Carry vs checked luggage?

[SL6827]

When you board a ME bus or a DCL bus do you take your carry on luggage with you onto the buses or do they put them with the checked luggage? ( isn't that like under the buses?)

 

[jdb in AZ]

We took our carry-on luggage onto the bus with us.

When we took the DCL bus from a WDW hotel to the ship our luggage was picked up ahead of time and put on a truck to the port.

 

[jenmsmith]

When you board a ME bus or a DCL bus do you take your carry on luggage with you onto the buses or do they put them with the checked luggage? ( isn't that like under the buses?)

The carry on luggage is stored beneath the bus. You can take personal items/backpacks onto the bus with you.

 

[wishuponastar1984]

You can bring your small personal items to your seat (laptop bag, backpack, etc) but any larger items like a 22 inch rollaboard bag that you would typically put in an overhead bin on a mainline aircraft would be stored under the bus. When you reach your destination then the bus driver will open the lower compartment and give you your bags. It is polite to give them a tip for unloading the bags.

 

[SL6827]

You can bring your small personal items to your seat (laptop bag, backpack, etc) but any larger items like a 22 inch rollaboard bag that you would typically put in an overhead bin on a mainline aircraft would be stored under the bus. When you reach your destination then the bus driver will open the lower compartment and give you your bags. It is polite to give them a tip for unloading the bags.

Ok, so all the real luggage is kept under the bus, and when you arrive at your Disney resort you get the luggage from the driver then? And the same thing happens with the arrival at the port? I am not experienced at all with this.

 

[Cruising Engineer]

Ok, so all the real luggage is kept under the bus, and when you arrive at your Disney resort you get the luggage from the driver then? And the same thing happens with the arrival at the port? I am not experienced at all with this.

Yes, the driver at the port will open the doors to the storage area and start placing them right there for you to take into security and onto the ship. We generally tip $1-$2 a bag. Storage above the seats on the bus is no bigger than a glove box in an SUV (in case you wanted to know).

 

[Ralph&Pam]

Ok, so all the real luggage is kept under the bus, and when you arrive at your Disney resort you get the luggage from the driver then? And the same thing happens with the arrival at the port? I am not experienced at all with this.

On Magical Express between MCO and resort, checked luggage may not travel on the same vehicle as passengers. Checked luggage with yellow ME tags gets transported between MCO and a Disney resort via trucks, handed off to bell services, and then delivered to your room. You may have carry-on bags that you hand over to the ME driver at MCO and it goes under the bus for the trip. You retrieve it from the bus driver at the resort.

On the DCL bus between a Disney resort and the port, your checked luggage with the colored DCL tags gets picked up at your resort room on your embarkation day and is transported between the resort and the port via truck. You may have carry-on bags that you hand over to the bus driver at the resort and it goes under the bus for the trip to the port. You retrieve it from the bus driver at the port.

On the DCL bus between MCO and the port, your checked luggage is handled similarly to the resort to port trip, so it may travel in a different vehicle (i.e., a luggage van rather than the bus). Your carry-on bags will go under the bus you ride, and you retrieve them from the driver at the port.

On the DCL bus from the port to a Disney resort, your checked luggage will travel under the same bus as you take to the resort, along with your carry-on luggage. Same thing going port to MCO, unless you are flying on a participating airline where you can check your bag from ship through to your home airport. Never used this myself, since Southwest doesn’t participate in that program.

We usually have a rollerboard carry-on bag and a messenger-style camera bag (like a soft-sided laptop bag). We hand over the rollerboard bag so it travels under the bus, but I carry the camera bag onto the bus and place it on the floor between my feet once on board the bus. I don’t like to have that bag out of my direct control, since it has medicines, cameras, and some small electronics that I would not want lost or damaged.

 

[SL6827]

On Magical Express between MCO and resort, checked luggage may not travel on the same vehicle as passengers. Checked luggage with yellow ME tags gets transported between MCO and a Disney resort via trucks, handed off to bell services, and then delivered to your room. You may have carry-on bags that you hand over to the ME driver at MCO and it goes under the bus for the trip. You retrieve it from the bus driver at the resort.

On the DCL bus between a Disney resort and the port, your checked luggage with the colored DCL tags gets picked up at your resort room on your embarkation day and is transported between the resort and the port via truck. You may have carry-on bags that you hand over to the bus driver at the resort and it goes under the bus for the trip to the port. You retrieve it from the bus driver at the port.

On the DCL bus between MCO and the port, your checked luggage is handled similarly to the resort to port trip, so it may travel in a different vehicle (i.e., a luggage van rather than the bus). Your carry-on bags will go under the bus you ride, and you retrieve them from the driver at the port.

On the DCL bus from the port to a Disney resort, your checked luggage will travel under the same bus as you take to the resort, along with your carry-on luggage. Same thing going port to MCO, unless you are flying on a participating airline where you can check your bag from ship through to your home airport. Never used this myself, since Southwest doesn’t participate in that program.

We usually have a rollerboard carry-on bag and a messenger-style camera bag (like a soft-sided laptop bag). We hand over the rollerboard bag so it travels under the bus, but I carry the camera bag onto the bus and place it on the floor between my feet once on board the bus. I don’t like to have that bag out of my direct control, since it has medicines, cameras, and some small electronics that I would not want lost or damaged.

Ok, thank you soooooooo much. With all my trips to Disney we have always drove, but the next one will be with Delta, lol. I really had it envisioned differently but now I know. With us carrying more carry on bags, 5-6 vs. checked bags, 2-3, we will still be dealing with a lot of baggage even with the DCL transports. So that will be another reason there to go with private transportation. I am trying to get the tipping down as well, we will tip our ME driver for the 5-6 carry on bags, and the bell hops at a Disney resort for the 2-3 checked bags, and then at the port, we will tip for all of our bags, twice?

Oh, and we will tip our private transport too?

 

[Ralph&Pam]

Ok, thank you soooooooo much. With all my trips to Disney we have always drove, but the next one will be with Delta, lol. I really had it envisioned differently but now I know. With us carrying more carry on bags, 5-6 vs. checked bags, 2-3, we will still be dealing with a lot of baggage even with the DCL transports. So that will be another reason there to go with private transportation. I am trying to get the tipping down as well, we will tip our ME driver for the 5-6 carry on bags, and the bell hops at a Disney resort for the 2-3 checked bags, and then at the port, we will tip for all of our bags, twice?

Oh, and we will tip our private transport too?

For the checked bags arriving at the resort from MCO via the Magical Express luggage service using the supplied luggage tags, no tip is expected. In fact, it’s the one case where you will not have to be in the room when your luggage is delivered. For the resort to port transfer using private transportation, you will be tipping at both ends if you have luggage assistance at both ends, along with the tip for the driver.

That’s one case where using DCL transport between resort and port simplifies tipping, since the checked bags are picked up at the resort and dropped off at the port without you interacting with the people handling the bags.

 

[SL6827]

In fact, it’s the one case where you will not have to be in the room when your luggage is delivered.

But if we were in the room, I would be ashamed not to tip, right?

 

[SL6827]

And we would be arriving very early and I know our room wouldn't be ready so we would leave our carry on bags with bell services too? And we would tip for them to be delivered to our room, or can we just pick them up ourselves when our room is ready or what???

 

[Ralph&Pam]

And we would be arriving very early and I know our room wouldn't be ready so we would leave our carry on bags with bell services too? And we would tip for them to be delivered to our room, or can we just pick them up ourselves when our room is ready or what???

Either one, although I usually tip $2 to $5 (depending on the number of bags) for the bellperson who brings my bags out to me from the storage room even when I’m carrying them to the room myself.