Magical Express Question

[noahynav]

We have been to Disney many times but have always driven in the past. This will be our first trip flying. I understand that Disney mails us special tags and that after we drop our luggage off at the airport we will not see our luggage again until it is delivered to our room. My question is....We are probably going to rent a car and pick it up at the airport. Are we responsible for picking up our own luggage since we will not be riding on the Magical Express bus back to our resort? Or can we just get off the plane, pick up our car, and wait for our luggage back in the hotel room? Do you have to ride the bus with your luggage? I suppose I could ride in the bus while my DH drives the rental car if it is necessary. Any opinions or first hand knowledge on this would be appreciated. Thanks!!

 

[KimRaye]

Do you have to ride the bus with your luggage?

From everything I've asked and been told, NO, you do not have to ride with your luggage. Drop it at departing airport, and it'll be in your room, sometime within 3 hours of your arrival. So, even if you rode a ME bus, your luggage may not be with you anyway. Hope that helps!

 

[noahynav]

Thanks!! That's what I was hoping for!!

Also, I am having a hard time understanding....Your luggage gets there after you officially check in, right?? The reason I ask is because I have specific requests for my room and even though I know we are not guaranteed them, we still always ask for our second choice and whatnot. Last year at CBR they even gave us a free upgrade. IS your room assigned to you before you even check in? Will my luggage be delivered to a specific room before I have had a chance to officially check in?

I realize I sound paranoid about this whole process, but like I said, it is our first time and for some reason it is just so overwhelming to me. I keep worrying that our luggage will be lost. It scares me to not be the one in charge of it.

 

[KimRaye]

While you may have a room 'set aside/reserved' for you, I don't think the room number is assigned until you arrive and check-in. Hence, the possible 3 hour delay of getting your luggage to your actual assigned room. As much as I over-worry and have 'control' issues, I think you're good to go!

 

[noahynav]

Oh, I most defintely have those same control issues!! LOL.
I keep telling myself that Disney does this every day, they are not going to screw it up. But the planner in me keeps saying "If you want something done right, do it yourself." I wish I could just relax and enjoy myself....afterall it is supposed to be my vacation!

 

[goofy4tink]

Okay guys....where are you seeing that you don't have to ride the bus and stiill get luggage delivery? The last I knew, you have to be checked in at the DME welcome desk, and then your voucher is scanned when you board the bus. These two things are what prompt your bags being released for delivery. So...if you don't get on that bus, your bags are sitting at MCO. They go on a completely different luggage truck to the various resorts. If you are renting a car, you will have to grab your bags yourselves. Just be sure to not put those yellow tags on them, otherwise they will never make it out onto the baggage carousel.

As far as the bags being in your room when you get there...it would have to be the 'perfect scenario' for that to happen. That might look like this...you arrive at your resort at 2:30, your room isn't ready yet (official check-in time is 3), so you wander around, possibly go to a park..whatever. You call the number you are given at check-in, your room is ready. You head to your room, your luggage is there waiting for you. Of course, it is about 4:00 now.
There really is no possible way for your bags to be waiting for you if your room is ready when you get to the resort. The handlers have to off-load all those bags at the airport, then put them in piles for each resort, then they have to be loaded on a particular truck for a series of resorts, then driven to the resorts, taken off, separated yet again by name/room number, then delivered to each room. THis takes awhile...much longer than it takes you to get to the resort.

So....long story short...if you will be needing anything when you first get to the resort, you had best have it packed in a carry-on bag. That way you'll have it...otherwise you could be waiting an hour or so for those bags to appear. Others have actually told stories of having to wait 4-5 hours for their bags, depending on the time of day it is and how busy it gets.

No, you can not use the DME system to transport your luggage. You must be on the bus in order for your bags to get there...unless you have someone ride the bus while someone else rents, and drives the car to WDW. Have you considered renting a car on-site at WDW? THere are several places to do this.

 

[Lewisc]

Oh, I most defintely have those same control issues!! LOL.
I keep telling myself that Disney does this every day, they are not going to screw it up. But the planner in me keeps saying "If you want something done right, do it yourself." I wish I could just relax and enjoy myself....afterall it is supposed to be my vacation!

All the written information says you use DME for luggage only transfers on your trip to WDW. The FAQ actually says your luggage will be held at MCO until your transportation voucher is scanned. The assumption is your luggage made it to MCO but you didn't.

It's not clear if having your voucher scanned at the desk is sufficient or the voucher scan when you board the bus is what releases your luggage.

I haven't read any posts of people "testing" the system, I suspect the luggage goes even if you don't check in but I don't think anyone wants to be the first one to post being told to go back to MCO to get your luggage.

Either rent the car at WDW or have the person who uses the luggage tags check in and take the bus.

Those of us who are cynical think one of the purposes of DME is to discourage guests from doing "bad" things like using a towncar grocery stop or having a rental car available to spend $$$ offsite.

VERY FEW people have had their luggage beat them to their room. I understand the bags sometimes get pulled before they even enter the terminal building. Your luggage would have to make record time and you'd have to be slow.

No problem even if your luggage beats you to your room you can still request a different room and bell services will move your luggage. When you check in at the DME desk at MCO a message is sent to your resort and you're assigned an available room that meets your requests. I booked a standard view room at AKL and was upgraded to Savannah view without having to say or do anything.

 

[clkelley]

If you still want to rent a car and have DME deliver your luggage to your room, then at least ONE of you for every two bags must ride the bus.

Also, the tags must match each person riding the bus and you get two tags each.

For example, if there are two of you and you only have two bags, then one of you can ride DME, and the other can get the rental car. Put the yellow tags for the one riding DME on your bags and you are set. However, if you have more than two checked bags, then the person getting the rental car will have to pick up the extra bags from the carousel.

This works better if you have say 6 people. Then 5 people can ride the DME bus, and 10 bags will be transported by the DME. 1 person can go get the rental car.

Also, you must specifically book Disney's Magical Express in advance through Disney Reservations or your travel agent. Unless you ask for them, the bus tickets and those yellow tags will not show up in the mail.

 

[tjmw2727]

We have been to Disney many times but have always driven in the past. This will be our first trip flying. I understand that Disney mails us special tags and that after we drop our luggage off at the airport we will not see our luggage again until it is delivered to our room. My question is....We are probably going to rent a car and pick it up at the airport. Are we responsible for picking up our own luggage since we will not be riding on the Magical Express bus back to our resort? Or can we just get off the plane, pick up our car, and wait for our luggage back in the hotel room? Do you have to ride the bus with your luggage? I suppose I could ride in the bus while my DH drives the rental car if it is necessary. Any opinions or first hand knowledge on this would be appreciated. Thanks!!

NO - Unfortunately some of the above information is wrong.

Disney Magical Express is a transportation service not a luggage delivery service.

If you don't check in at the ME desk, provide them with your airline bag claim checks, and have your voucher scanned when you board the bus, your luggage will not be retreived from the flight and deliverd to your rom.

In addition luggage delivery dosen't begin until after you check in - so it won't beat you to the room. In fact it clearly states on the ME vouchers for my Thursday trip: "Your luggage will travel separately from you and will arrive at your resort 1-4 hours after you check-in.

The return to MCO is different, if your using a participating airline you can check your luggage at the resort, get your boarding pass and not use the ME bus.

In the OP's situation the choice is use ME as designed and take the bus or rent a car and retreive your luggage as you always have.

HTH
TJ

 

[Lewisc]

If you still want to rent a car and have DME deliver your luggage to your room, then at least ONE of you for every two bags must ride the bus.

Also, the tags must match each person riding the bus and you get two tags each.

It's not clear if one person checking in clears the entire group. The person checking in could give the DME CM both vouchers to scan. If you want to be 100% save just call DME and ask for extra tags for the person using DME. They'll send extra tags, some airlines still let you check 3 bags and some guests pay to check extra bags.

I wouldn't personally try it and I don't suggest anyone else try it either but I suspect the bags go even if you don't check in. The bags get pulled right off the tarmac and I suspect some of them are at least past sorting before the guests make it to the DME desk. A couple of posters didn't use DME tags and found out that DME had grabbed their bags. Their bags wound up on an earlier flight, the bags wound up in the unclaimed luggage office and a DME CM saw the passengers name on their sheet and sent the bags over to their resort.

 

[kaytieeldr]

My question is....We are probably going to rent a car and pick it up at the airport. Are we responsible for picking up our own luggage since we will not be riding on the Magical Express bus back to our resort? Or can we just get off the plane, pick up our car, and wait for our luggage back in the hotel room? Do you have to ride the bus with your luggage? I suppose I could ride in the bus while my DH drives the rental car if it is necessary.

If you are not using Disney's Magical Express to get TO your resort FROM the airport, then yes, you must pick up your own luggage from baggage claim and transport it yourself.
Guests ride the bus; luggage rides the (ASIG) trucks. So, no, you don't ride the bus with your luggage - except carryons.
Yes, if you want DME to transport your luggage from the airport to your Disney Resort, you could put you tags on both pieces, then check in at the DME counter; Disney will thus take care of your bags. You DH, meanwhile, can rent the car as you plan. In fact, you could compete from the bottom of the escalator to see who gets to the resort first
On you return to the airport, IF you are flying on a participating airline (Delta, United, Ted, American, Jet Blue, NorthWest) you may be able - depending on the time your flight departs - to check your luggage through to your home airport without having to ride the bus. The DME Remote Airline Checkin desks are open from either 5 AM to 1 PM, or 5:30 AM to 1:30 PM; you can check in between three and twelve hours in advance of your flight.

 

[slk537]

I called last week and asked about this - we always rent a car, yet we love the idea of just packing carryons and not dealing with our luggage. I called to book ME when NWA was added and was told that no, someone has to ride the bus. I booked DS and me and DH will pick up the car, but we are debating and will probably cancel ME.

So at least according to what I asked and was told, nope. Can't just have them pick up your luggage and not transport you - although wouldn't that be great?? I love the idea of dropping off the car on the way home and not having to cart our luggage through the airport.

 

[goofy4tink]

I think the thing we need to remember is the reason Disney started DME in the first place....to keep their guests on-site. If we are renting cars, then we are then able to go off-site and eat, or, heaven forbid, head to one of the 'other parks'. By offering us 'free' transportation to our resorts, Disney keeps us right where they want us. So, obviously, it wouldn't behoove Disney to offer 'free' luggage transportation, allowing us to go off and rent cars.

Not that I'm complaining....I'm renting a car for the first time ever in WDW in May, but that's only because I need to get to Tampa...not for use in Orlando.

 

[CleveRocks]

I love the idea of dropping off the car on the way home and not having to cart our luggage through the airport.

As confusing as this may seem, for your trip back home after your vacation is over, you CAN use DME for luggage-only and then drive yourself back to the airport, but only if you are flying a "participating airline." You can check in your luggage at your resort's Resort Airline Check-In desk, and then you won't see it again until it's on your home airport's baggage claim carousel.

 

[CleveRocks]

From everything I've asked and been told, NO, you do not have to ride with your luggage. Drop it at departing airport, and it'll be in your room, sometime within 3 hours of your arrival. So, even if you rode a ME bus, your luggage may not be with you anyway. Hope that helps!

Sorry, but this is VERY INCORRECT INFORMATION.

And by the way, about the line "your luggage may not be with you anyway" .... If you use DME the way it was designed, your luggage absolutely will not be on the DME bus with you. DME luggage is separately transported by truck from the airport to the resorts.

Guests have the option of going to baggage claim and getting their own bags, and then taking them to the DME bus with them and having the driver stow the bags in the cargo hold. However, I say WHY BOTHER???!!! It'll just slow you down. One of the great things about using DME is SKIPPING BAGGAGE CLAIM.

 

[CleveRocks]

Oh, I most defintely have those same control issues!! LOL.
I keep telling myself that Disney does this every day, they are not going to screw it up. But the planner in me keeps saying "If you want something done right, do it yourself." I wish I could just relax and enjoy myself....afterall it is supposed to be my vacation!

If you trust your airline to transport your checked luggage 1,000 miles or so, then why not trust a Disney subcontractor to take it the final 20 miles?!

And if you do use DME and have them deliver your luggage, PLEASE don't be of the mindset that you have to sit around and wait for your luggage. It will Magically appear in your room whether you're there or not. Pack a carry-on bag with things you'll need for the first few hours, even the first 24 hours. I do this anytime I fly anywhere just in case the airline delays my luggage.

When my DME luggage arrived in my room, I dodn't know about it because we were in the pool enjoying the start of our WDW vacation. If you like feeling in control, whether or not you use DME you should pack carry-ons with as much as you can fit in them.

One other important piece of info: If you're not using DME, throw away your DME luggage tags. Make sure you DON'T put them on your suitcases. DME-tagged luggage gets pulled from the luggage stream "behind the scenes" at the airport and never makes it to baggage claim. The only reason you would put those yellow DME tags on your bags is so that they will be pulled behind the scenes and delivered to your resort. If you put DME tags on your bags, you won't be able to get your bags at baggage claim, and as mentioned by others above, if you don't board the bus your bags will remain at the airport in some sort of Samsonite limbo (which doesn't sound like a fun dance even for Caribbean Beach Resort!).

Overall, DME is great! No system is perfect, but DME has been in operation since 5/5/05 (I used it on 5/8/05) and has averaged about 6,000 guests per day. So it's been about 48 weeks, or 336 days. 336 days times 6,000 guests per day equals 2,016,000 guests who've used DME so far. Over 2 MILLION people. It wouldn't be so popular if it wasn't so successful. There are folks on this board who've already used it multiple times.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

I think there's confusion because inbound and outbound travel are different.

For inbound travel (to your WDW resort), there are no "luggage only" transfers allowed. And there's no particiating airline list because the same rules apply to all airlines.

For outbound travel (from your WDW resort), you're allowed to use the Resort Airline Check-in (RAC) luggage service if you're on an RAC-particiating airline and the RAC desk hours are compatible with your flight time — even if you aren't riding on a DME coach back to the airport.

 

[KimRaye]

Sorry, but this is VERY INCORRECT INFORMATION.

And by the way, about the line "your luggage may not be with you anyway" .... If you use DME the way it was designed, your luggage absolutely will not be on the DME bus with you. DME luggage is separately transported by truck from the airport to the resorts.

I apologize but, any and ALL info I passed along came from a thread I posted about the very same things, and DISers answered me as I answered OP. Sorry. Apparently tho, I wasn't SO off base to say "your luggage may not be with you anyway" as you state it WON'T be. Splitting hairs there imo.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I apologize but, any and ALL info I passed along came from a thread I posted about the very same things, and DISers answered me as I answered OP. Sorry. Apparently tho, I wasn't SO off base to say "your luggage may not be with you anyway" as you state it WON'T be. Splitting hairs there imo.

Actually, it's not splitting hairs at all. If you use DME as it was designed, your checked luggage will absolutely NOT be on the bus with you. If, on the other hand, you do not put the yellow DME tags on your luggage but instead choose to wait for it at baggage claim, your luggage WILL be on (well, under) the bus on which you are riding. I couldn't find the other thread to which you're referring - could you possibly provide the link to it, or at least post the title of the thread? Thanks!

 

[JCTurner]

Just in case I have missed this elsewhere - my wife and I are flying in to MCO from the UK (London Gatwick) and have booked DME. Will we have to reclaim our baggage from the downstairs carousel at MCO (the one after Customs and Imigration where you collect your bags for check through then put them back on the conveyer) or will DME retrieve these after customs / inigration clearance ?

Thanks

Colin