Magical Express - where does it deliver you to?

[Autoeng]

From ORL to WDW where does the DME deliver you to? Your hotel or can you be dropped at the MK gate?

 

[Lewisc]

Currently your hotel ONLY.

 

[goofy4tink]

The DME buses go to resorts only. There are no DME buses at the parks...either for drop off or pick-up.
You have to go to the resort you have your reservation at.

 

[Autoeng]

We are staying at OKW. If we are not taking any luggage from the airport to the hotel can we get off at the first hotel stop instead of waiting for OKW? Would that save us some time in getting into the park?

Autoeng

 

[seashoreCM]

Nothing prevents you from getting off the DME bus before "your stop" and taking a bus to a park from that resort.

YOu do realize that when you finally get back to your resort to check in, which will probably be late that evening, it will be more difficult to adjust your room assignment if you are finicky about that subject.

 

[goofy4tink]

Nothing prevents you from getting off the DME bus before "your stop" and taking a bus to a park from that resort.

Of course that assumes you have no carryon bags or don't want to freshen up or get checked in at your resort. If you hop off at the first stop, rather than your own resort, then you may have saved about 10 mins. If you are the third of three stops, maybe it's 15 mins. I would always suggest going to your designated resort, getting checked in and then hop on the bus to the park..it's only another 30 mins.

 

[zurgswife]

We are staying at OKW. If we are not taking any luggage from the airport to the hotel can we get off at the first hotel stop instead of waiting for OKW? Would that save us some time in getting into the park?

Autoeng

I don't think there is anything that would stop you but most people would like to check into their hotel. You don't necessarily get a room but you are at least on the list to get a room sooner. That way when you return from the parks your room should be ready. I definatley would like to check in prior ot heading to the parks.

 

[cdrn1]

I totally agree with the above posters about checking in prior. Twice I have gone to the parks first, and checked in late, and both those times I got a room at the very edge of the resort, as far from bus stop as you can possible get, and none of my requests. Of course, I can't be sure that I wouldn't have gotten those rooms anyway, but it does make sense. When checking in early, in most instances I have gotten rooms I was very pleased with.

 

[Jestocost]

Also, this will work only if you already have your tickets or plan to purchase or pick them up at the park. If you are on a package that includes tickets, you will need to check in to your resort to get your tickets for park entry.

 

[Autoeng]

Already have room at OKW taken care. Tickets are pick up. I guess I'll make up my mind when I get there.

 

[goofy4tink]

Already have room at OKW taken care. Tickets are pick up. I guess I'll make up my mind when I get there.

I'm going to assume that someone else has checked in then? Perhaps you are meeting others already in WDW and checked in. If so, then sure, head to a park.
But, a room/villa is not 'yours' until you are standing in the checkin line, and you have been handed your room key. I have been in a checkin line, and been told that such and such a room is ready for me...I have not been overly pleased with that room, and asked if anything else is available. On occasion, there is another room, one that meets more of my needs. But, it isn't the original room they had blocked out for me. So...if you wait until later in the day/evening, to checkin, you may not get the room/villa that most meets your needs.

 

[Autoeng]

I'm going to assume that someone else has checked in then? Perhaps you are meeting others already in WDW and checked in. If so, then sure, head to a park.
But, a room/villa is not 'yours' until you are standing in the checkin line, and you have been handed your room key. I have been in a checkin line, and been told that such and such a room is ready for me...I have not been overly pleased with that room, and asked if anything else is available. On occasion, there is another room, one that meets more of my needs. But, it isn't the original room they had blocked out for me. So...if you wait until later in the day/evening, to checkin, you may not get the room/villa that most meets your needs.

Good points. Room is taken care of due to handicap requirement.

 

[clkelley]

I have gotten off the DME bus once at an earlier stop, but that was because someone had checked into my room for me already.

You state your OKW room is taken care of due to a handicap requirement. Will you be traveling with a wheelchair?? If so, the driver will know you are getting off at the wrong stop because you will either need to use the lift, or he/she will have to open "your" section under the bus at the wrong stop.

I only did it because I had "nothing" under the bus, and needed no driver assistance to depart the bus. I also made sure other folks were getting off at my resort, so he wouldn't stop there and nobody actually get off at that stop.

 

[Autoeng]

Not wheelchair bound but I have a prosthesis from knee down. But I think we are going to send a package down before us of things (liquids > 3.5oz) that we want in the part so we will need to go to OKW prior to going to the park to pick that stuff up.

 

[SueM in MN]

Good points. Room is taken care of due to handicap requirement.

I would not necessarily count on that.
We thought our room was taken care of at OKW on our recent trip in April.
We needed a fully wheelchair accessible room with a roll in shower, which was supposed to be blocked for us when we made our reservation. We spoke to the Special Needs Department and actually called once a month to make sure it was still correctly in the computer blocked off as a room with a roll in shower.
The last time we called to check on it was one week before our trip.
When we checked in, we were assigned to a first floor room. Before we left the HH, my DH asked just to verify that we did have a room with a roll in shower. The CM said, "All the first floor rooms are accessible." We said we had a room with a roll in shower blocked for us, and she basically said "no, you don't. There is a nothing in the computer about that. Just first floor."
Then, she said they had no roll in shower rooms available ("but we will in 2 days, so you could switch then").
We did finally get it sorted out and got the room we needed, but if we had been later checking in, I'm not sure if we would have.

 

[zurgswife]

Good points. Room is taken care of due to handicap requirement.

Nothing is "taken care of" in my opinion until you walk into your room and verify your needs have been met. Miscommunications with rooms happen all the time. I wouldn't assume anything with regards to what you think your room will be until you step in side the actual room.

 

[maxiesmom]

If you need a specific type of room or room location, I would definately check in before heading to the parks! The last thing you want to have happen is to come back from a long day, all tired and ready for bed, and have there be a problem with your room. Your room assignment can be changed up until you are in it! No matter what a room assigner tells you!

 

[localdriver]

It is always advisable to go to your resort first, for all the reasons stated above. Besides that, what to do with your carry-ons it you don't? I would not want to lug them around a park.

NOT having a carry-on that contains the essentials for the first 24 hrs is NOT recommended since stuff could happen with your luggage.

 

[rico567]

My entire experience with hotels/motels (which includes half of the U.S. states, and six European countries) is that the matters under discussion in this thread are taken care of in a completely ad hoc manner- period. Whether you call six months in advance, and every week thereafter is, IMHO, totally irrelevant and futile.

 

[SueM in MN]

My entire experience with hotels/motels (which includes half of the U.S. states, and six European countries) is that the matters under discussion in this thread are taken care of in a completely ad hoc manner- period. Whether you call six months in advance, and every week thereafter is, IMHO, totally irrelevant and futile.

That may be true for regular requests, but it is NOT TRUE for handicapped accessible rooms with special features (like roll in showers) in hotels in the US.
If the guest needs those features and doesn't get them, it usually means they can't stay at that resort at all. For that reason, if a guest has needs for special accessibility and explains their needs before arriving, the hotel is required to provide an accessible room to them when they arrive according to the ADA. it is not a request, it is a guarantee. If the hotel has that type of room at the time the reservation was made, they are required to save it some way for that guest. If a hotel is not doing that for handicapped accessible rooms, they are not in compliance with the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act).
In most hotels, that means those particular rooms are blocked off in some way so that they are saved for the people who need them.

In Disney's situation, when you call to make a reservation and tell the CM that you need accessibility features (in our case, a roll in shower), that CM contacts Special Reservations (SR), where the availability of those types of rooms is tracked. The CM at SR checks if any rooms meet the needs of that guest. If there are no rooms for that resort on those dates, the guest has the option of checking other dates or other resorts.
If there is a room that meets the needs and dates, the room is blocked at that point. The guest is TOLD that a room has been blocked for them.
The guest is supposed to get a confirmation sheet that says "Accessible Room Guaranteed". It IS a guarantee, not a request, because having the room with those features is necessary for that guest to stay there.
We have been told many times in the past that Disney blocks a specific room for that reservation, although the guest will not find out which specific room it is until they arrive.
The reason we have been told they do not tell the room is a room sometimes needs to be taken out of commission for some reason (carpet wet).
In the other post I made, I think the room we were assigned originally probably was the room we ended up with. BUT, the fold down shower seat in the master bathroom was broken - so that room had probably been taken out of commission, which was why we were told there were no roll in shower rooms available. For some reason, the roll in shower information was not in the resort's computer (although it was in the Special Reservation computer and we were told it would 'cross over'). They 'found' us an accessible room and we found out the shower seat was broken when we tried to use the shower (we reported it and they said they needed to order a new seat).