ME bus or towncar?

[MUFFYCAT]

i'm going by myself(meeting a group) in September arriving at 10:30 a.m and have 4:40 flight going home.

i want to get maximim time and never used the ME busses.
if you had the money to spare would you rather take a towncar?
and would i get to the resort faster than the ME bus?


thanks for your help.

 

[paults]

IMHO if you have carry-ons and a towncar ressie it would be faster but costly.

Now if you have checked bags I would use ME because even if you get your own bags and go to the bus it would only be 15/20 longer than the towncar and you get it free.

your going alone so that's $90/100 plus tips for towncar, to save about 20 mins on the bus.

Even if its a little longer , it's free.

 

[CleveRocks]

I agree that if you have ONLY carry-ons then a towncar would probably be faster than DME.

But if you have any checked luggage, then using DME the way it's designed (which includes letting them deliver your luggage to your room) shouldn't be longer, might be quicker, and definitely will be cheaper.

Let me give you my experience as an illustration. 53 minutes from getting into the DME line to being dropped off at my resort. Since the drive time pretty much anywhere is 30 minutes, there's only the remaining 23 minutes that could be accomplished faster or slower by a towncar. In that 23 minutes, I waited in the DME Welcome Center line, checked in at the Welcome Center, waited in my bus queue, boarded the bus, and waited on the very comfy bus until it left. Remember, I got to totally skip baggage claim.

Do you think in 23 minutes you could: wait at baggage claim for your luggage, grab your luggage, wait for the towncar driver to go out to the garage and get into the car, drive the car to you, load your luggage and dispense with paperwork in 23 minutes??? If so, it won't be significantly less than 23 minutes. Let's say in a best-case scenario, BEST-CASE, you accomplish all of that in 15 minutes. That's 8 minutes faster than me with DME. Are you willing to pay $100 or so for 8 minutes? That's $750 per hour. Neurosurgeons and plumbers don't even earn that much!

But like I said, if you don't have any checked luggage, then a towncar would almost have to be quicker than DME. I can't see how it could be slower except for a serious and unexpected problem.

 

[Edd]

Hey, she could tag her bags with the DME tags and than go pick up a towncar or taxi on the way out for $50.00 and have a choice on taking the DME back or spending another $50.00 to get back.. She might be the type who would pay the money for the peace and quiet, quickness and efficiency of personal transportation. There are many times when the travel time to Disney is quite a bit more than 30 minutes for the shuttle busses, especially if it takes a car service that long and they are not making any extra stops at other hotels.

 

[jackmac]

For maximum time at the resorts a limo or taxi is the best, even if you have checked luggage. MCO is very quick getting your luggage. There are taxi stands next to the baggage area. I've used ME 3 times and have not been overly impressed on the MCO to Disney end of it. I've had long lines at the ME stand and have to wait a long time for my bus. It has taken an average of 1.5 hours to get to the resort from getting off of the plane. Picking up my luggage at baggage claim and taking a cab takes no longer than 1 hour.

On the way back to the airport, if you use the airport checkin, this works great. I would check my bags in the morning and they are taken to your airline. For maximum time at the parks I would take a cab again instead of the DME bus. The DME bus picks you up 3 hours before your flight, you can push it and get a cab about 1.5 hours before your flight if you are all checked in.

Cab fares to Disney from MCO are about $45 each way.

 

[disneyagain]

I thought you had to check in and ride ME, in order for your luggage to go ME?

So that wouldn't be an option for the poster.

 

[handicap18]

I don't know how much faster a towncar would be over ME. If it is faster its not by much and IMO not worth the extra cost.

DW and I went a few weeks ago. We only had carry-ons. We went right to ME check-in. Waited about 5 minutes for the bus, then waited another 5 minutes or so while on the bus for it to load. Then we were off. Since we stayed at All-Star Movies, we were the last of 3 hotels to be dropped off, but over all it was a very speedy process.

Thinking about it now, I could see a towncar being maybe 20-30 minutes quicker. But is the extra cost worth it. Our plane landed at 10:10am, with checking in at ME, the bus ride, dropping off at 3 hotels, checking into the hotel, dropping our bags at the baggage claim at the hotel, getting on Disney park service bus, we were at Epcot by 12:30. I can't see how getting to Epcot at 12:00 instead of 12:30 would have made the day any better.

Just my $0.02 FWIW

 

[jackmac]

I've used ME on my last 3 trips and will use it again for the cost factor, but it's not quick. My last 2 trips I was staying at POR and had excessive waits for the bus (at least 1/2 to 3/4 of an hour for a bus to show up) and my luggage did not get to my room until almost midnight (6 PM arrival at MCO). It did seem that the All stars and POP resorts did have more frequent busses.

The return trip to the airport is not technically all DME. The Resort Check-in and luggage transfer is run through a separate company that is paid by the airlines. As long as your staying at a Disney resort you can use Resort Check-in, even if your not using DME. Magical Express is just a bus service to the airport if you have one of the participating airlines in Resort Check-in. On the way from the airport to Disney you have to check in at DME to have your bags transferred by DME.

 

[Edd]

No, you don't have to check in at DME for the bags to be carried to Disney. You just sign up for the DME before arriving Olando and put the DME stickers on the luggage. They will get to Disney. Than all you do, when you arrive Orlando, is go to the other mode of transportation and take it to the Disney resorts. No waiting for bags. The luggage goes directly from the plane and never hits the carrousels. It would be a nightmare to match luggage against guests boarding the DME. Just let Disney do the luggage delivery for you. There are a lot of passengers already doing this.

 

[CleveRocks]

No, you don't have to check in at DME for the bags to be carried to Disney. You just sign up for the DME before arriving Olando and put the DME stickers on the luggage. They will get to Disney. Than all you do, when you arrive Orlando, is go to the other mode of transportation and take it to the Disney resorts. No waiting for bags. The luggage goes directly from the plane and never hits the carrousels. It would be a nightmare to match luggage against guests boarding the DME. Just let Disney do the luggage delivery for you. There are a lot of passengers already doing this.

What you are saying is contrary to everything we've been told. "It would be a nightmare to match luggage against guests boarding the DME" would be true circa 1975, but with computers (fed info by scanners reading barcodes on both travel vouchers and DME luggage tags) it could be done without a human even making the decision. I agree that Carter Administration-era technology would leave it as a monumental task that could never be done, but nowadays, accessing Internet porn takes more technology than what would be necessary to accomplish the task of matching luggage and bus riders.

What we really need is an empirical test. What we need is a "known" and reliable DISer who will be staying at WDW but will be taking a towncar or renting a car. We need that person, someone who will not be checkng the maximum number of bags with their airline, to also check a case of bottled water (one in a complete cardboard box, not one that is sealed in plastic) as a piece of luggage, and to place a DME luggage tag on it.

This person would NOT check in with DME at all, and would just do their own towncar or rental car thing. They would report back to us whether or not the case of water was in fact delivered to their resort room or not. If not, the only risk was about five or six dollars for a case of water. That's why I suggested a case of water instead of an empty suitcase, because someone sending an empty suitcase would still not want to lose track of or lose a perfectly good suitcase, KWIM?

ANY TAKERS? ANYONE INTERESTED IN BEING A SCIENTIST???

 

[Edd]

You don't need to do any checking. If you get delayed and arrive on a later flight your bags might beat you to the resort. You think the bags are held at the airport to see if you signed up and boarded the DME. No way, Jose. It has also been reported on other strings in the past year that passengers have taken the local transportation and let their bags go DME. After all, the DME is free. Disney probably won't mind that because they then won't have to pay the airport and the Mears shuttle for your participation in the DME.
So what you are saying is, if all your bags have not arrived or are not picked up on a scanner of some sort, than you won't be able to ride the DME. I doubt that.

 

[CleveRocks]

It has also been reported on other strings in the past year that passengers have taken the local transportation and let their bags go DME.

Give us a link to even one post that reported this. Never read it before. Please provide proof to back up your statement. Sorry to say, but it has been your track record that you make statements that you have not been able to back up with fact, then you fade away from that thread. I'd love to see the PAST, already-posted "strings" to which you referred. Based on experience, though, I think that's not going to happen. Please feel free to prove me wrong.

So what you are saying is, if all your bags have not arrived or are not picked up on a scanner of some sort, than you won't be able to ride the DME. I doubt that.

Not what I said. Not at all. In fact, you COMPLETELY turned around what I said. What I said is the conventional wisdom we've developed, that if you don't have your bus voucher scanned by the driver, then your luggage will not be delivered from MCO to your resort. I never said anything about your not being able to ride the bus because your bags have been delayed. Please, read more carefully, or don't twist my words for your own advantage.

 

[handicap18]

You don't need to do any checking.

Then why do they have you "check-in" at the ME desk at the airport and have you identify the type of AND how many bags that you had checked at your home airport. Is this just a big waste of everyone's time?

I guess that as a customer service if you never checked in at ME in MCO and did not take the ME bus, but you did sign up for it when booking and did properly tag your bags with the appropriate Disney tags then you might get your bags delivered to your hotel. However, if you do it this way, I would say DO NOT expect to get your bags in the 3-4 hours they say you will get them if you DID check in. In fact, don't be surprised if you don't get them to the next day.

You can't expect the normal delivery of your bags if YOU do not go through the normal "check-in" procedure. Having worked in Customer Service in the travel industry I have some experience in this type of service. If you don't check in with DME, then how are they to know to look for your bags in the alloted time. How are they to know that you actually arrived in MCO?

 

[CleveRocks]

You can't expect the normal delivery of your bags if YOU do not go through the normal "check-in" procedure. Having worked in Customer Service in the travel industry I have some experience in this type of service. If you don't check in with DME, then how are they to know to look for your bags in the alloted time. How are they to know that you actually arrived in MCO?

Well, to be fair, there's no one looking for "your" bags or "my" bags, they're looking for bags with yellow DME tags on them.They all get pulled indiscriminantly. It's AFTER they get pulled that we're saying that they get their barcodes scanned, and if the computer detects that a scanned bag does not match up with a scanned bus voucher, only THEN does the bag get put into some type of purgatory.

Like I posted earlier, I'd love to see an experiment done. I'd also love to hear what Tyler has to say, as we all have hypotheses based on reports and experiences, but he has access to hard facts. Tyler???

 

[kaytieeldr]

Hey, she could tag her bags with the DME tags and than go pick up a towncar or taxi on the way out for $50.00

. No. She can't. Any yellow-tagged luggage whose owner does not have their DME voucher scanned by the driver and does not then board the DME bus will NOT leave the airport. DME is not a luggage service; that's just an added benefit of Magical Express. You don't ride the bus, you don't get your luggage. That $50.00 cab fare eventually becomes $150.00 when the Guest has to take a taxi BACK to the airport to pick up their luggage, then go BACK to Walt Disney World.

The DME bus picks you up 3 hours before your flight, you can push it and get a cab about 1.5 hours before your flight if you are all checked in.

Yes, that's really pushing it. That assumes NO traffic between the pickup point and the airport, and security lines that do NOT take 45 to 60 minutes to traverse, and an airline that does NOT require the passenger to be in the gate area x number of minutes before the flight departs...

I've used ME on my last 3 trips and will use it again for the cost factor, but it's not quick. My last 2 trips I was staying at POR and had excessive waits for the bus (at least 1/2 to 3/4 of an hour for a bus to show up) and my luggage did not get to my room until almost midnight (6 PM arrival at MCO). It did seem that the All stars and POP resorts did have more frequent busses.

While there aren't specific routings, it's not unexpected that it would seem more buses go to the Value resorts - given that they have more rooms, therefore more Guests, than almost any other individual resorts. But each DME bus goes to between one and four resorts - based in large part to need.
Regarding luggage: Did you contact Bell Services (or Luggage Assistance, at the Value resorts) to check on your luggage after a couple of hours? Magical Express uses GPS tracking and scans each tag no less than five times; chances are good your luggage was at your resort but not delivered by Bell Services until late; or even that the airline delayed it from your home airport.

As long as your staying at a Disney resort you can use Resort Check-in, even if your not using DME.

AND as long as you're flying on a participating airline (see the "what participating airline means" sticky at the top of the Transportation forum).

No, you don't have to check in at DME for the bags to be carried to Disney.

YES, you DO need to check in for DME and have your voucher scanned by the bus driver AND board the bus - otherwise your luggage will NOT, repeat NOT, be transported from the airport by Magical Express.

You don't need to do any checking. If you get delayed and arrive on a later flight your bags might beat you to the resort. You think the bags are held at the airport to see if you signed up and boarded the DME. No way, Jose.

Not possible. Period.

 

[disneyfreak71]

We want to get bagels and bottled water. Does ME make a free stop at the grocery store like the car services do??? Or is it cheaper to use we go shopping or one of those companies and DME???

 

[tjmw2727]

No, you don't have to check in at DME for the bags to be carried to Disney. You just sign up for the DME before arriving Olando and put the DME stickers on the luggage. They will get to Disney. Than all you do, when you arrive Orlando, is go to the other mode of transportation and take it to the Disney resorts. No waiting for bags. The luggage goes directly from the plane and never hits the carrousels. It would be a nightmare to match luggage against guests boarding the DME. Just let Disney do the luggage delivery for you. There are a lot of passengers already doing this.[/QUOTE]

This is contrary to what I was told on two separate inquiries with a rep from Disney's Magical Express. In order for your luggage to be transported by DME you have to check in and receive your DME voucher the voucher is then scanned when you board the bus. Apparently this triggers the DME luggage part of the service as well as alerting the resorts that X# of guests are on the way.

In regards to the sentance I bolded, I was told in no uncertain terms that DME is a passenger transportation service and not a luggage delivery service. I would be interested in hearing more about the "lots of passengers" already doing this as I haven't read anything that contradicts what DME has told me.

OTOH, for the return trip, if your airline is a participating airline you can check your bags at the resort and then use any form of transportation to the airport including DME, towncar or taxi.

TJ

 

[tjmw2727]

We want to get bagels and bottled water. Does ME make a free stop at the grocery store like the car services do??? Or is it cheaper to use we go shopping or one of those companies and DME???

No, DME may stop at one or two resorts prior to yours but will only go to WDW Resorts. Its cheaper IMHO to use DME and a grocery delivery service then to hire a towncar.

I used wegoshop in October and April and they were terrific.

TJ

 

[CleveRocks]

We want to get bagels and bottled water. Does ME make a free stop at the grocery store like the car services do??? Or is it cheaper to use we go shopping or one of those companies and DME???

I totally agree with tjmw's response. Let's say you hired a towncar only one-way, from MCO to your resort, in order to get he free grocery stop. Including tip, that would be about $60. Then you could still take DME for free at the end of your vacation, back to the airport.

Or you take DME round trip and get a grocery delivery. Unless you think the grocery delivery would cost $60 (or more) ADDITIONAL to what it would cost you to shop in person on a towncar stop, then DME and grocery delivery is the obvious choice. What makes it even more obvious, at least to me, is that a grcoery stop slows you down. You'll surely get to your resort later with the towncar/grocery stop combo than you will with the DME/grocery DELIVERY combo. Been there, done that, works great. FYI, I used Gooding's (www.goodings.com).

 

[Lewisc]

I don't put attach much (ANY?) credibility to anything Edd posts BUT FL Tours posted that many of their customers used DME for luggage only transfers. Several posters found their luggage delivered to their rooms even though they didn't even have DME tags on their luggage. The luggage wound up in the unclaimed office and DME took and delived the bag.

I have yet to read a single post from a guest that didn't get their luggage delivered even though they skipped the bus.

I wouldn't try it but I doubt Disney enforces the no luggage only rules. I can't picture Disney storing luggage at MCO for guests that check in to the DME desk late or even wind up taking a later flight than their luggage.

Give us a link to even one post that reported this. Never read it before. Please provide proof to back up your statement. Sorry to say, but it has been your track record that you make statements that you have not been able to back up with fact, then you fade away from that thread. I'd love to see the PAST, already-posted "strings" to which you referred. Based on experience, though, I think that's not going to happen. Please feel free to prove me wrong.
Not what I said. Not at all. In fact, you COMPLETELY turned around what I said. What I said is the conventional wisdom we've developed, that if you don't have your bus voucher scanned by the driver, then your luggage will not be delivered from MCO to your resort. I never said anything about your not being able to ride the bus because your bags have been delayed. Please, read more carefully, or don't twist my words for your own advantage.