Magical Express Problems!

[newscick27]

Has anyone else had problems with the magical express yet? When I picked up our transportation vouchers and luggage identification tapes from the travel agent, I realized they only sent the stuff for our two youngest children (there are six in our party) when the travel agent called, she said disney had hired a separate company to handle the magical express and when she called them, they said for us to just mark our luggage with yellow ribbons and explain to their agent at the airport what happened! Does anyone else see the problem with this!! I plan on calling them tomorrow to see if I cant fuss enough to have the stuff overnighted to us... otherwise our luggage might end up in disneyland!

 

[ILoveDisney-Angie]

We don't leave until May 21st so needless to say we haven't received our tags yet. Sorry to hear about your situation. I hope it all works out for you. I know what you mean about being worried though. That's the last thing you want to worry about - having your luggage lost for part or even all of your trip. I know I wouldn't enjoy myself if that happened.

 

[CleveRocks]

I posted the following on another thread, but it applies here so I just cut and pasted:

I leave in 9 days, no DME materials. I called DME yesterday (their phone is answered from their location at MCO, not at some office somewhere). In what has to be a uniquely Disney manner, he told me VERY PLEASANTLY BUT NOT CONDESCENDINGLY that it was unlikely I'll receive my DME tags or paperwork prior to my departure, but not to worry. He told me that after I land at MCO, to walk past security "a ways" (just how many feet are in one "way"?) to find the DME CMs in their blue jackets and Mickey gloves, carrying clipboards. He told me to present to them my luggage claim checks and that CMs would pull my bags for me from the baggage claim carousel and send them on their merry way to my resort with the rest of the pedigreed DME bags.

He also suggested we tie brightly-colored yarn or ribbon onto each bag to help the CMs find our bags. The way things are going, the baggage carousels are going to be more colorful than IllumiNations. My wife told me she'll go to a fabric store to get something really unique and visible, and bring some extra swatches with us so she can give them to CMs to help them find our bags.

-- Eric

 

[UrsulasMyHero]

This is true, if you do not get your DME information or tags, when you land in Orlando (MCO) Simply find the Costumed Disney Representative and hand them your luggage claim tickets, you will still be escorted to Disney Property via Magical Express.

 

[HockeyChick]

I posted the following on another thread, but it applies here so I just cut and pasted:

I leave in 9 days, no DME materials. I called DME yesterday (their phone is answered from their location at MCO, not at some office somewhere). In what has to be a uniquely Disney manner, he told me VERY PLEASANTLY BUT NOT CONDESCENDINGLY that it was unlikely I'll receive my DME tags or paperwork prior to my departure, but not to worry. He told me that after I land at MCO, to walk past security "a ways" (just how many feet are in one "way"?) to find the DME CMs in their blue jackets and Mickey gloves, carrying clipboards. He told me to present to them my luggage claim checks and that CMs would pull my bags for me from the baggage claim carousel and send them on their merry way to my resort with the rest of the pedigreed DME bags.

He also suggested we tie brightly-colored yarn or ribbon onto each bag to help the CMs find our bags. The way things are going, the baggage carousels are going to be more colorful than IllumiNations. My wife told me she'll go to a fabric store to get something really unique and visible, and bring some extra swatches with us so she can give them to CMs to help them find our bags.

-- Eric

Here's the problem I see with that......I've always tied very brightly colored ribbons on my checked bags to make them easier for ME to see!

Now, if my bags end up in WDW when I'm flying into Orlando for a convention (but not at Mickey's house) next month I will be very verklempt!

 

[NewEnglandDisney]

I'm in the same boat. Leaving in 10 days.

If I don't get the tags, I'm going to be pretty upset. How is some Disney employee going to pick my bag out of all the available ones? I have a pretty generic rolling suitcase. How unique is a ribbon going to be? Besides the fact that it may come off, etc. - very inefficent.

I don't get "luggage claim tickets" - I just usually pick it up from the carousel. I've actually never heard of such a thing. I've never been given a luggage claim ticket before.

If this is the case, I might as well just go wait for my bags myself.

I try to be upbeat with changes, but this whole luggage thing seems like it's going to be a huge mess if they can't even get the tags to us.

/sigh

N.E.D.

 

[safetymom]

Every time you check your luggage with the airline you get claim tickets. They usually staple them to your airline ticket jacket. It is what the airline uses if you lose a suitcase.

All they would have to do is stand there and check the tags as they ride around the carousel. It takes longer but it can be done.

 

[ncbyrne]

Since finding these boards several years ago, I have always tied on lots of bright lime green ribbons.

 

[pearljim]

We leave in 7 days and so far -nothing. I went ahead and rented a van just in case and I'm glad I did.

 

[goofy4tink]

Two different scenarios here if you don't get your DME stuff before you leave...
1. give your baggage claim check to the Disney ME rep. They most likely will go to baggage claim area and just wait until all the 'other' bags are claimed. Then they will start matching up the 'left-over brightly decorated' bags to the claim slips and then onto the truck. Take longer? Sure, for the baggage people. But since there was no way of telling exactly how long it would have taken to get our stuff to our resort room, we have no comparison.

2. You go to baggage claim, grab your own stuff, and then either hand it off to the DME rep or take it to the bus with you. Now, taking it to the bus seems to me to be too much effort on my part. If it were me, I would take my dd and we would go directly to the bus area. Then my dh would go to the baggage claim area, grab our stuff and hand it off to the reps, and then catch our bus or a later one. I would go and check in and wait for him at the resort.

I just can't see getting my panties in a twist, so to speak, over this. You would have had to go to baggage claim anyway...no matter what type of transportation you had. At least with DME it's a free ride to WDW rather than over $100 for a car rental or towncar service.

 

[aubriee]

After reading the post on the Transportation forum about DME not having alot of people in their system (even though those same people had verified their flight info with CRO) I got concerned. I gave CRO my flight information almost two months ago. I had also called CRO about two weeks ago to reverify DME info, ressie #, PS#, etc. At that time the CM read my flight info back to me. Two days ago I called the DME# to make sure I was in their system and almost without giving me time to give her my name she said 'oh yeah, we have you, don't worry'. There was no way she had time to check to see if I was in their system.

Anyway I called back yesterday, got a very nice, but frazzled sounding CM, who took the time to check and sure enough I was not even down for DME. She said the computers at CRO and DME are not sharing information the way they're supposed to. She also said I probably would not get my tags, but to find the CM in the blue jacket and Mickey gloves at MCO, give him my luggage claim tags, and he would 'try' to match it to my luggage, pull it, and put it on the baggage truck. She sounded very unsure though. I told I had heard they were using Fed Ex or Priority Mail for some and asked her to please flag mine for this. She said apparently they had decided to stop this as too many people were using DME and there was just no way they could get that many tags out. She sounded so unsure, that now I'm nervous.

 

[DebbieB]

I wouldn't trust them to pickup your bags by giving them the claim checks. I would go get them yourself, then hand them off, it's worth the peace of mind. Usually more than 1 flight is coming off a carousel, luggage constantly going by, can you imagine a DME rep standing there with a bunch of claim tickets trying to find them?

 

[newscick27]

The bad part is, dme should have figured all this out and been better prepared. This is their job and we are paying for this service, its not really free. As much as we pay for these vacations, trust me we are paying! This should not have to be my responsibility to go get our luggage.. will I do it if necessary? well of course but I am traveling with three children ... and it won't be easy... and the bottom line is... this is their job, their system and I should not have to retrieve my on luggage!

 

[Luv2Roam]

Rather than using color ribbons, I would use reflective color tape.
There are going to be so many pieces of luggage with color ribbons on them.....

 

[rantnnravin]

Rather than using color ribbons, I would use reflective color tape.
There are going to be so many pieces of luggage with color ribbons on them.....

Couldn't you just use the reflective colored tape to "write" DME on your luggage? That should make it a little easier to find, huh?

 

[GillieRose]

We didn't recieve are tags and we leave on the 13th. So I called DME yesterday and talked to a really nice woman. There is a slight chance we may recieve are tags but if we don't that there will be a lot of CM there to help get your luggage. That they will scan your luggage tags and someone will then pick them up. She said there was no need to worry that they will have alot of people there to help everyone. Then she double check all are info and said we are all set.

 

[seashoreCM]

Everyone please -- If you call to confirm ME reservations, write down the name of the person you talked to at least. Also ask for a confirmation number and a written confirmation. (There is a rumor that written confirmations dometimes don't arrive in the mail)

Another good idea, bring pencil and paper. If you didn't get your luggage tags and had to check any bags normally, copy down all the letters and numbers and codes on the baggage claim checks during the flight. This way you will have the information if you need to give the claim checks to the Disney rep. to get your bags for you.

It's not that bad fetching your own luggage from the carousel yourself (if it is before 10 PM), and then reporting to the welcoming area. After 10:30 PM report to the Magical Expess welcoming area first thing after getting off the plane.

I would not be surprised if, should it be necessary to fetch non-ME-tagged baggage from the carousel, any one of three things could happen depending on staffing and it is not your choice, (1) you go back to the carousel, (2) a Disney agent takes your claim checks and goes back to the carousel and you go right to the bus, (3) both you and a Disney agent go back to the carousel, you find the baggage, he takes the baggage and you go to the bus.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/magicx.htm

 

[MNmom]

I can't believe this is happening. Disney has known about the start of this program for a very long time and now they don't have "enough" tags!!!

We have taken 3 Disney Cruises and 5 RCCL cruises and have never had any problems getting tags or getting picked up by the cruiselines. And the way this program sounds it is run just like the cruises.

I am totally expecting them to get this all worked out very soon because they can't operate a reputable program where people have to mark their own luggage and just hope the DME people find it

C'mon Disney let's get it together!!!

 

[CleveRocks]

The bad part is, dme should have figured all this out and been better prepared. This is their job and we are paying for this service, its not really free. As much as we pay for these vacations, trust me we are paying! This should not have to be my responsibility to go get our luggage.. will I do it if necessary? well of course but I am traveling with three children ... and it won't be easy... and the bottom line is... this is their job, their system and I should not have to retrieve my on luggage!

I hate to say it, and I know I'll take heat for this, but please stop whining!

This is a new and FREE service. It IS free! My package would have been the same price April 8 - 14 as it is now May 8 - 14. There was NO difference in the price before and after May 5 when I booked, and I know this because I wasn't sure of the best time to go and I checked several options.

There is NO other scenario other than this new service in which you wouldn't have to get your own bags from baggage claim. We get spoiled so quickly. Sure, I'd have loved it if it worked out perfectly, but for Pete's sake, you're still getting a FREE RIDE TO YOUR HOTEL. Maybe my perspective is different because I booked in October, before DME was announced. I'd already booked a towncar service and then cancelled it in favor of DME for free.

The reason they're not better prepared is the company they subcontracted to make the DME tags themselves screwed up and made substandard tags that had to be discarded and new ones made. Why did they wait so long to print the tags, and why didn't Disney demand them sooner? Well, I'm FAR from being a business person, but I am aware of the concept of "just-in-time" inventory -- it costs a lot of money to warehouse items (and to pay for them too far in advance), so all sorts of companies get all sorts of products and raw materials at almost the last minute. If Disney didn't do it that way, our expensive vacations would be that much more expensive.

Relax, enjoy your Disney vacation with your little ones. Remember, the people arriving there TODAY have to go to baggage claim and retrieve their own luggage! DME hasn't started yet. Most of them have kids, just like you and I do. Put it in perspective, it's not such a bad thing to get a free ride to and from your hotel.

And I address this final thought to everyone: Please, PLEASE do not take out any frustrations on the DME CMs -- can you imagine how screwed over THEY feel by all of this?! Their jobs just got very unpleasant and stressful and it's certainly not what THEY signed on for, and none of this mess is in any way their faults.

I can't get all upset that one small (but nice) aspect of my vacation that was promised to me will not happen. Now if they offered a free diaper changing service and messed that up, THEN I'd be fuming ....

-- Eric

 

[chipscinderelly]

To add to what Eric said I am sure that the DME CMs will get this on the right track! Waiting for your own luggage at MCO can take a VERY VERY long time at busy times of day, so by giving your information to the DME CMs you will be able to board your bus and start your vacation right away vs waiting for your bags, then boarding. The luggage is supposed to be pulled behind the scenes and I am confident this service will be awesome if everyone will allow it to happen with a few hiccups.