I just wanted to say hello and I have a question...
We have a trip coming up in 39 days (no I'm not counting the hours or minutes yet)
What I'm wondering is if it's fine to pick up your own luggage at baggage claim and still take the Magical Express bus to the resort? I've been reading a lot of horror stories about luggage taking forever to get to the rooms and since we're going during spring break, I'm sort of worried about it. Our flight comes in around 8:30 pm and I don't want to be up all night waiting on luggage.
First of all,
You've found a great source of information on WDW.
Now ....
To answer your question, YES you can claim your own bags and bring them to the bus. If you do this, make sure you THROW AWAY your DME luggage tags -- if you put them on your bags, your bags will be pulled behind-the-scenes, and you won't see them at baggage claim.
But for Pete's sake, WHAT HORROR STORIES???????? HONESTLY, in the 21 months DME has been in service, I think I've read ONE horror story. ONE.
I'm sure there have been several problems from time to time, but there are absolutely no rampant problems.
One thing to keep in mind:
If DME is so bad, why was it extended through the end of 2011 when it was supposed to end in September 2006?
I really don't understand what supposed horror stories you've read.
I've read people posting what they thought were horror stories, but when they explain themselves it turns out they just didn't understand how it works. For example, it says right in the DME materials that your luggage will arrive about 3 hours after you do, yet people have posted flaming screeds about how they had important medication in their checked luggage that they needed as soon as they landed. I'm sure that felt like a horror story, but if they'd just read the packet sent to them they would have seen Disney's recommendation to pack a carry-on for your immediate needs. I fly this way no matter where I fly, just in case the AIRLINE delays my luggage.
OK, let me explain the DME luggage process, because I think maybe a little information might nake you feel better.
The DME luggage tags have barcodes. These barcodes are scanned 5 separate times between airplane and the inside of your resort room. In addition, the trucks that transport the luggage to the resorts are tracked by GPS. Disney knows where your luggage is at all times. It's a very sophisticated system.
Because of one way that DME can be very helpful, they may actually wrongly take a bad rap. At any airport and at MCO if you DON'T use the DME luggage tags, if you claim your own luggage and it doesn't arrive on the baggage claim carousel, you have to wait in line at the baggage office, fill out forms etc., and then hope and wait for your luggage to be delivered by a 3rd party courier. But if you registered at the DME counter and told them you put the DME tags on your bags and the bags don't show up in their computer system in a reasonable amount of time, DME will track your bags down for you. When the airline finally flies them to MCO where they belong, DME will deliver them to your room for you. Thus, I'm sure that a good portion of people who had excessive luggage delivery delays made out much better with DME than if they went it alone, because they didn't have to further delay themsleves at the airport trying to track down their own luggage. So if someone waited 9 hours for their luggage, they are naturally angry at DME even if the real cause was that their airline accidentally flew the luggage to MCI (Kansas City) instead of MCO, and then had to fly it to MCO, where DME scooped it up and delivered it ASAP.
I hope this all makes sense. Personally, I LOVED skipping baggage claim and going right to the bus area. Call me a geek, but it kinda made me feel like a VIP. I used DME twice. The first time, I'm not 100% sure when our luggage was delivered to the inside of our room, because we were with our kids at the pool enjoying the start of our vacation. The second time, it was delivered 2.25 hours after we arrived at our resort.
If you don't want your luggage delivered too late at night, when you get to your resort ask them to hold the bags until morning. You should have your nighttime and morning stufdf with you in a carry-on, anyway, just in case the airline delays your luggage (whether you use the DME luggage delivery or not).
GOOD LUCK, WECOME TO THE DIS, AND HAVE A GREAT TRIP!
