Trip Report 2013 - #13 - Flying home

Today is everyone's least favorite part of any trip, going home.  We truly hate to leave our home away from home.  I seems to get harder each time.  Anyway, that's life.  At about 5am Doug and I took the bags we were checking down to the airport check in desk to check our bags and get our boarding passes printed.  This is an awesome service that Disney resorts provide.  You get to avoid bag check lines in the airport.  So the next time we see these bags will be in Nebraska.  You can see more about this process in this Post.

Now for the real hard part getting the kids up and moving.  You think the first few days of school is tough, try last day of Disney.  For me getting up and at em was easier knowing I would be back this year.  We have lots of big plans to take advantage of our annul pass.

We returned the van which always seems 10 times easier then it should be.  We all carried our back packs and we had two small bags a cary-ons and went through security.  After spending so much time at Disney World where they master lines you end your trip with the worst line, TSA at MCO.  I have been through a fair number of airports and MCO has mastered the ability to frustrate.  The way they have the lines merge together makes absolutely no sense.  Anyway we made it through.  Clair happily showing off her Anna and Elsa dolls.  We had no idea how hot of a commodity these would be in just a few weeks.

Alden and Samantha have grown into great travelers.  They fly quite well.  If only we could train them to sleep when we wanted them to and stay awake when we wanted.  Kids always seem to do the opposite of what you want.   Clair is a different story.  We played rock, paper, scissors to see who got Clair.  I lost.  The older two when they were little would eat fruit snacks as we took off and landed.  Not, Clair she puts up a fight and then would complain about her ears hurting.  Lots of fun.  Since this is a long flight she got a little benadryl to help her with her "allergies to planes"  Doug makes a binder of coloring pages and other activities.  Most of the stuff he prints off disneymovierewards.com for free.  This time he included a bunch of stuff about cruise ships and the Bahamas.  

Doug used Alden's Olaf as a pillow and he got a nice nap from Orlando to Minneapolis.  

We then got to hurry through Minneapolis.  If you ever want to be guaranteed to have the two furthest apart gates just travel with us and it will happen.  

We made it home with out too much excitement which is always the goal of travel.  

To sum up the trip is hard because we did so many new and great things.  To me it was all the rope drops we made it to that allowed us to experience so many great attractions while we were in the parks.  Doug would say it was the food and resort hopping, Se stayed at Port Orleans Riverside, Art of Animation, and Boardwalk.  Samantha would say celebrating her birthday on the Disney Dream.  Alden loved the cruise and was asking to go back before it was over.  Clair really enjoyed all the character meet and greats.  She would get so nervous and quiet when she meet some of the "bigger" names.

Best part is all the pictures and memories!

Disney Speak - Magical Express

When someone says "you can just take the Magical Express" are you wondering what they mean?
Are you worried it involves unicorns and rainbows?
Maybe some sort of wizard?
It is magical but not quite that magical. It is one of the big benefits of staying at a Walt Disney World Resort!

Disney's Magical Express is a bus service that takes you from Orlando International Airport (MCO) to your Walt Disney World Resort.  At the end of your trip it takes you back to the Orlando Airport for your flight home. The magical part is there is no extra fees, because it is included in with your stay at a Walt Disney World Resort.  This allows you to skip renting a car or arranging for a shuttle. Many families use the Disney bus system once on property and rental cars tend to sit in the the parking lots unused.  By Magical Express you have no need to rent a car (usually over $300) and eliminates the need for buying gas or paying for toll roads to and from the airport.

Here are some of the resorts that are NOT able to use Disney's Magical Express: Swan & Dolphin, Shades of Green, Bonnet Creek Resorts, Downtown Disney Hotels, and the Orlando Four Seasons. 

The first step is giving your travel agent your flight information to attach to your account.  You will then receive a packet in the mail from Disney's Magical Express.  In this packet is your vouchers and the bright yellow luggage tags.  You do not really need your vouchers if you have your magic bands.

Magical Express luggage tags

Attach the bright yellow tags to all your checked bags before you check them.  These tags will allow your bags to go straight from the airport to your room.  You will not need to stop at the baggage claim for any bag that has one of these yellow tags on it.  (If your flight arrives after 7pm in Orlando, I advise that you pick up your bags from the baggage claim because it can take up to 3 hours for your bags to arrive at your resort.) If you plan to take the Magical Express, make sure to pack any medications you may need in your CARRY ON LUGGAGE! 

The next step is to fly to Orlando International Airport.  Once you land, make sure you have your Magic Bands on.  In the above picture, you see my kids sporting their bands on the tram from the airport terminal to the main building of the airport.  

When you get off the tram you follow the arrow to the B side of the airport.

More B side singe.

Here we are walking past the baggage claim! 

The Magical Express shows up on lots of signs too.

More signs.

Even more signs.  I can see how someone still gets lost, but all the signs make it easy to find.

We arrived and here is a sign with all the hotels logos on it.

Then they scan your magic band to tell you witch bus to get on, they also direct you to the number of the line you should enter to catch your bus to the resort. 

Lots of rows to get into.

We were in line #2

We have never seen all of these full but at peak season and peak times of days I know it can happen, but the line moves quickly.

Magical Express bus waiting to take us to our resort.

We basically walked on to our bus.  If you have large carry ons you give them to the bus driver to stow under the bus.  When you arrive at your resort the bus driver will get them out for you.  This is the one time you will need to tip.  

After about 10 min of sitting on the bus, we took off and were on our way to the most magical place on Earth.

There is entertainment the whole way to Disney World.  It is about a 30 minute drive.  We stopped at one other resort before our own.  This can vary, depending on the resort that you are staying at.  For some resorts the whole bus is going to the same place.  Now you just have to check in and you can head to one of the Disney Parks.  Our room was not ready so we stored our carry ons with the bell desk and headed to the Magic Kingdom.  When our room was ready we received a text with the room number.  (If you don't get a text by 5:00, go ahead and check with your resort because your room should be ready. Sometimes the texts just don't go through for them.) When we were done at the Magic Kingdom, we headed straight to the room and found all our bags waiting for us!   It can take up to 3 -4 hours for your luggage to make it to your room, so if there is something you will need right after your flight (like swim suits or medications) make sure you have them in a carry on luggage.  If you arrive after 10pm you have to get your luggage from baggage claim.  I personally like to get my own bags if we arrive after 7pm because you may not get your bags tell 11 o'clock and that makes it tricky to put kids in bed.  If you plan on picking your own bags up you just don't put the yellow tags on them and they will show up on the baggage claim like normal.  You just take the bags to the bus and the bus driver will stow them under the bus!

Sadly, the trip has come to a end.  

How do we get back to the airport?  

The Magical Express of course!

Disney's Airline Check-In info

Disney has another luggage trick up its sleeve to help make the airport as simple as possible.  You can check in for your flight out of MCO right at your resort.  You get your boarding passes and check your luggage right at your resort.  The picture above has the airlines that do this currently. (Not all participate in airline check-in at the resort!)

Once they have your bags you are good to go.  When you arrive at the airport you just head through  security and to your gate with your carry ons.  This is a huge benefit of staying on Disney Property.  This makes the airport so much easier and stress free!

Now that our bags are checked, just go to the Magical Express Bus Stop at the time you are assigned.  

You are usually given a time about 3 hours before your flight.  You get a packet on your door the day before that tells you the exact time and also has your vouchers in it. You WILL need these vouchers to give to the bus driver.

Take the packet with you to the bus the driver will look at it to let you on the bus.  

Magical Express makes it very stress free to get to this view!