ME question!!!!! Need to do something fast!!!

[I.heart.disney]

Ok! So I'll be leaving to WDW in 14 days with my BF and SIL. At first we thought it would be nice to rent a car, for us to have the freedom of moving around Orlando. But now, just two weeks before our set departure day DBF, tells me it might be better to use Disney Transportation throughout the trip to save some money, and use it in better things at out vacation.

Now I'm in desperate need of making a ME reservation for airport pick up and drop off!! The thing is I made my hotel reservation through the AAA website, and have read in this boards that the only way to book ME is through a AAA agent!


Can't I just call directly to ME reservation center and make it myself!???

Please if anyone knows let me know ASAP!!!! TIA!

 

[helenk]

I would try to call them directly (866) 599-0951 and see if they will take the info from you.

 

[Kies99]

I don't think you need to make a reservation through a AAA agent. How would international travellers be able to use this service? If you are staying at a Disney Hotel, you should be able to use it regardless of how it was booked. Give them a call at the number the other person posted and you should be fine.

 

[Hannathy]

Why don't you just call your AAA office? Why panic until you have tried the obvious. Any agent can do it if it needs to be done thru AAA. no big deal. you have 10 days before travel to do it I believe.

 

[CleveRocks]

I don't think you need to make a reservation through a AAA agent. How would international travellers be able to use this service? If you are staying at a Disney Hotel, you should be able to use it regardless of how it was booked. Give them a call at the number the other person posted and you should be fine.

I think what the OP means is that when you book a Disney trip through a travel agent, that travel agent "owns" the reservation and you DON'T own the reservation. Only the reservation owner is supposed to be able to make any additions or modifications to a reservation. Theoretically, DME should not take a DME reservation from a guest based on a resort reservation owned by a travel agent (DME reservations are contingent upon having a resort reservation). That being said, occasionally common sense on the part of a DME CM trumps the letter of the law.

TO THE OP: It's certainly worth giving DME a call to try to make the reservation yourself. And if you can't, then just do it through your travel agent (in your case, that's AAA). DME reservations can be made as close as 10 days in advance (and probably less than that if you have a good story!), so with 14 days to go you have gobs of time for AAA to be lazy about it and still get it done for you before the deadline.

By the way, you won't get your DME mailing in-time, which means you won't get your DME luggage tags. But you can still take advantage of the automatic luggage delivery!!! You don't have to get your own bags if you don't want to, even without the DME tags. After you land, skip baggage claim and go to the DIsney Welcome Center. They will ask if your bags are tagged, and you'll say "No." They'll ask for your baggage claim ticket numbers as well as a physical description of each bag. A CM will be dispatched to claim your bags for you, and will then bring them back "behind the scenes" to be delivered with the rest of the DME luggage.

 

[Kies99]

They wouldn't be "modifying" anything. They are a resort guest and all resort guests have access to this service. They should be able to just give there reservation number and be all set.

I'm hoping the original OP lets us know how how it all pans out.

 

[goofy4tink]

Several thoughts here....
you can actually call DME several days before you leave and still make your reservations...you just won't get the luggage tags/info packet.
AAA does 'own' the reservation. Only they can make any modifications, changes, additions to the reservation. This is the way it works when you book with any kind of travel agent. So, have them call DME first. It shouldn't be an issue. I'm not saying that DME won't talk to you...they probably would. But, for the most part, only TA's can amend anything on a reservation they have booked.

 

[clkelley]

There is also an outside chance you will get the tags.

For our May trip, we were planning on driving. Two 1/2 weeks before the trip, we got an AMAZING Ding! on a Sunday afternoon. We added two more resort nights, booked the Ding! fare and called DME on Sunday. We had our DME packet by FedEx on Thursday.

 

[CleveRocks]

They wouldn't be "modifying" anything. They are a resort guest and all resort guests have access to this service. They should be able to just give there reservation number and be all set.

I'm HONESTLY not meaning to be rude, but you are missing the point. If you use a travel agent, you are not a Disney guest until you arrive at Disney. Before that, the customer is the travel agent. It doesn't matter what Disney guests are entitled to, because you are not yet a Disney guest.

If you do not own a reservation then you are not entitled to any of the perks or services that are part of your reservation. When you use a travel agent, Disney sends you nothing in the mail ... they send mail to the owner of the reservation, the travel agent. It's then up to the travel agent how and when to get the goodies to you.

I'm not posting this stuff to "be right." I'm posting this stuff to potentially save someone a lot of headache, someone who might book through a travel agent but then expects to be able to deal directly with Disney. I think it's important for folks to realize they can't have it both ways. In my line of work we call this a "teachable moment" and I seized on it.

And by the way, in case someone brings up the subject of ADRs, and that you can make ADRs yourself without your travel agent ... ADRs are not a perk or amenity of a resort reservation. Anybody off the street can make ADRs, so whether or not a TA made your resort/package reservations doesn't matter in the case of ADRs.

 

[Kies99]

Yeah, don't know why I didn't think to just do this, but figured I'd go straight to the horses mouth . I just called ME and they said I could set up a reservation through ME directly if I wanted. They recommend you go through your travel agent, but I could go through them if I wanted. Anywhere up to the day before travel.

 

[cccm]

Last year I had to call AAA to get them to do the DME for me. I called DME first and they said AAA had to do it. So I got on the phone with AAA, AAA would ask me question, put me on hold and relay the info to the DME person.
Complete waste of time. I did this two weeks prior and got my tags in time.

Still haven't done it for this year yet. Was hoping to avoid having to call AAA.

Just read the PP and WOOOOHOOOOO!!!!

 

[Lewisc]

DME only gets the reservation information a few weeks (3-4) before your arrival. Prior to that DME reservations are made through CRO and your TA has to make that phone call.

Even though DME will, currently, talk to the guest the tags will still get sent to the TA. Making the reservation through the TA (AAA in this case) not only gets the reservation made but alerts the office to look for the DME package so they can forward it to you.

My local AAA office said the DME envelopes don't even have the customers name on the envelope. They have to open the envelopes, look up the reservation information, then mail them out. I wonder how much of a "zoo" the location that gets the DME packets for AAA reservation made online.

Some TAs may be able to have DME send the package directly to the customer. I'm not sure if they all can and I know the customer can't call and have the packet sent directly to them.

The correct procedure is to have your TA request DME at the same time you make your reservation. Just tell them the flight information is "pending" . If you decide to rent a car just don't use vouchers.

Yeah, don't know why I didn't think to just do this, but figured I'd go straight to the horses mouth . I just called ME and they said I could set up a reservation through ME directly if I wanted. They recommend you go through your travel agent, but I could go through them if I wanted. Anywhere up to the day before travel.

 

[CleveRocks]

Yeah, don't know why I didn't think to just do this, but figured I'd go straight to the horses mouth . I just called ME and they said I could set up a reservation through ME directly if I wanted. They recommend you go through your travel agent, but I could go through them if I wanted. Anywhere up to the day before travel.

Good job calling! Like I said in my previous post ...

Theoretically, DME should not take a DME reservation from a guest based on a resort reservation owned by a travel agent (DME reservations are contingent upon having a resort reservation). That being said, occasionally common sense on the part of a DME CM trumps the letter of the law.

TO THE OP: It's certainly worth giving DME a call to try to make the reservation yourself.

 

[shoes99]

I made my resort reservations on June 22, 2007 for July 1, 2007 arrival thru WDT, room only. I put my DME information on the website after I booked my flight and I got my DME tags yesterday, June 26, 2007 Fedex.