Late Magical Express Question

[AshleyMWC]

My mom and I will be catching a late flight into Orlando, and I was wondering people's experiences with this and Magical Express. We will probably arrive at MCO around 10:45 PM, and I knwo that the luggage takes a few hours to arrive at the room. I am kind of worried that our luggage will come just as we have fallen asleep, so here's my question (although I am guessing the answer is no): Is it possible to use DME and pull your own luggage off the carousel and board WITH it on the bus? I guess that would be self defeating, but it sure would be great for us on this trip! We will only have one suitcase each, and we don't mind getting ourself and stowing it under the bus. Any other suggestions/tips would be great

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

We will probably arrive at MCO around 10:45 PM, and I knwo that the luggage takes a few hours to arrive at the room. I am kind of worried that our luggage will come just as we have fallen asleep, so here's my question (although I am guessing the answer is no): Is it possible to use DME and pull your own luggage off the carousel and board WITH it on the bus?

Yes, it's possible to throw away the yellow tags, retrieve your own bags at baggage claim, and take them to the DME motorcoach (where the driver will store them in the luggage hold for you and unload them at your resort).

The question is whether that's a good idea or not. Here a couple of recent threads that debate this subject:

http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1324977

http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1286891

 

[CleveRocks]

You can do what I planned to do when we were set to fly in around 10:00 p.m.

I never fly ANYWHERE without taking the first 24 hours of supplies in my carry-on, just in case the AIRLINE delays my luggage. So we planned to ask the Front Desk AND Bell Services to have our DME luggage held until morning. Since we'd have our first 24 hours of stuff with us, it didn't matter when the luggage came. This way, we didn't have to waste time waiting at baggage claim, and didn't have to be concerned about being awakened in the middle of the night.

The only problem with my plan was that I forgot to request to have the luggage held 'til morning. We arrived at POFQ around 11:00 p.m., and at 1:16 p.m. we got a phone call asking if we wanted the luggage delivered now or wait 'til morning.

So in other words, you can have the best of both worlds if you want, skip baggage claim AND not get woken up at 2:00 a.m.!

Even if you decide to claim your checked bags yourself, PLEASE do yourself a favor and pack a carry-on with your immediate needs, anyway. This will protect and help you in case of any airline-based luggage delays. Like I said, I do this no matter where I fly.