So your Disney Countdown is on the wall and you are excited but still have a lot of unanswered questions ………
I have had a full inbox today from excited clients with their vacations approaching with similar questions so I thought I should write a quick article to help any of you who also may have these lingering questions about your upcoming Disney vacations.
1). When will we get our tickets?
At Pixie Vacations we always mail our clients a package about 2 weeks prior to your trip and it typically contains some travel incentive goodies and a travel itinerary, but what about the all important Disney park tickets and dining credits that you purchased?? Well……… when you check in you get a “Key to the World” card. Everyone in your traveling party will get one of these cards at check in. The “Key to the World” cards will have your tickets that you purchased with your reservation loaded onto them as well as any dining credits that you purchased with a Disney dining plan.
You can also determine if you want to allow charging to the room on any or all of the cards. For us, we typically will add a credit card to our “Key to the World” cards but not the kids. When you allow charging on your “Key to the World” card it makes it super easy in the parks because there is no need to carry cash.
For tipping at dining locations you can also just charge those to the room so cash is not needed. If you don’t want to wrack up a high credit card bill at check out and have cash or Disney gift cards, etc. you want to use, simply go down to the counter the night before check out and settle up the bill. They WILL charge your card if the amount goes over $400 dollars so you can keep tabs on what you owe by calling down to the front desk and inquiring about your bill.
2). What is this Magical Express all about?
Magical Express is a free transfer service to and from the Orlando International Airport available to ALL resort guests.
You DO NOT have to book your air through Disney in order to get this service! Your simply need to provide your airline and flight information to Disney or your travel agent and inform them you want to take advantage of Disney’s Magical Express.
You will get a packet from Disney’s Magical Express a few weeks before your trip and it will include yellow luggage tags with your resort name on it that you place on your checked bags.
Once you check your bags at your departing airport your bags will then “Magically appear” in your Disney resort hotel room (about 2-3 hours after your flight lands), there is NO need to go to baggage from baggage claim at the Orlando International Airport.
If you WANT to get your own bags you can do this and THEN make your way to the Magical Express counter in Terminal B.
In your Magical Express packet that was mailed to you there will be detailed information on where to go to pick up the Magical Express bus inside of the Orlando airport terminal as well as “vouchers” for you to present to the driver.
Magical Express going HOME:
2 days before you check out you will have a Magical Express envelope on your resort door with pick up time (3 hours before your scheduled flight home) to the Orlando airport as well as vouchers for your ride back to the airport.
You can check your bags for your flight (for most major airlines) right there at your Disney hotel and they will take your bags and print your boarding passes so all you need to do is catch Magical Express and you will be on your way.
3). What if my flight isn’t until 8pm but checkout is at 11am?
You are not “kicked off” of property at 11am. You can check your luggage for your flight and leave any unchecked bags with Bell Services while you take the day to enjoy the pool or take in a theme park before your flight home.
There are restrooms and changing areas by all of the pools at the various resort hotels so you can get changed and cleaned up before your flight in there.
If you have dining credits left they do not expire until midnight the night of check in, so get your eat on! : )
4). Do I have to decide ahead of time what park I will go to on which day or can we change our mind?
If you have base tickets you can only visit one park per day but you can exit and re enter that park at any time on that same day. If you purchased park hoppers you can enter and exit any theme park multiple times per day (i.e. going to Magic Kingdom in the morning and Epcot in the evening).
You can not use your base ticket in the morning at Epcot for example and then think you can use another day of your base ticket that night at Magic Kingdom (Disney is smarter than this : )
Your park tickets on your reservation activate when you use it on that first day and you have 14 days from that first use until they expire (this is for non expiration option tickets) so you can be as spontaneous or as organized as you want to be throughout your vacation.
So what did I miss? What unanswered questions do you have about your upcoming Disney vacation?
Lesley is a travel agent with Pixie Vacations, contact her for your next Disney vacation at [email protected] or check her out at www.destinationmagic.com. She is currently offering generous booking incentives (Disney gift cards for Disney World/Disneyland, and Disney on board credits for Disney Cruise line)
- Planning: A Less Painful Way to Pay for a Disney Vacation (aglassslippervacation.com)
- Disney World Planning: Picking Non Busy Times to Go (chipandco.com)
