Experiences With Magical Express

[AllyCatTapia]

Quote:
Originally Posted by AllyCatTapia

Thats why I bought a towncar. Well, that and I figure if there are a bunch of ppl going to my resort at about the same time, maybe I'll beat them there and get my room that much earlier. . .I mean since they try to fill the bus & they make a couple of stops...

"All those people" are going to be checking into DME and possibly boarding buses while you're still waiting for your luggage. Then you have to wait for your town car driver to run and get the car. And checking in for DME lets the various Disney resorts know that specific Guests are on their way; rooms are blocked for them, so if say there's one room ready at the Contemporary, and a Guest for that hotel registers at DME at 12:16 PM and you get to the front desk at 12:17 PM, you don't get that room.


This, combined with the $82 towncar is making us rethink it GRRRRRRRR 8 days out! yikes!

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

This, combined with the $82 towncar is making us rethink it GRRRRRRRR 8 days out! yikes!

And it's customary to tip approx. $10 each way for the $82 towncar. After all, the driver is spending a long time providing personal service to you, and the driver assists with your luggage.

So the $82 towncar is really more like a $102 towncar.

 

[cdndislvr]

You know this means you're going to PAY Mears and probably be placed on a DME bus, right?

"All those people" are going to be checking into DME and possibly boarding buses while you're still waiting for your luggage. Then you have to wait for your town car driver to run and get the car. And checking in for DME lets the various Disney resorts know that specific Guests are on their way; rooms are blocked for them, so if say there's one room ready at the Contemporary, and a Guest for that hotel registers at DME at 12:16 PM and you get to the front desk at 12:17 PM, you don't get that room.

You realize that was a mistake made by your resort's Bell Services department and NOT by Magical Express, right? I mean, unless the bags were tagged for an entirely different resort, which you didn't state...

I realize that Bell Services brings the suitcases to the rooms but it was still part of the process of Magical Express these people used in order to get their luggage to their rooms. I guess I was trying to make people aware of the length of time it "may" take to get your suitcases, so if you use ME be prepared.

 

[bettybeth]

Well, since you mentioned trying to get to the resort first ....

There's a little-known but very real perk of DME. When you check in at the DME Welcome Center, the computer automatically sends a message to your resort's computer that you've checked in, and if a room is available it is set aside for you and only you. Let me flesh this out with an example:

Let's say you reserved a preferred location room at CBR and requested to be on the first floor. Let's say that at the moment you check in at the DME Welcome Center there is exactly ONE room available that matches your reservation. That room is set aside for YOU, and you're still at the airport. Let's say that one minute later, someone else arrives at CBR by any way other than DME, and that person has the exact same reservation type as you. Even though that person is at the resort 45 minutes before you, that person is told that their room is not yet available, even though there is a clean one empty and ready; that clean and empty room was set aside for you. So it's possible that 45 minutes later when you arrive at CBR to check in, that other party may still be waiting for a room to open up, but when it's your turn in line you will get your room immediately, in this little scenario.

Just another nice perk of DME., sort of like a resort room FASTPASS. Now, I wouldn't use DME just because of this perk, but it's nice to know it's there.

Wow what a great thing to know. I'm just curious, how do you know this...is this just one of the advertised benefits?

 

[CleveRocks]

Wow what a great thing to know. I'm just curious, how do you know this...is this just one of the advertised benefits?

I've NEVER seen it advertised, ever. I know this information through postings on this board, mainly by 2 different people.

One person is a current Disney CM who is very well-known and trusted on DISboards. Since I can't quote him exactly, I won't mention his name (I don't want to mess things up for him in case I've somehow misquoted him).

The other person SOUNDS LIKE a current Disney CM (but I don't absolutely know for sure that he/she is), based upon his/her apparent technical knowledge of the process. His/her screenname is HumphreytheBear, and I have no problem naming that name because I cut and pasted a recent post into my word processor, and therefore I know I'm quoting exactly (sorry, I don't have a link to the thread). Here is the quote from HumphreytheBear, responding to a question about how the resort is notified by DME that a guest has checked in at the DME Welcome Center:

The Back office Cast has this information sent to them... Room assignment (at resorts that still have that position) and Operation Support Cast have a screen in DPMS/HRGAS (the computer system that is used at the resorts) that they are supposed to have open at all time. Once the guest checks in at the DME counter at the airport it automatically sends the information to the resort notifying them that the guest has arrived and checked in. Once this information is on the "table", as it is called, it has to be cleared out by the Back office team. The only way to clear it off the table is to assign a room and remove the reservation from the table. The Operations Team will get the notification that the guest has arrived and look for a clean and vacant room that they can assign right away, as CDSTapisRouge mentioned.

When a DME reservation is moved the Operations Support cast is "supposed" to call the DME Assistant for the hotel and notify them. As soon as a room is assigned to a reservation it downloads to their palm pilots as completed. If they are not notified of a room change they will deliver the luggage to the room that the Palm tells them. The front desk CM is supposed to let the Back office team know when a DME res was moved so that they can notify the assistant, but with it being so busy sometimes they forget. It happens.

I hope this helps.