Mouse Extra

Disney World has begun a very interesting and worthwhile transformation into the “internet” world.  Soon you will be able to check in to your hotel online, book dining reservations, and even use your Verizon cell phone to get real-time attraction information.  It’s time for the Mouse to step up and do the same for their Magical Express service.

Disney’s Magical Express is a great idea and it is really hard to find anything to complain about with it.  But every so often you may be unlucky enough to find an enormous, and I really mean enormous, line waiting to check in before you ever even queue up for the next bus to arrive.  It seems to me this checking-in process serves only to see who has arrived and more importantly how many bags Disney needs to now go and find. 

This is all well and good, but why can’t you go online 24 hours or less before your flight takes off and check-in with Magical Express and tell them exactly how many bags you will be checking into luggage?  If I can track myself when flights are on time or when they are delayed surely Disney can as well.  If that is not possible, how about after checking in the previous day with Magical Express you print out a boarding pass with a barcode which a cast member can simply scan before you board?  A handheld scanning device as you head towards the bus lines would be fast and easy.

This may sound a bit like nitpicking, but I can’t be the only one this bugs.  On my first day on vacation I simply can’t stand to watch my precious time tick away while waiting on line at Disney’s Magical Express.  To be honest, when I used Magical Express last week the line was so long that a couple behind me gave up and went for a cab.  Now that may have been an extreme circumstance, and it certainly was the longest I had ever seen the line, but I really doubt it was.  Disney needs to streamline this process, and an online check-in can only help.