DME without prior reservation question???

[goofy4tink]

Someone in a FB group asked about this. I said that, to the best of my knowledge, Disney's contract with MCO prohibited DME from allowing walk-up riders. That you have to have an existing DME reservation..even if you have a resort reservation.
But, someone else said that her bff works for DME and told her that you don't need a prior reservation..that you can walk up to the counter and get a ride. That there are a lot of guests that don't know that you have to make a reservation, so they just show up. And they are put on a bus.

So, my question...does anyone know what the story is? I'll probably forget to ask when I get there on Sept 3!! Just curious what others have found.

 

[OKW Lover]

Someone in a FB group asked about this. I said that, to the best of my knowledge, Disney's contract with MCO prohibited DME from allowing walk-up riders. That you have to have an existing DME reservation..even if you have a resort reservation.

That was my understanding too Diane. It was something Disney had to agree to when implementing DME service to appease the ground transportation industry (taxi/shuttle/bus service).

If Disney occasionally makes an exception for guest relations purposes, I wouldn't count on it.

 

[thornton0511]

As long as you have a Disney resort reservation you can get a ride on DME from the airport to that resort on check in day for the people on the reservation. We have flown in the night before and stayed at the Hyatt several times and walked down to catch a bus at our on leisure on check in day...and it was not the reservation listed in conjunction with our flight the night before. We do have to be responsible for our own luggage though, obviously.

 

[seashoreCM]

... We have flown in the night before and stayed at the Hyatt several times and walked down to catch a bus at our on leisure on check in day...and it was not the reservation listed in conjunction with our flight the night before. Wefor our ow do have to be responsible ...

But you did make a Magical Express reservation in advance, no?

1. If your DME reservation somehow got made for the night your flight arrived but your resort stay did not start until the next day, the ressie, being invalid as made, could be construed to be valid said next day.

2. It has always been okay to be early or tardy, even by several hours, within check in day for taking DME to your resort.

 

[goofy4tink]

As long as you have a Disney resort reservation you can get a ride on DME from the airport to that resort on check in day for the people on the reservation. We have flown in the night before and stayed at the Hyatt several times and walked down to catch a bus at our on leisure on check in day...and it was not the reservation listed in conjunction with our flight the night before. We do have to be responsible for our own luggage though, obviously.

But, as mentioned above...did you have an existing DME reservation? Or, did you just show up at the DME area, say you needed to ride the bus, they looked up your resort reservation, and subsequently sent you to a bus line?

Yes, everyone who has an active WDW resort reservation is entitled to ride the DME bus, to and from the airport. But....can guests be allowed, consistently, to ride the bus even if they didn't reserve a ride on the bus at least 24 hrs in advance? That's the question. It doesn't make any difference how you get to the airport...the DME isn't tied to your arrival or mode of transportation to the airport...you can get there by plane, car, motor scooter or yak...as long as you have an active resort reservation and you have made a prior reservation with DME, you car ride the bus. And no, it doesn't have to be on your checkin day...but it can't be prior to, or later than, the dates your resort reservation are in effect.

So..my question..can you not make a DME reservation, and just walk up to the DME people and say 'Hi, I need to ride the bus but I didn't make a reservation.' and be allowed to get on a bus. You're not supposed to be able to do that....I'm hearing differently on occasion. Just would like a definitive answer.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

Someone in a FB group asked about this. I said that, to the best of my knowledge, Disney's contract with MCO prohibited DME from allowing walk-up riders. That you have to have an existing DME reservation..even if you have a resort reservation.
But, someone else said that her bff works for DME and told her that you don't need a prior reservation..that you can walk up to the counter and get a ride. That there are a lot of guests that don't know that you have to make a reservation, so they just show up. And they are put on a bus.

So, my question...does anyone know what the story is? I'll probably forget to ask when I get there on Sept 3!! Just curious what others have found.

The definitive response from Disney is "No you have to have a reservation" the "what actually happen is " you may get lucky. However, if too many people get lucky the cab drivers and limo drivers will start whining and the rules will be enforced again.

 

[mb187143]

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[thornton0511]

But, as mentioned above...did you have an existing DME reservation? Or, did you just show up at the DME area, say you needed to ride the bus, they looked up your resort reservation, and subsequently sent you to a bus line?

Yes, everyone who has an active WDW resort reservation is entitled to ride the DME bus, to and from the airport. But....can guests be allowed, consistently, to ride the bus even if they didn't reserve a ride on the bus at least 24 hrs in advance? That's the question. It doesn't make any difference how you get to the airport...the DME isn't tied to your arrival or mode of transportation to the airport...you can get there by plane, car, motor scooter or yak...as long as you have an active resort reservation and you have made a prior reservation with DME, you car ride the bus. And no, it doesn't have to be on your checkin day...but it can't be prior to, or later than, the dates your resort reservation are in effect.

So..my question..can you not make a DME reservation, and just walk up to the DME people and say 'Hi, I need to ride the bus but I didn't make a reservation.' and be allowed to get on a bus. You're not supposed to be able to do that....I'm hearing differently on occasion. Just would like a definitive answer.

I honestly don't know and that's a valid point. We have done the pre nigth Hyatt thing so many times now I can't remember if we normally make a DME ressie for the arrival portion. I know for certain we do for the return because that is handled a bit differently. I know the first time I was very anxious about arriving the night before check in and we walked down to DME to make sure it was not going to be an issue riding a bus the next morning even though our flight was that evening, and the CM told me exactly what you said in your post regarding as long as you have a valid Disney resort check in you can ride the bus anytime you want that day. Every trip since we have just gotten up and walked down with our luggage and hopped on a bus. I will tell you that I know for certain that they have never ever asked for, or scanned, our paper tickets since switching over to MB's. We literally have walked up scanned our bands, Mickey turns green, and we are in, scanning them again before we go out to get on the bus.

 

[goofy4tink]

The definitive response from Disney is "No you have to have a reservation" the "what actually happen is " you may get lucky. However, if too many people get lucky the cab drivers and limo drivers will start whining and the rules will be enforced again.

And that's the problem. And why I will never tell anyone they can do it. DME CMs aren't doing themselves any favors by doing this. It merely causes confusion and chaos. You either need a reservation or you don't.

 

[wdwfan1]

A few years ago we were flying home to NY. Somewhere over Virginia the plane turned back to Orlando. We obviously had no rental car. I called Disney to get a room for the night. We walked to ME and they let us ride.

 

[maxiesmom]

A few years ago we were flying home to NY. Somewhere over Virginia the plane turned back to Orlando. We obviously had no rental car. I called Disney to get a room for the night. We walked to ME and they let us ride.

If you called before you hit DME then you were all set. You had a resort reservation, which is all you need to ride DME.

 

[goofy4tink]

There are always going to be 'exceptions to the rule'. If Disney changes the official guidelines, then fine. But until they do, I won't be telling people they can plan on just walking up and getting on a bus without a DME reservation.

 

[kwdw]

I can only give one example. On one trip - my significant other - arriving a few days after the resort reservation started - took DME to the resort on like day 4 of the resort reservation. Originally, I was going to pick him up with the rental car, so we had not made a DME reservation in advance for him. But - as this was a work trip and I needed to make a later meeting than I had expected - I couldn't pick him up. I called DME the morning of his flight - and then just told me to have him go to the counter at the airport. So - I do think they were effectively making a same day reservation for him as they did ask for his name, flight number, arrival time, stuff. But - there was no hint that this was an unusual or difficult request. She was quite nice on the phone and made it seem just fine.

So - he wasn't quite a walk up - but it was definitely a same day reservation - probably about 6 or 7 hours in advance. This was over 6 years old now.

 

[stitchlovestink]

I have an experience with walking up and getting on DME. DD made a resort reservation on the Hub for the next day. I bought my airline ticket at 11pm (DME phone lines close at 10pm). I took the first flight out in the morning and was in the air by the time DME phone lines opened that morning. There was NO WAY for me contact DME until I was already at MCO. I walked up to the counter and somehow they were able to verify that the flight and hotel were both booked late the night before. I didn't wait long, between 5 and 10 minutes and was given a voucher for the bus. This was in 2013.

 

[RideShareRob]

I used to work at the Disney Reservations Center, and the official word was always that a guest had to have it attached to their res; no walkups allowed. If I had someone who was unsure if they were going to use it, I put it on anyways. That way, if you opted out later it was no big deal: dont use the tags or get on the bus.

A note: DME buses are operated by Mears (Its their drivers and they own the bus). So really, its whatever Mears decides it wants to do

Further DME note: On the return, do NOT miss your scheduled time ( at 3 hours before your flight) because they will NOT let you take the next one. I get at least one ride a week (im an uber driver for those who dont know) where someone missed that bus and no amount of crying, begging, screaming, complaining etc will get you on it.

 

[stitchlovestink]

I used to work at the Disney Reservations Center, and the official word was always that a guest had to have it attached to their res; no walkups allowed. If I had someone who was unsure if they were going to use it, I put it on anyways. That way, if you opted out later it was no big deal: dont use the tags or get on the bus.

A note: DME buses are operated by Mears (Its their drivers and they own the bus). So really, its whatever Mears decides it wants to do

Further DME note: On the return, do NOT miss your scheduled time ( at 3 hours before your flight) because they will NOT let you take the next one. I get at least one ride a week (im an uber driver for those who dont know) where someone missed that bus and no amount of crying, begging, screaming, complaining etc will get you on it.

I have been at the bus stop and someone missed their bus. The driver did allow them on our bus, but made it clear that it was only because he had empty seats. We were the last stop and he was headed directly to MCO.
I think a better more accurate statement is, don't count on using DME if you miss your assigned bus. We have seen people get on a later DME bus more than once, but AGAIN only because there were available seats. *you*(general you) may not be so lucky and the next bus may be full and not have availability.

 

[seashoreCM]

While there may be a deadline for making a Magical Express reservation Disney bound, once in awhile someone makes a resort room reservation with only a few hours' notice. For example, who knew that the plane (q.v. above) would experience a mechanical in flight and return to MCO and everyone would have to wait until the next day for a flight home?

So supposedly one can always make a DME reservation after making the room reservation no matter how close in advance that was.

Philosophical question (or poll question if you prefer), if someone did not have a DME reservation to Disney and turned away from the welcoming area, what are the chances he would then take a taxi or limo? I would suppose he would be much more likely to take Mears's shuttle. Those who would take a taxi would have done so to begin with. So the rule that DME may not take walkup guests really does not mean much.