Disney’s Magical Express Info, Tips & Review
Disney’s Magical Express is free airport transportation for on-site Walt Disney World hotel guests. This guide to the shuttle service offers tips & info about DME, a review of whether it’s worth your time, or renting a car or using Uber/Lyft is better. We’ve used Magical Express 30+ times, and have lots of experience with it. (Updated July 25, 2021.)
Disney’s Magical Express is available to guests staying on property in Walt Disney World-owned hotels only. In other words, if you’re staying at a hotel with the possessive Disney’s in front of its name, you’re good. If you’re staying at a Disney Springs hotel, the Swan/Dolphin, Shades of Green, or “Cleetus’ Luxury-r-us Motel, Now with COLOR TV!” down on I-Drive, you’re out of luck.
As for what Disney’s Magical Express offers, let’s start with a brief overview. The service operates to and from Orlando International Airport (MCO) only, where it is located on Level 1 of the B-side baggage claim area. Disney’s Magical Express runs whenever the airport is open. Whether you have the last flight of the day or the first, you’ll have shuttle service to or from your hotel. In fact, those late and early options are usually the most efficient and least crowded!
To take advantage of Disney’s Magical Express, all you need to do is indicate that you want to use it when booking your hotel reservation, and the agent will automatically walk you through the process. If you want to add it to your reservation after you make it, you can do that online or by calling 866-599-0951.
Alternatively, if you’re like us, you can fail to do all of those things and just show up to the Disney’s Magical Express kiosk where they will scan your MagicBands and let you board the bus. This is the easiest way to go about it for us, especially since many of our trips are last-minute. This is also an option if you lose your vouchers, your flight is delayed, etc.
As long as you’re a registered guest, they will make sure you get to your hotel. So don’t fret–after all, Disney wants you to get to Walt Disney World so you can start spending money…err…enjoying your vacation! 😉
2021 & 2022 Disney’s Magical Express Updates
Before we get into the Disney’s Magical Express basics and review, we should probably cover the significant changes and cutbacks that have already happened in the last year with Disney’s Magical Express, and what else is on the horizon. We’ll start with current issues and changes, as those are impacting anyone visiting Walt Disney World now and planning on using Disney’s Magical Express.
First, luggage delivery for those arriving to Orlando International Airport is no longer available. This means that guests who use Disney’s Magical Express will be responsible for picking up any of their checked luggage from the airport’s baggage claim area, so that it can be loaded onto the motorcoach to their Walt Disney World resort hotel.
Additionally, Resort Airline Check-In Service is no longer available upon departure from your Walt Disney World hotel. This means that you’ll need to have your luggage with you to load it onto the motorcoach, and you’ll need to check it in with your airline once you reach the airport. Basically, all luggage handling is now done by guests. Not having to hassle with bags to and from the airport was a huge convenience for many guests, so this is one big loss that has already occurred.
Second, lines can be very long for Disney’s Magical Express at Orlando International Airport. There’s a bus driver shortage and that compounded with high pent-up demand can mean long lines during peak travel times. Unfortunately, there’s also a rental car shortage and Uber/Lyft driver shortage, meaning higher prices and longer waits for both.
The best way to avoid all of these issues is arriving into MCO in the morning or later in the evening. During the middle of the day is when these problems are most pronounced. At off hours, you might not experience any of these issues at all. While it might seem “extreme” to plan your flights around airport transportation, it really isn’t.
Do not underestimate just how bad these issues with DME buses, rental cars, and Uber/Lyft really are. There have been reports of hour-plus waits at rental car counters and/or Disney’s Magical Express during the midday hours. (I wish I took better photos to fully illustrate just how bad things are at MCO, but after our first negative experience earlier this year, we’ve started taking the very first flight of the day to avoid further issues.)
Now let’s turn to the what’s happening next year: Disney’s Magical Express is ending in 2022. The shuttle service will no longer be offered starting with arrivals January 1, 2022. Guests who arrive at Walt Disney World before this date will still be able to utilize Disney’s Magical Express for transportation to Orlando International Airport following their hotel stay until January 10, 2022.
Walt Disney World attributed the decision to the rise of Uber of Lyft, saying there has been an the expansion of transportation options for guests: “vacationers have more options to choose from than ever for transportation, including ride-share services that save time and offer more flexibility to go where they want, when they want.”
Following that, guests will need to utilize private transportation or ride-share services. Disney’s Magical Express will also have a spiritual successor in Mears Connect, which begins service in 2022. Mears is the vendor that currently operates Disney’s Magical Express, so there should be good continuity of service. The only difference between how the transportation works in 2021 v. 2022 is that there won’t be Disney branding and you’ll have to pay for Mears Connect directly.
If you don’t want to rent a car or use Uber/Lyft, Mears Connect will be your main option for the next several years. While some Walt Disney World fans might point to the Brightline train station at Disney Springs being the eventual replacement for Disney’s Magical Express, that’s still several years away. Construction hasn’t even started yet on the MCO to Disney Springs line, and the tentative target opening year for that line is 2026. Given the delays to date, we’d bank on it being finished late, not early—and certainly not next year!
With all of that out of the way, here’s basic info about Disney’s Magical Express…
Disney’s Magical Express Info
The Disney’s Magical Express buses are coach-style buses operated by Mears. They have restrooms and on-bus displays that go through a video covering the basics of Disney’s Magical Express and Walt Disney World that’s pretty fun. There’s also an hour-long background music loop that plays on the bus (which is also conveniently available online–it’s nice background music to put on at home!).
If you’re “fortunate” enough to still be on the bus after this video finishes, Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck shorts play after it. In total, the commute from your plane (via walking and an airport monorail) to the Magical Express area will take about 10-12 minutes, the wait from the time you arrive in the Magical Express area until your bus departs will be about 10-30 minutes, and the commute from the airport to the Walt Disney World main entrance is about 30 minutes.
After that, add about 7 minutes for each hotel at which the bus stops. In other words, plus 7 minutes if you’re stop 1, plus 28 minutes if you’re stop 4. The whole process will take a minimum of about an hour and a maximum of just under two hours. Oh, and trying to bribe your bus driver with a generous tip will not get you there any faster (although it is customary to tip them, regardless).
If you would prefer a private ride but don’t want to rent a car, Uber or Lyft airport pickups are now an option at Orlando International Airport. How long that’ll take and cost depends largely upon demand and traffic. Arriving at off hours will always be your best bet.
The whole Disney’s Magical Express process is similar when leaving Walt Disney World resort. You will need to schedule your DME ride in advance, and you will receive a voucher slipped under your hotel door the day before you leave with a pick-up time about 3 hours before your domestic flight or 4 hours before an international flight.
Security at MCO can get really backed up during busy travel times on normal days, and the holidays are downright chaotic. If you have it, you’ll be very thankful for TSA PreCheck. In terms of procedure for using Disney’s Magical Express for your return trip to MCO, it’s pretty simple.
Simply go out to enjoy the parks on that precious last day of your vacation. Make sure you give yourself plenty of time to get back to your hotel to catch your assigned bus. Unlike the ride to Walt Disney World property, Disney is not nearly as flexible in accommodating you on the way back to the hotel.
If you’ve never used it before, it can sound complicated, but it’s actually incredibly easy to use. It’s actually fairly idiot-proof, too. As long as you can find Level 1 in the airport, you’re set. Someone there will help you with the rest of the details and herd you to your hotel.
Review
Some of you are probably wondering how something that’s “free” might not be worth it. Well, free is in quotes at various places in this article because it’s truly not free. You probably don’t need a reminder of this, but Disney is a for-profit company that doesn’t offer things out of corporate benevolence. Don’t let those cute characters fool you.
As such, there are a couple of costs associated with Disney’s Magical Express. The first is your freedom. This is the big reason Disney offers the service, as it makes guests much less likely to rent cars when visiting Walt Disney World, and thereby makes them less likely to visit competing theme parks, eat off-property, or even go to the grocery store.
In short, it makes tourists a captive audience, and Disney has determined that the average increase in per guest spending with Disney’s Magical Express plus the perceived convenience and goodwill obtained from offering the service outweighs the average per guest cost of offering the service. There’s probably a bit more to Disney’s calculations than that, but that’s the basic gist of it.
If you plan on spending your entire vacation on Walt Disney World and thus don’t really care about your freedom, this is not really a cost at all. Even if you do care about having some freedom, services like Uber and Lyft have made it so much easier to go off-property at a relatively low price. These days, we don’t really view “freedom” as that great of a cost.
The second cost is your time. As you can see from the information above, using Disney’s Magical Express can be a time-consuming proposition. It’s usually going to take more time using Disney’s Magical Express than it will take to pick up a rental car and drive directly to your hotel. Unless you are awesome at getting lost in Orlando.
Depending upon how you value your vacation time, the cost of these couple hours on the front and back of your trip may not be worth it. You may see better value in just paying for a rental car for the duration of your trip. These are the two main costs of Disney’s Magical Express. When planning your Disney trip (or living life in general), it’s sometimes important to remember that there’s no such thing as a free lunch.
As for the service itself, we generally like Disney’s Magical Express. That much should sort of be a given, as we use it almost every time we travel. Efficiency with DME can be hit or miss; sometimes we wait 10 minutes from the time our MagicBands are scanned until the bus departs, sometimes we’ve waited 40 minutes. We’ve been taking red-eye flights lately that arrive into Orlando at around 5:30 a.m., and our average wait this early has only been around 15 minutes, and often we have a bus nearly to ourselves–not bad!
Even though it does take longer when using Disney’s Magical Express than when not using it, we believe the difference is negligible. You’re probably looking at a grand total of two hours of vacation time (round-trip, and that’s at the absolute most), which isn’t a big deal to us. Granted this time is at the front and back of the vacation, when you’d do just about anything for “one more hour” in the parks, but in the grand scheme of a trip, it’s not much.
The big benefit of Disney’s Magical Express, as we see it, is convenience. All we have to do is show up, and we’re put on a bus and dropped off right at our hotel. We can even sleep on the way there. Of course, sleeping means you miss out on the video on the way there. Watching that video has become a tradition of our vacations, and although the video itself is a bit corny, it always makes us smile. Disney’s Magical Express, in general, has become such a part of our trips that vacation doesn’t really start until we get on that Magical Express bus.
When discussing Disney’s Magical Express, it seems the topic of renting a car instead always comes up. Aside from the above (using the rental car instead of Disney’s Magical Express to get to and from the airport), it’s important to remember that using Disney’s Magical Express and renting a car for your trip aren’t mutually exclusive. You can take Disney’s Magical Express, and then rent a car once at Walt Disney World for just a few days of your trip (or the whole thing, if you really want).
If you’re on the fence about renting a car for your Walt Disney World vacation, getting to and from the airport shouldn’t really be a consideration either way. Since this is a Disney’s Magical Express review and not a post weighing the merits of renting a car, I won’t go any further down the rental car road in this post. Additionally, taking Uber instead of Disney’s Magical Express can be an option (with some caveats). We touch upon that and some other transportation issues in our Walt Disney World Transportation Tips article.
Overall, we believe that Disney’s Magical Express is still a useful service that offers a fun way to start out your vacation. Granted, it’s not a “signature” experience like riding the monorail, but it still has a “Disney feel” that we’d miss if we didn’t take it. As far as efficiency goes, it’s unquestionably less efficient than renting a car and driving directly to your hotel, but the trade-off is convenience and lack of additional out of pocket cost. It’s not going to be for everyone, and rent-a-car die hards are unluckily to change their ways due to Disney’s Magical Express, but for everyone else, Disney’s Magical Express is a good service that’s worth using. Because of this, all things considered, we recommend using Disney’s Magical Express.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
Your Thoughts…
Are you a fan of Disney’s Magical Express, or do you prefer to get yourself to the hotel? What have been your experiences using Disney’s Magical Express? Disappointed that DME no longer handles luggage? Upset that the service will end entirely in 2022? Planning on using Mears Connect next year? Do you agree or disagree with our review? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
After a 6 hour delay, arriving at 02.00 am, the magical express really saved our lives.
The airport was closed, but not the magical express!
Great service!
They tell you to come to ME 3 hours prior to your flight. What happens if you’re late?
We just got back from a wonderful week long vacation at WDW 11/6-11/13. We took advantage of the Magical Express both coming and going. After landing at Orlando Airport we stood in line for the Magical Express bus for approximately 20 minutes before boarding the bus. The drive was quick (35 min) and entertaining. Really no issues at all. Our luggage was in our room when we got to the resort later that evening after the day at Epcot. A day before we were scheduled to leave we received the notice from the resort that we would need to be on the bus 4 hours prior to our departure flight time due to the construction of the airport. Our flight was scheduled to take off at 11:50am and we would need to get our bags checked for the airport (where they go ahead and check you in to your flight and give you your boarding pass–super convenient) and then be on the bus by 8:40am. We were traveling with my sister and her family and she had an earlier bus departure time (8:10am). They allowed us to travel to the airport on the earlier bus (as long as there was room) which thankfully there was, giving us a few more moments to spend together. Bus ride to airport was quick and easy. Got to airport and went straight to security check. This was probably the longest of lines we stood in all week (minus meeting Jack Skellington, 2 hours, but totally worth it). We were not upset at all with the wait, knowing the TSA agents were doing a great job with making sure we were all safe. ONce we made ITV through security we had time to get something to eat and did a little more shopping for souvenirs to take home. Although we thought 4 hours was a bit excessive we appreciated the extra time because you just never know what might happen. All in all a great trip. Would recommend Magical Express to everyone. (Sorry for the long post).
Thanks for sharing your experience–long comments like this are incredibly helpful to others, so absolutely no need to apologize!
Just used the magical express this past week to and from the Pop. We were disappointed that they changed the video to and from the airport. We were excited for our 3 year old to watch it as we have enjoyed it as a highlight of every visit since we have been going to WDW. Bring back the characters and their trip to GF.
With two small children and just sticking to WDW it is much easier than carrying the car seats or paying $12/day per child for one. Only a few times did we feel like we waited too long for transportation in the parks. Having stayed at most hotels on property, I think Pop has some of the most reliable buses.
Side note, Tom… I think you passed us last Saturday night in front of Canada. I tried to stop you, but you looked focused on getting to a spot to shoot or you didn’t want to be seen talking to someone with a giant double stroller. I wanted to say how much I enjoy reading the posts and maybe get a quick tutorial on why my photos don’t look like yours.
How easy it is after a six (!) hour delay to arrive at the airport at 03.00 pm and take the DME!
A real life saver after a 15 hour journey from europe!
Keep up the good work, Tom. We are real fans.
flying from the UK neither of us drive so the DME is perfect for us as we always stay on property. We have always found the staff very friendly and helpful and it’s a great way to start and end the holiday with no stress. A big thumbs up from us!!!
We are Premier Passport holders, we got married at WDW AND recently renewed our vows there 20 years later, we have stayed at all of the resorts multiple times, and we consider ourselves among some the most dedicated Disney fans around.
We have never used Magical Express and we don’t intend to start doing so anytime soon.
Our reason is simple: the transportation on property is extremely inefficient. If we are staying at Boardwalk and have a dinner reservation at California Grill, it is much easier to jump in our rental car, drive straight there, and use our Tables in Wonderland card for valet parking than to worry about buses and monorails.
Not everyone will find themselves in a similar situation, but as frequent visitors, we do not want to be without a car. We enjoy the freedom of driving between parks or resorts depending on our plans for the day. The last thing I want to do at 1 am after countless hours at MK is stand in those lines to catch a bus back to the resorts after the park closes!
We’ve used DME before and it was great.
But this time, I’m not so sure.
We will be coming from a Disney cruise and then rent a car to sight see after the cruise. We will be staying at a Disney Resort that night as well. But we can’t use the Magical Express to get to our Disney Resort because we are not flying in to Orlando. Just returning a rental car. Does anybody have any tips as to what I can do?
Do you have any video of that? I’d like to find out more details.
We’re planning a trip, staying at a Disney Resort, and on our last day we’ll be spending it in one of the parks. We’re hoping to keep our luggage at the Resort after we check out and then when we’ve finished at the park to travel to an airport hotel so that we can catch our very early morning flight the next day. Can we take the ME bus back to the airport on our last day at the park even though we’re technically not flying that day, but very early the next morning?
Magic Express is very convenient but by no means is it a great solution. We were staying at the Contemporary and they are the last to get dropped off and the first to get picked up. We were on the bus for an hour to get to our hotel and 90 minutes for the return to the airport. This was terrible. This is not fair to lose 2 hours and 30 minutes on a bus that is supposed to be a luxury. Why does the Contemporary have to be last on drop off and 1st on pickup if all the hotels are so close.
I used to work at Port Orleans in the Bell Service dept. Disney’s Magical Express (DME) sends the luggage on trucks to each resort where we would unload, sort, scan, and deliver the luggage. One huge tip I can add here is to check the weather forecast. If it’s going to rain or is raining in Orlando, skip DME altogether. Losing bags, though not uncommon, is less of a concern, but the time delay on a large travel day was usually longer than the guests’ liking. Add rain into the equation and the bags would arrive later than expected and soaking wet.
My suggestion for just about anyone is to grab your own luggage from the airport (don’t DME tag it), THEN get on that DME bus. Your luggage is in your hands, you know where it is and it is available to you as soon as you check in, plus you get the free bus ride. Happy travels!
Thanks for the inside insight!
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We are staying at POP in June and booked a 6:30 am return flight. Anyway we can “work” a later shuttle? 3:30 is way early!!!
To Orlando International? I’d take a taxi an hour later.
We were told yesterday to be at the Magical Express pickup at 8:05 AM for a 10:55 AM flight. The “8:05” bus never showed up. It wasn’t early, because the drivers are required to sign a logbook at the Valet desk when they show up at each resort.
My guess is that they do not send out a bus until they know there will be enough people on it to make it worth their cost for the driver, fuel, maintenance, as described in the blog entry above. They want YOU there waiting, 15 minutes EARLY (so 3:15 AM ?!), just in case, but I wouldn’t bet on them being there at 3:30. As you say, 3:30 is way early, and the Disney folk know that, too. You can google map it, but it shouldn’t be more than a 30 minute drive to the airport from your resort, especially in the wee hours like that.
The taxi isn’t “free” like this shuttle but, quite frankly, my departure “experience” yesterday left me with a bad taste in my mouth. That’s no way to cap off a nice Disney experience, which I’m sure you will have (my family loves WDW!). Cab fare would have been about $60 plus tip. In retrospect, I would have had that in the budget.
We arrive in Orlando at 7:52pm and will be picking up our own bags and taking them with us on DME. At that time of night how long do you think we will have to wait for a bus to leave (we’re staying at POP)?
It’s truly anyone’s guess. That’s a fairly popular “after work” arrival time, so it hopefully won’t be too long of a wait.
I was wondering if the 3 hour window between leaving the hotel for your departure flight is negotiable at all? We’ve been very lucky in that we’ve had a (relatively) very short wait at the airports each time we’ve flown (Jetblue). We are finding ourselves with an hour and a half of down time with nothing to do! If we have a flight at noon, and leave at 10 instead of 9, I don’t think it would make THAT much of a difference? Even when flying out from Boston, we would leave at 6am for an 8am flight, and still have about a half our to 45 minutes of downtime. Do the buses run every hour, is this even possible to do?
It’s non-negotiable. My advice would be finding a different flight with a later departure time and giving them the info for that one instead. It’s not like they verify which flight you’re on.
Do they mind if you carry on your suitcase with you? I will only have one bag and feel like it would be easier for me to just grab it and bring it with me than having to wait. Will they allow that?
I would like everybody to know that sometimes cruise line buses serve as the magical express, so don’t be confused if you are directed to one! Also, if a cruise line bus going to the airport comes at your scheduled time, then just get on! 😉
Horrible service!! Nothing magical about it. The whole point of the service is to prevent you from renting a car and keeping you in the “world” which I am not opposed too. I don’t leave unless I need to stock up on groceries. But this service actually made me go rent a car. Add this to the bus service in DW and it’s a no brainier to rent a car. Our last car this past November for a week was $135!!! Way worth it in time saved than waiting for buses!!
NOT MAGICAL! You have got to be kidding me! Thumbs down your comment! The DME is the most magical way to get there!
Also, you CAN take it one-way if you wish! Rental cars are not worth it! It will be a crappy car with no frills and it will be uncomfortable! DME! DME! DME!!!!!!!!!!!!! >(
I just wanted to follow up on one of the comments above. There is always a lot of confusion about DME and the Disney Cruise Line bus. DME is a courtesy included if you stay on property. The Disney Cruise Line bus is NOT free. Even if you stay on property before and/or after your cruise. The cost is $35 per person each way. And it gets there quite a bit after the first boarding time for the cruise.
I was really glad when the brought this service in because I don’t need to always have a car, or need one every day, with the buses running through the parks. I usually rent a car for at least a day to go mall shopping, get groceries, and find a restaurant off property, but it is one of the more convenient things that they’ve added, and it was about time. As for the wait, one bad experience I had was arriving at 11:30 at night and waited an hour at least! Not the time you want to wait that long. But other than that, I’d give it thumbs up.