How Long Before Luggage Arrives At Your Resort When Using Magical Express?

[MickeyEars]

Hi!
This is our first time using Magical Express because we normally rent a car so I have no idea how it all works!! Can someone tell me approximately how long it takes to receive your luggage? I know I could put stuff we might need in our carry-on but I don't want to wait hours and hours for our luggage. Is it possible to retrieve it ourselves at the airport and put it on the bus? Do we still attach the yellow tags if we're getting it ourselves? Thanks in advance for your help!!!

Carla

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

You can have "the best of both worlds."

Bring carry-ons onto the plane (and onto the DME coach) with anything you'll want right away at your resort.

Put the yellow DME tags onto your checked luggage. They'll be placed into your room up to 3 hours after you check in at your resort. Because Disney takes care of the inbound bell service gratuity when you use DME in this way, there is no need to wait in your room.

In other words, go directly from your arrival gate to DME; get on the next coach to your resort; check in; go to your room with your carry-ons; then go out and have fun at a park, pool, or restaurant. A few hours later, when you get back to your room, your bags will be in the room waiting for you.

Although it's possible to claim you own bags (just don't use the yellow tags) at baggage claim, you're likely to be on a later DME coach -- 30 to 60 minutes later -- because of the time you waste waiting at baggage claim and dragging your bags to DME (possibly from one corner of the airport to another). Also, it's then customary to tip anyone who assists you with your luggage, including the DME driver.

 

[CarolAnnB]

If you don't want to wait, leave off the tags and claim it yourself and carry it to the bus. It is supposed to be about 3 hours but you never know. Once we had one piece get there in 3 hours and the other piece did not arrive for about 10 hours. (and yes, we had the same tags on both)

 

[tjmw2727]

Literature says about 3 hours after you check in to your resort. The 2 times we were in the room when the luggage arrived it was far less and most of the time we are at the parks/pool when the luggage has arrived.

Regardless of DME its a good idea to have at least 24 hours of essentials in case the airline looses/misdirects your bags. Happened to me a few times, once on the way to be a maid of honor for my bf - never to disney though.

You can also claim your bags and bring them on the bus with you, just leave off the yellow tags. IMHO when you do this you are missing the best feature of DME and (again IMHO) slowing things down for everyone else. You are going to have to head to baggage claim and wait for your bags and then bring them down (and sometimes up, across and then down) to DME. The driver will load them under the bus for you and retreive them at the resort. He will expect a tip for this as well as everyone else who handles your bags at the resort if your room isn't ready.

Either way, have a good trip.

TJ

 

[kaytieeldr]

If you don't want to wait, leave off the tags and claim it yourself and carry it to the bus. It is supposed to be about 3 hours but you never know. Once we had one piece get there in 3 hours and the other piece did not arrive for about 10 hours. (and yes, we had the same tags on both)

There's no way to know for sure, but a ten hour wait for a piece of luggage is VERY likely due to a misdirect by the airline.

 

[Tozzie]

Hi!
This is our first time using Magical Express because we normally rent a car so I have no idea how it all works!! Can someone tell me approximately how long it takes to receive your luggage? I know I could put stuff we might need in our carry-on but I don't want to wait hours and hours for our luggage. Is it possible to retrieve it ourselves at the airport and put it on the bus? Do we still attach the yellow tags if we're getting it ourselves? Thanks in advance for your help!!!

Carla

Last week I checked in around 245 and my bag was in my room before 5

 

[tjmw2727]

There's no way to know for sure, but a ten hour wait for a piece of luggage is VERY likely due to a misdirect by the airline.

Good point, and what most folks don't realize is that DME does track missing bags and then delivers them. If a passenger isn't using the luggage portion of DME and a bag gets misdirected they will have waited at baggage claim only to realize the bag was "lost". Then fill out all the appropriate paperwork with the airline in order to track the bag.

TJ

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

If you don't want to wait, leave off the tags and claim it yourself and carry it to the bus.

I guess that depends on your definition of the word wait.

I don't want to wait. So I use DME as designed. Thus, I don't have to wait at baggage claim. I don't have to wait for a later DME coach because of the extra time I spent dealing with bags at the airport. I don't have to wait. I don't waste any time dealing with my bags at the airport or the hotel.

With DME, your bags show up in your room while you're doing something else. To me, that's zero wait for inbound bags.

 

[MickeyEars]

Thanks everyone for all the info!! I think we'll just let Disney deliver the bags. I thought I remembered reading it was like 6 hours before the luggage arrives which I was "concerned" about but if it's only 3 hours I can handle that. I think I'm going to enjoy letting someone else drag the luggage around for a change!!!


Thanks again!!!
Carla

 

[Wistraveler]

I must be one of the really lucky ones. The three times that I have used DME in the past, my luggage beat me to the room every time. I would be happy if they were there when I needed them at bedtime on the first day, as I carry with me what I need on arrival.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

I must be one of the really lucky ones. The three times that I have used DME in the past, my luggage beat me to the room every time. I would be happy if they were there when I needed them at bedtime on the first day, as I carry with me what I need on arrival.

The reason that Disney says "up to three hours" after resort check-in is because the guests and the bags take different paths.

The bags could get to the resort before the guest.

Or the guest could already be on a DME coach before the airline's baggage handlers have even finished unloading the aircraft. The bags have to go through sorting at the airport. They need to be loaded onto trucks which stop at multiple resorts. At the resort, the bell services staff could be backed as they deal with guests waiting for assistance in addition to DME bags.

So setting the guests' expectations at "up to three hours" provides a cushion of time. In most cases, it should be less than three hours, often much less.

It's likely that many guests don't know when their bags were delivered to their room because they were out having fun.

In cases when bags take substantially more than three hours (which happened to me once), it's most likely that the bags were on a later flight than the passenger. Of course, in such a case, the bags would not have been at baggage claim either.

 

[MickeyEars]

I feel much better now, thanks everyone for the reassurance!!!

Carla

 

[DisneyNic]

Can I butt in here with a dumb question?? (And that was not it.) I know it may be dumb, but I honestly don't know. What do you do with your carry-on bags on the ME bus? Do you take them onto the bus and stow them somewhere like on a plane or do they go in the storage under the bus?? Sorry, but I really don't know. Thanks for letting me hijack for a second.

 

[tjmw2727]

Can I butt in here with a dumb question?? (And that was not it.) I know it may be dumb, but I honestly don't know. What do you do with your carry-on bags on the ME bus? Do you take them onto the bus and stow them somewhere like on a plane or do they go in the storage under the bus?? Sorry, but I really don't know. Thanks for letting me hijack for a second.

If its a small back pack or purse you take it on with you - it is a coach bus. If its a larger roll aboard carryon the driver will stow it under the bus and retreive it for you at the resort.

TJ

 

[luv2plan]

one additional comment for others who are reading the thread...

we flew from west coast, so it was about 8pm when we got to our room, and luggage didn't arrive until after 11pm, which we didn't consider with our then 2 & 5 yr olds, who did not have any pajamas, toothbrushes, etc.

So, for anyone from west coast, or arriving late, pack appropriately in your carry-on.

Happy plannng!

 

[goofy4tink]

You should always, I repeat always, pack anything you might need in an emergency, in your carryon bag...not just when flying to WDW.
We flew home from Ft. Lauderdale on Dec 31 last year. We packed up all our stuff and sent it in our checked luggage. I had some books and such in my carryon bag....I was going home, I wouldn't need anything there!!
Well, we got diverted to Philidelphia rather than landing in Providence!! Our options were..
1. get off in Philly, stay overnight and head to TF Green in the morning. But, our bags weren't going off the plane!!
2. stay on the plane (after getting off to grab something to eat), return to Ft Lauderdale, stay there overnight, with our bags and fly to TF Green in the morning.

We were not thrilled to stay with the plane and fly back to Florida but we had nothing for the night or next day with us...it was all packed!!! Not a great NYE for us!!!


DME info packets will tell you to allow up to 4 hrs, after resort checkin, for your checked luggage to get to your room. Plan on it taking all that time....just in case. Pack your carryon with anything you may need for the first 6-8 hrs of your day/night. I can easily fit in a change of clothes, small toiletries in my carryon bag in addition to the 'other stuff' you need when flying. It doesn't take up much room to fit in a tee shirt, shorts and change of underwear...or pj's in the case of kids.

I have had my luggage delivered to me as soon as I got into my room...but that was a time that I arrived at about 3 and got into my DVC villa at 4..the luggage was delivered about 15 mins after I got to the room.
But...I also have waited close to 6 hrs for my luggage to get to me!! We checked in at POP well before noon and were thrilled to get our room right away. But my idiot dd hadn't packed her carryon as I had suggested and we had to hang around the resort waiting for our bags to get there.....that finally happened around 5:30ish!!! Not so good.

 

[kaytieeldr]

one additional comment for others who are reading the thread...

we flew from west coast, so it was about 8pm when we got to our room, and luggage didn't arrive until after 11pm, which we didn't consider with our then 2 & 5 yr olds, who did not have any pajamas, toothbrushes, etc.

So, for anyone from west coast, or arriving late, pack appropriately in your carry-on.

Happy plannng!

That's actually excellent advice for any air traveler, luv2plan! Doesn't matter where you're departing, where you're going, or what time your flight is. Thanks!