Magical Express for overseas visitors arriving on a domestic flight

[eurasian81]

Hi All

I thought I would share our experience for you. We travelled from Australia but before coming to WDW spent a week in CT for Thanksgiving.

If coming from overseas, I strongly recommend listing a US address on your Disney booking as we had done on prior visits and collecting your documents from the hotel/relatives etc you are visiting before WDW.

For this visit, we listed our Australian address which meant:

- No luggage tags and other information sent to us before we left (it was waiting at our hotel).
- We used the magical express service and as instructed provided the staff with the baggage claim tags as we were assured that they would still deliver the bags to our room).

Unfortunately, because there isn't a big yellow tag that they can grab, I guess they are trolling through the unclaimed bags in the airport to find ours because we arrived a 1pm and the first bag was in our room when we got back to the hotel at 10pm but the second bag took 3 phone calls, a delivery of a bag that wasn't ours and other 2 hours to locate.

Lesson learnt, Magical express baggage delivery is great if you have the luggage tags (ie a US address). Otherwise, it may be safer and quicker to claim the bags yourself.

 

[seashoreCM]

1. You can claim the bags yourself at the carousel and bring them to the Magical Express area.

2. You can create a facsimile yellow tag (unfortunately I don't have a model on a web site for folks to print screen (requires a color printer) and glue to a piece of cardboard at this moment).

3. Let's start a fad! Make up 4x6 inch (10x15 cm) index cards each with the same 3 digit number (or 3 letters) in big print. Fasten two to each piece of baggage. When you tell the Magical Express desk clerk and show him your baggage claim tickets you can also mention that number.

 

[Flossbolna]

2. You can create a facsimile yellow tag (unfortunately I don't have a model on a web site for folks to print screen (requires a color printer) and glue to a piece of cardboard at this moment).

Wouldn't it be an idea for ME to provide exactly that?

OP, I am sorry that you had that much trouble!

I think another way to get those tags is to book through an US-based travel agency. We used a TA and she mailed us all our documents including the ME tags to Germany.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Wouldn't it be an idea for ME to provide exactly that?

Well, no. It's the mailing cost plus that most international visitors - especially those whose first destination is Walt Disney World - need to collect their own luggage for Customs. If Disney were going to send out anything, it'd be actual tags - not facsimiles.

 

[Lewisc]

Wouldn't it be an idea for ME to provide exactly that?

OP, I am sorry that you had that much trouble!

I wonder if Disney could send out generic yellow tags. Scan the bar code on the airline luggage tag. That might require scanning the guests claim tickets at the DME desk. Might not work, I suspect a lot of passengers won't have the tags available.

Well, no. It's the mailing cost plus that most international visitors - especially those whose first destination is Walt Disney World - need to collect their own luggage for Customs. If Disney were going to send out anything, it'd be actual tags - not facsimiles.

Disney could mail the tags to international guests who request them.

 

[kaytieeldr]

But Lewis - if Disney's going to send out 'generic' yellow tags, doesn't it make more sense for them to just send out the actual tags?

I agree, Disney will send the DME packet on request to international addresses; they just don't make this information widely available.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Disney could mail the tags to international guests who request them.

I know Canada is not technically overseas like the OP is, however we are still considered to be an International country so we can not take advanatge of the RAC when going back to Orlando International Airport, however when flying down there we can get the yellow luggage tags mailed to us. Although since the major Canadian airports have United States border preclearance we can go through US Customs in Canada and when we land at Orlando International Airport it would be like any other Domestic flight arriving from the United States. So maybe Magical Express realizes that and that's why they can mail them.

 

[bavaria]

The OP used the title 'overseas'. That refers to posters like him/her, Flossbolna, and I, along with others.

The last time I looked at crashbb's map, Canada was not overseas from America. (In fact, as a point of trivia, they share the longest non-militarized border in the world) Maybe crashbb needs to post that map too on the thread about the metric system and the location of Alaska and Hawaii!

The USPS charges less to mail items to Canada than to Germany.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

(In fact, as a point of trivia, they share the longest non-militarized border in the world)

I already knew that.

 

[poggs]

Yep. Just like our experience this year. I used ME without the labels as Disney are now too mean/tight to send them to us here in the UK, despite arriving on a domestic continental flight from newark following the connecting flight from edinburgh.

So when I arrived I went to the ME desk and checked in. I handed my baggage claim labels for scan and got on the bus.

6 hours later 3 of my 4 bags turned up. ME were adamant that the other one was not loaded.

4 days later it tuned up. Apparently Me missed it and it went round and round on the carousel for so long the airport put it in storage. Only when I phoned the lost baggage up did I find it.

I will never let ME carry my bags again until/unless I can get the yellow labels on them. now I wait and get them myself and carry to the bus. In fact I think I will just hire a car so I can go out to eat off site from now on. The no tags policy has swung it for me.

 

[Lewisc]

But Lewis - if Disney's going to send out 'generic' yellow tags, doesn't it make more sense for them to just send out the actual tags?

I agree, Disney will send the DME packet on request to international addresses; they just don't make this information widely available.

Sending out a generic yellow tag would be cheaper then having to produce a specific bar coded tag for each guest. My idea would only work if guests had their airline claim check available for scanning. DME would have to scan those tags so they could link that bar code with your reservation number. That's an idea that sounds good but would probably never work.

Ithink Disney should send yellow bar coded tags, upon request, to overseas passengers. I have no idea if Disney would do so.

 

[Lewisc]

Canada is an exception to DME policy. DME mails yellow tags to Canadians. The vast majority of Canadian passengers pre-clear customs at their airport of origination. Overseas passengers may book connecting flights and clear customers prior to landing at MCO. I'll let the experts correct me but I thought at least one airport in Europe is able to (or will be able to) preclear passengers through US customs. Dublin?

I'm sorry if my incomplete information mislead anyone. Any doubt would be ended when the Canadian guest receives his tags in the mail.

This thread talks about overseas visitors. I should have used that designation in my post. I'm sorry if I cause you any confusion.

I know Canada is not technically overseas like the OP is, however we are still considered to be an International country so we can not take advanatge of the RAC when going back to Orlando International Airport, however when flying down there we can get the yellow luggage tags mailed to us. Although since the major Canadian airports have United States border preclearance we can go through US Customs in Canada and when we land at Orlando International Airport it would be like any other Domestic flight arriving from the United States. So maybe Magical Express realizes that and that's why they can mail them.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Canada is an exception to DME policy. DME mails yellow tags to Canadians. The vast majority of Canadian passengers pre-clear customs at their airport of origination. Overseas passengers may book connecting flights and clear customers prior to landing at MCO. I'll let the experts correct me but I thought at least one airport in Europe is able to (or will be able to) preclear passengers through US customs. Dublin?

I'm sorry if my incomplete information mislead anyone. Any doubt would be ended when the Canadian guest receives his tags in the mail.

This thread talks about overseas visitors. I should have used that designation in my post. I'm sorry if I cause you any confusion.

Thanks for clarifying what you previously saying.

 

[Lewisc]

can't delete duplicate post

 

[bumbershoot]

3. Let's start a fad! Make up 4x6 inch (10x15 cm) index cards each with the same 3 digit number (or 3 letters) in big print. Fasten two to each piece of baggage. When you tell the Magical Express desk clerk and show him your baggage claim tickets you can also mention that number.

Wouldn't it be an idea for ME to provide exactly that?

I might be totally wrong, but I read that to mean that Flossbolna was saying Disney should provide the template. Which would actually be a great idea! They provide tons of craft templates at Halloweentime for people to print and cut out of special paper...so they have the technology.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

I'll let the experts correct me but I thought at least one airport in Europe is able to (or will be able to) preclear passengers through US customs. Dublin?

That is almost correct.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_border_preclearance

The U.S. and Ireland entered into a preinspection arrangement in 1986.[3] In Dublin Airport, only immigration checks are performed, with customs and agriculture inspections still done on arrival in the U.S. — therefore passengers from Dublin must still land at international terminals. Full preclearance services are available at Shannon Airport, although not to Aer Lingus passengers as the airline has opted out of using the facilities until T2 is open in Dublin. This will be followed by preclearance facilities at Dublin Airport that will be available when terminal 2, which is currently under construction, opens in 2010. Both airports will have full CBP facilities, which will allow passengers arriving in the U.S. to leave airports upon landing without further inspection.

 

[bavaria]

Canada is an exception to DME policy. DME mails yellow tags to Canadians. The vast majority of Canadian passengers pre-clear customs at their airport of origination. Overseas passengers may book connecting flights and clear customers prior to landing at MCO. I'll let the experts correct me but I thought at least one airport in Europe is able to (or will be able to) preclear passengers through US customs. Dublin?

I'm sorry if my incomplete information mislead anyone. Any doubt would be ended when the Canadian guest receives his tags in the mail.

This thread talks about overseas visitors. I should have used that designation in my post. I'm sorry if I cause you any confusion.

You didn't confuse me Lewis, however the entire discussion was about international passengers arriving from overseas, not from Canada, until a reference was made to something off topic.

Normally I don't care about off topic posts, but in this case it could lead to miscommunication or confusion if anyone actually took that information as factual and applied it to overseas travellers.

Canadian and German and Australian and all other kinds of dirty smelly foreigners are all 'international', but Canadians are not 'overseas', and again the topic at hand is 'overseas travellers'.

 

[Flossbolna]

I might be totally wrong, but I read that to mean that Flossbolna was saying Disney should provide the template. Which would actually be a great idea! They provide tons of craft templates at Halloweentime for people to print and cut out of special paper...so they have the technology.

Thanks! Yes that's what I meant, why not provide an E-Ticket kind of luggage tag that you get if you use online sign up for ME! Of course with all the fun everyone is having with everything web-based Disney provides, who knows if it would work properly!

I have no idea how many European travelers sign up for ME, but can it be so difficult to find a subcontractor in the European Union who prints these tags and mails them for the comparable cheap postage within the European Union out to those travelers? I am sure ME sends out plenty of tags to people within the US who don't get used...

Actually I just tried to check how many direct overseas flights arrive at MCO and it really seems to be only a handful today: one BA, one Lufthansa and four Virgin Atlantic. So I think quite a lot of overseas visitors would not arrive at MCO as their port of entry into the US. But then I am really not sure how large the percentage of overseas visitors to WDW is in general. While there are a number of British people, I am always amazed how nearly free from Germans WDW is. And I can tell you at nearly every other tourist destination you are bound to fall over Germans at every step!!