ME logistics

[JulieEck]

Ok, so this is going to be long and convoluted - sorry!

DD and I are driving down to Disney with my parents and my sister's 3 kids. We will arrive Tuesday, June 1 and are staying at POR. The 5 of them are on one package ressie while DD and I are on a separate, but linked, ressie. DD and I actually have 2 ressies in order to have the AP discount each night because the code changes part way through. Ressie #1 is check in June 1, check out Friday, June 4; Ressie #2 is check in June 4 and check out Sunday, June 6. They are continuing reservations. My parents ressie is for the whole time. Ok, now for the crazy part.

DH will be flying down on Saturday, June 5 and arrives around 8:30 am. He will stay with DD and I the final night of our POR ressie, then on Sunday, June 6, DH, DD and I will check in at POP for the rest of our trip. We will all drive back home together.

What's the best way to get DH on ME?

He will not have any luggage - only a book/iPod for the trip down.
Can he take ME the day before a ressie starts (our POP ressie)?
Can he take ME the day after a ressie starts (the second POR ressie - I'll have to add him to that one)?
Should I do a third POR ressie for that final night? (We'd have one for 3 nights - DD and I, one for one night - DD and I, then one more for one night - all 3 of us.) Crazy, but most accurate, and his arrival date would match a check in date.

When he gets there, we'll be at Epcot. Can he take ME to a different resort like one of the Epcot ones? It doesn't really matter which resort he rides to as he'll be going straight to the bus stop to get on an Epcot bus to meet us.

OK - time for the pop quiz! Just kidding...

Any thoughts/suggestions/help???

 

[crashbb]

Assuming he is on a reservation, he can use DME (from MCO to WDW) ON or AFTER the check-in date. So, your second option is the one that works.

He can, however, only take it to the hotel at which he has a reservation. The only loophole to this is that he can get off at any hotel at which that bus stops. So, if the POR stops at an EPCOT hotel, he could get off there. Other people may be able to tell you how likely this is.

 

[skiingfast]

Not that this is always the case.

When I used ME to get to POR it continued on to WL.

The good news is that both POR and POP are close to Epcot and it probably won't take much more time to take the bus and to walk through the boardwalk or beach clubs resorts to Epcot. Probably only a 10-15 minutes difference.

 

[goofy4tink]

Yes, he will have to be added to that second reservation. If you do that now, he will have to pay accordingly...park passes, meals..anything that is part of the package. But, if you wait until you are there, you can add him at the beginning of that 'second' reservation..that way you shouldn't have to pay the extra for him but he can ride DME. Just give them all the particulars.
Or, he can just go to the Mears counter, upon arrival and tell them he needs to go to the Swan/Dolphin. It will cost about $19..one way. It may take him about an hour since they do make other stops at non-WDW resorts along the way, but it's really kind of fun. Then, when he gets off at the S/D, he can just either walk or take the boat over to Epcot...the walk is about 15 mins and he enters at the rear entrance, at the International Gateway.
I would go with the Mears shuttle method....pretty direct and not expensive at all.

 

[JulieEck]

Thank you for your responses! I'm leaning toward adding him to the 2 night ressie even though he wouldn't be there the first night of that. That seems to be the simplest solution. Now, I just have to figure out what to do with dining - but that's another board!

Thanks!