DIsapointed in Magical Express

[Tinkerbelle's Mom]

Well not really the Magical Express but more the fact that they did not mail me my luggage tags so I will not be able to make use of the service where they pick up your bags for you at baggage claim.

I called Disney today and asked them where they were. I had recieved all my other mickey mail but not these luggage tags and vouchers.

All they could tell me was that they were sorry there was not enough time to mail them to me now since I leave on Thursday evening on a red eye. They told me I would have to get my luggage myself and that the cms at magical express would be able to pull my vouchers from my reservation number.

I am very disapointed.

 

[yenanh00]

you can call Magical Express directly and they will express ship it for you..

 

[mrsxsparrow]

As long as you arrive between 5:00am and 10:00pm they can pick up the bags, even without the yellow tags. I've done this twice. You just go up to them at the ME desk in the airport and give them your baggage claim numbers. It was super easy and didn't seem to take any longer than when we used the tags.

 

[bumbershoot]

Yep, from the ME/luggage sticky thread here:

I haven't gotten my tags yet!

Never fear. You have two options. You can claim your bags like normal, or you can have Disney claim them for you as if you did have those yellow tags. Bypass baggage claim, and go straight to the Welcome Center. From there, give the Cast Member your luggage claim tickets. They will create replacement tags for you, find your bags, tag them, and send them to your resort.

 

[ancestry]

Not going to help the OP but for anyone else reading DME usually needs at least 10 days to mail out the DME packet. So if you don't have your DME stuff by 2-3 weeks out give them a call!

 

[Alesia]

I would call DME directly and make sure that you have a reservation.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Call Disney's Magical Express Guest Services at 1-866-599-0951 right away.

 

[Tinkerbelle's Mom]

Thank you!!! Thank you!!! For all your replies.

I called Magical Express Directly and feel so much better now. They do have me in the system and will mail everything out to me express mail. But... they also confirmed what several pps said about being able to get the luggage from baggage claim with out bag claim tags.

The magical express is one of my favorite reasons for staying on site! When my dd was younger it was such a blessing to have thier help. Now that she is older we could manage on our own....but I Have become spoiled.

 

[Melanie230]

WE LOVE Disney but last year was our first time flying down. I was disappointed with ME. We got off our flight, went to baggage claim, and had NO IDEA where ME was. We asked and found out where the buses were. Stood outside, bus driver drove away didn't say a word. We were outside with 4 other families as lost as we were. Went inside and found a desk person that said to go down to the end of the building and there was a check in desk. It was crazy! Took forever. The bus ride was great, and it wasn't crowded. But finding it was a nightmare!

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

WE LOVE Disney but last year was our first time flying down. I was disappointed with ME. We got off our flight, went to baggage claim, and had NO IDEA where ME was. We asked and found out where the buses were. Stood outside, bus driver drove away didn't say a word. We were outside with 4 other families as lost as we were. Went inside and found a desk person that said to go down to the end of the building and there was a check in desk. It was crazy! Took forever. The bus ride was great, and it wasn't crowded. But finding it was a nightmare!

The instructions that are mailed with the luggage tags have clear directions on how to go to the Disney's Magical Express Welcome Center on Level 1, Terminal (side) B. There's even a diagram.

Orlando International Airport won't let Disney put up their own signs, but the Airport has directional signs to Level 1, Terminal B.

There is no need to go to baggage claim if using DME's inbound luggage service. The waiting area for DME is inside the air-conditioned terminal, so you don't go outside until you're directed to your DME motorcoach.

Following the instructions in the booklet means you won't waste time at the airport and you'll be on the first practical DME motorcoach to your resort after arrival.

 

[Melanie230]

The instructions that are mailed with the luggage tags have clear directions on how to go to the Disney's Magical Express Welcome Center on Level 1, Terminal (side) B. There's even a diagram.

Orlando International Airport won't let Disney put up their own signs, but the Airport has directional signs to Level 1, Terminal B.

There is no need to go to baggage claim if using DME's inbound luggage service. The waiting area for DME is inside the air-conditioned terminal, so you don't go outside until you're directed to your DME motorcoach.

Following the instructions in the booklet means you won't waste time at the airport and you'll be on the first practical DME motorcoach to your resort after arrival.

Just like the OP...I guess I must have experienced the same ball drop. I didn't get any instructions with my luggage tags. Had I gotten them I would have known where to go.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Just like the OP...I guess I must have experienced the same ball drop. I didn't get any instructions with my luggage tags. Had I gotten them I would have known where to go.

OP didn't receive any yellow, barcoded luggage routing tags. But you're saying you received luggage tags.

Did you receive yellow luggage routing tags?

Or did you only receive souvenir luggage identification tags for booking a Disney package?

My yellow tags have always been attached within a Disney's Magical Express instruction booklet.

I'm not trying to argue. Now I'm just curious if Disney stopped sending instructions with the yellow tags. That would be be poor decision by Disney.

 

[Melanie230]

I got the yellow barcoded tags. There were no instructions with the bag tags. We also picked up our luggage because we didn't want to wait for it to arrive. I asked on this board and was told it could take up to 3 hours. It wasn't a huge deal that day...we were just confused where to go, and there were 4 other families that had the same problem that day.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

I got the yellow barcoded tags. There were no instructions with the bag tags. We also picked up our luggage because we didn't want to wait for it to arrive. I asked on this board and was told it could take up to 3 hours. It wasn't a huge deal that day...we were just confused where to go, and there were 4 other families that had the same problem that day.

The yellow barcoded tags were just in an envelope with absolutely nothing else? That's surprising.

There is no need to wait in your room for your bags, even if you allow Disney to deliver your bags to your room. Yes, it can take up to three hours after you check in, but there's no need to wait in your room.

I prefer to use DME as designed because I don't like to wait. Waiting at baggage claim is annoying and unpleasant. Getting to the resort sooner and having fun sooner is better.

My recommendation is to bring a carry-on with anything you'll need right aways (as well as valuables, fragile items, and medications). That way, you'll have what you really need, but you can bypass baggage claim, which means you're likely to arrive at your resort 30-60 minutes earlier than if you first wait for your bags at baggage claim. You can be out having fun or eating dinner when Disney delivers your bags to your room. Disney takes care of the inbound bell services gratuity if you tag your bags with the yellow tags before you check them at your home airport.

 

[goofy4tink]

As Horace said, it would be very unusual for only the luggage tags to be in the envelope. First, there is no addressee on those luggage tags. The address that shows through the envelope window is on the back of the info booklet that the tags are with. Inside that booklet, with your vouchers, are directions to the DME area.
I have to wonder if possibly someone inadvertantly just tossed the booket out thinking it was just filler and kept the luggage tags??? That would be the only explanation.

 

[seashoreCM]

We got off our flight, went to baggage claim, and had NO IDEA where ME was. We asked and found out where the buses were. Stood outside, bus driver drove away didn't say a word. We were outside with 4 other families as lost as we were. Went inside and found a desk person that said to go down to the end of the building and there was a check in desk. ... !

You per chance first got to the drop off area for folks going home.

The airport stopped letting Disney CM's stand around with white gloves and pointing people to the Magical Express welcoming area. Other transportation services such as Acme Towncars or Joe's Taxi complained that it should be an equal opportunity nightmare for men* to find DME as it is to find them.

* Women ask for directions.

 

[goofy4tink]

You per chance first got to the drop off area for folks going home.

The airport stopped letting Disney CM's stand around with white gloves and pointing people to the Magical Express welcoming area. Other transportation services such as Acme Towncars or Joe's Taxi complained that it should be an equal opportunity nightmare for men* to find DME as it is to find them.

* Women ask for directions.

I would imagine that when they got to ground level 1, they saw Disney buses, so went right outside and walked down to those buses. Obviously no one would help them out...those families weren't in the right area.

There are plenty of people to ask at MCO...almost everyone knows where DME is located. Not to mention, that as you walk down the hallway to the DME area, past the rental car counters, you can almost see the CM standing at the checkin line.

The only time someone might have a big issue is if they arrived on Side A of the terminal, got their own bags and then headed right down to level 1, of Side A...that is going to be an issue since there is no DME there at all. That would be very confusing to someon who didn't really understand how it works.

 

[doggydoc]

Our first year using DME we got lost in the airport as well, but a wonderful CM at the airport Disney Store gave us excellent directions.

 

[Melanie230]

The yellow barcoded tags were just in an envelope with absolutely nothing else? That's surprising.

There is no need to wait in your room for your bags, even if you allow Disney to deliver your bags to your room. Yes, it can take up to three hours after you check in, but there's no need to wait in your room.

I prefer to use DME as designed because I don't like to wait. Waiting at baggage claim is annoying and unpleasant. Getting to the resort sooner and having fun sooner is better.

My recommendation is to bring a carry-on with anything you'll need right aways (as well as valuables, fragile items, and medications). That way, you'll have what you really need, but you can bypass baggage claim, which means you're likely to arrive at your resort 30-60 minutes earlier than if you first wait for your bags at baggage claim. You can be out having fun or eating dinner when Disney delivers your bags to your room. Disney takes care of the inbound bell services gratuity if you tag your bags with the yellow tags before you check them at your home airport.

I didn't mind going to baggage claim. That wasn't my issue at all. I was just surprised at how hard it was to find the ME counter. Other than that...I had no issue whatsoever. We didn't think we had to wait on the luggage to arrive, we just preferred to have our things when we checked in. We like to get to the hotel and unpack and get everything in its place before we do anything else.

 

[Melanie230]

As Horace said, it would be very unusual for only the luggage tags to be in the envelope. First, there is no addressee on those luggage tags. The address that shows through the envelope window is on the back of the info booklet that the tags are with. Inside that booklet, with your vouchers, are directions to the DME area.
I have to wonder if possibly someone inadvertantly just tossed the booket out thinking it was just filler and kept the luggage tags??? That would be the only explanation.

We did have the vouchers but our ME yellow tags and vouchers didn't come with an envelope with a window. It was a solid envelope with a little bus and the Disney characters on it. There was a white space with our name and addressed typed into it. Again, no directions to the DME area.