ME & luggage?

[KKB]

I have heard that if you let ME get your luggage that you might not get it until LATE at night....
SOOOO we thought we would just claim our own luggage...but will we have to take it onto the bus with us, or can we stow it underneath? I cannot imagine trying to sit for an hour in the seats w/large luggage!!

BTW, how long from the time we deplane until web can expect to be at POP? When we did DCL, I think it was close to 2 hours....
How much faster would we get there if we rent a limo?

THanks,

 

[pumpkinboy]

I have heard that if you let ME get your luggage that you might not get it until LATE at night....
SOOOO we thought we would just claim our own luggage...but will we have to take it onto the bus with us, or can we stow it underneath? I cannot imagine trying to sit for an hour in the seats w/large luggage!!

BTW, how long from the time we deplane until web can expect to be at POP? When we did DCL, I think it was close to 2 hours....
How much faster would we get there if we rent a limo?

THanks,

I expect you "Heard" this from a self-interested party, perhaps someone who runs a limo service. We have used DME many (>5) times, and our luggage arrived in our room 3 hours or less from our plane's at the airport, usually within an hour of check-in. Most times when we have used DME, we have arrived mid-day before rooms were ready; we just stowed our carry-on luggage with Bell Services and went off to the parks. By the time we got into our room, the luggage was already there. The time from landing to check-in was usually in the 45-90 minute range (and POP is usually an early stop on the Epcot resort DME routes).

I suppose if you plane arrived late at night, your luggage would also; and DME does not work as well later in the evening, so in that case (and only in that case) I might be inclined to leave the DME tags off and pick up luggage at the carousel. You would be able to stow the bags under the bus, no problem (don;t forget to tip the driver when he/she helps you).

But most of the time it is far more convenient to skip the baggage carousel altogether and go right to the DME check-in at the airport.

Good luck!

 

[Lewisc]

Average time from landing to arrival at your resort is 70 minutes. POP is usually the first stop and might be a few minutes less. You have to add in however long it takes to get your luggage and drag it over to the DME desk.

Your luggage should be in your resort around 3 hours after you checkin. Flying late just bring enough in your carryon for the first night.

A town car will take around 30 minutes to get you to POP but if you could easily wait 30 minutes for your luggage.

Some of the limo drivers actually suggest guests use DME for luggage only.

 

[Edd]

If you let Disney deliver your luggage you can walk straight from the plane to a taxi or car service and be at WDW, checking in at a resort, in 40 minutes.

 

[CleveRocks]

I have heard that if you let ME get your luggage that you might not get it until LATE at night....

Well, if you get in late at night, then it makes sense that your luggage would also get to you late at night.

Don't let a few complaints among millions of satisfied users make you think that such problems are common. They can occur, anything's possible, but they're not common.

 

[MrsPMC00]

Well, if you get in late at night, then it makes sense that your luggage would also get to you late at night.

Don't let a few complaints among millions of satisfied users make you think that such problems are common. They can occur, anything's possible, but they're not common.

Well, I hate to tell you, but I listened to comments like this one and on 9/22 had an absolutely horrible experience with ME and we will NEVER be using it again! We arrived at MCO at 3:15 pm. I rented a car and headed off to the grocery store while hubby and kids waited for ME. Hubby called and said all was going well, they had gotten thru the check in line. Cool. I got all checking in at POFQ and waited about 30 min for them to arrive. We then went off to Downtown Disney with other family that was there with us. This is about 5 pm. We get back to our room at 8, and still no luggage. We landed at 3:15, were checked into POFQ by 4:15. Sat and talked for a while, it is now 9. No luggage. It is bedtime too. So, hubby called and was told it had been scanned so it was in orlando. No further info. 9:30, 10, 10:30. Hubby walked to bell services and was told it was on a truck to the resort. Kids are now asleep. OK. This stinks. It has been 6 hours. The excuse they gave my hubby was there was a rain delay. We landed at 3:15 pm. It was bright and sunny. it did not rain until 8 or 9. How did this impact me. Well, apparently it did. When our luggage arrived at 11:30, we began to quietly unpack it to be prepared for the morning. Well, guess what? OUR CLOTHES WERE SOAKED!!! I packed the girls clothes as outfits in plastic bags, so theirs were good, but mine and DH were SOAKING WET. NEVER, EVER, again will I use ME. There may be "millions" of happy people, but I am not one of them.

 

[kaytieeldr]

And, you're blaming an enclosed Magical Express truck, which transported your luggage from an airport building with walls and ceilings (i.e. all the standard protections from the elements), and which delivered your luggage to within feet of the luggage storage area at your resort - where the cages containing the luggage are immediately moved inside, then opened and the luggage sorted - for your items being soaking wet? Interesting...

Some information of which you might not be aware:
. . . Walt Disney World alone is 47 square miles
. . . The Greater Orlando area, including MCO, is much larger that WDW
. . . When it rains at Walt Disney World, it does not necessarily rain over ALL of the property, or at one time
. . . Therefore, it could EASILY be raining (pouring?) at the airport while the skies over Disney are clear, bright, and sunny
PLUS . . . The AIRPORT suspends all luggage handling when lightning is spotted
. . . This frequently happens after the luggage has been offloaded from the plane but before it gets taken inside anywhere
. . . While belongings are valuable, they can be replaced. People struck by lightning can't (plus all the OSHA stuff, and Workers Compensation, and Disability coverage, and all that).

While it IS too bad your belongings were soaked, blame it on the airport, NOT on Magical Express.

 

[azgal81]

When I was there a month or so ago we were flying in late so I didn't want to wait a couple of hours for the bags to arrive so we just picked it up at baggage claim. It was no problems I did notice that the bags took a loooooong time to actually get out on the baggage claim belt though maybe because it was late and they have to pull all the bags with the yellow tags as well.

I had no problems with my bags fitting under the bus there was plenty of room. And it was not a big deal at all to carry the bags from baggage claim to the bus.

It was actually fairly simple.

 

[Edd]

Katie,

When the luggage is unloaded it goes under Disney's responsibility. This September rains came late. I cannot remember one time it rained at the airport around 3:30 pm during that month, which is unusual. Most of the time it rained at Disney around 5:00 to 7:00. The 22nd was on Saturday. I happened to be working until about 5:00 and finished up at WDW. It had not rained in Orlando up until the time I left WDW, approximately 5:30 pm.

Disney does take care of the bags and the only chance they could have got wet, it had to happen later in the evening. Remember those bags are in open cages and they have to be transported from the truck to where ever they get them ready to get them to the rooms. They could have got wet in that process, as the resorts may be the only time they would be so vulnerable. The luggage carts at MCO protect the luggage from rain and planes are not usually off loaded if heavy rain or lightning is present. A luggage cart does not sit out in the rain filled with luggage either. I believe handlers will tell you the cart is either empty or it is headed to the barn.

If the poster had mentioned or showed it to Disney she might have got compensated for it by Disney. It kind of looks like spontaneity prevaled over common sense.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Edd - I know absolutely that it rained at Epcot between 7 PM and 8:30 PM; I think it had rained earlier elsewhere on property before that, because I already had a poncho :grin:. I do NOT know if/when/whether it rained at the airport on the 22nd, but I do know it didn't rain there between 11:30 AM and 12:15 PM (by which time I had already departed on DME heading for Pop Century... which brings me to: With knowledge of only Pop Century's handling of DME luggage, I know that the trucks park as close as possible to Luggage Assistance. The cages are offloaded and brought inside as quickly as humanly possible. They are definitely NOT outside long enough at Disney World to enable the contents of even the bags on top to become soaked.

Also, to the poster with the negative experience: Please keep in mind - that luggage that had been scanned BY 9 PM when the owner was on a 3:15 flight could well have been delayed/misdirected from one's home airport. Please note, too, that I am NOT trying to convince YOU to give Magical Express another chance.

Based on Disney's low estimate - that between 5,000 and 10,000 Guests use Magical Express each day, and that it's been in operation for 900 days, that's 4,500,000 Guests. Probably 99.8% of those Guests have POSITIVE experiences with this transportation (using an estimate of ten negative experiences per day, every day).

 

[WildGrits]

Well, I hate to tell you, but I listened to comments like this one and on 9/22 had an absolutely horrible experience with ME and we will NEVER be using it again! We arrived at MCO at 3:15 pm.

Our stuff wasn't wet but....................

We came in at the same time on the same day as you. We had 10 pieces of luggage of which only 4 arrived to our room by 8pm. As for the rest, half was at the Customs House at CBR and the other half was not even in WDW yet. I have to say that MCO was a zoo that day. Our last set of luggage arrived at 11pm.

Will I use ME again? OH YEAH. We had carry ons with anything we might need that day and night. I just will just repeat what I did again next time. The drivers we had where so funny.

 

[goofy4tink]

Let's keep in mind that no service is going to have 100% customer satisfaction. There are always going to be glitches. Heck, we see people that love a particular resort and someone comes along and trashes it...they had a miserable experience, will never go back, can't understand why anyone would stay there, etc. So....I'm sorry anyone has a bad experience with DME. It doesn't happen often, but it does happen. If you are the one having that bad experience, you don't much care that you are the .5% that has a bad time.

To the OP, you should be at your resort checkin line within 70 mins...that has been my average in 4 trips. Most have been in the neighborhood of an hour but one long trip of 90 mins skewed the whole thing. Your luggage should be in your room within 3 hrs of resort checkin. If you decide to grab your own luggage, then do not put the yellow tags on them, head to baggage claim and get them, and then continue on to DME checkin desk. Your bags will be stowed underneath the bus you are riding on. They will be taken out when you get to your resort. A tip is recommended when the driver has to stow your bags.

 

[klwdisney]

We used ME for the 2nd time this trip. We landed at 7:45 pm on 9/22. Our luggage arrived at 1:40 am. We had planned ahead for the possibility of not getting our luggage until late by packing everything we'd need to get up and get ready in the morning in our carryons. I had read numerous times that the luggage service stops delivering around midnight so we had gone to sleep assuming our luggage would arrive in the morning. Didn't expect that knock at the door that's for sure!!

We still LOVE this service and wouldn't hesitate to use them again. However, in the future, if I arrived in the evening, I'd probably tell them to hold our luggage until the morning if it was going to be late.

For the poster with the wet luggage... having a change of clothes in your carryons would've alleviated your anger Im sure. You could've hung up your checked clothes to dry or ran over to the laundryroom to dry them out. Something to think about for future trips anyway.

Oh and we landed at 7:45 pm and were at the hotel (POR) by about 9 pm. We were the 3rd stop.