ME with throwaway camp reservation

HI. We have a throwaway reservation at campsite (which one can tell from my topic! :grin:).

My oldest DD is flying solo to and from Orlando.

Her flight to Orlando lands at 10:23 pm. (We will be in MK that night and could wait for her to get there before we go back to condo) Can she take ME after her flight lands and then get off at any resort? (I am not really sure how ME works since we always drive).

I am also wondering if she can board the ME at any resort or would it have to be the campsites? We are spending last morning at MK and her flight is at 5:00 pm. She will not have any bags since her luggage will be in our car.

I did some “googling” but decided I might get better answers here!

PS-I know she can uber or take a taxi but DH is “worried” about her traveling alone (even though she was in Germany for 5 weeks and has traveled out of the country many times!)

I have heard of folks with NO bags being able to SOMETIMES talk driver into taking a passenger to a resort different than what their ressie is for, but I would not count on it. And leaving WDW, she would have to take ME from campsites if that is where the ressie is. I know it’s scary letting kids ride alone, what about a minnie-van?

“No, sorry. Magical Express will only pick you up at your own hotel.”

Just found this! Also just realized the campsite are close to MK!!

She would need her hotel issued bus pass (that we could pick up while having dinner at Wilderness Lodge the night before!)

Will look into Minnie-van too! (But its also fun getting the most bang for our buck…if she can use WDW free airport transportation)

Or…we could just go get her ourselves! Which now that I think about it certainty makes the most sense…its funny how we planners sometimes overthink things!!!:stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

1 Like

She would have to take the Fort Wilderness bus. Normally I would suggest she could get off at the first resort it stops at, but if she’s arriving that late she’ll need to pick up any checked bag, so it’ll be on the bus with her. So she’ll need to be there when they unload it.

And if she’s old enough to fly on her own, travel in Germany and arrive at MCO after 10pm, she’s old enough to get on a coach to WDW! The only issue will be finding you when she gets there, since the campgrounds are so big.

1 Like

What do you mean by her hotel issued bus pass?

I’m not sur what time buses would stop running to MK but if she’s arriving at 10:23, she likely won’t be at FW until near midnight. There won’t be buses or boats at that time of night unless there’s late EMH at MK.

I found this info…

What’s the process for taking Magical Express home? How do I know when/where to get the bus?

The day before you depart, you’ll get a note either on your room door handle or under your door telling you what time the Magical Express bus will pick you up. The pick up spot is always right out side the hotel main entrance. The note you will receive includes a bar code that will function as your bus ticket/voucher.

Do I need this paper voucher? Won’t my MagicBand work for the trip home?

Not currently. Right now the bus drivers have no mechanism to read MagicBands, so you will need your paper voucher for the ride home. If you’ve misplaced your paper voucher, stop by the concierge desk at your hotel and they can probably print you another one.

1 Like

I said no the other day in chat and was told that actually I was wrong and if you ask at ME check in to go to another resort, they will take you there. I had never heard of this before but it came from @DarthDopey who would certainly know better than me and says she’s done it many times.

1 Like

I’m not sure about arrival, but you can change your resort pick up for departure. We did this on our last trip. We were staying at POFQ and planned to spend half a day at MK before our 4:00 flight. We changed our pick up to The Contemporary, dropped our bags there and walked over to MK. Made leaving quicker so we could stay at the park longer. It was actually the front desk CM at POFQ who suggested this idea to us.

1 Like

Thank you Kebuck12!

People have had inconsistent success with this.

Also, just to clarify her return trip, Fort Wilderness are near each other but not actually the same resort (I did not know this for a long time).

2 Likes

I’ve just read this again, after morning coffee!

So for her arrival, I would decide which is easier, picking her up from the airport or picking her up from Fort Wilderness. The downside of the latter is you won’t know exactly when she’ll arrive, even when the driver tells everyone which resorts they are stopping at. However she could text you and you could drive round to Fort Wilderness to wait for DME to arrive.

It seems she maybe able to board another bus, but you can’t bank on this being the case.

She can only use DME back to the airport on the check-out day, so the following day. If you’re moving offsite, that won’t work.

And note that Wilderness Lodge and Fort Wilderness are two different resorts. You would have to have gone to FW to get the DME return voucher, not the WL front desk.

1 Like

Equally I have seen people ask and been told no. So again, you can’t rely on this.

It’s probably more likely if you have some reason, like family staying at a different resort, or an ADR booked and the flight was late. But of course they could check either scenario out!

1 Like

I’d never try it and I’ve literally never seen anyone say that you could do it before her, but then other people piped up and said it was well known that you could do that and they’d done it too. So I will share it and people can take their chances if they want to.

2 Likes