DME and last minute resort changes

[ancestry]

I'm thinking of possibly change resorts at the last minute. We are arriving next Saturday and have received all of our DME paperwork and luggage tags for the Beach Club (where we are currently booked). I'm contemplating changing to the GF.

Assuming that our reservation number won't change, if I switch to the GF what happens with the DME booklet/ride vouchers? Obviously they won't have time to send me out a new booklet. Will I need to go to the DME customer service counter at MCO when we arrive or will the current ride vouchers work just fine when the DME staff scans them ?-- i.e. will the scanner tell them that we are going to the GF even though the vouchers say BC?

As far as the luggage tags go, all I have to do is cross out BC and write in GF right -- being careful to not alter the bar code, correct? Again assuming the reservation number stays the same after the resort change.

Anything else I should know regarding DME and making a last minute resort change?

 

[CleveRocks]

You pretty much have all the facts. You're correct, as long as your reservation number doesn't change then the only thing you might want to do is alter the luggage tag just as you said. Your ride vouchers will be fine, because when it's scanned it will pop up in the computer with your up-to-date resort.

You don't even NEED any paperwork for your ride. Even if you show up paperless, you can just go to the counter with photo ID and you'll be on your way (as long as you have a DME reservation, of course).

 

[washwords]

I switched resorts (just por to pofq ) and ME is telling me just to cross out the info (with the bar code caveats mentioned above) but... that seems kinda... scary for TYPE A types like me

WOULD they mail me a new set (with enough time) or is this just how it's done? thanks!

 

[CleveRocks]

I switched resorts (just por to pofq ) and ME is telling me just to cross out the info (with the bar code caveats mentioned above) but... that seems kinda... scary for TYPE A types like me

WOULD they mail me a new set (with enough time) or is this just how it's done? thanks!

WILL they? Perhaps, if there's time, it probably depends on the whim of the cast member you talk to.

But please let me explain the system so that you can calm your inner Type A.

The printed words on the DME tag are pretty much just for you, so that you can see it's yours and it's right. When DME luggage is pulled from the rest of the luggage stream (in the bowels of the airport), it is gathered up in collection areas and then taken to Disney's luggage sorting facility on the grounds of the airport.

Once there, it is sorted by zone and then by resort. The way it is sorted is that the barcodes on the tags are scanned. The barcode is the computer-language version of your reservation number.

When you first made your reservation, if you called up Disney and told them your reservation number, the person on the other end of the phone typed your reservation number into the computer and it told him/her you were staying at POR. In the time AFTER you changed resorts, you now call up Disney and read them your reservation number, and the person types in that same number and the computer now tells them you are staying at POFQ.

It will work EXACTLY the same way with your existing DME tags. That barcode is your reservation number. When that barcode is scanned, the computer accesses your reservation information and sees that you are staying at POFQ, and thus your bags are routed to POFQ.

The only reason to carefully cross out the old resort name on the tag is to prevent a helpful Disney employee from seeing a POR-tagged bag in a POFQ area and doing what they think is the right thing by manually lifting those bags from the "wrong" pile and placing them into the "right" pile, if you know what I mean.

 

[washwords]

thanks eric! just what i needed to hear! will try to calm my inner type A (and be sure to come back here when it flares up)

 

[Cinderumbrella]

thanks eric! just what i needed to hear! will try to calm my inner type A (and be sure to come back here when it flares up)

Hi! This happened to me in September. We upgraded from Pop to the CR about 5 days before the trip. My ressie # stayed the same and we did as they said- used a sharpie to cross out Pop and write Contemporary. When we checked in at the CR, I let the front desk know what we did. He checked the computer and did not see that our luggage had been picked up yet, so he placed a call somewhere, told them our name and info and then told us not to worry, it would be there by the time we returned to the room that night.

We returned to the resort around 10pm, and the luggage was NOT there and I was panicked . I called bell services and they said that it was in the resort en route to the room. About 2 minutes later there was a knock on the door, and there were my bags, safe and sound, BUT with new white tags, not the yellow tags I had put on.

My advice, let the front desk know about the change in the tags at check in. I am not sure if that phone call was the difference in the luggage arriving or not, but it couldn't hurt.

Good luck!