Magical Express - TERRIBLE

[king974]

deleted

 

[clkelley]

I'm sorry you had a bad experience. Most people on this board have had a much better experience.

 

[king974]

I cannot say enough bad things about DME. It is the worst thing we have ever experienced in relation to Disney.

On March 14th we checked in with DME at 7:40PM. We then board a DME bus and sat at the airport till 9PM.
Then at 3:02 AM we were awoke by the bell hop delivering our luggage!

Our arrival experience coupled with the fact that DME wanted us to depart over three hours before our flight caused us to rent a van for our return trip.

Many Castmembers told us that the have received so many complaints about DME that major overhaul is in the works.

I would reccomend that you not put the DME tags on your bags and pick-up your bags yourself then bring them on the bus with you.

 

[debster812]

So sorry you had such a horrific experience.

MANY others here have reported just the opposite, and are quite pleased with DME's service.

What was the explanation for why you did not leave the airport until 9? Did you know you could have called Bell Services, and asked them to hold your bags until morning, thereby avoiding your 3am wakeup call?

 

[Tasmen]

Well to be fair, DME had nothing to do with you being woken up at 3am to get your luggage. That is bell services at your resort. If you ever take DME again (which I figure you won't), be sure to tell bell services you would prefer to get your luggage in the morning rather than when it arrives so that you aren't woken up in the middle of the night. That being said, however, now I'm hoping they move much more quickly when use DME in May. I don't want to be sitting at the airport waiting an hour to leave.

 

[debster812]

WOW! So bad, you had to post twice?

Cast Members we spoke till informed us that so many people have complained about DME that Disney is considering halting the program till they can revamp it.

We have several cast members, and Orlando area transportation gurus around these parts, I wonder if any of them have heard this. Normally, the service works FLAWLESSLY.

I am sorry you had such a bad experience.

 

[Edd]

I have heard nothing to the detriment of the DME. It serves its purpose and moves passengers out of the terminal fast and on their way to Disney. There is something "between the lines" I haven't read about.

Maybe the op got lost in the airport and I don't understand why she would sit on the bus for over 1 hour and 20 minutes. That doesn't happen. Those busses are out of there fast and especially round 7:30 in the evening. They weren't waiting for more passengers because I am sure passengers were coming down. The only thing I can think of: Was the airport closed due to storms on the 14th?

 

[HappyDznyCamper]

Guess if you had found the Disboards earlier all that could have been avoided. It has been said on here time and again that if you have a late flight to either carry your bags or pack an overnight bag as a carryon and tell bell services not to deliver until the morning(don't forget the "do not disturb" sign on your door. As for the 3 hour prior to flight time, that is to allow ME to pick up a several resorts(yours was probably the first on the route) and still get everyone to the airport within the recomended time for MCO(1 1/2 to 2 hours I think).

 

[king974]

Well to be fair, DME had nothing to do with you being woken up at 3am to get your luggage. That is bell services at your resort. If you ever take DME again (which I figure you won't), be sure to tell bell services you would prefer to get your luggage in the morning rather than when it arrives so that you aren't woken up in the middle of the night. That being said, however, now I'm hoping they move much more quickly when use DME in May. I don't want to be sitting at the airport waiting an hour to leave.

According to the bell hop the luggage had just arrived and that they are so busy between 6 and 9 am that they would not have been able to deliver the bags till sometime after 9AM.

 

[king974]

Guess if you had found the Disboards earlier all that could have been avoided. It has been said on here time and again that if you have a late flight to either carry your bags or pack an overnight bag as a carryon and tell bell services not to deliver until the morning(don't forget the "do not disturb" sign on your door. As for the 3 hour prior to flight time, that is to allow ME to pick up a several resorts(yours was probably the first on the route) and still get everyone to the airport within the recomended time for MCO(1 1/2 to 2 hours I think).

I should have to search DisBoards to avoid problems? Don't you think Disney should be informing people of that?

You are correct that I will never use DME again.

 

[king974]

So sorry you had such a horrific experience.

MANY others here have reported just the opposite, and are quite pleased with DME's service.

What was the explanation for why you did not leave the airport until 9? Did you know you could have called Bell Services, and asked them to hold your bags until morning, thereby avoiding your 3am wakeup call?

The driver told us he was waiting for more passengers, which made no sense because two other busses were sitting there. Including us and the other two families on the DME buss we left with 12 people.

No, I didn't call. I figured that we would have had our bags long before that and then fell asleep. Additionally we were told that bell services is so busy between 6 and 9AM with checkouts that we would not have received our bags till after 9AM.

 

[swillis]

I think people are being a little harsh. No, you shouldn't have to search the Disboards to find out that kind of information. Your experience is exactly why I choose to rent a car for my next trip. Your experience doesn't sound like the norm, but it also doesn't sound pleasant. DME is really no different than staying at a hotel that has a "complimentary shuttle" The only difference is not getting your luggage on the bus with you. I personally don't want to take the chance of my luggage getting lost, especially if it makes it successfully off the plane!

I'm sorry for your experience. Not a good way to start your vacation.

 

[TDC Nala]

The only thing that is out of the ordinary here is the wait on the bus before leaving. That would bother me since I haven't actually had to wait that long on the bus. I think I'd take my own luggage in that late, or let the resort know I didn't want it delivered until morning. The 3 hour return pickup is mentioned in the paperwork and is necessary in order to pick up all the passengers at several resorts AND make the airport in time for them all to catch their flights. If they made it any shorter there would be folks missing their flights and their complaints would be REALLY loud.

Unfortunately, that means if you don't need a lot of time to check in and wait in the security line, you will be waiting for your flight in the airport. If you don't want to do that, book some transportation on your own.

 

[CleveRocks]

Sorry it took you so long just to leave the airport. Nothing can give you back that time or reduce the frsutration you felt, but your experience truly is an exception to the rule.

I agree that that you shouldn't need to study the DISboards like the Bible to know what to expect. However, I must gently respond that Disney itself informs you in the DME booklet to expect your luggage within about 3 hours of resort arrival. So if you got to your resort around 9:45 p.m., you could have reasonably expected your luggage to arrive as late as about 1:00 a.m. With that in mind, in hindsight I think you'd agree it would have made sense to just make some spur-of-the-moment request to have your luggage held until a time that you wouldn't be asleep. I agree you should not have expected an interruption at 3:00 a.m., but surely you were asleep at 1:00 a.m., also, and the same thing would have happened. Again, this could have been avoided by reading the normal Disney material that they supply every DME guest, and then making a reasonable judgment call.

Again, I know this does nothing to turn back the clock and make things better for you.

I'm glad you posted this, as it's important to hear all experiences.

My two times using DME, it was 63 minutes plane to resort and 56 minutes plane to resort.

I hope the rest of your WDW vacation was more enjoyable.

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

The driver told us he was waiting for more passengers, which made no sense because two other busses were sitting there.

Those other buses were for other resorts. DME does not make more than 4 stops... and with 20 resorts (give or take) that means you need more than 1 bus.

 

[Tess'smom]

I am sorry you had a bad experience with DME. We have been extremely fortunate and have had wonderful experiences with ME. We have used it 6 times and it has been problem-free every time.

 

[helenk]

Wow, sorry to hear you had such a bad experience. Like other posters I have used DME several times without the problems you had. I've used DME 4 times and basically from the time my plane had landed to the time I arrived at the resort was just over an hour, aprox an hour and 15 minutes. Now I have always arrived earlier in the day, so my luggage was in my room when I got back from the parks.
As far as the bus picking you up 3 hours before your flight time, this information is included in your DME booklet that you rec'd prior to your trip. It is also included in the Magical Express FAQs on the Disney Website.
To be honest the 3 hours prior have actually turned out quite well for us, we get to the airport with plenty of time to check our luggage and then we go and sit down and have a nice dinner. We arrive at our gate, calm, well fed and ready to go back to reality.

 

[king974]

Sorry it took you so long just to leave the airport. Nothing can give you back that time or reduce the frsutration you felt, but your experience truly is an exception to the rule.

I agree that that you shouldn't need to study the DISboards like the Bible to know what to expect. However, I must gently respond that Disney itself informs you in the DME booklet to expect your luggage within about 3 hours of resort arrival. So if you got to your resort around 9:45 p.m., you could have reasonably expected your luggage to arrive as late as about 1:00 a.m. With that in mind, in hindsight I think you'd agree it would have made sense to just make some spur-of-the-moment request to have your luggage held until a time that you wouldn't be asleep. I agree you should not have expected an interruption at 3:00 a.m., but surely you were asleep at 1:00 a.m., also, and the same thing would have happened. Again, this could have been avoided by reading the normal Disney material that they supply every DME guest, and then making a reasonable judgment call.

Again, I know this does nothing to turn back the clock and make things better for you.

I'm glad you posted this, as it's important to hear all experiences.

My two times using DME, it was 63 minutes plane to resort and 56 minutes plane to resort.

I hope the rest of your WDW vacation was more enjoyable.

You are correct that I should have paid better attention to the luggage times. But I never ever ever thought that I would have to wait the 3 to 5 hours at night to get my luggage. Also, had they not delivered them at 3AM I would not have received them till after 9AM. I find that ludicrous. With only 12 people on the bus what is the reason that our luggage could not travel with us?

 

[helenk]

You can certainly get your luggage and take it to the bus and they will put it underneath for you. You would just not put the yellow luggage tags on your luggage and then get them from the baggage claim area and then proceed to the DME check in desk.

 

[king974]

Sorry it took you so long just to leave the airport. Nothing can give you back that time or reduce the frsutration you felt, but your experience truly is an exception to the rule.

I agree that that you shouldn't need to study the DISboards like the Bible to know what to expect. However, I must gently respond that Disney itself informs you in the DME booklet to expect your luggage within about 3 hours of resort arrival. So if you got to your resort around 9:45 p.m., you could have reasonably expected your luggage to arrive as late as about 1:00 a.m. With that in mind, in hindsight I think you'd agree it would have made sense to just make some spur-of-the-moment request to have your luggage held until a time that you wouldn't be asleep. I agree you should not have expected an interruption at 3:00 a.m., but surely you were asleep at 1:00 a.m., also, and the same thing would have happened. Again, this could have been avoided by reading the normal Disney material that they supply every DME guest, and then making a reasonable judgment call.

Again, I know this does nothing to turn back the clock and make things better for you.

I'm glad you posted this, as it's important to hear all experiences.

My two times using DME, it was 63 minutes plane to resort and 56 minutes plane to resort.

I hope the rest of your WDW vacation was more enjoyable.

You are correct that I should have paid better attention to the luggage times. But I never ever ever thought that I would have to wait the 3 to 5 hours at night to get my luggage. Also, had they not delivered them at 3AM I would not have received them till after 9AM. I find that ludicrous. With only 12 people on the bus what is the reason that our luggage could not travel with us? I travel often, using hotel shuttles, this is the worst run system I have seen. Disney should be ashamed.
Disney is known for its excellence, DME in my opinion does contribute to that excellence.