We are booked for our second Disney World vacation in September (we are optimistic about our chances of going with limited restrictions…), but this will be our first time flying into Orlando and using the Magical Express.
According to the Disney website it could take 3 hours for our luggage to arrive to our hotel via Magical Express:
“Please remember: your luggage will travel separately to your Disney Resort hotel and may arrive up to 3 hours after you.”
Does anyone remember the actual length of time it took for their luggage to arrive to their resort room?
Our flight arrives at 6pm, so we are going directly to our resort to get a decent bedtime for our young kids. We are just trying to figure out if we should pack a carry on bag with PJs / toothbrushes (and possibly day one clothes).
I would pack pajamas in carry on in your scenario. Our January 2020 trip after about two hours I called down and our bags had just arrived and I went down and got them myself. I would suggest if there is anything you are going to need in the first 6 hours of your trip I would put it in the carry on just to be safe.
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I don’t remember specifics but I did pack a carry on with what you described last year and it was a good move. You have to figure by the time you get out of the airport and to your resort, you are probably already looking at 7:30-8 before you’re in your room. That way you can get the little ones ready and in bed without having to wait for your luggage
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Remember that’s 3 hours from when YOU arrive at resort, which may be as much as 2 hours from when you land - a total of 5 hrs from when you arrive at MCO.
For myself, 6pm is the cutoff at which I would grab my own luggage and bring it to the bus with me. In this case you do NOT apply the yellow tags and you go to baggage claim and hoof it through the airport with your stuff. For me it’s well worth it for those later arrivals to have my stuff with me and not be waiting hours for it to get to me before I can sleep soundly.
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I did not read that close enough! “…after you” makes a big difference.
I was hoping we wouldn’t have to “hoof it through the airport with our stuff,” but that seems to be the best method so we don’t get woken up at 10pm with a luggage delivery.
Thanks everyone!
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Yeah that’s an important detail that is often overlooked.
TBH I’ve never had it take that long, but the idea that it could — and probably would when I would least want it to — means that 6pm or later I get my own bags.
Good luck to ya! And remember, DO NOT APPLY YELLOW TAGS if you want to get your own stuff!
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In my experience the earlier flight arrivals have the quickest luggage delivery time. When we arrive at the 9am time frame we have gotten our luggage withing a couple hours of arriving at the resort. Sometimes within 1 hour. The one time we took the later flight and landed at MCO around 4:30 we had our luggage “mishandled” by the airport (DME’s words) and it didn’t arrive to us until 2am. We always pack swim suits and kids pj’s in our carry-on regardless but if you have a 6pm arrival I would strongly suggest getting your own luggage.
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My rule is always pack an overnight bag when flying.
Your bags could get left at your departure airport and not arrive until the next day.
What you can do is to ask Bell Services to keep your bags until the morning if you don’t want to be disturbed that night at 2am.
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