Is this true about DME abuse?

[Simba's Mom]

Last week, for the first time, the DME bus driver was really strict about receiving the voucher BEFORE allowing you on the bus. One girl had to get back off the bus until she could find her voucher. The bus driver was appologetic, but he said that Disney has encountered quite a problem with people from off-site hotels taking a taxi to an on-site hotel, then getting on the free DME bus to go back to the airport and just saying "I lost my voucher". Is this true? If so, it always amazes me the extent some people will go to to save a buck.

 

[Barbi]

When we left on Saturday the driver was very strict about vouchers for each passenger boarding the bus.

 

[paults]

I thought the bus driver was always suppose to check the voucher. We use DME about 5/6 times and driver always checked our voucher.

 

[maxiesmom]

I thought we were gonna see a smackdown on our trip back to MCO. My family boarded at the Beach Club. The driver checked us in. No problems. We then made 2 or 3 more stops, with the last stop being the Caribbean Beach. There was a mob of people waiting to board the bus. All of us who were already on were commenting that there was no way all of those people would fit. The bus driver asked us to make sure we had his back before he got off to start checking people in. I think he knew he was in for it. Well, he filled the bus and there were still many people waiting to board. Some people started screaming at the driver that they had to be on the bus or they would miss their flights. One lady told him to go recheck that all of us belonged on the bus. What was the driver supposed to do, kick people off and leave them at the Caribbean Beach Resort? He climbed back on the bus and shut the door in the screaming ladys face. He then radioed to dispact that he was in an overflow sitiuation. Hopefully they sent an extra bus to pick those people up.

I don't blame the lady who wanted on for being mad, but if she really thought she was going to miss her flight she was not trying to get on the right bus herself. You are told to catch your ME bus 3 hours before your flight is due to leave. If the extra wait for a bus was going to make her late she must have decided on some extra park time and put herself in a pickle.

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

Last week, for the first time, the DME bus driver was really strict about receiving the voucher BEFORE allowing you on the bus. One girl had to get back off the bus until she could find her voucher. The bus driver was appologetic, but he said that Disney has encountered quite a problem with people from off-site hotels taking a taxi to an on-site hotel, then getting on the free DME bus to go back to the airport and just saying "I lost my voucher". Is this true? If so, it always amazes me the extent some people will go to to save a buck.

When I drove DME, I would not allow anyone on board the bus until I got the DME Voucher in my hand.

This was for many reasons -

-To get a passenger count
-To verify they are legit passengers
-To find out what airline they are flying
-To find out where their bags are

If a guest claimed they did not have thier voucher, I would not let any of them board. However, I would refer them to the Bell Stand, and have them get a replacement voucher from them.

In regards to overloads... here's a little behind the scenes on all that. The dispatchers see how many people have reservations at each resort. Sometimes there are double-bookings, and many times people book it, but do not show up. (chose to take taxi, inadvertant booking, took earlier shuttle, missed the bus, etc) This makes it difficult sometimes to route a bus. If the run has 65 people on it, and a dispatcher sends two buses, but 20 people don't show up, that's a wasted bus that could be used elsewhere.

So this is what happens. A dispatcher will assign one bus as the primary. It will go as far as it can. When it fills up, it radios an overload. The secondary bus that has been waiting on the side will then pull in. If the secondary bus isn't needed, it gets assigned a full run.

On runs where a bus is definetly going to fill up, the secondary bus still needs to wait until the primary bus has filled before picking up. (due to pecking order of the drivers... you don't want to step on the toes of your drivers, and give away potential tips...)

The only problem is that the guests who get left behind to wait the 5 minutes for the secondary bus think that DME has left them behind, and forgotten about them. This isn't the case. But, people sometimes lack patience.

 

[CleveRocks]

I first used DME for my May 8 - 14, 2005 trip. So on May 14, 2005, DME was was 9 days old. I couldn't find my voucher, and my MIL (spearate reservation) couldn't find hers, either. He said he'd let us on the bus if we could produce some documentation from WDW (NOT from a travel agent or anything like that). We each had loads of stuff like that, and he THEN let us on the bus.

For my trip 2 months ago, the driver loaded everyone's luggage (there were about 30 of us at POFQ -- we were the one and only stop) but didn't let anyone board the bus. He then opened the doors and stop in the doorway, checking and collecting vouchers before he allowed each of us to board.

I guess maybe some drivers were lax, but not the drivers I had.

 

[briar_rose_59]

I don't blame the lady who wanted on for being mad, but if she really thought she was going to miss her flight she was not trying to get on the right bus herself. You are told to catch your ME bus 3 hours before your flight is due to leave. If the extra wait for a bus was going to make her late she must have decided on some extra park time and put herself in a pickle.

Not necessarily. If she was on an international flight (or even just not from the USA) then she may have been told to expect delays at the airport. I know being Canadian that I've been told numerous times to be at the airport 2 hours prior to takeoff to allow for security, etc. Since it usually takes about an hour to get to MCO from WDW, she may have well thought she would miss her flight if she missed the bus. Of course she probably shouldn't have flipped out like that, but I could kind of see where she was coming from, especially if she didn't know when the next bus was going to get there.

 

[seashoreCM]

If you are leaving on an international flight or a charter flight you really should request and be reserved on an earlier DME bus, say 3-1/2 or even 4 hours before flight time. This can be done the day before checkout if not sooner.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

 

[CarolA]

Last week, for the first time, the DME bus driver was really strict about receiving the voucher BEFORE allowing you on the bus. One girl had to get back off the bus until she could find her voucher. The bus driver was appologetic, but he said that Disney has encountered quite a problem with people from off-site hotels taking a taxi to an on-site hotel, then getting on the free DME bus to go back to the airport and just saying "I lost my voucher". Is this true? If so, it always amazes me the extent some people will go to to save a buck.

I would NOT be a bit surprised.

We routinely see posts on folks who want to find "creative" ways to avoid paying for parking by parking at DTD or the resorts.

I also wouldn't be surprised if this "tip" is in some of those useless "ebooks" out there!

 

[MemoryMakers2669]

When we went in June of 2005...a month after DME started, I threw mine away. I hadn't used it TO the resort, but was taking it back at the end of the week. They gave me a really hard time about it, but since my 1 and 4 year olds had vouchers, they let me on.

I think they are completely right about doing this! I can see it being completely abused by those not staying onsite. I know that if it got out of hand, I wouldn't be happy, being an on-site traveler.

 

[clkelley]

When we went in June of 2005...a month after DME started, I threw mine away. I hadn't used it TO the resort, but was taking it back at the end of the week. They gave me a really hard time about it, but since my 1 and 4 year olds had vouchers, they let me on.

I think they are completely right about doing this! I can see it being completely abused by those not staying onsite. I know that if it got out of hand, I wouldn't be happy, being an on-site traveler.

If you keep what Disney gives you, then you should have 3 potentional pieces of paper to show the bus driver. The original voucher from DME, the return time paper they put on your door the day before you departed, and your resort reservation. Just like having your boarding pass for the airplane, consider one of these pieces your boarding pass for the ME bus.

 

[helenk]

I've used DME 3 times and each time, leaving the airport and going back to the airport from the resort the driver has checked our paper work.
In 2005 we stayed at the Poly and the bus was about 15 minutes late or so, and the next group out was starting to line up with us. When the bus got there the driver told all of us waiting that this was the 4:15 bus (or whatever time) and not the 4:45 bus.
He checked everyone's paper work carefully before letting us on.

 

[goofy4tink]

Back in May '05 we were using DME for the first time. My dh was leaving for home from BCV, while dd and I stayed longer. I completely forgot to give him his voucher for the bus. Evidently he was a bit obnoxious about it with the driver, but when he showed him his room key he was allowed on the bus. So...my dd and I moved over to POR for the remainder of our trip. On our departure day, we headed over to the RAC to get our luggage taken and get our boarding passes. Well, airhead that I am, I quite nicely packed all the DME stuff, so when I got to the bus stop, my vouchers were already at MCO!!! The nice folks at bell services gave me a new voucher for my dd and myself.
But, every time I have boarded the bus, either way, I have been asked for my 'paperwork'.