ME questions

[PlutosFriend]

I don't see which thread to use to find these answers:

My first time using ME will be this May. Approximately how long should I expect it to take to get to the Poly and what type of order do they do resort drop offs?
On my departure day, how does the entire process work? Our flight doesn't leave til later that day. Do we check our luggage in and then can go play for a while? Do they give a time to get back to board the ME?
THANKS!

 

[RMAMom]

It will take approx. 90 minutes from the time your plane lands until you are dropped at the Polly.

On the day of departure you can check in for your flight and they will take your luggage that you are checking. You can drop your carry ons with luggage services and you will be assigned a time to return for ME that is 3 hours before your departure flight.
I like to be back and ready to board the bus back to the airport about 15 - 20 minutes before my assigned time. If the bus comes early and we miss it we could be out of luck!

 

[figment_jii]

I agree that it takes about 90 minutes from when you arrive at the ME loading area at MCO to when the bus will drop you off at your resort. I do not know which other resorts share a bus with the Poly, but there will be a few. Usually dropping off other passengers is fairly quick.

For the day of your return flight, you can check-in for your flight and pay any check luggage fees at station at the hotel. I would guess that it's near the front entrance to the resort. We've done that several times in the past and it's easy. As for your carry-ons, you can have them stored by luggage service/bell services (do not give them to the airline check-in people). You should return about 15 to 20 minutes earlier than your suggested time for ME to allow luggage services to get your carry-ons.

The day before you depart (or actually any time during your stay) you can go down to guest services and confirm you ME pick-up time. (If you registered your flight before you arrived, then it should already be in the system and you'll get confirmation the day before you check-out, but you can always ask before hand just in case something went wrong.) It should be approximately 3 hours before your flight time. They recommend you get there about 15 to 20 minutes before that time to make sure you don't miss the bus. So taking the carry-on retrieval time into consideration, you probably want to return somewhere around 30 to 45 minutes before pick-up.

 

[CleveRocks]

I agree that it takes about 90 minutes from when you arrive at the ME loading area at MCO to when the bus will drop you off at your resort.

I disagree that you should expect it to take 90 minutes from when you arrive at the DME area until your resort drop-off.

The average reported time from DEPLANING to resort drop-off is 70 minutes. SO that 70 minute average includes walking from the gate to the monorail and then waiting for and riding the monorail from the airside to the terminal and then walking to the DME area, and so on. 90 minutes from arrival at the DME area is certainly possible but would be pretty darn unlucky.

Like I said, the average time from deplaing to resort is 70 minutes. I timed it on each of my trips, and it's ranged from 56 minutes to 63 minutes for me (an average of a hair under 60 minutes for me).

As for the order of drop-offs and the grouping of resorts ... there are is no pre-set grouping of resorts and no pre-set routes. Resorts near each other tend to be grouped together becuse that is usually the most efficient way, but if other resorts in your area don't have guests heading there around the same time you are, then your bus will have resorts NOT in your resort's area. There are 4 geographic DME zones. If your bus will drop off only within a single zone, there's a maximum of 4 resorts per bus. If your bus will drop off in more than one zone, then there's a max of 3 resorts per bus to make up for the increased driving time.

The driver actually gets to decide the order of drop offs. They are told which resorts are on their bus, but they are free to drop off those resorts in any order they want. The only hard and fast rule involves Polynesian Resort, however. If there are both Poly and Grand Floridian guests on the same DME bus, the bus must stop at Poly first, no exceptions. This isn't some Disney preference of Poly over GF, but rather is due to logistics ... Poly and GF are both on the right side of a dead-end street, and if the bus stops at GF first and then has to drop off at Poly it won't be able to make the left turn into the Poly complex without stopping and backing up and then going forward again (a K-turn). You can imagine the problems that would cause, and as a result ALL buses (DME as well as Disney Transport and Disney Cruise Line) MUST stop at Poly first if they are also stopping at GF.

 

[PlutosFriend]

Thanks for taking the time to respond We have always rented a car in the past, so this helps a lot

 

[goofy4tink]

Plan on 'about' 70 mins, from gate to resort. Yes, it can take longer, but it can also be shorter as well.

There is no way to say what other stops the bus will make when going to any particular resort. The routes are very fluid. I've gone to the same resort many times, and had a different route, with different resorts, on several occasions.

The day before you are due to checkout, you will get a notification, in your room, that gives you the time for your DME pickup the next day. This is the time the bus will leave the resort, so plan on arriving at the bus stop about 15 mins before that stated time.
Luggage??? If your airline participates in the RAC program, you can check your checked luggage that morning. The RAC counter is open between 5am and 1pm. You must be done with your checkin, boarding passes in hand, no less than 3 hrs before flight departure.
SO..you can check your luggage and get your boarding passes that morning. You can leave any carryon luggage with Bell Services (or checked luggage if not using RAC)...then go off and have fun on your last day. Just be sure to leave plenty of time to get back to retrieve anything you have left in storage, use the restrooms and that last minute stop at the gift shop!! Basically, plan on being back at the resort an hour before pickup time to get it all done.
If you aren't using RAC, then you will need to get your checked bags from Bell Services. That can take a bit of time. Sometimes they have trouble locating stuff...and it always seems to happen when you are in a rush!!

 

[gortman65]

I timed it on each of my trips, and it's ranged from 56 minutes to 63 minutes for me (an average of a hair under 60 minutes for me).

This range has been the norm for our trips as well.