Magical Express fears

[Tiggers&Springs]

I did receive an email back from WDW, cuz I was very concerned about
the 1 tag p/p a couple days ago. the email said we get 2 ME tags p/p,
and they, as well as pertinent info, will be mailed out approx 3 weeks
prior to WDW arrival.

Ok, from the sound of it, some WDW reps may still be learning how this works. From what you're saying, ME tags will be mailed separately from the rest of your vouchers. Thanks for clearing this up!

 

[BettyCv]

We are arriving 5/15. There are five of us (2 adults, 3 children). We received SIX luggage tags. I called them immediately, and after being transferred to Guest Relations, was told that they were simply "complimentary" luggage tags that I had the option of using. The woman I spoke to suggested using them for our carryons. The luggage tags had a blue background, and an "abstract" drawing of the castle, and the words "Walt Disney Travel Company". I was told these are NOT the ME tags. I was told that the ME tags will have a barcode, as others here mentioned, and that there will be two per person.

Betty

 

[CaseyJr]

I was told that there are 2 ME "tags" per person (because of the 2 bag per passenger airline thing), and that these come to you about 2-3 weeks before your trip. They are not the same as the "Tinkerbell" tags, which are just a nice little perk for using DISNEY.

We will have to change planes once before we arrive at MCO. The CM making our ressies said they needed to know which airport we were coming from (our connecting flight into Orlando rather than where our trip originated). But that doesn't make sense, as it's the flight number they look at, right?

 

[seashoreCM]

My concern would be with a late flight, many of the guests may even be staying at an airport hotel.

This may not be permitted. Baggage is supposedly transferred directly to your room and if you have no room reserved for that night, that might pose a problem.

Will Disney be dispatching vans to take a few guests, combine routes or make guests wait an hour or more for the remaining flights to land? Prehaps there are only a handful of people on my flight but there is an international flight due to land an hour later with a lot of guests.

I would not be surprised if some guests are assigned to regular Mears buses (but not charged a fare on the spot).

 

[Lewisc]

This may not be permitted. Baggage is supposedly transferred directly to your room and if you have no room reserved for that night, that might pose a problem.

I would not be surprised if some guests are assigned to regular Mears buses (but not charged a fare on the spot).

My point was the opposite, there might not be many guests on the late flights taking ME leaving Disney with fewer guests to transport. I was wondering if Disney would be using vans, making guests wait or combining routes. Time will tell.

I wouldn't think Mears would be running very many regular buses to WDW. They'll need some for SOG and S/D but really the only reason to take Mears is if you forget to make a reservation 10 days in advance. I wouldn't be shocked if the opposite occurred, Mears using ME buses for those very few customers.

 

[TDC Nala]

I'm waiting to see how this one turns out.

I am staying one night at POFQ with a friend, who booked the room in her name and added mine to it later on. My friend flies in from Providence on May 11th. I fly in from Washington D.C. on the 13th. WDW says they will send each of us luggage tags. If they're supposed to be read by a barcode I hope we end up getting the right ones, but I suppose my friend will be the one to find that out.

Mears is currently using the Magical Express buses for their regular service. I rode one back to the airport last Monday.

 

[CleveRocks]

What we were told by the rep was that they will use the barcode on the AIRPORT routing tag. They are only sending the Vacation tags (Tinkerbell) to flag the bags. There is no actual ME routing tags. If this is not true, I've been misinformed!

You were very misinformed. The blue Disney tags with Tinkerbell on it are just regular, run of the mill Disney luggage tags. They have NOTHING TO DO WITH DISNEY'S MAGICAL EXPRESS.

There are separate, distinct DME luggage tags, and you will receive two per person. You receive two per person because airlines only allow two checked bags per person, and any bag that you want transported by DME MUST have one of those special DME tags on it. Got that so far?

Let's review: blue Tinkerbell tags? Nice that they sent them, but people who traveled months ago, when DME wasn't around, still got those same tags. Special DME tags: will be sent to you starting no sooner than 21 days prior to your arrival. If you don't have those special tags on each piece of checked luggage, the bag will go the regular luggage carousel and not on the DME truck to your resort.

I'm leaving May 8, returning late on May 14, I'll post my experiences on May 15.

-- Eric

 

[monarchsfan16]

So, here's a question that hasn't been answered yet on this thread and I'm too lazy to search for (sorry).
Will the ME service continue running after the 50th celebration? I doubt we'll get back to WDW before that ends, but it would be nice to know for future trips.
Also, out of curiousity...what happens if the airline loses the luggage?

 

[buckylarue]

Maybe the first person to actually get their DME luggage tags can post a pic of them, to help clear the confusion! (We didn't use WDTC to book, so we won't get the Tink tags, and aren't going until the end of May, so won't have our DME tags for awhile yet, but if nobody else posts a pic of them before we get ours, I'll do it!)

 

[Lewisc]

You receive two per person because airlines only allow two checked bags per person

Actually Jet Blue and SW allow 3 checked bags per passenger and I think other airlines allow 3, at least for their elite members.

 

[safetymom]

WDW is only saying that ME will be free for the celebration. After the 50th anniv celebration ends I guess Disney will look at the program and decide if it is worth keeping it free or charging for the service.

 

[localdriver]

[QUOTE but if nobody else posts a pic of them before we get ours, I'll do it!)[/QUOTE]

How do you post a pic??? Ive wanted to, but can't figure it out.

 

[bugsy]

I was told that there are 2 ME "tags" per person (because of the 2 bag per passenger airline thing), and that these come to you about 2-3 weeks before your trip. They are not the same as the "Tinkerbell" tags, which are just a nice little perk for using DISNEY.

We will have to change planes once before we arrive at MCO. The CM making our ressies said they needed to know which airport we were coming from (our connecting flight into Orlando rather than where our trip originated). But that doesn't make sense, as it's the flight number they look at, right?

They had me give them my originating flight #, in fact, I asked if they
wanted my west coast flight #, or my connecting flight to MCO #. When
I do receive my tags, I will be sure to check, as I would imagine will
everyone else!

 

[Alice Sr.]

I'm glad there will be a good idea of how it's going before we go in June. I'm not really worried about getting to or from the airport. I'm just worried about not having a rental car once we get there. I think I'm going to reserve one, I can always cancel. I hope they take in account the larger number of people that will rely on Disney's in-park transportation. The reason we rent a car is because we never seemed to be in sync with their transportation system, you know the bus pulls away just as you get there

 

[bugsy]

I'm glad there will be a good idea of how it's going before we go in June. I'm not really worried about getting to or from the airport. I'm just worried about not having a rental car once we get there. I think I'm going to reserve one, I can always cancel. I hope they take in account the larger number of people that will rely on Disney's in-park transportation. The reason we rent a car is because we never seemed to be in sync with their transportation system, you know the bus pulls away just as you get there

you read my mind alice sr. I was wrapping up the last of my ps ressies for
May (I rearranged and actually got better times! ) and the CM
told me that to go from the epcot area to DTD I should allow 1 hour at a
minimum I asked her if we could take a taxi if need be..then I
thought, well, if I have to either 1) take a $15-$20 taxi ride a couple of
times in our seven days, or) spend at least 2 hours for the round trips to
DTD (2 ps dinners) THEN the time "commuting" around the parks the
rest of the time...that rental is starting to look like a very good idea!
seems to me you could, in effect, burn up a whole day as a total of
the lost time!! seven days is a while, but it isn't so much time to waste!

 

[DisneyDreamer2]

The CM I talked to only wanted the connecting flight info and not our origination/final destination info as well. My only concern is that we just changed resorts and our ME tags should already be on their way. the CM said the old res at pop and the new one at por are linked so I'll get it. I think I might spray paint my resort name on the luggage though just to be sure

 

[skiwee1]

And speaking of the tags, they will only give you one tag per person. When asked about this, the rep said that's because the airlines only allow one checked piece pp. He might be right, but that sounded odd to me -- I guess I've lost track of the baggage allowances!

Airtran allows 2 pieces of checked luggage per person. When I called today to inquite about this one tag person I was told it was two tags per person. I hope so as it would be pretty awful if th airlines lets you bring the luggage but the bus won't!

 

[thedish]

We are leaving on May 7th and have not received any tags. We were also told that upon leaving Disney we have to depart 3 hours before our plane leaves.