Magical Express late arrival...

[pixiemeg]

We are arriving around midnight and using magical express for one night at the contemporary. Next day, we-- two families traveling together-- we move to Bay Lake Tower. Our plan is to sleep on the plane and sleep when we hit the rooms so that we can hit the parks first thing.

Normally when you arrive late, you must pick up your bags and take them with you on ME. Can we instead, leave them there and let disney deliver them to Bay Lake directly and not see them at all that night. We could carry on our things for our first day and I just don't want the hassel of dealing with bags till we get to our main hotel. With 9 of us traveling together-- this would be a big help and maybe we even would get to the hotel faster... oh to dream... Thanks for you help.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

We are arriving around midnight and using magical express for one night at the contemporary. Next day, we-- two families traveling together-- we move to Bay Lake Tower. Our plan is to sleep on the plane and sleep when we hit the rooms so that we can hit the parks first thing.

Normally when you arrive late, you must pick up your bags and take them with you on ME. Can we instead, leave them there and let disney deliver them to Bay Lake directly and not see them at all that night. We could carry on our things for our first day and I just don't want the hassel of dealing with bags till we get to our main hotel. With 9 of us traveling together-- this would be a big help and maybe we even would get to the hotel faster... oh to dream... Thanks for you help.

Officially, you have to retrieve your bags at baggage claim after 10:00 p.m. Your bags will go to the baggage claim carousel even if you applied the yellow DME tags. They might go around and around long after everyone has left the baggage claim area. Bags that are not claimed at baggage are eventually removed from the carousel by the airline. Normally, they're locked up so that they can be claimed later, but I don't know if DME-tagged bags would be locked up or taken somewhere that night.

My guess -- and this is not based on any real experience -- is that the airlines at Orlando International eventually turn over unclaimed, DME-tagged bags to Disney at some point, and that such bags then go through the DME delivery process.

The potential problem with this is that -- unlike the regular behind-the-scenes DME process or even the regular process for people who did not receive their tags -- the bags could be unwatched and unprotected for long periods, at baggage claim and afterwards, overnight.

The DME tags would be associated with your first night reservation at the Contemporary. That's where bell services would attempt to deliver them the next day. You could certainly try to make arrangements ahead of time to have bell services hold your bags instead (and hope that everyone involved with the process at this huge resort gets the word).

I'm not sure it's a chance I would want to take.

 

[Akliebert]

Bell service at the Contemporary and Bay Lake Towers is together so I don't think getting it delivered to your room would be a problem. I think my biggest problem would be with leaving my lugguage with no one there to claim it.

 

[seashoreCM]

If you don't follow the directions in your Magical Express packet then making a baggage claim at your resort may have limitations. In a very small number of situations you might have to deal directly with your airline even though you are now at the resort.

The required getting of your bags from the carousel after 10 PM includes making a baggage claim with the airline before leaving the airport if the bags don't show up there.

 

[tjmw2727]

Although I have read posts where folks have done this successfully, I wouldn't personally take the risk! The bags will hit the carosel and roll around until someone realizes they are unclaimed. Then they will go into the unclaimed luggage room for that airline and may or may not be turned over to DME for delivery the next day. They will then be delivered to the CR under your reservation number for the first night which could cause some confusion.

On the off chance that a bag is misrouted or misplaced you would also miss your opportunity to make a claim.

Could you split up and have one parent take the kids to the hotel (bypassing luggage claim) while the other collects the luggage? With the help of a sky cap at the airport and then a bellman at the resort this could be done by one person per family.