We are going down to disney for the holidays and I was wondering if you can use Magical Express for the luggage only ...
Disney doesn't want you to use DME as a luggage-only service, but at the present time it
can be used in this way. Let me explain ....
On the WDW website's DME FAQ, it clearly states that DME can't be used as a luggage-only service. However, it reportedly clearly states in their contract with the airport authority that Disney will transport all DME-tagged luggage, period (there's reportedly no clause that states they won't transport DME-tagged luggage if the owner doesn't ride the bus).
So they appear to be saying one thing to the public while saying and doing another thing behind closed doors and in reality.
There's one potential downside to using DME as a luggage service but not having anyone from your party use the bus.
It's a tiny risk, but a risk nonetheless that you should be aware of in order to make an informed decision.
If the airline misdirects your luggage:
If you rode the DME bus ...
... then DME knows how many bags of yours to expect. If they don't show up in the system in a reasonable amount of time, DME will begin searching for your bags and will also act as your agent with the airline to get your bags to MCO and then will deliver them with other DME luggage that's arriving. Your luggage will get to you rather late, but it will still be delivered to your room. You won't know what happened, and your normal reaction will be to blame DME for the very delayed luggage delivery even though it was the fault of the airline and DME, in fact, heped you out a great deal.
If you didn't ride the DME bus ...
... then DME is not responsible for your luggage. They don't have any way of knowing that you are expecting them to handle it for you. If it never arrived at MCO, DME won't go looking for it and won't go interfacing with your airline because they won't know they were supposed to have it in the first place. So you wait and wait and wait for your luggage, and hours later it's still not in your room. DME won't help you track it down if you call them, since you didn't use the system. You'll have to deal directly with your airline, but by now many hours have already passed. When the bags are eventually flown to MCO, they will either be handed over to DME or will be delivered to you by courier.
Airline screw-ups with luggage happen, but it's still not at all a common occurrence. In other words, the odds of your lugagge falling through the cracks of the airline-DME transaction are very low, but you still should be aware of how things would go.
Here we go again!
