Magical express did not get us home!!

[maxiesmom]

I don't think the drivers should wait for anyone to show up..they wait their alloted time and then pull away. It's not fair to make others, who are on-time, wait.

I agree with you whole-heartedly. We once sat on a ME bus waiting on a mom who had to run back to the food court to fill up her mug and get some snacks. Waiting for late people is a load of garbage! If you are not at the bus stop ready to go you should be left behind. It is not right to put a bunch of other people in jeopardy of missing their flights because you are either self-centered or stupid.

OP--I feel I have to add that you are not supposed to fly with a sick child. It really wasn't nice of you to expose all of those people, first on the bus, then on the airplane, to a child violently ill with the flu. I'm actually quite suprised they let you on the airplane, as the FAs can deny you a ride home if they see you are ill. While it may not have been an easy thing to do, it sounds like you would have all been happier waiting a few days before trying to get home.

 

[crashbb]

I agree with you whole-heartedly. We once sat on a ME bus waiting on a mom who had to run back to the food court to fill up her mug and get some snacks. Waiting for late people is a load of garbage! If you are not at the bus stop ready to go you should be left behind. It is not right to put a bunch of other people in jeopardy of missing their flights because you are either self-centered or stupid.

OP--I feel I have to add that you are not supposed to fly with a sick child. It really wasn't nice of you to expose all of those people, first on the bus, then on the airplane, to a child violently ill with the flu. I'm actually quite suprised they let you on the airplane, as the FAs can deny you a ride home if they see you are ill. While it may not have been an easy thing to do, it sounds like you would have all been happier waiting a few days before trying to get home.

Especially since (in another post) the OP says her daughter threw up at GF (before getting on the), on the bus, and on the airplane.

Ironic that the OP starts a thread about the lack of consideration by the DME, when she showed none for anyone else (the people exposed to her daughter and the ones she forced off of the bus).

I'm little confused how the OP could have been so confused by the DME, given that (as stated in the OP) this was their third time using it (plus, she had received advice about it in threads before leaving).

 

[Missytara]

OP -I feel I have to add that you are not supposed to fly with a sick child. It really wasn't nice of you to expose all of those people, first on the bus, then on the airplane, to a child violently ill with the flu. I'm actually quite suprised they let you on the airplane, as the FAs can deny you a ride home if they see you are ill. While it may not have been an easy thing to do, it sounds like you would have all been happier waiting a few days before trying to get home.

I was waiting for that to come up. If it had been me, I would have squared away any health issues before I began boarding buses, planes, etc. Who knows what those kids could have had?

Last year, I got what initially appeared to be a very bad head cold on Wednesday morning of my trip. I was to leave Saturday afternoon.

I knew that if I wasn't treated that I was going to end up with bronchitis in about 24 hours and subsequently would not be able to board ME and ultimately fly home.

I went immediately to Centra Care and got anti-biotics, inhaler, etc. and then called the Car Care Center to "tentatively" look into renting a car to drive home for Saturday. It NEVER even crossed my mind in that state that I was in Wednesday night, to board the ME bus and take the plane back - I was geared up to have to drive back to DE.

Sometimes, I don't know what people are thinking????

 

[sam_gordon]

Waiting for late people is a load of garbage! If you are not at the bus stop ready to go you should be left behind. It is not right to put a bunch of other people in jeopardy of missing their flights because you are either self-centered or stupid.

While I agree with you in theory, I think a 5 minute "slop" time isn't too bad. Of course, that time can be factored into the schedule (ex: it takes 10 minutes to go from AKL to GF for example. Departure time scheduled @ AKL for 5:10 and arrival time @ GF for 5:25).

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

The 3 hour rule is hard and fast. There is NO grace period. Your bags MUST be there on time. And you must allow time for a LINE. Apparently you expected to just go directly to the front check your luggage and jump on the bus. And when there was a line you expected to be "moved to the front" becausae you didn't plan ahead?

The directions say READY to board the bus 15 minutes before pick up time, not trying to check luggage

Blaming ME because you didn't pay attention IMHO is bad. Not to mention, they got you on the next bus! So the title is apparently inaccurate and just designed to stir things up????

And 11 bags.... were you moving to Disney? I get that it's about 5 people but that's still a LOT of luggage.

(the Three hour time limit is so that your bags can get to the plane on time too. Otherwise this post would be "Disney lost my luggage")

 

[azdizzymom]

I don't think anyone is being harsh on the OP.
Everything is clear on how to check out and OP didn't read or care enough to follow the guidelines.
OP should have had bags check earlier and not missed the bus in the first place.
If I had been the family 'kicked off' the bus I would have been furious.
OP did show lack of consideration for everyone by flying with a sick child and exposing everyone on the bus to the virus the child had and whatever else they all had.
The best thing would have been to take a taxi to the airport and learned a lesson ...

Title is horrible also....read this expecting horror story blamed on ME. This is horror story to be blamed on OP. ME got OP to airport. Employees went out of the way to get OP on the ME even though they didn't have to. What more do you expect.....appears OP doesn't like the responses getting and doesn't care to reply.

 

[TDC Nala]

I too opened this thread thinking the OP missed their flight, which it appears they did not.

Agreed this is a disconnect between the OP's understanding of the timing of the baggage check-in as opposed to the actual bus pick-up. The bag check-in is a separate service and should be done well in advance of the bus pickup, and the bus won't wait for you if you are in the baggage line (I don't think you can even check your bags in that late).

 

[sndral]

I have this theory that one person's pixie dust is another person's nightmare - DME bus drivers waiting for dawdling, disorganized, late groups results in everyone else being late and perhaps missing a planned snack/meal @ the gate before a several hour flight or worse - the idiots get pixie dusted by being allowed to board or waited for despite their failure to follow the rules resulting in the rule followers being inconvenienced/punished. If I had been the people not allowed to board because of OP's mistakes I too would have been furious, absolutely no excuse for Disney to treat these innocent bystanders that way. Hopefully they were hoping to catch a bus earlier than their officially scheduled one.

 

[ccgirl]

Not to mention...the children were already sick before flying down so she exposed people to her sick children both ways. OP - you should edit the title of your thread. I know it is very difficult with sick children. My son has asthma and I had to bring his nebulizer just in case he picked something up. Luckily, he didn't (glad I wasn't on your plane). As inconvenient as it was, I would probably would have considered driving back home to Louisiana rather than expose everyone, and make your child so uncomfortable sick. Plus, they were sick before you left so I'm not sure why you have a thread about picking up a bug from Mickey.

As others have pointed out, ME did more than enough to accommodate you. As other have indicated, I, too, would be furious if I was the other family not let on the bus. Next time, be better prepared. Sorry, but you have nobody to blame on this one but yourself.

 

[andymattmom]

This was our third time using ME and I had never had a problem before. On the day of our departure (12-11-10) we were told to be down at the ME counter at the GF 15mins early. We were all there on time. Me, DH, 3DDs, and 3 grandparents. We were asked be the staff when our plane was departing. They said "oh, good you have plenty of time" We were the 4th or so family in line.
Oh, forgot to mention me, DH and DD5 woke up with a nasty stomach virus and poor lil DD5 was puking in the GF gardens. Me and DH felt TERRIBLE and here we are waiting in this line thinking ME will take care of us.
My parents get up to the front and we are informed that we missed our bus. WHAT??? How does this happen??? One of the ME workers (female named Joe) smiled and said "oops"
We were told they could no longer check us or our bags in b/c we were flying Southwest and could not check in less than 3hrs from our departure (we were 5 mins past that). They refused to take our bags and told us to get on the bus that was in front of the hotel. That was it!! Then they just turned away from us. They were the reason we missed our bus. They were the ones who made us wait in the line and assured us we had plenty of time. We dragged our 11 bags and puking child to the bus and the driver felt bad and gave us the last seats on his bus. The people who were supposed to have those seats were not happy but we were late at this point.
We had to wait in the SW line with our bags, check us and everything else in and bring DD5 to the bathroom a few times. We finally made it home.
Sorry to vent BUT I want everyone to be aware that ME does not care if they mess up or you miss a bus or a flight. DO NOT depend on them!!! I may have been a little more attentive to the schedule if I had not been sick as a dog but I really thought they would take care of us. They were not appologetic or helpful in any way. I am going to submit my complaint but I am sure they will not care!

First, ME did not mess up...you did.
Second, you did not care about anyone around you exposing them to the illness your child, yourself and husband had.
Third, you didn't care about the family whose seats you took on the bus.

ME did nothing wrong and you certainly have NOTHING to complain about. They got you to the airport on time. You didn't read the packet on when you were to be down their for the bus. What did you think was going to happen to the bags....you knew you had to be at bus 15 minutes before it was to leave. YOU DIDN'T TAKE INTO ACCOUNT CHECKING YOUR BAGS...THAT IS YOUR PROBLEM NOT ME. The employees went above and beyond to get you and your puking kid on a bus....leaving another family to be late like you were. The people who have a right to complain are the family whose seats you took and those you exposed to the illness you and your family had.

Don't ask for sympathy here as I doubt you will get much. You were in the wrong and can't blame anyone but yourself.

Sorry for being blunt but....that is the way it is..

 

[LIFERBABE]

ME has always been great for me! I missed my bus one time and they worked a miracle to get me to the airport.

Used it last week, and it works as prescribed. I have never missed a flight because of ME and they have more than earned my trust as a reliable source of transporation.

 

[seashoreCM]

Shoot to be back at your resort an hour before your Magical Express bus time.

If you have an ill and puking kid, that is one of the myriads of reasons that may cause your aim to be off. Had you not aimed to be back an hour in advance, your actual return at your resort after numerous bathroom and cleanup breaks could well be after your bus time.

Being in the luggage check line does not count as being on time for your DME bus. If T-15 comes and your luggage is not done, then abort the resort check in and schlep the luggage to the bus.

I have not found any recorded instances of someone who followed directions and missed his plane. Therefore I can safely assume that DME somehow worked, or at least took care of its guests, 100.0% of the time.

 

[tink1969]

Forget about the baggage and being late for bus.....why did OP take her very sick family on a public bus and airplane? That is so damn inconsiderate. It's amazing what some people do.

 

[Nancy F]

We always take all our bags with us on ME when we are leaving and never had a problem. I don't let them send my bags to the airport. And I always check in myself.

 

[goofy4tink]

This tread has pretty much served it's purpose...closing it down now before it gets contentious.