Disney's Magical Express - the best way to get to Walt Disney World

If you're traveling to Walt Disney World by plane, the best way to get to and from your Disney resort is Disney's Magical Express.

This is a free service offered by Disney World when you stay at a Disney resort, and you can book it along with your airline tickets, vacation package, OR directly through the Walt Disney World website if you book your resort hotel separately.

The Magical Express is a truly magical way to travel.  

Approximately 3-4 weeks before your trip, you will receive a packet with Mickey Mouse luggage tags and special yellow luggage strips that have all of your Disney resort information that allow the magic to happen.  

Your name and address go on the back - cute keepsake!

Luggage tags with your resort and flight information.

Put your tags on your luggage, and when you get to the airport and deposit your bags with your airline carrier, you won't have to worry about them again.  It will arrive at your Disney resort and be delivered directly to your room.  This will allow you to go to one of the parks, to Downtown Disney, or just explore your resort - or any of the Disney resorts, for that matter.  You won't have to worry about a thing.  The next time you have to mess with your luggage is when you leave your resort to head for the hotel, and then you'll just have to take it to the designated checkin station at your resort. THEN you won't have to mess with it again until you're back at your home airport.

A nice way to travel!

Orlando International Airport is very, very big.  Coming from a smaller airport like San Antonio, it can be very overwhelming if you're not used to large airports.  Knowing that I just have to take a couple of escalators and a tram to get on a bus that will take me to my hotel is much better than thinking about renting a car, or catching a shuttle, dealing with toll roads (which there are a LOT of in Central Florida) or anything like that.  This is, after all, your vacation, and you should enjoy every single minute of it.

The Magical Express allows you to take a Disney bus - and watch a little Disney video - while you take the 20-30 minute trip from Orlando International Airport to your Disney resort, depending on where you're staying and how many stops your particular bus has to make and where your resort is on the drop off list.  You get to relax, kick back, and take in the scenery, and you are deposited directly to your hotel lobby where you can just check in and go about your business and not WORRY about anything, because they will take your bags directly to your room and you don't have to be there waiting for them.

When you arrive in Orlando, you will follow the directions you receive in your Disney packet (depending on the airline you are using) and head down to the bottom level to catch the Magical Express to your resort.  You will check in with the Mouse helpers and board your bus.

At the end of your trip, it's the same thing in reverse: you check in your luggage at the time requested by your resort, then board your Magical Express bus back to the airport approximately 3 hours before your scheduled domestic flight (if you are flying overseas, you may have to head to the airport a little earlier than that in order to clear Customs, etc.).  The 3 hour window allows travel time to the airport and you get time to relax and recover from your Disney World vacation before you get back to reality!