Thanks for all the suggestions. We are booked on the Panama Canal cruise, and we are flying in the night before (don't want to risk flying in day-of...especially flying out of the northeast in January). We are booked at BWV for one night...just a place to settle in for the night, and leave for the cruise the next morning. Since it's a long cruise, we will have a lot of luggage, and I was really hoping to leave it in the hands of ME, but I think you are right...it's too risky with our arrival time.
I would say that if you arrive in the main terminal (get off the tram) after 10 PM, you should go to the carousel.
If'/when you go to the carousel, if you don't find your bags there, file a baggage claim with the airline before leaving the area.
I would love to hear the official word on this.
If I waited there, and they didn't come through, I'd be freaking out -- "Did ME get them? Did they not get them?" I think your idea of filing a claim with the airline is a good one, especially if I was staying on WDW property for a while. But since we are arriving late, and we have to leave for the cruise the next morning, we're just hoping to get to the hotel quickly, settle in, and get some sleep before the excitement of the following day.
Arriving that close to 10pm, I wouldn't even tag the bags to begin with. I would much rather just go to baggage claim, get the bags and head to the DME area.
In fact, I would do that if my flight was due to arrive at any time after 9pm...just to be on the safe side.
I agree with the above posters. Even if it was close you might make it but you still might have to wait up to 3 hours to get the luggage at your room. From our own experience I did not like bell services knocking at 1am. So now if we have a late flight we don't even tag our bags and pick them up ourselves and bring them to the bus that way when we get there our luggage is there.
I think your suggestions are good ones...to not even tag the bags at all. Yes, it will be a pain lugging all that luggage through the terminal (cart please!), but as you said, at least we know we will have them. Nothing would panic me more than not knowing if ME got them, and losing sleep waiting for them to come...especially knowing I have to get on the ship the next day. There's not a lot of time to wait around for lost luggage.
I was mostly curious if other's had arrived that close to 10pm, and what their experiences have been. But I think you offer a good rule of thumb...anything arriving after 9pm, don't tag the bags!
