Walt Disney World’s Airport Luggage Transfer program just crossed a line it had never crossed before. Starting today, the service is expanding to Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort, making it the first Moderate Resort to join a program that had been limited to Value resorts since it launched.
How The Service Works
Airport Luggage Transfer is Disney’s paid answer to the much missed Magical Express luggage handling. Guests flying into Orlando International Airport on a participating airline can have their checked bags collected and delivered to their Disney resort room without touching a carousel, and on the way home they can check bags at the resort and next see them at their destination airport. It is the piece of the old arrival experience guests complained loudest about losing, brought back as an add-on.
Until now the program has lived exclusively at the Value tier, serving resorts like Pop Century and the All-Stars. Caribbean Beach is the first property in the Moderate tier to come aboard, and it is a logical test case. The resort is one of the largest at Walt Disney World, sits on the Skyliner line, and serves a steady stream of families hauling exactly the kind of luggage this program exists to handle.
A Program That Keeps Growing
The expansion continues a steady build-out that has been underway all year. The program added American and United Airlines earlier this year, broadening the pool of eligible flights well beyond its launch partners. There was also a brief moment of confusion in June when Walt Disney World briefly listed Delta as a participating airline before reversing course, a sign that airline negotiations were ongoing behind the scenes even as the resort list stayed frozen.
Moving up a tier is the more meaningful signal. If the service performs at a sprawling Moderate like Caribbean Beach, the obvious next question is whether the rest of the Moderate tier follows, and eventually the Deluxe resorts, where guests are most accustomed to full-service treatment. Disney has not announced additional locations, but the trajectory of this program has only pointed one direction since launch. Value guests keep their service, Caribbean Beach guests gain it today, and everyone else gets to watch whether their resort is next.
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