magical express questions

[buzz2400]

Please help me with 2 things. First, we are planning on checking in and taking off to the parks and not coming back to resort until late. what happens if you never receive your luggage. I remember someone stating that you only have a couple of hours to report it to the airlines. I really don't want to wait around for luggage. Second, I have been reading that someone people are getting their rooms texted to them. I want a certain area (I like it quiet) and usually fax a letter about 4 days before hand. What happens to my luggage if I do end up changing my room after I have been texted the room number. I would hate that someone else gets my luggage.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

In your case since you are interested in a certain area of the resort, I would get your own luggage and not deal with wondering if it gets there or switching rooms and having your luggage in the wrong room.
You could pick up your own luggage - it doesn't take long at MCO, have it put under the Magical express bus and leave it at Bell Services if your room isn't ready when you arrive. Then when you get to your room, you just call to have your luggage brought up.

If you rely on Disney to get it to your room and then change rooms, your luggage will be in the old room and would have to be moved. It would be up to you to make sure that happens (Ie: you would ask Bell Services to get your luggage from your original room and have it moved to your new one which could take awhile).

You do have only a few hours to report missing luggage to the airlines under normal circumstances. I'm not sure how it works for DME.

 

[Disnsyncey]

well, if you arrived at the hotel and your luggage was in your room, aka "checked in", then if you wanted to move rooms, you would be in charge of getting it out of your room and moving it (or obv having bell services assist).......if you weren't checked in yet, and you spoke with them, obv you luggage will go to your room you asked....they're not gonna send any luggage to a non-checked in room, so it basically comes down to if you are checked in or not.....when your luggage arrives, they will either send it to your checked in room, or keep it until you are checked in....

 

[nkereina]

You could pick up your own luggage - it doesn't take long at MCO, have it put under the Magical express bus and leave it at Bell Services if your room isn't ready when you arrive. Then when you get to your room, you just call to have your luggage brought up.

We've done this multiple times and I tend to disagree that it doesn't take long at MCO. I travel for work frequently and have found that MCO is probably among the slowest airports when it comes to sending luggage out to the carousel. Baggage claim has always been crowded and chaotic in my experience as well. And then once you have your luggage, if you're on the opposite side (which I always am on Southwest), you must drag it down a long corridor to the elevator and then drag it across the airport to the other side, back down the elevator, and back down a long hall. We're two adults so we manage fine but it would be tough with kids in tow as well.

OP, if your luggage goes missing at the hands of the airline, I believe Disney works it out. Someone else can confirm but it must be Disney that takes on that responsibility, assuming you check-in and ride and DME. If you decide you want to change rooms after you get your room number, I would proceed to the room you've been given and either get your luggage and go back to the front desk or have a someone wait in the room with the luggage while you sort out the new room.

 

[boufa]

We've done this multiple times and I tend to disagree that it doesn't take long at MCO. I travel for work frequently and have found that MCO is probably among the slowest airports when it comes to sending luggage out to the carousel. Baggage claim has always been crowded and chaotic in my experience as well. And then once you have your luggage, if you're on the opposite side (which I always am on Southwest), you must drag it down a long corridor to the elevator and then drag it across the airport to the other side, back down the elevator, and back down a long hall. We're two adults so we manage fine but it would be tough with kids in tow as well.

OP, if your luggage goes missing at the hands of the airline, I believe Disney works it out. Someone else can confirm but it must be Disney that takes on that responsibility, assuming you check-in and ride and DME. If you decide you want to change rooms after you get your room number, I would proceed to the room you've been given and either get your luggage and go back to the front desk or have a someone wait in the room with the luggage while you sort out the new room.

How would Disney know that the luggage is missing? I imagine that a lot of DME luggage tags never get used. So how would Dinsey know what was missing and what was thrown away. The baggage handlers at MCO just pull anything yellow off and hand it to disney. Its not like they have access to our baagage claim checks.

 

[nkereina]

How would Disney know that the luggage is missing? I imagine that a lot of DME luggage tags never get used. So how would Dinsey know what was missing and what was thrown away. The baggage handlers at MCO just pull anything yellow off and hand it to disney. Its not like they have access to our baagage claim checks.

You're right - I haven't used luggage delivery in a while. Back in the day (pre MB), there was a time when you'd tell DME how many bags you checked as you checked into DME. I guess they don't do that anymore. Now, I suppose if your luggage wasn't delivered to your room in a reasonable amount of time, you would report that to Disney and they would sort it out from there - whether checking the bags in their possession or reaching out to the airline about it. If your bag was delayed by the airline, DME will still handle getting it and delivering it to you. And they know whether or not the bag is in their possession because they scan the bar codes as they take the bags.

 

[thisismyusername]

Disney does know if the luggage was picked up or not and they do have the ability to track it. We had an issue this past March where we tagged our bags and checked them at the airport. While we were at the airport, our flight was delayed, and we landed well past the 10 p.m. cut off for baggage delivery. We went down to the carousel, and our bags, along with several other people on our flight, were missing. We filled out the information we needed to with the airline, presuming our bags had been lost when the plane was delayed. In the morning, we went to bell services to explain the situation *just* to see if there's was any chance at all that they had found the bags. They pulled up our names and said that the bags were en route to our resort as we spoke. (Turns out that ME had pulled them despite us landing late.) So that little barcode on the ME tags is more than just a resort identifier--it's also tied to you.

 

[nkereina]

Disney does know if the luggage was picked up or not and they do have the ability to track it. We had an issue this past March where we tagged our bags and checked them at the airport. While we were at the airport, our flight was delayed, and we landed well past the 10 p.m. cut off for baggage delivery. We went down to the carousel, and our bags, along with several other people on our flight, were missing. We filled out the information we needed to with the airline, presuming our bags had been lost when the plane was delayed. In the morning, we went to bell services to explain the situation *just* to see if there's was any chance at all that they had found the bags. They pulled up our names and said that the bags were en route to our resort as we spoke. (Turns out that ME had pulled them despite us landing late.) So that little barcode on the ME tags is more than just a resort identifier--it's also tied to you.

In your situation, DME was still obligated to pick up your bags because your flight was originally scheduled to land before the 10pm cut-off. It wasn't your fault that your flight was delayed until after 10pm, so they still picked up your bags. The scenario discussed in previous posts is how Disney could know your bag was lost by the airline so they can file a report with the airline on your behalf. And they really don't know until you report it, since they don't ever ask if you checked bags using the yellow tags.

 

[thisismyusername]

I understand that, but what I am suggesting is that once the bag is scanned at the airport, it's in DME's possession. If it's never scanned, then I suppose the assumption would be between DME and the airline is that the airline lost it.

 

[bumbershoot]

FWIW, the ocncept of the airlines requiring you to report things in a certain number of hours is silly. They might say it, but if you walk off with someone else's bag and don't notice it for awhile (perhaps your travels continue, or (you thought) it had your dirty laundry that you didn't want to deal with, or whatever), when you notice it's not your bag, they'll still help you. It's just easier for them to help you if you do it quickly.

The "hows" of Disney and the airline figuring out if something is lost doesn't interest or bother me, nor does it factor into my using their luggage delivery service.

And then once you have your luggage, if you're on the opposite side (which I always am on Southwest), you must drag it down a long corridor to the elevator and then drag it across the airport to the other side, back down the elevator, and back down a long hall. We're two adults so we manage fine but it would be tough with kids in tow as well.

First, walk slowly off the plane, stop at a bathroom, take your time. It's amazing how much quicker the carousel feels when you've taken your time to get to it!

Hire a porter. There is no need to lug it all. Just hire someone, then follow them.

 

[nkereina]

First, walk slowly off the plane, stop at a bathroom, take your time. It's amazing how much quicker the carousel feels when you've taken your time to get to it!

Hire a porter. There is no need to lug it all. Just hire someone, then follow them.

I always take my time, use the restroom, grab a drink. Still amazes me how long MCO's baggage claim process can take, at least compared to other large airports. And larger families could hire a porter for a cost for sure, but its unnecessary for us as two able-bodied adults with one rolling suitcase each. Doesn't change the fact that it's still a pain to wheel it all that way!