Jlampley said:
My experience with ME was mixed. We fully enjoyed the bus ride and as many have said it took about an hour to get to the hotel (POPC) from touchdown. However we had an evening flight, touching down at 8:00pm. Our luggage didn't get to our room until 11:30pm. I think it would be fine earlier in the day if your carry-on was properly packed. However, if we find ourselves on another evening flight, we will use ME bus services, but handle our luggage ourselves. It is still a great service and fun for kids - watching a Disney movie as we are taken to the hotel.
In advance, I apologize to everyone who's been around here a while and read me post this time and time again ....
No matter where I fly, no matter when I fly, I ALWAYS pack a carry-on with the first 24 hours of supplies just in case the AIRLINE delays my luggage. It's just a smart way to travel. It's like insurance against a luggage delay causing a big problem for you at the beginning of your vacation.
I applied the same priniciple when I used DME last May, and will do so again in November. When we went last May, our flight arrived in the morning but we really didn't care when our luggage arrived, because we were good through the following morning. We checked into our room at CBR, had lunch, oriented ourselves, and then my wife and I took our 5 year old and 2 year old for a swim. When we got back from our swim, our luggage was in our room. Sure, I could have NOT packed bathing suits and "beach shoes" in our carry-ons, and then complained that the DME luggage was taking too long, but instead I took control of the situation in advance and made sure we'd be able to do what we wanted to do without having to rely on anyone else.
It really takes up very little room to pack for a day in a carry-on, especially since we're talking about a warm weather climate. And we had a 2 year old still in diapers.
Like I said, I pack this way any time I fly, whether it's to Orlando or Omaha. To me, going to baggage claim and then going to the DME desk is an unnecessary waste of time. Now, some people do this not as a time-saver but rather because being without their luggage makes them nervous. For those people, their best bet is absolutely to go to baggage claim to retrieve their own luggage and bring it to the bus with them -- no use for them to start their vacation feeling unnecessarily nervous. But if stopping at baggage claim first is tried as a time-saver, it won't succeed. Everything will go faster for you by using DME the way it was designed, to skip baggage claim.
The two HUGE exceptions to this are golfers with a soon-approaching tee time, and people staying at the FW campground whose tents and other needed equipment are checked luggage.
And we landed at 8:45pm - we had to wait at least 30 minutes in line for the bus to arrive - too late for little ones to wait. If we travel late again, we'll probably pay for a ride just to get us there faster. 
This thread got moved to a different board while I was posting.
