DME Tags are Wrong, Leaving in 12 hours

[ssc021796]

So upset and don't know what to do. DVC is closed. All Packed and just putting my tags on our suitcases, 2 of the 3 are wrong. Wrong name, wrong date, wrong hotel. My fault. I looked at the top and saw my name, and the green Mickey head in the middle says AK on all 3.
Anything I can do? I can't carry on the bags, too big and to many liquids.
Can they fix this at the airport? The bar codes are definately not the same.

What do you recommend? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[pooh4me]

Don't put the DME tags on your suitcases just check your bags through and pick them up at baggage in Orlando and take to the DME bus with you. I have also heard of telling the people at the DME desk what the bags looked like and having them pick them up and tag them on to the resort. Make sure you have some way of marking your bags so that they can be identified.

 

[dudspizza]

Don't put the DME tags on your suitcases just check your bags through and pick them up at baggage in Orlando and take to the DME bus with you. I have also heard of telling the people at the DME desk what the bags looked like and having them pick them up and tag them on to the resort. Make sure you have some way of marking your bags so that they can be identified.

If you want to use Disney's luggage service, but don't think the tags are right, simply don't use the tags and when you get to the DME desk inform them how many bags you have. They will ask for a description of the bags and the bag ticket from the airline. They will take care of it from there. I would even suggest taking a picture of your bags and giving that to the DME desk to help identify your luggage.

As PP said, you can also pick your own bags at luggage claim and take them to DME with you. They would be stowed under the bus for the ride to your resort.

One thing to keep in mind, the airline has nothing to do with the DME tags, so they can't "correct them at the airport". In fact, the yellow DME tag is a secondary tag for the airline since they put their own barcoded info on there. The yellow tag simply informs workers at MCO to pull your bags, at which time the barcode is scanned. That barcode contains all of the info they need to route your bags to your resort.

On thing you didn't mention is the resort you are staying at. AK stands for the AK area of WDW. Any resort in that area will have the AK listed on there. You could give DME a call to see if the info is correct in their system... if so, use the yellow tags.

The tags below have EC in the Mickey head.. that stands for the Epcot area of WDW. If you are staying in the AK area, the tags may be correct.

 

[ssc021796]

You guys are so wonderful. It was late and I didn't even think about getting my bags before hitting ME. Might take a bit longer, but will be worth it to not be missing halloween costumes and other essentials.

 

[sam_gordon]

You guys are so wonderful. It was late and I didn't even think about getting my bags before hitting ME. Might take a bit longer, but will be worth it to not be missing halloween costumes and other essentials.

Any true essentials should be in the bags you carry on the plane with you. What will you do if the airline misplaces your bag with the 'essentials'?

 

[seashoreCM]

There is conflicting advice about whether the following works better:

1. Draw one line through the incorrect information on the yellow tag and write in the correct information. (Do not mark through the Mickey head or the bar code)

Compared with:

2. Not using the yellow tags and showing your baggage claim checks to the welcoming area CM.

It is more efficient to take all the yellow tagged bags to Disney first (1) and reconcile any irregularities at Disney as opposed to having more untagged bags manually tracked down at the airport (2).

Unfortunately if you take a picture of your bag with a digital camera, you can't give the picture to the welcoming area CM. (Only with an old fashioned Polaroid camera can you do that.)

Plastering on an index card with a 3 digit number in large print (same number for all suitcases) can make it easier for you to find your suitcases on the carousel but mentioning that to a DME CM can mislead him if the index card fell off. You could paint on the number (using a stencil?) that would make that method of identification more reliable.

 

[dudspizza]

Unfortunately if you take a picture of your bag with a digital camera, you can't give the picture to the welcoming area CM. (Only with an old fashioned Polaroid camera can you do that.)

You can't make a print out of it at home before you leave?

1. Take picture with digital camera
2. Download picture to computer
3. Hit print
4. Put in carry on to give to the DME welcome counter
5. No need for an old fashioned Polaroid camera

Seems simple to me.

 

[vacationclub]

If you want to use Disney's luggage service, but don't think the tags are right, simply don't use the tags and when you get to the DME desk inform them how many bags you have. They will ask for a description of the bags and the bag ticket from the airline. They will take care of it from there. I would even suggest taking a picture of your bags and giving that to the DME desk to help identify your luggage.

I would definitely not do this. If you do this you are basically walking right past the area where your luggage will be (or soon be) spinning on a carousel, and instead go wait in a line, then tell Disney about your luggage you just walked past that is still spinning on a carousel. They then try to deal with the airline, the airline finds your bag on the carousel (hopefully), gives it to DME, if all goes well. In the mean time, if your luggage isn't stolen after spinning by itself for who knows how long, you've got a very manual method of looking for bags that you could have just grabbed yourself and walked over to DME.

Instead of taking pictures, printing them, waiting in line to show someone a picture, just bring them actual luggage and give it to them.

 

[sam_gordon]

I would definitely not do this. If you do this you are basically walking right past the area where your luggage will be (or soon be) spinning on a carousel, and instead go wait in a line, then tell Disney about your luggage you just walked past that is still spinning on a carousel. They then try to deal with the airline, the airline finds your bag on the carousel (hopefully), gives it to DME, if all goes well. In the mean time, if your luggage isn't stolen after spinning by itself for who knows how long, you've got a very manual method of looking for bags that you could have just grabbed yourself and walked over to DME.

Instead of taking pictures, printing them, waiting in line to show someone a picture, just bring them actual luggage and give it to them.

You're assuming the bags will be a short time getting to the carousel. Not always the case. For our trip in June, we deplaned, everyone went to the bathroom (5 of us), then we walked at the speed of the slowest one of us (a 4yo) to the monorail, waited for that, got to the main concourse, went down to baggage claim, found our carousel, and WAITED 45 minutes before the bags started coming out. We were renting a car b/c we weren't going direct to WDW, so we had to wait. Thunderstorms can also delay your luggage (they can't work on the ramp getting luggage from the plane).

Please don't make it sound like it's a 5 minute difference between getting your own bags and giving a description to ME.

Why do you trust the airline to move your bag from one place to another but not ME?

 

[dudspizza]

I would definitely not do this. If you do this you are basically walking right past the area where your luggage will be (or soon be) spinning on a carousel, and instead go wait in a line, then tell Disney about your luggage you just walked past that is still spinning on a carousel. They then try to deal with the airline, the airline finds your bag on the carousel (hopefully), gives it to DME, if all goes well. In the mean time, if your luggage isn't stolen after spinning by itself for who knows how long, you've got a very manual method of looking for bags that you could have just grabbed yourself and walked over to DME.

Instead of taking pictures, printing them, waiting in line to show someone a picture, just bring them actual luggage and give it to them.

You're assuming the bags will be a short time getting to the carousel. Not always the case. For our trip in June, we deplaned, everyone went to the bathroom (5 of us), then we walked at the speed of the slowest one of us (a 4yo) to the monorail, waited for that, got to the main concourse, went down to baggage claim, found our carousel, and WAITED 45 minutes before the bags started coming out. We were renting a car b/c we weren't going direct to WDW, so we had to wait. Thunderstorms can also delay your luggage (they can't work on the ramp getting luggage from the plane).

Please don't make it sound like it's a 5 minute difference between getting your own bags and giving a description to ME.

Why do you trust the airline to move your bag from one place to another but not ME?

everyone has to do what they are comfortable with. simple as that.

 

[seashoreCM]

Why do you trust the airline to move your bag from one place to another but not ME?

But in this situation there's a little twist -- the tags are not quite correct.

Now I would make corrections to the yellow tags and use them anyway and trust DME to get the bags to my resort but there are some DIS experts who claim that using incorrect tags is frowned upon.

Use an old fashioned nonwashable ballpoint pen or a Sharpie or similar nonwashable marker.

... went down to baggage claim, found our carousel, and WAITED 45 minutes before the bags started coming out. We were renting a car b/c we weren't going direct to WDW, so we had to wait.

OT: Someone needs to go fetch the rental car right away so its reservation doesn't get cancelled due to tardiness.

 

[ironz]

What concerned me, and the OP didn't clarify....is that if the name and date were wrong, then the bar-coded reservation number was probably wrong and that would more likely lead to the bag being sent to the wrong place.

I think I would have either:
a) just turned over my bag claim tickets to DME and let them find them, or
b) gone and picked up my bags myself,
or c) went all carry-on.

I have had the "wait over 45 minutes at the carousel" experience, too, and so choice b) would likely be my last choice.

But let's make this a learning experience....everyone check your DME tags and vouchers first thing when you get them in the mail!

 

[vacationclub]

You're assuming the bags will be a short time getting to the carousel. Not always the case. For our trip in June, we deplaned, everyone went to the bathroom (5 of us), then we walked at the speed of the slowest one of us (a 4yo) to the monorail, waited for that, got to the main concourse, went down to baggage claim, found our carousel, and WAITED 45 minutes before the bags started coming out. We were renting a car b/c we weren't going direct to WDW, so we had to wait. Thunderstorms can also delay your luggage (they can't work on the ramp getting luggage from the plane).

You're describing an extreme situation. I fly about once a month, airports all over the country, big and small. Never had anything remotely like a 45 minute wait for luggage except at my home airport when arriving late at night and there are few workers so it's slow.

90% of the time you go to the luggage claim and wait up between 0 and 10 minutes before luggage starts coming out. By the time you tell Disney what you want to do and then they try to convey your request to another company its likely spinning on a belt....alone. It has no yellow tag. Its just like any other bag for that airline. It will end up on the belt at bag claim, the only spot where anyone including yourself will get be able to get it (either be it DME, or your airline, or a thief). Telling Disney to get a bag with no yellow tag means they can't get it at the normal time they grab yellow tags. They would have to go on a hunt for it.....probably starting with the carousel. Since you didn't tag the luggage at all, they may even tell you to just go and get it (since you know what it looks like) and bring it to them.

Please don't make it sound like it's a 5 minute difference between getting your own bags and giving a description to ME.

Why? It would be much quicker in 99% of all situations to just grab your bags than to ignor them, wait in line, and tell another company to tell the first company to go and pull them off the belt that you chose not to stand next to.

Why do you trust the airline to move your bag from one place to another but not ME?

This isn't about "trusting" DME to do something, its about doing the easiest and quickest thing to get your bags where they need to be......with you. You're asking DME to work with a bag that's not been yellow tagged, it's completely out of their system. If DME accepts your mission request, I'm sure DME will try very hard to figure out how to find your bags (that you choose to leave on the carousel) and the airline may go and look for it based on descriptions or numbers and eventually (assuming your luggage isn't stolen) they find it, pull if off the carousel, and give it to DME). Or you could just grab it and go....either way works, one is just much more likely to work.

 

[ironz]

You're describing an extreme situation. I fly about once a month, airports all over the country, big and small. Never had anything remotely like a 45 minute wait for luggage except at my home airport when arriving late at night and there are few workers so it's slow.

90% of the time you go to the luggage claim and wait up between 0 and 10 minutes before luggage starts coming out. By the time you tell Disney what you want to do and then they try to convey your request to another company its likely spinning on a belt....alone. It has no yellow tag. Its just like any other bag for that airline. It will end up on the belt at bag claim, the only spot where anyone including yourself will get be able to get it (either be it DME, or your airline, or a thief). Telling Disney to get a bag with no yellow tag means they can't get it at the normal time they grab yellow tags. They would have to go on a hunt for it.....probably starting with the carousel. Since you didn't tag the luggage at all, they may even tell you to just go and get it (since you know what it looks like) and bring it to them.

Why? It would be much quicker in 99% of all situations to just grab your bags than to ignor them, wait in line, and tell another company to tell the first company to go and pull them off the belt that you chose not to stand next to.


This isn't about "trusting" DME to do something, its about doing the easiest and quickest thing to get your bags where they need to be......with you. You're asking DME to work with a bag that's not been yellow tagged, it's completely out of their system. If DME accepts your mission request, I'm sure DME will try very hard to figure out how to find your bags (that you choose to leave on the carousel) and the airline may go and look for it based on descriptions or numbers and eventually (assuming your luggage isn't stolen) they find it, pull if off the carousel, and give it to DME). Or you could just grab it and go....either way works, one is just much more likely to work.

Not to get into an argument here...I do agree that the most "stress free" option that the OP had was to get their own bags or carry on. I don't agree that waiting at baggage claim is the "quickest" option. I do hope the OP is happily on their trip and having a great time.

But...I have flown to WDW about 30 times in the last 10 years. Before DME, the waits for luggage at MCO were some of the worst I have experienced. Not always, but usually worse than other airports and on more than one occasion at MCO for me personally. I travel for work and for pleasure a minimum of 28 weeks a year. MCO is slower than many other airports, and the 45 minute wait is not an isolated experience. It might NOT be, and I have had shorter waits...maybe 20 minutes..but it CAN be quite long. Due to the distance between the terminals and baggage claim, it's never going to be a 5 minute wait at MCO, unless you really dawdle getting down to baggage claim.

With regard to luggage spinning around on the carousel by itself....that's what it does when you get separated from your bags (delayed bags, misconnected bags, you miss a connection but your luggage makes it, etc). Yes, there is a chance of theft...but there is a chance of theft of or from your bag all along the chain of custody anyway, so it's not crazy unreasonable to leave it to DME. I personally wouldn't check anything that can't be replaced at some point, anyway.

As for the untagged bags...DME says themselves that they will pull non-tagged bags if you give them your claim tickets and a description of the bag. So it's not really asking them to accept a mission that they didn't ask for.

Anyway...I trust the OP made it just fine.
I would still go with one of the various options I listed above.

 

[ssc021796]

I just knew it wasnt an easy solution. The tags were someone elses entirely, so I didn't use them at all. Retrieved from the carosel in about 10 mins after landing/bathroom break. Outside of an incredibly rude rental car agent snapping at me when I asked how to get to terminal b, all is good. Now just need to get my girl to stop watching Stacy repeatedly so we can get ready for breakfast at Boma!

 

[vacationclub]

I just knew it wasnt an easy solution. The tags were someone elses entirely, so I didn't use them at all. Retrieved from the carosel in about 10 mins after landing/bathroom break. Outside of an incredibly rude rental car agent snapping at me when I asked how to get to terminal b, all is good. Now just need to get my girl to stop watching Stacy repeatedly so we can get ready for breakfast at Boma!

10 minutes....sounds about right. Glad it worked out! IMHO, it's all about making decisions that lower overall risk and stress. I think you made the right one. Enjoy the trip!

 

[kaytieeldr]

This isn't about "trusting" DME to do something, its about doing the easiest and quickest thing to get your bags where they need to be......with you. You're asking DME to work with a bag that's not been yellow tagged, it's completely out of their system. If DME accepts your mission request,

People are trying to explain to you there's no "if" involved, and you don't seem to be listening.

Magical Express is almost six and a half years old. Not only is the entire system great at what it does, it's had a procedure in place since before day one to handle untagged luggage. The system works. It's only when skeptics and naysayers come along and post long diatribes about how it's impossible for an alternate method to work, or about potential theft, despite much assurance to the contrary, that the person asking opts out.

 

[Detailor]

I just knew it wasnt an easy solution. The tags were someone elses entirely, so I didn't use them at all. Retrieved from the carosel in about 10 mins after landing/bathroom break. Outside of an incredibly rude rental car agent snapping at me when I asked how to get to terminal b, all is good. Now just need to get my girl to stop watching Stacy repeatedly so we can get ready for breakfast at Boma!

Happy to hear that it all worked out for you. Great, practical resolution to the problem. I hope that you have a great time with the Mouse!

Dick Taylor

 

[kaytieeldr]

I just knew it wasnt an easy solution. The tags were someone elses entirely, so I didn't use them at all. Retrieved from the carosel in about 10 mins after landing/bathroom break. Outside of an incredibly rude rental car agent snapping at me when I asked how to get to terminal b, all is good. Now just need to get my girl to stop watching Stacy repeatedly so we can get ready for breakfast at Boma!

10 minutes....sounds about right. Glad it worked out! IMHO, it's all about making decisions that lower overall risk and stress. I think you made the right one. Enjoy the trip!

That's you. I think the rest of us would disagree with you.

• The OP apparently landed on Side A.
• They stopped for a facilities break.
• They proceeded from airside to landside.
• They went from Level 3 to Level 2.
• They waited ten minutes for their luggage*.
• They went down to Level 1 (despite DME booklet instructing otherwise).
• They got (rude) directions to Side B.
• They went back up to Level 3, walked across the terminal, went back down to Level 1.

That's a lot of unnecessary time and effort for a system that's proven to wrk so well. As for risk? Well, when I haven't been able to get immediately to the carousel, someone from the luggage office has pulled my bag and had it waiting in or right outside the office.

*probably 20-25 minutes to get luggage from plane to carousel because DME-tagged luggage is pulled by Cast Members, not airline/airport employees, before any luggage enters terminal

 

[vacationclub]

People are trying to explain to you there's no "if" involved, and you don't seem to be listening.

People are trying to explain to me? You might want to read the thread again.

Their were only two responses to me, and the second from ironz did mention that DME has a prodeedure for this. I said nothing to argue with that after it was said, so i'm not sure where you get I'm not listening. Also, ironz says that DME will pull untagged bags, but we don't know if that works better when you tell them before the flight arrives, or after it's gone past their checkpoint where they see all luggage go past them...that was the major factor here.
None of the factors I mentioned are incorrect. Nobody is correcting me on any of those. The only correcting was my comment about IF DME would do this at all. (I purposely said "if" because i wasn't sure if they would or would not do it).

ironz says that indeed they will do this. Great. Doesn't change all of the other factors involved one bit. People can make their own decisions. I offered my opinions on how I would handle it and why. The OP ignored the 45 minute "naysayers" and turns out it worked out perfectly, so I'm not sure what you're going on about.

That's you. I think the rest of us would disagree with you.

Except for the OP that had their luggage in 10 minutes. The fact that someone was rude for some reason is really looking for reasons to say they shouldn't have done it because you might get a rude car rental person. Walking from A side to B side takes minutes. Yep, they went up and down a few times, it's part of going from A to B. But they had their bags in 10 minutes then walked to the other side of the airport. Been there, done that.

The OP had a decision to make, without being able to call DME to get confirmation on what was the best way to go. I advised going the safe route. They did, it worked.

That's a lot of unnecessary time and effort for a system that's proven to wrk so well.

Proven to whom? Not the OP, and not me who was responding with my opinion, and not to anyone else who responded with any experinces similar to the OPs specific problem the night before a trip.