I feel I should begin this report by saying that I really, really wanted to love ME and I fully expected an less than perfect system given that it is still somewhat new. That said, we had both a good experience and a TERRIBLE experience with ME on this trip.
Some background - my dd, my mother, and I shared a room at Pop Century. My dd and I arrived at 4:00 p.m. and my mother arrived on a separate flight at 10:30 p.m. We made our ME reservations several months in advance, but we did not receive luggage tags. When my mother called to inquire about our tags, she was informed that our ME reservation was not in the system and they did not have our flight information. She was told to go to the ME counter upon arrival to get her travel voucher and to provide a description of her bag. They also said that our separate flights would not cause any problems.
I'll start on a positive note by reporting on the good part... My dd and I arrived on time and went directly to the ME counter. I explained that we did not receive our luggage tags, provided our hotel reservation information, received a voucher, and we were on our way to Pop Century in less than 30 minutes. Our bag arrived in our room at 9:00 p.m., which was a little later than I expected, but I was just happy that it arrived!
Now for the negative... My mother arrived on time at 10:30 p.m. She was planning to pick up her bag at luggage claim because of her late arrival. (She was told by Disney that she could claim her own bag and put it on the bus so that she would have it right away.) Her bag did not show up with the rest of the bags on her flight. My mother assumed that the airline was at fault and went to Southwest's luggage counter. Southwest told her that her luggage had arrived on an earlier flight and would be in an area near the baggage carousels. My mother found this area, saw other bags, but her bag was not there. She returned to Southwest's counter and was told that Disney "must have seen her bag and sent it to her hotel." My mother pointed out that she did not have ME luggage tags and Disney could not have known that her bag was going to a Disney resort. Southwest told her that Disney usually "checks out the luggage" in the unclaimed area and grabs any bags that need to go to the resort. My mom again asked how the agent knew that Disney had her bags. Southwest told her that her name looked familiar
and sent her back to the ME counter.
My mother was obviously very frustrated with Southwest at this point and remained convinced that they had just lost her bag. But, she went back to the ME counter and explained what Southwest had told her. ME told my mother that they do, in fact, look for unclaimed bags and probably had picked up her luggage. My mother pointed out that Disney had no right to take her bag without her permission, that she had followed Disney's instructions for claiming her bag by herself, that she had never received the luggage tags in the first place, and didn't understand how or why Disney just decided to grab her luggage! A different Disney employee finally showed my mother a very long list of names with my mother's name crossed out. This was supposed to reassure her that her bag was on its way to Pop Century. At this point it is now after midnight and my exhausted mother gave up and got on the bus.
My mother explained the whole story as she checked in and was told that there was no way Disney would have picked up her bag without a luggage tag before she had arrived at the ME counter. My mother kept repeating what she had been told at the airport. Finally, the women checking her in talked to someone in luggage assistance who said that my mother's bag was "on the truck" and would arrive within 30 minutes. My mother said that she would wait in the lobby, but she was told to go to her room and the desk would call when her bag arrived. 90 minutes later, my mom returned to the desk and said that her bag had not arrived, they were supposed to call her, etc. She was told that her bag had already been delivered. She said that her bag was definitely not in her room and they said "it says right her that a black bag was delivered at 9:00 p.m." My mom told them that her bag was red (as she had described it at the airport) with a very distinctive luggage tag. The person at the desk told her that she did not know where her bag was and that she would try to locate it.
As my mom was walking back to the room, she took a wrong turn and ended up slightly lost. This turned out to be a good thing because she ran into a guy with a luggage cart, saw her bag, and was able to talk him into giving it to her (he wanted her to wait for him to deliver it). She finally got herself and her bag to our room at 2:30 a.m.
I would like to think that this was a unique situation that could never happen to anyone else. However, if Disney is routinely grabbing bags without ME luggage tags, I suspect others have had similar problems. We are writing to Disney to report the problem and I hope that someone will pay attention to our concerns.
By the way, we did not have any problems on our return trip to the airport.
Some background - my dd, my mother, and I shared a room at Pop Century. My dd and I arrived at 4:00 p.m. and my mother arrived on a separate flight at 10:30 p.m. We made our ME reservations several months in advance, but we did not receive luggage tags. When my mother called to inquire about our tags, she was informed that our ME reservation was not in the system and they did not have our flight information. She was told to go to the ME counter upon arrival to get her travel voucher and to provide a description of her bag. They also said that our separate flights would not cause any problems.
I'll start on a positive note by reporting on the good part... My dd and I arrived on time and went directly to the ME counter. I explained that we did not receive our luggage tags, provided our hotel reservation information, received a voucher, and we were on our way to Pop Century in less than 30 minutes. Our bag arrived in our room at 9:00 p.m., which was a little later than I expected, but I was just happy that it arrived!
Now for the negative... My mother arrived on time at 10:30 p.m. She was planning to pick up her bag at luggage claim because of her late arrival. (She was told by Disney that she could claim her own bag and put it on the bus so that she would have it right away.) Her bag did not show up with the rest of the bags on her flight. My mother assumed that the airline was at fault and went to Southwest's luggage counter. Southwest told her that her luggage had arrived on an earlier flight and would be in an area near the baggage carousels. My mother found this area, saw other bags, but her bag was not there. She returned to Southwest's counter and was told that Disney "must have seen her bag and sent it to her hotel." My mother pointed out that she did not have ME luggage tags and Disney could not have known that her bag was going to a Disney resort. Southwest told her that Disney usually "checks out the luggage" in the unclaimed area and grabs any bags that need to go to the resort. My mom again asked how the agent knew that Disney had her bags. Southwest told her that her name looked familiar
and sent her back to the ME counter. My mother was obviously very frustrated with Southwest at this point and remained convinced that they had just lost her bag. But, she went back to the ME counter and explained what Southwest had told her. ME told my mother that they do, in fact, look for unclaimed bags and probably had picked up her luggage. My mother pointed out that Disney had no right to take her bag without her permission, that she had followed Disney's instructions for claiming her bag by herself, that she had never received the luggage tags in the first place, and didn't understand how or why Disney just decided to grab her luggage! A different Disney employee finally showed my mother a very long list of names with my mother's name crossed out. This was supposed to reassure her that her bag was on its way to Pop Century. At this point it is now after midnight and my exhausted mother gave up and got on the bus.
My mother explained the whole story as she checked in and was told that there was no way Disney would have picked up her bag without a luggage tag before she had arrived at the ME counter. My mother kept repeating what she had been told at the airport. Finally, the women checking her in talked to someone in luggage assistance who said that my mother's bag was "on the truck" and would arrive within 30 minutes. My mother said that she would wait in the lobby, but she was told to go to her room and the desk would call when her bag arrived. 90 minutes later, my mom returned to the desk and said that her bag had not arrived, they were supposed to call her, etc. She was told that her bag had already been delivered. She said that her bag was definitely not in her room and they said "it says right her that a black bag was delivered at 9:00 p.m." My mom told them that her bag was red (as she had described it at the airport) with a very distinctive luggage tag. The person at the desk told her that she did not know where her bag was and that she would try to locate it.
As my mom was walking back to the room, she took a wrong turn and ended up slightly lost. This turned out to be a good thing because she ran into a guy with a luggage cart, saw her bag, and was able to talk him into giving it to her (he wanted her to wait for him to deliver it). She finally got herself and her bag to our room at 2:30 a.m.
I would like to think that this was a unique situation that could never happen to anyone else. However, if Disney is routinely grabbing bags without ME luggage tags, I suspect others have had similar problems. We are writing to Disney to report the problem and I hope that someone will pay attention to our concerns.
By the way, we did not have any problems on our return trip to the airport.
