Need advise with Magical Express and Saratoga Springs......

Hi everyone. We finally booked our Disney vacation for 12/2-12/10 at the Saratoga Springs (any comments on this resort are appreciated). However, I was looking for airfare this morning, and the airline that we plan on using doesn%26#39;t fly on Saturdays. I was wondering if we should consider booking at a value resort for the night before %26amp; the Saturday after so that we would still be able to use the Magical Express. Or do you think it would be too confusing? I thought maybe we could pack a light suitcase just for those nights and have the rest of our bags delievered to SS. Anyway to get discounts on the value resorts during value season or do they usually always run around $77 a night? We may have to consider another airline, but this rate beats most by around $200. Any suggestions. Thanks!!!!

Oh - congrats fla4fun on getting local expert!

Need advise with Magical Express and Saratoga Springs......

I%26#39;m not sure I understand the question. You should be able to use the magical express regardless of the day that you arrive. 12/2 is a Saturday. If you%26#39;ve booked your hotel already for 12/2 you%26#39;ll need either a flight that arrives on Sat. 12/2 or another night in whatever hotel you wish. But magical express should not be affected by what day you are arriving on.

Saratoga Springs is our DVC home resort. We love it. Its clean and the units are lovely. The pool is very nice with a slide for the kids and an indoor playroom that offers crafts, games, video games etc. We used it when a little rainstorm paid us a visit last time. You take buses to all the parks from here. The resort is still under construction, but they are moving right along and its not noisy or a disturbance. WE are going back 3/5-3/10 so I%26#39;ll give an update on the construction and how far they%26#39;ve come when I return.

Need advise with Magical Express and Saratoga Springs......

Iowamom,

You may still use Magical Express however Magical Express won%26#39;t take you from a value resort back to Saratoga Springs. And it would confuse things a bit for luggage transportation. I wouldn%26#39;t risk of lost luggage! To double check on your question call Disney direct at 407-934-7639. The value resort prices start at $79.00 and go all the way to $127.00 a night depending on dates of travel. Early December is still considered value season rates so you should be able to book at the $79.00 rate.

Meant THE CHANCE of lost luggage!

Sorry wykelbri. I was trying to type while my 2yr old was on my lap. We are scheduled at SS from Sat to Sat, however if we fly with this certain airline we would have to take a Friday flight to Orlando and a Sunday flight back leaving us without a place to stay those two nights. One of the reason we stayed on Disney was to take advantage of the Magical Express, but if we have to fly in early and leave late it might mess things up (luggage, etc). Thanks for posting and I can%26#39;t wait to hear how things are going at Saratoga Springs. It looks beautiful! Have a great trip %26amp; I look forward to hearing from you.

Thanks healin1! I would have liked to stay off property those two nights, but I figure that would mess thing up even worse. I definately don%26#39;t want to worry about having my luggage ending up lost. What a nightmare! I%26#39;ll keep my fingers crossed that maybe one of the other airlines will offer a special during that time frame. There are not many choices out of Des Moines. Thanks for your help!!!

Magical Express isn%26#39;t all it%26#39;s cracked up to be....We originally booked into Pop Century, I figured to save a few bucks, but we%26#39;ve never stayed at a place like that before. So, I ended up upgrading to Port Orleans French Quarter, and boy, did Magical Express mess it up. I had to make quite a few phone calls to get them to send out corrected luggage tags, and then when it was time to leave the resort they still had us booked into leaving from the Pop, we had to call them and get them to switch it to the POFQ...it ended up working out okay, but it%26#39;s not a ';special orders don%26#39;t upset us'; kind of deal. We rode through Saratoga Springs several times on the bus routes. It%26#39;s huge. The units are beautiful, but very spread-out. Landscaping is nice. Wear your walking shoes.

Hi Iowamom,

We are disney vacation club members and visit disney at least 3 times a year. We have not stayed at Saratoga for two reasons. It does not have a sit down restaurant which is the one thing I truly enjoy in the morning, a breakfast, and it is pretty far from most parks we enjoy with our children. I heard it is beautiful and as long as you you don%26#39;t mind the two objections I have you will have a wonderful time.

As far as staying in a value hotel the day before and the day after, that would work fine. We sometimes have to switch resorts to make our plane reserations work so we do the same thing. Just let magical express know you are changing your plans to arrive on friday into value resort #1 and leaving on Sunday fron Value resort #1. The luggage will go to that resort and when they pick you up to return home you will have your luggage at that resort. When you leave value resort #1 to go to saratoga springs, Disney will send it to the resort while you go to the parks and you just show up to check in after 4pm.

It is really great.

As far as prices, you can pretty much get a low rate at one of the value places. Sometimes port orleans runs specials also.

Have a great time!

Sandinmypants proved my point exactly. If you change resorts etc. and it doesn%26#39;t go into the computer system too late or for other reasons the transportation issue can be a nightmare with Magical Express. Our experience with ME was great and would definitely do it again.

Hi again Iowamom, When you move from hotel A to Saratoga Springs, the magical express is not involved. We have moved from Saratoga Springs on more than one occasion to save points since points on weekends are always much higher than midweek. All we do is ask the Saratoga Springs to transfer the bags right over to the Pop Century (where we usually go). I would imagaine that in your case, just have your luggage go the value resort you choose. Then ask them to move your luggage to SS and for the last night ask SS to transfer the luggage back to the value place. Actually now that I%26#39;m typing this I%26#39;m realizing that Magical Express won%26#39;t even enter into the equation (sp?) b/c you will be dropped off and picked up at the same place. Wow!! Plus you get 2 extra days!!

Problem solved with an extra two days to play.

Have the best time. PS. The above poster is correct, there is no sit down, but there is a lovely self-serve resturant with very fresh food not stuff dropped off and left around for hours. Should be just fine with a 2 year old... :-)

Counting the days!!! 16 more to go.

Thanks everyone!! I think I am worrying too much about this. This is only our 2nd trip and last time we drove, so the magical express is new to us. Have a great time wykelbri!!! I know I will be asking more questions as things pop up, so I can%26#39;t say thank you enough for taking the time to answer all our questions here on the forums. Sandinmypants - Can I ask, did you fly out of Cedar Rapids? The airline I am looking at does fly out of there on Saturdays. Just not Des Moines. It is another 45 - 60 minutes drive for us. Is the airport there very big? It%26#39;s been a LONG time since I was over that way. Thanks!!