Can Just My Bags Go On Magical Express??

[The Great Baboo]

We're flying down at the end of March and are renting a minivan -- don't think we'll have enough room to put all our bags, the stroller, etc....thought about letting one bag go through to us on the carousel and making a ressie w/ Magical Express so the rest of our bags can get to our hotel on Disney property....don't want to ride the bus w/ the bags -- do we need to accompany them or will they make it without us??? Rode the bus once and didn't love it -rather do our rental for this trip, but need the extra room....

 

[n2mm]

No, DME is not a luggage service. The passengers and bags must be accounted for. Someone posted recently that your voucher is scanned when getting on the bus now?? (not firsthand information for me). If there is no person that gets on the bus, the bags are not transported and left at the airport. However, one in your party could take the bus with bags. I'm sure someone on the boards will post the actual wording from DME. Can you imagine the security risks involved of DME picking up bags and transporting them and a person has not checked in to ride the bus too.

 

[seashoreCM]

Technically no. In practice the results are unpredictable.

Yellow tagged baggage is scanned several times by ME to better track where it is since being intercepted by ME personnel. When the guest does not check in at the ME welcoming area, this tracking process can be perturbed.

Also Disney (or anyone else) is not supposed to remove baggage from the airport without the owner's permission. While it is possible an individual CM jumped to conclusion and loaded unverified baggage on the trucks to Disney, if a mistake was made, all hell could break loose back at the airport.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

 

[CleveRocks]

Well, the official Disney policy is that DME can't be used as just luggage-only on the trip from MCO to resort.

But several people have reported first-hand accounts that luggage has been delivered to the resort even without the owners riding the DME bus.

Even beyond the idea of following the rules versus doing whatever can be gotten away with, to me it is a risk to not follow this rule. What if Disney starts to strictly enforce it? Then you'd be in deep doo-doo.

The way they can know whether or not the owner (or at least one person in the owner's party) rode the bus is that bus vouchers are scanned as you board the bus.

Disney has demonstrated their proclivity to eventually crack down on the rules, or crack down on loopholes. Used to be there were Disney Transport buses between the theme parks and DTD. But Disney realized that too many people (in their view) were parking for free at DTD and then taking the bus to a park, thereby avoiding paying the parking fee AND unnecessarily clogging up the DTD parking lots. As a result, we all now deal with the pain in the neck of no direct buses between the parks and DTD.

 

[goofy4tink]

Well, the official Disney policy is that DME can't be used as just luggage-only on the trip from MCO to resort.

But several people have reported first-hand accounts that luggage has been delivered to the resort even without the owners riding the DME bus.

Even beyond the idea of following the rules versus doing whatever can be gotten away with, to me it is a risk to not follow this rule. What if Disney starts to strictly enforce it? Then you'd be in deep doo-doo.

The way they can know whether or not the owner (or at least one person in the owner's party) rode the bus is that bus vouchers are scanned as you board the bus.

Disney has demonstrated their proclivity to eventually crack down on the rules, or crack down on loopholes. Used to be there were Disney Transport buses between the theme parks and DTD. But Disney realized that too many people (in their view) were parking for free at DTD and then taking the bus to a park, thereby avoiding paying the parking fee AND unnecessarily clogging up the DTD parking lots. As a result, we all now deal with the pain in the neck of no direct buses between the parks and DTD.

Eric is absolutely correct!! Can you get away with renting a car and having your bags go with DME? Sure. There have been many people that have reported success with this approach. BUT.....this could change with no warning at all!!! As was just stated...Disney changes their attitude regarding enforcing their rules at the drop of a hat. They stopped the DTD bus runs to the parks because people were taking advantage of it...parking for free and then riding to a park. With APs, people were buying a child's AP and then booking a ton of rooms with it. Now, you can't do that. Have to buy an adult AP in order to get the room rate discount, and the number of rooms you can book has been cut down to 3 (if I remember correctly).

Disney has always maintained that DME is not a 'luggage delivery' service..that it is a perk for those staying at their resorts and having their luggage delivered is an extra perk. I can see Disney changing their proceedures regarding the delivery of luggage if the pieces of luggage do not match the number of people on the bus. They do ask, when you check in, how many pieces of luggage you have. So, you would have to have at least one person ride the bus, with no more than the allotted number of bags per the airline rules. However, that is not in place as of now, so you can most likely send your luggage on with DME while you rent a car.

 

[Lewisc]

All anecdotal evidence points to all yellow tagged bags getting shipped right to WDW.

The issue is if Disney decides to enforce the rule, not likely OR if there is a problem with your luggage such as an airline delay. DME guests tell the CM how many bags were checked and DME follows up with the airlines if a bag is missing. You may have to follow up with the airline.

Last year I was directed on to a bus to CSR right before it left. The CM who scanned the voucher had already moved on to another bus. Every group gets checked in at the DME desk, I'd think any change would just require a guest check in at the DME desk.

 

[momof2disprincesses]

We did this in December. The rental car prices were kind of steep at Christmas so we rented the smallest car we could and knew not all of our luggage would fit.

So, my dd10 and I took DME and my dh and dd14 rented a car. We were told very specifically that we could only have 4 pieces of luggage taken on DME (2 per passenger). We had like 6 bags total and a few carry-on's, so dh and dd14 took the rest of our bags in the rental car and our 4 largest went on DME.

 

[Lewisc]

Some airlines, including SW, let you check 3 bags. A few passengers pay to check extra bags. DME only sends 2 tags per guest but you can call and ask for extra yellow tags. DME will take whatever the airline lets you check.

Most guests were told as long as one member of the party takes DME all the bags can go. Only one guest checks in at the DME desk and the CM asks for the total number of bags that were checked.

could only have 4 pieces of luggage taken on DME (2 per passenger).

 

[Edd]

The scanning of your voucher when you get on the bus is done by Mears personnel. It is a count of the passengers they take out to Disney. It does not have anything to do with your reservations.

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

The scanning of your voucher when you get on the bus is done by Mears personnel. It is a count of the passengers they take out to Disney. It does not have anything to do with your reservations.

Actually, it does. It creates a "GUEST BOARDED MOTORCOACH" event in the DME reservation system. It's neat how you can track the progression of the guest and (seperatly) the luggage in the system.

 

[Edd]

That explains to me why Mears and Disney would have no problems in the count and payment of money by Disney to the airport and Mears for transportation of passengers to Disney.