Ms. Shuttergirl
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 20, 2009
Okay everyone, here is a WDW specific thread for us all to share tips and ideas and information.
I can't wait to read all of the info.
I can't wait to read all of the info.
I would expect that this one applies to anyone irrespective of whether they are travelling to Disney or not. I found out from my American TA.
Disney will send your children autographed photos of their characters at no charge. Send the request for your favorite character to:
The Walt Disney Company
Attn: Fan Mail Department
500 South Buena Vista Street
Burbank, CA 91521
Limit: one photo per request. Delivery: 4-6 weeks.
I wrote a letter requesting a character photo (Mickey) for my son with name and address in the letter. I also popped my son's name, address and character request at the back of the envelop for RTS purposes.
We got a response within 4 weeks (arrived on Friday). A Black and White 8" x 10" picture (thin'ish photographic paper) of Mickey in front of the Castle signed in texta "To My Pal (child's name) Mickey Mouse".
I just wanted to add that if there are 4 or more of you travelling together, you should also price a town card or limo pick up against the cost of Magical Express. I think you would be surprised how close the pricing is and to be met by a driver straight off the flight, have them collect your luggage and relax in a private air conditioned environment while you are whisked along to WDW, now that would be a pretty nice way to start your holiday .
Magical Express is free at WDW if staying onsite
You know what I hate. Not being able to get proper prices until August! August!!!
We used this check in for our flight MCO-LAX and lets just say it didn't go all to plan!!!Resort Airline Check In - On your check out day many of the resorts have a desk at bell services where you can go down to your resorts lobby and take your luggage and actually check in for your flight right there, yes just like the airport check in but you can do it at your resort. The ONLY problem for we Aussies is...... if you are flying home to Australia, so flying from MCO to LAX (change planes) LAX to Syd/Melb/Bris/Perth so at MCO you want to check your bags right the way through so you don't have to claim them and recheck in at LAX. You CAN NOT use the resort check in, you will need to take your bags to the airport and do regular check in at MCO. The resort airline checkin is not set up for International flights (and for all airlines). So you could check in if you were flying with say, Delta or AA but only as far as LA or NY, you would then need to claim your bags and go and check in again for the flight back to Australia. If you are not heading straight home from WDW and flying off to another US city and you are using a participating airline then you CAN use the resort airline check in. We were flying from MCO to LAX to Honolulu with American Airlines and we did use the resort airline check in, it was fantastic.
We used this check in for our flight MCO-LAX and lets just say it didn't go all to plan!!!
We were flying on an international ticket which included 2 checked bags for FREE but they didn't believe us. MANY calls to and fro and on and on they still didn't believe us.
They said just pay us now and you can claim back........like that would go smoothly.
FINALLY (after over and hour) we got all our bags checked in and on their way to the airport.
It WAS worth doing and the bags got there fine and we met them in LAX fine. It meant we had the time between then and getting Magical Express to go shopping and looking around without having to worry about those bags.
But expect to have issues if you are checking more than one bag. With all the airlines charging for even one checked bag now they just didn't want to believe we had 2 checked bags included in our ticket.
I would try and get SOME kind of letter or something to prove it.
Thanks Queenie. I was wondering about this as I plan to catch ME from WDW to MCO. Looks like I'll take the bags on the bus myself and then check it in as normal...unless of course, you've educated them sufficiently for me.....
We used this check in for our flight MCO-LAX and lets just say it didn't go all to plan!!!
We were flying on an international ticket which included 2 checked bags for FREE but they didn't believe us. MANY calls to and fro and on and on they still didn't believe us.
They said just pay us now and you can claim back........like that would go smoothly.
FINALLY (after over and hour) we got all our bags checked in and on their way to the airport.
It WAS worth doing and the bags got there fine and we met them in LAX fine. It meant we had the time between then and getting Magical Express to go shopping and looking around without having to worry about those bags.
But expect to have issues if you are checking more than one bag. With all the airlines charging for even one checked bag now they just didn't want to believe we had 2 checked bags included in our ticket.
I would try and get SOME kind of letter or something to prove it.
Yes if flying internationally it is just easier to take your bags with you on ME and check them in at the airport. As I said in my first post on Resort Airline Check in, the resort check in is not set up for international flights so they have no idea what the international airlines rules are. They only provide check in for certain domestic airlines, so they only know those specific airlines domestic rules. If you are connecting with international flights you can still use the airline resort check in. You just can not check the whole way through, just the domestic portion and you are bound by the domestic portion's rules. If you check in at the airport and you're on a partner airline and your domestic and international flights are linked then they will know to apply the international baggage rules and let you go, the resort check in will not and they don't have to, they are quite clear that they are only for domestic flights.
For us we would prefer to take our luggage with us on ME (Bell services just get the bags from your room and will walk them over to the bus area, so it's not hard) than have to get off the plane in LAX, head to baggage claim, head over to the check in counter at LAX, stand in line and wait and recheck in. You are checking in twice. If you take your bags with you on the ME and check in at MCO then you can get your boarding pass for the LAX-AUST flight and check your bags right the way through (provide you are flying on partner airlines), then all you have to do in LAX is look around, shop, go to Qantas Club (if you have it) and go through security. For us that is the easier option.
Thanks AussieTravellers. I'll take my bags to ME and check in at the airport. We are flying partner airlines and hubby has special priviledges with Qantas re baggage allowances and priorities; so it will be better for us to deal with them directly rather than at the Disney resort. If they can't even deal with extra allowances for International travellers, there is no way they are going to understand enhanced Q Club priviledges.
I'm going to have to claim my bags at LAX anyway because I'll still have another 3 days before the flight back to Oz. So there is no time or effort savings for me on this front.
We were only flying MCO -LAX that day. On United. In theory there were no issues.OMG, what a nightmare! An hour checking in . It would have just been easier to take the bags to the airport, you wouldn't have spent an hour checking in there and then you wouldn't have had to collect the bags in LA and then line up again and wait for even longer to check in there for me. I have done that once and it was fine, not a hassle at all and saved rechecking in in LA, but have used the check in also and it was great too. So really its just whichever option works best for each different family.
Hopefully one day partner airlines will be able to check in internationally at WDW. I must have been pretty lucky. When I did resort airline checked in at AKL we all had two bags and they were overweight and they let them through. When they weighed the first one I was saying in my head OMG, OMG please don't make me pay excess and they didn't, PHEW!