Airport Luggage assistance

[LindaBabe]

Need your good advice, please.

On my way, alone, to Florida for a month next Monday. Because it's for a month, in housekeeping, I will have 3 bags, one of which I will need to pay for, necessitating the counter rather than curbside.

I have a mobility issue and walk with a cane, which obviously leaves only one hand free for luggage (a roll on with the computer and medical devices). Here at home, that's not such a big issue, my husband will park and accompany me to the counter with the luggage.

Arrival in MCO isn't such a big issue because I can either grab a porter or rent a luggage cart.

I haven't had such good luck departing MCO, though, and I'm less able than I was the last time I flew. What would you do?

Choices I've thought of are:

1- rent a car - possible difficulty - end up in the parking garage with no porters or carts available (It's happened before. The car rental people are no help at all!)

2. Town car - possible difficulty - they drop you curb side - but I can't move all that luggage through the line and need to go inside. The driver can't leave the car to help.

3. DME - Possible difficulty - the same as 2?

I called Southwest and they only said there are skycaps available but had no clue how to access them without just standing in line to curbside.

What options am I missing, if any?

What strategy would you employ?

Thanks.

 

[JohnnySharp2]

I know what you mean about the rental car companies, they can often appear dis-interested or not as helpful as perhaps they should be.

Personally I would still got for the rental car option, I know we are registered with Dollar Express which help beat the queue's at the counter.

Is there any value in either contacting a rental car company in advance, or alternatively MCO direct to see if they can offer any direct advice or suggestions?

Being from the UK I am not that familiar with the Taxi options or whether a suitable company in Orlando could offer a more personal and improved service given your circumstances.

http://www.orlandoairports.net/ops/bus_taxi.htm

 

[Piper]

The regular Mears service offers a "meet and greet" option that has someone help with your luggage. I used them last July to go to the Dolphin and they were very helpful. The van they sent was lift equipped and the driver was very helpful.

 

[kaytieeldr]

"Regular" Mears won't help her if she's staying onsite.

Best bet would be Magical Express. There are generally SkyCaps where the bus drops off; if not, there should be SOME Cast Member or Mears employee around who can call for one. Allow plenty of time.

Okay, well, really, BEST best bet would be to fly home on a participating airline so you don't have to worry about luggage.

 

[Piper]

You can use the "regular" mears shuttle to get to any place in Orlando--even the onsite Disney hotels. You do have to pay--it isn't "free" like the Magical Express. It is a lot less than renting a towncar for one person travelling alone and they do have "meet and greet" service that you can book.

 

[kaytieeldr]

If the OP is staying onsite, she cannot reserve Mears in advance. She CAN, however, reserve Magical Express in advance, tag her luggage with tags provided before she leaves by DME - and not even have to worry about transporting them herself. Magical Express will do it for her. Mears will NOT take reservations to transport anyone to a Disney-owned resort.

If she is not staying onsite, probably her smartest permanent option would be to purchase a sturdy collapsible luggage carrier that will accommodate all three pieces of luggage and can be bungied, in its collapsed status, to the outside of her carry-on luggage.

 

[Piper]

x

 

[mechurchlady]

I never did MCO since last millenium. I am sure they would have skycaps available when you leave and curbside service. As for getting your bags from the luggage area you might ask for wheelchair assistance which then would get you someone to help you get around the airport and help with the bags a bit like getting a cart. Check with the airport for what assistance they offer for the disabled. If you are strong enough then a luggage rack would work but I had a hard time with my one monster case.

Good luck on your trip.

 

[LindaBabe]

Apparently "meet and greet" and luggage assistance even for town cars means in bound only. Outbound it's "sorry, the driver can't leave the car to get you a sky cap". You get dropped at the curb.

Southwest is not a participating airline so ME cannot deal with the luggage for me.

Getting FROM the baggage area is no problem.

It is the RETURN that I have trouble with.

The customer has to be able to maneuver the baggage through the sometimes extensive curb side line. OR be able to leave the luggage to acquire a sky cap to take it inside - but when you are alone, with whom do you leave it?

I know from experience there are *NOT* always sky caps available. That is the issue with which I need advice.

 

[mechurchlady]

If you was flying out of LAX or even San Diego I would drive over and help you so maybe someone might be kindhearted and offer to help you. My car is old and I just got new tires and she is not very pretty but if someone on this board or the SGT board needed help I would be there as soon as I got my clothes out of the dryer, lol. Maybe that is why I am not in WDW. There has to be a solution that will work. I had a hard enough time dragging two bags through MCO the last time and oe through San Antonio. Hugs and prayers for a good solution.

 

[LindaBabe]

Thank you, m'am! I'll remember you, if I ever get to Disneyland! Hugs and prayers are probably the best solution ;-)

 

[Tiggerish]

If you used the DME, they would help unload your bags in the sky cap area. Then while you were on the bus going to the airport, make friends. I know that if I even overhead some one expressing such a simple need as help to flag down a sky cap, I would be jumping up and down to try and help. And I think most of the people on the DME bus would be sprinkled with pixie dust from their wonderful vacations and eager to do a fellow disneyer a good turn.

I can tell you from personal experience, that most people want to help - within the past year, I had to start using a rolling walker and it has been amazing how people run ahead to open doors, hold elevators and try to help in so many little ways. It actually has been difficult for me to accept all the help that is offered because I am so used to getting through on my own but I am learning.

 

[kaytieeldr]

My last few trips, there've always been skycaps available where the bus lets out - if there aren't any, it's temporary (another bus just arrived, but they'll be back), but there have always been people there with walkie-talkies, who can call for assistance. Also, mechurchlady's advice is - as usual - excellent: arrange in advance for wheelchair assistance. The person who meets you or who, granted, may need to be radioed, will be able to handle your luggage as well. Typical tip in this situation is $5-$10.

Also consider buying your own luggage cart. Here's http://www.ebags.com/search/index.cfm?fuseaction=endecasearch&n=0&Ntt=luggage+cart&x=23&y=14 the link to the ones at ebags (along with some rolling bags, don't ask me how my search brought those up, or you can do your own online or local search.

 

[LindaBabe]

My last few trips, there've always been skycaps available where the bus lets out - if there aren't any, it's temporary (another bus just arrived, but they'll be back), but there have always been people there with walkie-talkies, who can call for assistance. Also, mechurchlady's advice is - as usual - excellent: arrange in advance for wheelchair assistance. The person who meets you or who, granted, may need to be radioed, will be able to handle your luggage as well. Typical tip in this situation is $5-$10.

Ahhhhhhhh! THAT is the reassurance I needed! THANK YOU!

Tiggerish, That is indeed good to know! In the past, i've been grateful if people just don't frown at me for being in the way or taking to long. (This last trip, wiht my husband to run interference, the bus drivers were at least mostly helpful, and I didn't meet any outright hostility, so it was a good trip.)

 

[kaytieeldr]

Linda, I still think the smartest thing you can do is invest in your own collabsible luggage cart. That ebags link has a couple with really good-sized platforms, so if you're ever in a situation where there IS no help around (and on my recent Las Vegas trip, I found even the Alamo check-in people extremely pleasant and helpful), you would be able to stack and secure all three pieces and roll the one cart yourself, to either the check-in counter or curbside check-in.

 

[Schmeck]

Why not ship two of the bags down beforehand, and have UPS or FedEx pick them up for you down there as well?

 

[LindaBabe]

Why not ship two of the bags down beforehand, and have UPS or FedEx pick them up for you down there as well?

That's an interesting thought! I never considered that. I'll give them a call - AFTER I find out if I can have UPS delivery at the rental townhome where I begin my trip. I'm sure they pick up at WDW.
Thank you!

 

[kaytieeldr]

Oh, I'm sure you can - just ship them so they'll arrive the day AFTER you do, and make sure you're at the rental when the shipper arrives.

 

[LindaBabe]

It's a woman's perogative to change her mind, right? Well, after I stewed and brooded and stewed some more. . . I'm going to rent a car for the whole trip (at a decent rate) and trust that there will either be a luggage cart or a sky cap when I return to the airport. I *will* leave myself the extra hour, as y'all suggested. AND I managed to get everything in two bags - which I think, push come to shove, I could daisy chain and pull. (Maybe that's wisheful thinking . . .) Thanks for all your suggestions!

 

[kaytieeldr]

Yep. Just politely (which of course you don't need to be told ) ask the person who comes to check in your car to PLEASE get you a luggage cart or a skycap.

I'm telling you, I like Disney, but except for the lonnnnnnnnnng wait TO rent a car in Las Vegas, service EVERYWHERE there was unbeatable!