Town Car or Magical Express?

[mom42860]

We are landing at Orlando 9:30 am May 8. We have reservations @ Chef Mickey's 12:30 pm. For those with experience- can we make it on the Disney Magical Express? If we were to get a town car (with the 1/2 hr stop) can we make it?
I'd like to do a quick stop for water & a few other supplies at Walmart. But maybe this is just not reasonable with our reservation.
Thank you for all your help, it's been a while since I planned a trip with the Dis!

 

[Jestocost]

DME should have you at your resort by 11:00 a.m. if your flight is on time and you use the DME luggage transfer service. That should give you just enough time to make your ADR, but probably not to check in, on Disney transport. A town car with a 30-minute stop will get you to your resort by 11:30 a.m. or so, which won't really give you time to get to Chef Mickey's unless you take a cab.

 

[Strawberry's mom&dad]

What resort are you at? If you're at CR, BLT, POL, or GFR Then you're minutes away. The farther away you are the longer it will take. That would determine if you have time for the stop.

 

[tjmw2727]

Another option is to use DME and a grocery delivery service. I love wegoshop but there are a few others recommended here as well.

This way you can tag your bags, bring what you need to freshen up in your carryon and take DME. My average trip is 70 minutes so you should have plenty of time to freshen up and get to your meal.

When you return your bags should be in your room and your grocery delivery will probably be at the bell stand.

Wegoshop will shop the store best suited for the items you need and delivery for (IMHO) a reasonable fee.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

ME is the better route. It will be faster.

You land at 9:30 and depending on where you are on the plane you have to factor in the how much time it will take you to get off the plan. So that could be 15 minutes. Make your way from the gate to the main terminal. By now it will be close to 10:00 If you do the towncar, you will have to claim your luggage which will take up time. The time now will be close to 10:30 by the time you get the luggage find your towncar driver. Make a 30 minute stop at Walmart plus its a 30-40 minute trip from the airport to Disney. So the time might be 11:30 when you arrive at your resort. When you check in to the resort you will have to also stop at bell services to have them hold your luggage and whatever stuff you buy at Walmart until your room is ready which again will take up time. Then you have to check in to your resort. Remember Chef Mickey is at the Contemporary Resort so you will have to factor in how you plan to get there depending on what resort you are at. So taking the towncar will take longer.

 

[Alesia]

Using ME and a grocery delivery service will be faster (and cheaper,) but you will still be cutting it close. If your plane is late, or anything else goes wrong, you won't make it.

 

[Lewisc]

Many companies won't offer stores like WalMart and COSTCO as a free stop. Hard to get done and out in the 20-30 minutes offered. You can get water, soda and "fun foods" at the Hess mini-mart.

CM won't care if you're a few minutes late. I agree with the PP. Use DME but consider taking a taxi from your resort to the Contemporary.

 

[CleveRocks]

If you insist on a grocery stop with the car service, then it's just about guaranteed that DME will get you to your resort quicker.

Even if I was using a car service, I'd STILL use a grocery delivery service instead of wasting my time shopping in a strange supermarket, spending time trying to find where everything is, and then waiting in line, etc.

Even when I DRIVE places for vacation, I try to line up a grocery delivery to my hotel rather than stopping for it myself along the way. I live in a beach resort town, and we have a small supermarket here that does deliveries, and I think it's such a great idea.

There's Goodings, Garden Grocer, and WeGoShop. Goodings is an actual supermarket that offers delivery, the other two are stand-alone delivery services.

 

[mom42860]

Thanks this is why I love this community! ME it is and I will look into a grocery delivery service. Do you think I should bump my reservation to 1?