Just back from a quickie Labor Day weekend trip... mixed review (LONG)

[BelleBway]

I have seen many reports on these boards of DME luggage not arriving until 1am when their flight landed after 6pm. I think if you want cases that night always pick up luggage if your flight lands in the evening!

Obviously I know this now. But not everyone reads this board or every thread on it; I generally hang out more on the Asian park boards which are easier to follow because they don't get much traffic.

Also just because this happens doesn't make it right. The printed letter said luggage would be delivered within 3 hrs of resort arrival so I trusted that since I'd never had any problems before with DME. I figured it was like the wdw wait times which usually (but not always) list a worst case scenario.

But apparently the policy is poorly defined if the lady on the phone with me said it was 5 hours and someone else was told it was 3 hours after the luggage arrives at your resort. As far as I'm concerned, the issue is over and done... lesson learned. But I still plan to provide feedback to wdw because I think it's a problem and perhaps my complaint can ultimately help others. (Probably not, but the situation definitely won't improve if no one complains)

 

[jtowntoflorida]

It's interesting to me that it took so long to get your bags, we stayed at All Star Music that same weekend and got ours within a half an hour! However, we did arrive in the morning so that probably had something to do with it

It's really luck of the draw. We had a morning arrival on our trip where we didn't get our luggage until nine hours later...I never, ever expected that, even though on our prior trip we had a 4 hour delay, instead of the touted 3. DME is great...until it's not. And that's why we stopped using it. I hate carrying luggage onto airplanes anyway.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

We are back to Disney does NOT actually do a good job of hotel management. They get away with it by slapping a cute theme on the hotel, but professionally managed, well run hotels... Not their forte. There's a reason I don't pay their pricing any longer!


And on the DIS it's "well the guest is WRONG for expecting service, you should KNOW luggage won't show up until 1 AM"? Really? Don't try to defend poor service by blaming a guest!

 

[Dizjunkieee]

First of all - I am very sorry you had such a rash of less than magical experiences! I am, however, glad that you had a great time in spite of all of that!

Your issue with DME not delivering your bags until so late has me thinking about my upcoming trips. Next month we land at MCO at 5:30pm, which isn't too terribly late so hopefully that won't be a huge issue, but the bigger question I have in my head is around my early March trip, where we will land at about 8:45pm. On top of landing late - we also are only staying one night at POFQ, before transferring to the BW Villas the next day. I had already planned to pack everything we need for that first night and the next morning in our carry on bags so we don't even have to open our checked bags until we get to BWV's. Now I am thinking about whether it would be possible to somehow have the bags delivered to Bell Services at POFQ and just stay there until it is time to transfer in the morning. Does anyone have thoughts on that and whether it is remotely possible?

-Kelly

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I'm glad you enjoyed your trip even with the issues.

I've had upwards of 5 hours to get my DME luggage. I checked in at 4p, went to a park and got back to my room 4 hours later and the luggage wasn't there. I waited another hour before walking to the Bell Services to check on it. They had it but just hadn't "had time" to deliver it to my room.
I took it myself so I could unpack and get to bed. Now I just get it myself at the airport so I don't have to wonder if it made it to my room. If my room isn't ready I just have Bell Services hold it for me.

I've just read a few more comments and it sounds like quite a few of us had fun (not) with DME luggage in the past.

 

[BelleBway]

Your issue with DME not delivering your bags until so late has me thinking about my upcoming trips. Next month we land at MCO at 5:30pm, which isn't too terribly late so hopefully that won't be a huge issue, but the bigger question I have in my head is around my early March trip, where we will land at about 8:45pm. On top of landing late - we also are only staying one night at POFQ, before transferring to the BW Villas the next day. I had already planned to pack everything we need for that first night and the next morning in our carry on bags so we don't even have to open our checked bags until we get to BWV's. Now I am thinking about whether it would be possible to somehow have the bags delivered to Bell Services at POFQ and just stay there until it is time to transfer in the morning. Does anyone have thoughts on that and whether it is remotely possible?

If it was me (after the experience I had), I'd just pick up the bags and take them on the bus myself. But I'd think that if you used the delivery service, you could ask the front desk at POFQ to hold your bags until the morning and put out a "do not disturb" sign on the door. I personally wouldn't have confidence that someone wouldn't bang on my door at 2am in spite of all that.

I am really glad if my experiences will help anyone else with their planning. I wouldn't want anyone to deal with unexpectedly waiting for luggage til really late hours like we did. I've been to WDW tons of times and am obsessive about planning, but the luggage delivery issue truly blindsided me. Even so, I'm not surprised that there are some posts that suggest that maybe I should have known better. Unfortunately, there are a some people out there who ***** and moan about every minor issue and who expect Disney to make OTT gestures to make up for it any time something goes wrong. So it's easy to get cynical about people who complain.

And actually, if that had been my only problem, I probably wouldn't have even bothered posting here about it. I'm pretty mellow about issues when I travel, especially when I'm with my nieces cause it just brings me so much joy to be able to spend time creating memories with them. I mean, I've traveled all over the world and pretty much seen it all- staying at places ranging from dirt cheap to super luxury. One time my luggage didn't make it on the flight from London- I basically shrugged it off as something that was bound to happen eventually- and better than it happened on my way home than on my way en route somewhere. Stuff happens- and as long as it gets addressed, I'm cool. (in this particular case, there was a malfunction somewhere at Heathrow airport, so I understood that there was a legit, unpredictable reason for the problem. Also the airline was apologetic and on top of getting it resolved) But this is honestly the first time I had so many problems on any trip- and it's also one of the shorter trips I've taken.

 

[awalker1015]

Ugh sorry for the issues!

We have only used DME luggage service once and it took at least 5 hours (not sure if exact time because we left for Disney Springs about 5 hours after arrival and were there when we returned later. While it wasn't a monumental issue I would have liked to unpack and organise is before heading to dinner rather than whe we returned at 10pm. That said we have retrieved our own luggage since then and just store it an bell services when we arrive.

 

[kandb]

I don't think you can ever expect luggage on time. Last year we landed (were picking up our own luggage) and we waited over 2 hours for the luggage to come off the plane. There was bad storms/lightning in the area and the baggage handlers could not get the luggage from the plane. A MCO employee told me that a baggage handler had gotten struck by lightning a few weeks before that. Always bring a carryon with you just in case.

 

[jon18uk]

Obviously I know this now. But not everyone reads this board or every thread on it; I generally hang out more on the Asian park boards which are easier to follow because they don't get much traffic.

Also just because this happens doesn't make it right. The printed letter said luggage would be delivered within 3 hrs of resort arrival so I trusted that since I'd never had any problems before with DME. I figured it was like the wdw wait times which usually (but not always) list a worst case scenario.

But apparently the policy is poorly defined if the lady on the phone with me said it was 5 hours and someone else was told it was 3 hours after the luggage arrives at your resort. As far as I'm concerned, the issue is over and done... lesson learned. But I still plan to provide feedback to wdw because I think it's a problem and perhaps my complaint can ultimately help others. (Probably not, but the situation definitely won't improve if no one complains)

I'm not saying you are wrong complaining by the way, just that it's a complaint I've seen many times before.
I agree they need to make it clearer that bags can take 5hrs and maybe the paperwork needs to suggest that for evening arrivals (after 7pm maybe) you may not get luggage until the next day.

 

[pmaurer74]

We have had the same problems with our bags the past few trips. Our bags have arrived at the 5 hours mark around 1am the past several trips. Not comfortable to sleep in jeans or know you will be woken up. This next trip, I plan to pack what I need in the carryon, luckily we do not have an early morning the first day. We have thought about getting our bags ourselves for the next trip and bringing it to the MDE. I asked if the bags could be delivered the next morning and they said no. I don't recall seeing anyone to great our MDE bus the last few trips, ever since they have the auto room notification, however our magic bands almost always never work.

 

[jkh36619]

Renting 1 bedroom timeshares minutes from the parks for cheaper than a Disney value resort is the best decision I have ever made concerning Disney.

 

[MinnieSweetheart]

First of all - I am very sorry you had such a rash of less than magical experiences! I am, however, glad that you had a great time in spite of all of that!

Your issue with DME not delivering your bags until so late has me thinking about my upcoming trips. Next month we land at MCO at 5:30pm, which isn't too terribly late so hopefully that won't be a huge issue, but the bigger question I have in my head is around my early March trip, where we will land at about 8:45pm. On top of landing late - we also are only staying one night at POFQ, before transferring to the BW Villas the next day. I had already planned to pack everything we need for that first night and the next morning in our carry on bags so we don't even have to open our checked bags until we get to BWV's. Now I am thinking about whether it would be possible to somehow have the bags delivered to Bell Services at POFQ and just stay there until it is time to transfer in the morning. Does anyone have thoughts on that and whether it is remotely possible?

-Kelly

I would absolutely pick up my bags at the baggage carrousel and bring them with me on the bus; they have normal luggage storage underneath and can easily accommodate you. The only time I've used DME we landed after 9pm so had no choice, but you are so close to the end of the window and if there is a delay I would worry that something might get missed.

 

[mikedoyleblogger]

None of this has anything to do with a systemic diminution in service, and none of your response sounds particularly "mellow" to me. You could have easily asked the resort CM at the DME stop for a map or walked the 30 seconds to the front desk from the DME stop to get one--online check-in information clearly indicates that check-in packets are available at the front desk at the online check-in counter, not at the bus stop. You got sassed by the DME phone CM because there was no reason to call multiple times to complain to her--she didn't have a magic wand. You pulled yourself out of the late-night hold queue for pizza in a 3,000-room resort on a rainy peak weekend on your own--had you waited, instead of wasting time complaining to the front desk and then refusing to be returned to the queue, you'd have eaten.

You could have reviewed your bonus FP+, which I would note you got as a reward for indicating to the front desk that you were too important to wait your turn in a phone queue like everyone else, in MDE before leaving your resort in the morning--complaining about the location where MK guest services has sat for the past 45 years is ridiculous. And they may have pulled your express checkout to make sure you visited the front desk in case you had more issues to address on your final night--given that you reported issues to the front desk or to guest services repeatedly throughout your stay. Just because you may expect everything to be perfect doesn't mean that CMs aren't dong their jobs.

 

[BelleBway]

Cool, it's acceptable now to get luggage at 1am (which is longer than advertised) and be on hold for an advertised service for 20 minutes or more. Glad I know that now! Next time, if luggage gets delivered at 3am or I am on hold for hours, I will just patiently smile and sing "It's a Small World" over and over. Because Disney is always right and there is nothing they can ever do to improve! I should obviously just wait however long they take for any service and be happy about it! And Disney should never staff more people on a peak weekend- guests should just wait longer because it's their silly choice to travel only when their kids (or nieces) don't have school!

I never expect things to be perfect- I hope they are as advertised or that at least someone apologizes. I definitely expected the pizza delivery to take awhile- but I expected someone to at least answer the phone within 5 minutes or so (and I gave them quadruple that time; I'd expect within 1 minute on a non-busy day) and then provide an accurate estimate for delivery (which I did not expect to be anything close to instant). And where did I ever say it was "late night"? It was around 8pm- a time I'd expect to be heavily staffed since it's a peak weekend. I do not think anyone should wait on hold for 20 minutes at any hotel anywhere- it's not about me being special, it's about acceptable levels of service. I work in a company with a call center and they are constantly evaluating their answer times- a 20 minute answer time with one of our clients would never fly, no matter how busy a day. 20 minutes is a seriously long time to be on hold- but maybe others enjoy hold music more than I do.

Also this is an exact quote from the email I received with my resort room number: "Don’t forget, if you already have your MagicBand, you can go directly to your room without stopping at the front desk! Our Bell Services team will be available to assist you with your luggage upon arrival." So I asked the gentleman I saw for assistance on what I should do, and he just pointed (the wrong way at first) and didn't even suggest getting a map. Not everyone knows there are maps of the resort readily available- and I'd seen one online so I knew the location of the building. My last arrival at Pop (which was also Labor Day weekend so it's a suitable comparison although it was earlier in the day), I recall multiple CM's by the bus stop- and someone was blowing bubbles- it was a more magical welcome. Likewise, I have many great memories of arriving to other resorts with a big Disney welcome. Nonetheless, I completely wouldn't have given this a second thought if it hadn't been for other issues.

Having worked in customer service, I was never attacking, raising my voice, or cursing. I raised my issues calmly and gently, so there was no need for anyone to feel threatened or start sassing me. And obviously Disney can make mistakes (as we've established, they have no standards they need to reach since they are always right) but heaven forbid a guest call DME twice (over the course of an hour or so) when feeling tired and frustrated. Maybe Disney is only for perfect people who lack emotions. Unfortunately, I'm human and maybe I sometimes don't have the perfect response to a situation- so obviously DME was right to sass me for my questions and for wanting the service that was advertised. Also I realize I said that I called "a few" times, but it was only twice to DME and I'm pretty sure I spoke to 2 different people. I talked to the front desk once as well but that was only to vent after being sassed- and again, I was tired and frustrated- and the CM was empathetic; I have no issues with her. I know she couldn't do anything but I just needed to vent because, as I said, I am human and sometimes feel emotions.

And how stupid am I for reviewing the FP+ at night and not again the next morning (when we were busy packing)?! I actually can't even say for sure that I didn't see them in the morning because we were so busy I literally don't remember if I checked or not. I only know that the first time I didn't see them was when we were at the entrance to Splash Mountain. So they could have disappeared at any time. But obviously I should have been checking every second.

I never said that the CM's are not doing their jobs and specifically said that virtually all of those I saw in person were all amazing. (I would even go so far as to praise the CM at Splash for his positive attitude and handing of the situation even though he rightfully wouldn't let us into the FP queue- which may be shockingly charitable of me considering I apparently think I'm a special snowflake for whom no rules apply and that everyone should do my bidding...) It's not their fault if the resort is not staffed appropriately. Any one or two of these experiences I'd have brushed off as too trivial to post about- it just seemed like a lot to happen in short time. Others may disagree- such is life.

 

[mikedoyleblogger]

Expecting an apology whenever things don't go exactly as advertised is the definition of expecting perfection. You clearly expected perfection out of the CMs with whom you engaged, and out of your WDW experience this trip, and from my reading of your original post, it sounds like you were very annoyed when you didn't get it. Personally, I think the way you chose to react to the issues you experienced set you up for further disappointment. I hope your next trip goes better.

 

[A Mickeyfan]

Did I read the post correctly that your niece was up since 5:30am and you were upset about the delay in luggage but you took her to Disney Springs till midnight? So in actuality, you waited an hour at the room for the luggage, correct?

 

[BelleBway]

I mean... if when things go wrong, I expect people to acknowledge that there is a problem and apologize... I guess I expect perfection? I thought expecting perfection would mean not tolerating that things can sometimes go wrong...

In all my WDW trips, I can only remember calling WDW guest services with problems a total of 2 times before this trip (FWIW those were for a lightbulb not working and a problem with the bathtub in the room- 2 different trips) So, I don't know, either I've somehow morphed into a rabid complainer or the service I received on this 3 night trip was actually legit worse than I've ever experienced before. *shrug*

ETA: I'd understand the negativity toward my post more if I'd said that Disney ruined my trip or that Disney owed me something. I opened the post by saying that I had a fabulous trip. None of the problems impacted us beyond the immediate time when they were an issue- we weren't constantly complaining and moaning at all. In fact, some of them we almost totally shrugged off at the time, but they came back to me later as additional experiences where there I felt was room for improvement. I just felt that, in spite of an overall wonderful time, there were quite a number of things that could have been improved that could have helped guests make better decisions or avoid some frustration. Since I don't have any immediate WDW trips planned in my future, any feedback I provide would be out of concern for providing a better experience for other guests. But feel free to judge me as someone who had a miserable trip because I expected perfection if that makes you somehow happy.

 

[BelleBway]

Did I read the post correctly that your niece was up since 5:30am and you were upset about the delay in luggage but you took her to Disney Springs till midnight? So in actuality, you waited an hour at the room for the luggage, correct?

According to the MDE literature, the bags would be delivered by midnight. So we could either sit around and wait for them, or go out with the expectation that they'd be delivered by the time of our return. Either way, it was 9pm and we had to eat dinner. She is 15 and usually stays up til around 11:30 and I let her make the call as to whether she wanted to eat at the food court or at Disney Springs. We ended up taking longer than intended at Disney Springs for various reasons- but I knew it might take until midnight for the luggage to be delivered anyway. As is normal for Disney or after a long day, we felt drained by the time we returned at midnight and we were mentally ready to collapse into bed. It's probably irrelevant what time she got up, as I was equally tired and I'd awakened at around 9.

The bags wouldn't have been delivered any more quickly if we'd stayed in the room the whole time. (I still wouldn't have called down until midnight to check on them, because that's the promised delivery window) I already stated that if I had to make the decision with 20/20 hindsight, I'd have picked the bags up at the airport myself.

The fact that I have learned some lessons myself doesn't make it any more right in my mind that luggage should be delivered after 1am in general, or that the delivery estimate in the literature ("up to 3 hours from arrival") differs from what I was told on the phone ("it can take 5 hours from arrival")- the latter distinction being my primary concern. If it's normal to take 5 hours, then just put that in the letter so guests can make a more informed decision.

 

[miamimi]

OP, I don't think your expectations were unrealistc. Sorry for the problems, but I hope your trip was fantastic!

 

[mickeyluv'r]

I absolutely need to check a bag because of sunscreen, which can't be in a carry on. But I like the idea of asking them to hold the bag. I usually fly in early in the morning so I've never had that problem before.

Sunscreen can be carry-on if you get the right kinds. I hear you though. The spray stuff is definitely fastest.

We used to use ME. The last time we did ME+checked bags, we got to the hotel and realized we were stuck until we had our bags. I'd worn cheap flip flops ( for TSA check), that weren't good for Epcot's distance walking. After that we picked up our bags.

We now realize we prefer our own car. I don't mind the monorail or boats when they are running, but we have had a number of bad experiences with the buses: waits over 45minutes and too many problematic guests. At the end of the day when I'm tired, I have little patience left for inconsiderate people.

I was in FL for a week in August. I brought a few sunscreen options that were under the 3 ounce rule: a chapstick style one, a 3 ounce bottle, and a 3 ounce foil packet. They would have been plenty, but we stopped for water/snacks, so I also got a can of spray-on sunscreen. I only carry the chapstick style in the parks! Super light and compact!