In reality, it's a service in which the customer receives service commensurate with what he or she pays -- nothing. The only positive is that it's free.
Disney isn't giving us anything. We ALL pay for DME (and the parking lots and the buses and the boats etc). Just because it isn't a line item on our hotel invoice doesn't mean we aren't paying for it.
Using DME you don't have to get your bags, so what is your time line before getting your bags? That is the true comparison. I bet you have to add at least 20 minutes for that.
There are plenty of people who have to get their bags. Most of the time we do, because if we fly from the west coast during the day we're getting in after 10.
Even those that claim it doesn't, use up that time changing clothes or walking where ever. Or they stroll leisurely, which means they walk slowly, otherwise they have to wait for their bags. Or they have to be members of what ever car rental agency is the cheapest this trip. Which means they spend time, before they leave, joining whichever web site they need to join.
But I'm not changing and walking slowly in order to take up the time. I'm doing that anyway. Orlando is hot and I don't want to start sweating from the first moments we're there. On our recent flight we caught the plane at 11:45pm from seatac, where it was 39-ish degrees. I was wearing warm running tights, wool socks, a big warm sweatshirt, two scarves (and had a blanket and pillow as well). DH and DS were wearing jeans and warm tops. If we didn't change we would have melted LOL. I like to wash my face and maybe put makeup on if I didn't have it on before. I did this even when I met my cousin at the airport and we took DME in. There's no point in walking briskly through the airport; I'll be doing enough of that once on property. And because there's time involved in those things, the baggage is generally coming off the carousels by then, the few times we are landing in the luggage-delivery time period. (ETA: I said that wrong...and I can't figure out how to fix it)
Joining a car rental agency isn't hard LOL. It's a matter of moments. Who wouldn't join the rental agency? Or we've done it already because we travel elsewhere.
Mentioning those things isn't some sort of false way of showing that renting a car is shorter. Those things, for my family, are happening either way.
And honestly I haven't had any bad DME experiences (unlike on-property transportation), and am perfectly happy to use it if we have no plans for a car (though we usually have plans that need a car). But I'm taking that time anyway, to change and freshen up and not start sweating earlier than I have to.
Well, things seem better today. We
got off the plane at 11:15. Checked in at desk by 11:35, even after a pit stop.
Whew!
I always wonder at these ME threads where so many are on the "too long and inconvenient so rent a car" bandwagon. I LOVE the convenience of ME (and I don't even get the added bonus of luggage transfer). I'm sad we are staying offsite this year and won't get to take advantage of this great service.
But THIS thread started specifically from yesterday. The line was INSANE; truly truly long. There was
nothing convenient about that line yesterday. I didn't want to take pictures of hundreds of random strangers to show the line, plus hubby and son were way ahead of me and I didn't want to lose them during the time to get my phone out etc. But it was absolutely atrociously long.
This isn't a normal "ew DME" thread.
