How early does ME pick up at resort?

[Samsma]

Hi! Our flight is at 12:35. What time should I expect to be picked up by ME? Would I be better off to try to price a towncar. We are having a character meal that morning and would like to visit the GF from the Poly to look at the Christmas decorations.

 

[safetymom]

They will pick you up 3 hours before your flight.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Hi! Our flight is at 12:35. What time should I expect to be picked up by ME? Would I be better off to try to price a towncar. We are having a character meal that morning and would like to visit the GF from the Poly to look at the Christmas decorations.

DME will pick you up 3 hour before your scheduled flight — plus or minus 15 minutes. Also, you should be at the pickup location at our resort 10-15 minutes before your scheduled DME pickup. You'll know the pickup time the day before your check-out.

For planning purposes now, if your scheduled flight departure is is 12:35 p.m., you should plan to be back at your resort lobby at 9:05 a.m. Once you know your actual DME pickup time, it may turn out that you won't need to be back at your resort until as late as 9:35 a.m. Of course, you have to allow for the uncertainty of the wait for a monorail train at the monorail station.

If you use a towncar service, you can safely wait until 2 1/2 hours before your flight. Some towncar services may suggest 2 hours before your flight, but that's cutting it close if there are any unexpected delays on the road or at the airport.

Regardless of whether you use DME or a towncar, you can check your bags and get your boarding passes at your resort lobby with Resort Airline Check-in — as long as you're flying on RAC-participating airline and you get to the RAC desk between 5:00 a.m. and 3 hours before your flight.

Also, regardless of towncar or DME, I think you might be trying to do too much — a character breakfast and an excursion to another resort — before 9:00 or 9:30 a.m. on your check-out day.

 

[Samsma]

Thanks. I'm sure you're right. I just hate to leave that early, and Delta bumped up my flight to 12:35. I had planned to leave later, but the towncar won't help much if it only lets me add 1/2 hour or so.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Well, now, you don't say which airline you're using but... if it's a participating airline, you can check in for your flight AND check your luggage through to your home airport as early as 5 AM that day (but not later than 9:05, and yes I added a thirty minute buffer in case the RAC is busy )
Then use Disney transportation to get to the Grand Floridian (bus and monorail), eat, look around, then head directly for the airport via either prearranged livery service, or take a cab.
If you're not flying on a participating airline, you can still do this - you'd need to take a taxi WITH your luggage to the GF, since luggage isn't permitted on the buses (please, no "But I saw a family with a hundred and eighty three suitcases on the bus to..." arguments - Disney's policy prohibits it ), then another cab or a town car to the airport.
I keep referring to the Grand Floridian even though your breakfast is planned for 'Ohana. If you'll be carting your own luggage, unless you have a reservation for the instant the restaurant opens - 7:30? - or at least the first fifteen minutes, or right at 8 if that's opening time, you're really not going to have enough time to eat, get to the GF (would involve yet another cab) then get to the airport with a comfortable cushion.