DME/flight changes

[disfreak2]

I have a few question regarding getting from CSR to MCO. Airtran has moved my morning flight (returning home) to 8:10 a.m. The hard and fast rule has always been to allow 3 hours between departing on DME and flight time. This is a problem due to earliest DME being 6 a.m.. I think 2 hours would be long enough to get the job done. How does Disney handle this? Also can I pay for luggage fees @ CSR concierge the day before we depart? I was advised not to have boarding passes printed if traveling on certain airlines (Airtran being one of them) and cannot remember why this is not advised. Thanks so much for your help.

 

[NancyIL]

I'm quite sure DME starts running before 6 a.m.

 

[dis_guy]

DME runs 24/7 as needed. We've arrived at 2:00 AM (flight delays) with no problem and yes, we've had 6:00 AM flights out. How does a 3:00 AM DME reservation sound? I'll never do that again!

 

[Alesia]

DME runs 24/7, but you will not be able to use RAC that early.

 

[maxiesmom]

Disney schedules your pick up time for Magical Express. You don't have any input, unless you want to leave on an even earlier bus. So your pick up will be around 5am. And that means you have to be at the bus stop 15 minutes prior to that. Busses do show up early, and if no one is there at the stop they do not wait. My dad almost missed his bus early one morning.

Leaving as early as you are, you will not be able to check your bags at the resort, you will have to do so at the airport. So that will take up time. Keep in mind too that the ME bus will probably stop at other resorts, you won't just go to the airport. Also, the security lines at MCO can be very long, and some of the worst ones I have seen were early in the morning. By the time the ME busses make the round, you get to the airport and check your bags, get thru security, you really won't have that much time left.

 

[CleveRocks]

I have a few question regarding getting from CSR to MCO. Airtran has moved my morning flight (returning home) to 8:10 a.m. The hard and fast rule has always been to allow 3 hours between departing on DME and flight time. This is a problem due to earliest DME being 6 a.m.. I think 2 hours would be long enough to get the job done. How does Disney handle this? Also can I pay for luggage fees @ CSR concierge the day before we depart? I was advised not to have boarding passes printed if traveling on certain airlines (Airtran being one of them) and cannot remember why this is not advised. Thanks so much for your help.

Wherever you read that DME doesn't start 'til 6 a.m. ... never trust any Disney info from that source ever again! DME is a 24/7 operation.

You'll be assigned a bus time about 3 hours before your flight time plus/minus 20 minutes. You can't request a later time, and if you decide to wait for a later bus, you can be denbied boarding, AND there's also the possibility that there won't even be a later bus (they do pick-ups only by reservation, so if no one else from your resort is flying out for the next hour or two, you'd be out of luck).

With an 8:10 a.m. flight, one thing you probably WON'T be able to take advantage of is Resort Airline Check-in; this is the "curbside check-in" process in your resort's lobby, in which you check-in for your flight, get your boarding passes, and check your luggage through to your final destination. The RAC desk opens at 5:00 a.m. Chances are, your bus pick-up will prevent you from completing the RAC process in time ... even if there's no one in line ahead of you, it takes a few minutes to complete the process, and the DME bus WILL leave without you if you're not at the bus stop and ready.

All this means is that you'll need to take your luggage with you to the airport (it'll be stored under the bus and you'll get it back as soon as you arrive at the airport). Taking your luggage with you to the airport is no big deal ... you did it when you flew out of your home airport, right?