Luggage delivery & Magical Express etc...

[trailmix71]

Traveling during Spring Break to Disney resort. Plane arrives at 5:15pm. I have read some older threads that recommend putting on the ME tags, but then getting your own luggage and taking it to the ME check-in, so that your luggage stays with you. Seems like a hassle!

But we have heard it can take 4-6 hrs, maybe more, to have your luggage brought to your room. Is this still the case or has ME improved a bit?
We'll pack our essentials in a carryon, just in case too.

also...

we have resort dining reservations at 9:10pm, think we will be ok time wise? I figure we will get to the hotel by 6:30, express-check in by 7pm and then we will have a couple of hours to spare before dinner. Is this doable?

Thanks!

 

[sambisc]

Our luggage was delivered to our room within an hour after check-in.

 

[maxiesmom]

Disney plans on you having your luggage in your room within 3 hours of your check in time. However, during busy times of year they can stretch that to 4 or 5 hours. Spring Break counts as one of those busy times of year.

If you feel more comfortable handling your own luggage, do not put the yellow tags on them. If you do, they won't make it to the luggage carousel. Leave the tags off, go the carousel and grab them, and take them to the DME bus with you. The bus driver will store them under the bus, and then give them back to you when you get to your resort. It is customary to tip the driver a dollar or two for each bag they handle.

For me, having Disney handle my luggage is a huge part of what I think makes DME great. You hand it off at your home airport, and it shows up in your room. It is awesome! Even if you decide to handle your own luggage it is good sense to pack enough stuff in your carryon bag to get thru 24 hours. So a change of clothes, and whatever else you have to have. Medicines should never be placed in checked bags, so always have those in your carryon. That is because the airline is way more likely to misdirect your bags than Disney is.

I think you will have time to make your dinner, but you may not have a ton of time. Depending on how busy the buses are, how many stops the bus you are on makes, and which stop your resort happens to be, it could be a longer trip than you are thinking. But unless your plane is late you should make your ADR, no problem.

 

[goofy4tink]

If you put the DME yellow tags on your bags?? You won't see them again until you get to your room. These bags are pulled as soon as they come off the plane. They never make it to the baggage claim area. So, if you want to have your bags with you, leave the tags off them, go to baggage claim and get them and bring them to the bus with you.
If your flight lands, ontime, at 5:15, you can expect to be at your resort by 7ish....average time is running about 70-75 mins from gate to resort. Your bags should be delivered to your room up to 3-4 hrs after resort checkin...so you should have them by 11pm or so.

Dinner ADR at 9:10??? Should be okay. But, where are you staying and where is the ADR at? That makes all the difference in the world.

 

[trailmix71]

We are staying at the Polynesian; does this help us at all time wise?

 

[maxiesmom]

We are staying at the Polynesian; does this help us at all time wise?

Only if you are eating at the Poly too. DME can be quick as can be, or it can be pretty slow. There is no way of knowing what you will run into ahead of time. The buses don't follow the same route all of the time, so there is no way of knowing if the Poly will be the first stop or the fourth. It just depends.

 

[bgirl29]

We are staying at the Polynesian; does this help us at all time wise?

Where are you eating? At the Polynesian? Then I would think you will be just fine. If you need to change clothes before dinner I would have them in your carryon then you dont have to worry about getting your luggage first.

 

[P00H1010]

Traveling during Spring Break to Disney resort. Plane arrives at 5:15pm. I have read some older threads that recommend putting on the ME tags, but then getting your own luggage and taking it to the ME check-in, so that your luggage stays with you. Seems like a hassle!

But we have heard it can take 4-6 hrs, maybe more, to have your luggage brought to your room. Is this still the case or has ME improved a bit?
We'll pack our essentials in a carryon, just in case too.

also...

we have resort dining reservations at 9:10pm, think we will be ok time wise? I figure we will get to the hotel by 6:30, express-check in by 7pm and then we will have a couple of hours to spare before dinner. Is this doable?

Thanks!

We have done Magical Express twice, we used the bus to take us to our resort as well as luggage delivery. We have not had a problem, although I can not say when the luggage arrived in our rooms as we are generally at the parks all day and arrive back in our rooms later at night.

You don't have to take advantage of the luggage delivery if you do not wish to. You can still use to bus to get to your resort and handle your own luggage if you prefer.
* If you wish to do the luggage delivery, when checking your bag(s) at the airport make sure you have the yellow Magical Express tags attached. When you arrive at MCO take your carry on items with you and head down to the Magical Express section of the airport. Since Magical Express will be handling your checked bag(s) you bypass baggage claim. Upon arriving at the Magical Express station, you sign in at a podium and get in line for the bus.
* If you wish to handle your own luggage do not attach the yellow Magical Express tags to your checked bag(s). When you arrive at MCO take your carry on items and head to baggage claim. Retrieve your luggage and then proceed to the Magical Express section.

As far as your ADR, as long as your flight is on time I don't think you'll have a problem. But keep in mind resorts share Magical Express buses. You might not be taken directly to your resort, you mind have to stop at another resort or 2 first. Luckily both times we have used Magical Express our resort was the first stop.

 

[CamoMama]

We went in February, along with 20,000 cheerleaders which we were not aware would be there. We got off the plane at 4:50pm and arrived at CBR within half an hour of that. When our luggage had not arrived by 10pm I called and was told that because of the cheerleaders my luggage wouldn't arrive until the following morning. I explained that this is unacceptable, they knew the cheerleaders were going to be there and should not have assured me that my luggage would arrive within 3 hours. We had taken a change of clothes and toiletries with us in our carry on, but that was beside the point. The airline didn't lose my luggage, there wasn't an unforeseen problem and no one told me about it until I called 5 hours later. They said that they could drop my luggage off in my room as soon as it arrived if I wanted, which would be late, I agreed to that as I wanted to unpack before we went to the park on our first day. It finally arrived at 12:30am, after 20,000 cheerleaders had already received their luggage. I was pretty angry and was repeatedly told that there was nothing they could do, and that I just had to deal with it.

So I guess the moral of the story is to make sure there are no conferences coming in at the same time you are if you want your luggage on the same day that you arrive without having to stay up half the night to get it. What irked me the most was that I had checked crowd calendars and other things and repeatedly found our dates to be the lowest crowd levels of the year and no mention whatsoever anywhere that I could find of a competition or conference until after our trip when I was told "oh yeah, the cheerleading competition happens every year at that time".