Has a Disney resort ever lost your luggage?

[traveladdict]

My husband is worried to death that disney will lose or misplace our luggage if they're in charge of it from the airport to the hotel. We got our luggage tag things in today and I want to use them but my husband feels more comfortable just skipping it and taking the luggage ourselves. I say it's silly to lug our suitcases to the resort when they will do it for us for free. But my husband doesn't agree, he says he'd rather be safe than sorry, especially since we'll only be at our disney resort for 2 days and then we're going on a cruise. He says if they lose the luggage and can't find it before the cruise then we're stuck without luggage for an entire week on a cruise. How safe is the luggage transfer thing? Has anyone had any problems with it?

 

[dburg30]

MY opinion (and only mine) is that the airline is probably more likely to lose it then WDW. Again, just my opinion..

I'm sure it can happen, am sure it has happened, but again, my opinion..

 

[YCFAN]

I've used the ME service 4 times in the last 18 months for anywhere from 2 people to 8 people at a time. I have never had any problem at all and have come to think it is one of the best perks to staying on property!

 

[CleveRocks]

Men, like me, tend to me very process oriented, very matter-of-fact and concrete. So here's some concrete info to share with him.

The DME luggage tags have barcodes. Those barcodes are scanned 5 separate times in the receiving and delivery process. The first 3 scans occur at various stages on airport property. Luggage sorted by resort is loaded into cages and then delivered to the resorts by dedicated delivery trucks, and these trucks are tracked by GPS. The last 2 scans occur at the resort, once when the cages are unloaded and then the final time when the CM brings it into the inside of your resort room (done with a handheld wireless device).

In other words, Disney knows where your luggage is. I've read CMs state that at the airport as well as at the resorts, CMs can track guests' luggage by computer in real-time.

Disney has been doing this for over 26 months, since May 2005. There are no widespread problems with the DME luggage handling.

And by the way, I'm not just talking from the cheap seats here. I first used DME on May 8, 2005, the 4th day it was around. I was truly one of the guinea pigs, as no one had returned from trips yet and posted about their experiences. We took a leap of faith and weren't disappointed. Used DME again last year, and once again had excellent results.

But, if you guys decide to claim your own luggage (and slightly delay yourselves at the airport while doing so), then make sure you DON'T put the DME luggage tags on your bags, because tagged bags do not go out onto the baggage claim carousels at MCO and you will not have access to those bags.

 

[Ashley24]

How do you get these tags? You put them on before you fly to Orlando if you are staying on property?

 

[hidmickey:myantidrug]

I've never had the opportunity to use the service, however; my best friend has used it twice. She had one successful transfer and one unsuccessful on the part of Disney rather than the airport.

I'm a lot like your DH. I have a hard time being trusting with things like this, too. However, the chances of it happening are slim.

 

[orangekid13]

Last time we were there our first flight was delayed an hour, the length of our layover when transferring in Chicago, so we waved to our plane to orlando on the way to the terminal. We got put on another flight a couple hours later, which then got delayed another couple. We got into orlando late and made sure to get our own bags. if you get in that late, get your bags or you won't have them to get your pj's out of, and nowadays i guess ALL your liquid/gel toiletries... It can take them up to a few hours to get them to your resort

 

[I Love Pluto]

We drive to WDW, so I have no first-hand experience with ME. But - a friend of ours did have a problem. They stayed at CBR. They waited about 5 hours for their bags (maybe this is standard?). They eventually came, but the ones delivered weren't their bags. They had to survive overnight without their luggage. They did get it straightened out the next day.

So - maybe your husband has a point. I guess this doesn't happen very often, and it's only a big deal if it happens to you.

 

[graygables]

Not MagEx, but the WL lost our bags in March during an SSR-WL transfer. SSR sent the bags early in the day, but it took WL until midnight to find them. Not a happy thing.

Honestly, though, if you have 2 days before your cruise, I'd let them handle the bags. They'll get them to you (eventually) and usually in decent time.

 

[kaytieeldr]

We got into orlando late and made sure to get our own bags. if you get in that late, get your bags or you won't have them to get your pj's out of, and nowadays i guess ALL your liquid/gel toiletries... It can take them up to a few hours to get them to your resort

If you put the yellow tags on your luggage before leaving home (i.e. before checking your bags at your home airport), they will NOT appear on the luggage carousel. All DME-tagged luggage is pulled before any luggage is place on the carousels at MCO.

DME aside, it is always always always always (did I stress 'always'?) advisable when flying to pack in one's carry-on luggage: travel documents, valueables, medications, and whatever items you will need for the first 24 hours of your trip. The airlines are far more likely to misdirect your luggage that DME is. I don't have the 2006 figures, but I do know they're higher than in 2005 - when airlines misdirected over three million pieces of luggage, and lost 250,000 of those.


And, I can one-up graygables Last year, Pop Century lost (well, misplaced for over twelve hours) my luggage... in a move from Pop to - the other side of Pop. Go figure.

 

[CleveRocks]

How do you get these tags? You put them on before you fly to Orlando if you are staying on property?

Disney's Magical Express is round-trip motorcoach transportation between the airport and your Disney resort, AND it's one-way automatic baggage handling/delivery to the inside of your resort room.

DME is free, but you need to make a reservation for it. ABout 4-6 weeks before your trip, you'll receive a DME info packet with everything you need to know. Included in the packet are special DME luggage tags. They are yellow sticky paper and are pre-printed with your reservation info and 2 barcodes. It is these special bright yellow tags that clue-in people behind-the-scenes at MCO (Orlando International Airport) that that bag is to be routed to Disney. All the sorting gets done on the airport grounds. And I included all the rest of the pertinent info earlier.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

We've used Magical Express 3 times and it has been fine. We always bring everything for the first day or so in our carry-ons in case some of the luggage goes astray.

We did meet a family who had some luggage misplaced by Magical Express, but that was when the program was still pretty new. I have never heard of anyone whose luggage disappeared and NEVER came back when ME lost it. Seems like it always turns up eventually.

 

[CleveRocks]

They waited about 5 hours for their bags (maybe this is standard?). They eventually came, but the ones delivered weren't their bags. They had to survive overnight without their luggage. They did get it straightened out the next day.

Well, it certainly stinks that they got someone else's luggage, and didn't get their own 'til the next day. There's NO EXCUSE for that. But as far as when luggage is supposed to arrive.

In the DME booklet, Disney tells guests to expect their luggage inside the room about 3 hours or so after arrival at the resort. So if you get to the resort 90 minutes after you land, three hours on top of that equals 4.5 hours after landing, pretty close to the "about 5 hours" your friend waited.

 

[PattnFmly]

We've done DME twice, loved the service totally! Had no luggage problems whatsoever. Not sure when the bags got to our room, since we were wandering the resort, getting mugs/drinks/snacks, taking pictures etc, but I'd say it was within 2-3 hours of our check-in. Irrespective of DME though, I have had luggage lost when the handle came off my suitcase, thus, no tags, and it was flying in the belly of the plane until someone finally got it off and opened the bag to find my info inside. I'd been home three weeks when it was finally shipped to me! At least it was on the home leg of my trip!

 

[MissMet]

In all the times we've used it we have never had a problem. The closest thing to a "problem" was when me & a friend went, we both had two bags...& a carry-on...& purse each for 7 days We're girls what can I say? Anyway, they brought us three of our 4 checked bags. I called Bell Services & they found my missing bag in the storage room withing 60 minutes. I was very relieved- it had ALL my make-up, hair products etc in it- i.e. liquid gold to a girl.

 

[ConcKahuna]

In all the times we've used it we have never had a problem. The closest thing to a "problem" was when me & a friend went, we both had two bags...& a carry-on...& purse each for 7 days We're girls what can I say? Anyway, they brought us three of our 4 checked bags. I called Bell Services & they found my missing bag in the storage room withing 60 minutes. I was very relieved- it had ALL my make-up, hair products etc in it- i.e. liquid gold to a girl.

I hope you had cleaned up before you left home! I know people who won't leave their room unless they can apply a fresh layer of makeup and hair spray.

 

[MissMet]

I hope you had cleaned up before you left home! I know people who won't leave their room unless they can apply a fresh layer of makeup and hair spray.

Uh...




You're talkin' about me.

 

[Pluto1976]

My DF and I traveled to WDW last June for a two-night trip to plan our Disney wedding and stayed at the ASM resort. Our plane arrived in Orlando at 8:30AM. We got to the ASM around 10:30AM and did some traveling around the resorts for wedding planning. We get back to the ASM at 5PM to get ready for dinner at Ohana's and my suitcase did not arrive.

It took about an hour's worth of calling on the phone to the front desk and finally speaking to a very helpful CM in luggage operations. It turned out that my bag had been delivered to the wrong room.

One thing to note is that if your bag is missing Disney may ask you to identifiy something in the bag so they know the bag is yours when they find it. The CM noted it was helpful I did not just say clothes. Instead, I had a Baltimore Ravens pouch inside the bag.

For our inconvience, the CM credited our account $50 and called Ohana to have them hold our dinner reservations. To be fair we had used the ME one other time without any issues except for the time it took for our bags to arrive.

 

[Doc CW]

We have never had our luggage lost but, it takes forever to get to the room, but then again your in WDW so it never bothers me.

 

[BrendaC]

DH and I have had good/bad experiences with Magical Express. The good time : We did receive the yellow tags, applied them to the luggage. They showed up in our room, no problem.

The bad time : We did not receive the yellow tags. Paperwork said that this wouldn't be a problem, that it would be the same smooth service. Well, it wasn't. We didn't know that without the yellow tags that they'd end up staying at MCO. January 2007, we arrived Thursday morning, luggage eventually showed up Friday afternoon 6 p.m. The folks in Baggage Services were fantastic and very patient with all my phone calls. Needless to say, I was extremely stressed, and tearful at times, as I had my half-marathon Saturday morning wake up call at 3 a.m. Lesson learned : If you don't have yellow tags, handle your luggage yourself.

DH and I have a trip planned in October 2007. We're to land MCO at 12 noon and we have an ADR for 5:20 p.m. at Le Cellier. Needless to say, we'll forgo the special luggage tags, wait and pick up our own luggage at the airport.