Dme....luggage only.....don't want to ride the bus!!!!!

[goofy4tink]

The key word here is 'boarding'.....which is usually 30-40 minutes prior to departure.

Personally, I don't like to cut it that close. I would rather have extra time than to be worried about being late. If it where me I would be leaving WDW property no later than 2hr and 45min before flight departure time. MCO is large, busy and things there are unpredictable. Even the TSA pre check line can be 30 minutes long. Depending on how late in the evening the flight is you may also need to allow additional time for traffic.

I have to agree with AngiTN....I fly out of MCO about every other month, have TSA precheck, and have never been in line longer than 10 mins...ever. Even using the non-precheck line has never taken me longer than 30 mins. Sure, it can happen, but not routinely. And boarding usually starts 30 m ins prior to departure. I have yet to fly on an airline that starts boarding sooner than that.
So, if your flight is at 4pm, on SW. You don't have any bags to check since you've left them with RAC that morning. You all have precheck. SW may start boarding 30 mins prior to departure but since it's by group, you will pretty much know how early you need to be at the gate. So, if you're in the A group, or family boarding (after the A group), you need to be at the gate by 3:15, latest, to line up. B or C group, a wee bit later. That means you need to be at the airport by 2:30, plenty of time to get through security and to the gate. Which means leaving WDW property by 2:00. If you want to have spare time, leave a bit sooner. Many like to leave 90 mins prior to their flight...that's cutting it too close for me. But, then again, I have no problem sitting at the gate for a bit.

 

[dancin Disney style]

I have to agree with AngiTN....I fly out of MCO about every other month, have TSA precheck, and have never been in line longer than 10 mins...ever. Even using the non-precheck line has never taken me longer than 30 mins. Sure, it can happen, but not routinely. And boarding usually starts 30 m ins prior to departure. I have yet to fly on an airline that starts boarding sooner than that.
So, if your flight is at 4pm, on SW. You don't have any bags to check since you've left them with RAC that morning. You all have precheck. SW may start boarding 30 mins prior to departure but since it's by group, you will pretty much know how early you need to be at the gate. So, if you're in the A group, or family boarding (after the A group), you need to be at the gate by 3:15, latest, to line up. B or C group, a wee bit later. That means you need to be at the airport by 2:30, plenty of time to get through security and to the gate. Which means leaving WDW property by 2:00. If you want to have spare time, leave a bit sooner. Many like to leave 90 mins prior to their flight...that's cutting it too close for me. But, then again, I have no problem sitting at the gate for a bit.

I've personally been in the precheck line for 27 minutes. I've been in the regular line for between 30-45 minutes on many occasions. I've also gotten through the regular line faster than my daughter in the precheck line. I have also had experiences where I got through in 5-10 minutes. The point is that it's unpredictable and you have to allow sufficient time.

 

[goofy4tink]

I've personally been in the precheck line for 27 minutes. I've been in the regular line for between 30-45 minutes on many occasions. I've also gotten through the regular line faster than my daughter in the precheck line. I have also had experiences where I got through in 5-10 minutes. The point is that it's unpredictable and you have to allow sufficient time.

As I said, can it happen? Sure. But, it isn't the norm. MCO asks that we arrive at the airport 2 hrs prior to flight time. That's more than enough time....usually at least 30 mins too much!
I've watched those nut cases who arrive at security, large carry on bag in hand, muttering that 'Now I have to stand in this line, with idiots who have no idea what they're doing. My flight boards in 10 mins...let's go people!!!'. Yep, actually heard that a year or so ago!!! Or the woman who decided she just had to have her Dunkin....I was about 8 people back she was 4 people behind me....they called final boarding for her flight!! Seriously?? Then, called her by name. She dithered until they called her by name!!! Then she ran. So, yeah, some people cut it way to close. I just prefer to get to the airport about 90 mins prior to departure. That gives me an hour to get through security and to my gate, before boarding starts. Should be plenty of time.

 

[AngiTN]

As I said, can it happen? Sure. But, it isn't the norm. MCO asks that we arrive at the airport 2 hrs prior to flight time. That's more than enough time....usually at least 30 mins too much!
I've watched those nut cases who arrive at security, large carry on bag in hand, muttering that 'Now I have to stand in this line, with idiots who have no idea what they're doing. My flight boards in 10 mins...let's go people!!!'. Yep, actually heard that a year or so ago!!! Or the woman who decided she just had to have her Dunkin....I was about 8 people back she was 4 people behind me....they called final boarding for her flight!! Seriously?? Then, called her by name. She dithered until they called her by name!!! Then she ran. So, yeah, some people cut it way to close. I just prefer to get to the airport about 90 mins prior to departure. That gives me an hour to get through security and to my gate, before boarding starts. Should be plenty of time.

And it is. Just checked the particulars for our last flight. We boarded at 8:55 (a Monday night). Uber shows we were dropped off at 7:37 (picked up at 7:06). We had to drop our bags at bag check (left from Universal, not Disney), used Skycab outside, no line. Stopped for the bathroom, got through PreCheck, got bottles of water and we were seated at our gate for over an hour.

Trip before that we left from Disney so didn't need to check bags at the airport. Got picked up at 4:54, got to the airport at 5:32 (on a Thursday evening), flight boarded at 6:50 and we had close to an hour at the gate.

We always use a similar time frame as the above and we always have more than enough time to site at the gate. It's not even been tight or close or anything.

 

[cdepauli]

Smart tags was the best words I could use to describe it. They track your bags. I get alerts when they load the bags on/off the plane, including each time if you change planes

Can you tell me which smart tags you use and if you like them?

 

[cmwade77]

Can you tell me which smart tags you use and if you like them?

Tile is generally considered the best, just stick it somewhere inside your bag, preferably near the outside to increase range. They work well because they have by far the largest community, basically if you report an item as lost, then the app on everyone's phone looks for the missing item. This is done entirely in the background, the only time the user ever knows something happened is if you click the button to thank them directly for helping you find your item, otherwise they would never know that they helped.

 

[cdepauli]

Tile is generally considered the best, just stick it somewhere inside your bag, preferably near the outside to increase range. They work well because they have by far the largest community, basically if you report an item as lost, then the app on everyone's phone looks for the missing item. This is done entirely in the background, the only time the user ever knows something happened is if you click the button to thank them directly for helping you find your item, otherwise they would never know that they helped.

It seems like this is different than tile, in that the tag is actually scanned? Unless I am misinterpreting the original sentiment. I had planned to use Tile but I actually wonder what the hit rate is like "behind the scenes" at an airport.

 

[OKW Lover]

In nearly 20 flights out of MCO since getting TSA Precheck it's never taken 30 min to get through security. I guess it's possible but sure would be an extreme.

Agree. We live here and fly out of MCO very frequently. I'd say 10 minutes is the longest its taken us to get through security with pre check.

 

[AngiTN]

Can you tell me which smart tags you use and if you like them?

They aren't my tags. It's done by the airline

 

[cdepauli]

They aren't my tags. It's done by the airline

OH! I thought you meant you bought something for when you might fly SW. Thank you!

 

[AngiTN]

OH! I thought you meant you bought something for when you might fly SW. Thank you!

No, I didn't. I found something but reviews were iffy

 

[cmwade77]

I would still highly recommend shoving a Tile into your luggage, they are relatively cheap and can help you find lost luggage quickly.

 

[5DisneyNuts]

Hi, I'm still not clear on this. I read that on my return trip to MCO, I can check my bags using RAC and not use ME even if I signed up for it on my arrival. The question I have is my traveling party is on the same flight reservation, but three are at a different hotel. Since we are on the same flight, can I check in all the bags with RAC at my hotel? Thank you!

 

[Alesia]

Hi, I'm still not clear on this. I read that on my return trip to MCO, I can check my bags using RAC and not use ME even if I signed up for it on my arrival. The question I have is my traveling party is on the same flight reservation, but three are at a different hotel. Since we are on the same flight, can I check in all the bags with RAC at my hotel? Thank you!

Well, I suppose you could, but you would have to check them all under your name, so that would get pretty expensive. Also how would they get the bags to you?

Why can't they just check their own bags?

 

[5DisneyNuts]

Well, I suppose you could, but you would have to check them all under your name, so that would get pretty expensive. Also how would they get the bags to you?

Why can't they just check their own bags?

Thank you for the reply. The confirmation is under my name and we are all on the same flight. We are not on the same hotel reservation though. Why would that be expensive? Tips? Not sure I'm following that.

They have the car and are coming to my hotel for an early breakfast so thought we could just check in together through RAC if possible.

 

[Alesia]

Thank you for the reply. The confirmation is under my name and we are all on the same flight. We are not on the same hotel reservation though. Why would that be expensive? Tips? Not sure I'm following that.

They have the car and are coming to my hotel for an early breakfast so thought we could just check in together through RAC if possible.

You would have to check the luggage in your name. The airline charges more for extra bags.

For example, if an airline charges $25 for the first bag and $50 for each additional bag per passenger, 3 passengers with 1 bag each would pay a total of $75 while 1 person with 3 bags would pay $125.

It would be better if they just check their bags at their own resort before leaving for breakfast.

 

[5DisneyNuts]

Now I understand, thank you! So regardless of all of us being on the same airline reservation, RAC will match against the resort reservation and only allow luggage to be associated with the resort guests, correct?

The arrival trip to the resort won't be an issue, but I wasn't sure how the return would work.

Makes sense.

 

[Lilsia]

Now I understand, thank you! So regardless of all of us being on the same airline reservation, RAC will match against the resort reservation and only allow luggage to be associated with the resort guests, correct?

The arrival trip to the resort won't be an issue, but I wasn't sure how the return would work.

Makes sense.

If you are all on the same reservation and you have all of the bags then you can say who each bag is for. BUT, each adult that is checking into the flight needs to be there and show their ID. The RAC is the same thing as skycap or the airline desk at the airport and all of the same rules apply. They will not just take your bags, they are actually checking you into the flight.

 

[5DisneyNuts]

If you are all on the same reservation and you have all of the bags then you can say who each bag is for. BUT, each adult that is checking into the flight needs to be there and show their ID. The RAC is the same thing as skycap or the airline desk at the airport and all of the same rules apply. They will not just take your bags, they are actually checking you into the flight.

Thank you, that's what I was originally thinking too. I just wasn't sure if RAC would match up against the hotel reservation. We will give it a try, but if we run into any issues like Alesia pointed out, we will take the bags ourselves.

 

[Alesia]

If you are all on the same reservation and you have all of the bags then you can say who each bag is for. BUT, each adult that is checking into the flight needs to be there and show their ID. The RAC is the same thing as skycap or the airline desk at the airport and all of the same rules apply. They will not just take your bags, they are actually checking you into the flight.

Can you use RAC at a resort that you aren't staying at? I'm pretty sure that you can't, but I could be confusing it with something else