this service.
Your Luggage:
The Magical Express will take any checked bag that was pre-tagged with their yellow Magical Express tags directly to your resort for you. This means no waiting at baggage claim before heading to your resort. Disney will also help you check your bags before your return trip at your Disney resort before heading to the airport. This service is called Resort Airline Check-In.
It’s FREE:
There are very few free things at Disney, as I discuss here. This service is one of those perks! Taking an Uber or Lyft for this trip will easily cost you $50 each way. Renting a car for your trip could run upwards of $300 with parking. Saving money on transportation is a great way to get that extra souvenir or even extent your vacation by a day!
Visiting a Different resort:
If you are arriving separate from family, and have no carry on luggage, you can ask the cast members about dropping you off at a different resort. I have been dropped off at the Contemporary in order to meet people at The Magic Kingdom quicker than going all the way to my hotel first. These buses only go to resorts, so if you are going to try this, have a plan in place!
For more information on this FREE Walt Disney World Resort service, check out their website!
