Disney's Magical Express

[bdlily]

Trying to decide whether or not to use DME. I've heard a few things about it taking a while and about people not getting their tags. We are arriving VERY early in the morning after a red-eye flight so I have been considering hiring a private van to drive us. However, I just heard that guests using DME are being given preferential treatment on rooms. Meaning that if you use DME you get the first rooms available. SOOOOO, what do you all think? Do I use DME or get the private van? Please help!

 

[LeftCoaster]

I used DME earlier this month after a red eye. My flight touched down at 6 am and I was checked into Old Key West by 7:30 am. By 8 am I was in my room and in bed for a nap.
While you get a certain amount of preferential treatment by using DME, you will also have to decide what is more important to you. Is your location or view more important than getting into a room right away. For me, I wanted a nice view but what was most important was to get into my room right away so I could take a nap.
DME worked well for me. If on a budget, I'd use it again. I prefer to rent a car since Disney's general bus services seems to be going downhill.

 

[BuckNaked]

We used it earlier this month (our tags never arrived) and we had no problems at all upon arriving in Orlando. Our plan touched down at 11:40 AM and we were in our room at POP by 1:00 PM. Getting on the bus to go back was much more of a hassle, but we still ended up at the airport with plenty of time to spare.

 

[ericafny]

I'm going in 3 weeks and I am STILL trying to decide this! We are landing at 10:45 am and I am CLUELESS as to what to do! I am considering using ME going to the hotel, but coming back I am seriously considering just taking a private cab. Our flight doesn't leave till 7:50 pm the day we leave and we want to make the most of our last day there. If we use ME we may have to leave way earlier than we planned.

As far as getting priority on rooms, is this true? I am staying at CSR and REALLY want a room in the Casitas section. Will I get preferential treatment if I use ME???

 

[mpbs]

I am also confused, we will be using DME in Aug. Does anyone know what type of bus you travel on? How often does it leave? Return trips to the airport, do you have enough time to check-in? Last year we had a driver, and it worked out very well. I was trying to save some money, but is it really worth it?

 

[nluvwithmickey]

We are going in 20 days and have already received the yellow tags and the booklet. I was surprised. Figured that comming from outside the US I would receive them at the last minute or not at all. I guess they are workng things out.

All the instructions are written in the DME packet so don't worry about not knowing wat to do.

As to the room, I think I would rather wait and see if I can get what I requested. We are staying at the pool anyways, then going to DTD later on.

 

[mlwear]

We are planning on using DME in August, but I'm a little nervous, too. Our plane arrives at 8:30 am, so I don't expect our room to be ready that early and our luggage will be stored.
Here's my question, if we allow our luggage to be stored and it is put in our room while we are at the park, who and how do we tip?
We are staying concierge, can we just ask concierge that it be given to whoever took care of our bags?

 

[donnabres]

When is this program ending? I am not going down and staying in the park until end of next June will be taking my grandson down for his 12th birthday. When I took my granddaughter down last June, we took a towncar which worked out great. But if this program is still in effect, and works good, I'd rather spend the extra money on him.

Thanks

 

[BuckNaked]

Our flight doesn't leave till 7:50 pm the day we leave and we want to make the most of our last day there. If we use ME we may have to leave way earlier than we planned.

ME will pick you up 3 hours before your flight is scheduled to leave, and frankly, I wouldn't want to leave much later than that if I were driving myself to the airport.

 

[ericafny]

We are going in 20 days and have already received the yellow tags and the booklet. I was surprised. Figured that comming from outside the US I would receive them at the last minute or not at all. I guess they are workng things out. QUOTE]


I am leaving in 22 days and haven't gotten ANYTHING...my travel agent says she will be getting them shortly though...getting nervous.

 

[ericafny]

ME will pick you up 3 hours before your flight is scheduled to leave, and frankly, I wouldn't want to leave much later than that if I were driving myself to the airport.

3 hours before flight? How far is the airport? I always try to get to the airport 1.5-2 hrs before flight. If the airport is closeby than I don't want to leave 3 hours before!

 

[BuckNaked]

The airport is at least a 30 minute drive, depending on the time of day. And the security lines when were there for an evening (6:15) flight were horrendously long.

I didn't find leaving 3 hours prior to be a stretch at all.

 

[mom_rules]

If you have your luggage stored at the resort, they will not just leave it in your room automatically. When you get back to your room you call bell services and they will deliver it to you.

 

[beccasmom]

We used DME last week. We arrived at MCO after being taking 2 bumps In Philadelphia (originally we were due to arrive at 9:15, a.m., but did not get there until after 2:00 p.m.). Our luggage had already been sent to our resort (OKW) (of course, it arrived way before we did! ) and we were greeted graciously by the DME staff and were on our way to OKW in a matter of little more than ½ hour. Our room was on Miller Road (1721), which was not my first choice, but it was fine. The room, however, was not ready for us until after 5:00 p.m. So I can’t say that was exactly preferential treatment, but then again, we weren’t expecting to be treated any differently. I knew that WDW was hopping, so I was not exactly surprised the wait for rooms was so long.

Going home was non-eventful, except we had a very early pick-up time of 4:30 a.m. for our 7:30 a.m. flight. Again, no surprises there. The bus was about 10 minutes late and our driver (a female) was less than personable. She asked for male volunteers to help with the luggage (?) and was just generally rude. The service is free, so I didn’t expect perfection, especially with Mears being a part of the equation. We used Mears for several years until recently, but my opinion is that although many of the drivers are polite, competent and reasonably service-oriented, not all of them are. Maybe this particular driver doesn’t “do mornings”. Too bad; she missed her opportunity for a tip from us.

 

[CleveRocks]

I'm going in 3 weeks and I am STILL trying to decide this! We are landing at 10:45 am and I am CLUELESS as to what to do! I am considering using ME going to the hotel, but coming back I am seriously considering just taking a private cab. Our flight doesn't leave till 7:50 pm the day we leave and we want to make the most of our last day there. If we use ME we may have to leave way earlier than we planned.

I used DME and loved it. As others have before me, I would advise wtick to the pick up time they assign you for return to the airport.

I had a 6:45 p.m. departure flight, and a 4:00 p.m. scheduled pick up at CBR. The DME bus arrived on-time, empty, left CBR about one-third full and went directly to MCO, we didn't stop at any other resorts. We got a skycap to take our luggage to the Spirit Airlines counter, where there was no line. However, the security lines were horrendous. I'm not sure how long it took us to get through, but it was LONG. Then, because of the time of our flight, we got dinner at the airport, at the food court in our terminal (this is after going through security); the kids needed to eat, and it's not like we really could have brown-bagged it for them. The food lines were insanely slow, as well. Long story short, we got to our gate and they had already started the pre-boarding for our flight. And keep in mind, our DME ride made NO stops on the way to the airport. SO, I'd advise don't monkey with the plans, don't take a later DME bus.

-- Eric

 

[CleveRocks]

I am also confused, we will be using DME in Aug. Does anyone know what type of bus you travel on? How often does it leave? Return trips to the airport, do you have enough time to check-in? Last year we had a driver, and it worked out very well. I was trying to save some money, but is it really worth it?

The DME buses are brand new motorcoaches ... plush and comfy seats, TV screens folding out of the overheads, bathroom, air conditioning, etc. I was impressed. I was on them on May 8 and 14, and back then they even SMELLED new.

-- Eric

 

[CleveRocks]

We are planning on using DME in August, but I'm a little nervous, too. Our plane arrives at 8:30 am, so I don't expect our room to be ready that early and our luggage will be stored.
Here's my question, if we allow our luggage to be stored and it is put in our room while we are at the park, who and how do we tip?
We are staying concierge, can we just ask concierge that it be given to whoever took care of our bags?

While I'm sure tips would always be appreciated by the hard-working recipients, it's important to know that the Bell Services CMs actually receive a per-bag (or per-room, I'm not sure) "tip" from Disney as part of the DME service. I'd read about this in the official Disney info, and Tyler confirmed this for us on one or more posts.

If you are one who likes to tip, don't forget the DME drivers. They are NOT Disney CMs and do NOT receive any sort of tip from Disney as part of DME. They are employees of a subcontractor (Mears) and would surely appreciate a tip, both for your ride to your resort as well as to MCO.

-- Eric

 

[CleveRocks]

When is this program ending? I am not going down and staying in the park until end of next June will be taking my grandson down for his 12th birthday. When I took my granddaughter down last June, we took a towncar which worked out great. But if this program is still in effect, and works good, I'd rather spend the extra money on him.

Thanks

According to Disney, DME will remain a free service during the entire 50th Anniversary celebration, which ends at the END of 2006, so it'll still be around when you go next June.

-- Eric