goofie4goofy said:
We have never used ME and never will because:
We do not like busses
We do not want to wait for the bus to leave the airport
We do not like sitting on a crowded bus
We do not want to make numerous stops before getting to our resort
We do not want to wait for our luggage
We do not trust anyone to deliver our luggage to us
We use Tiffany Town car. The driver is always waiting for you at baggage claim, the driver helps with luggage and the car is waiting right outside. We drink a cold water in a cool and calm car while we go directly to our resort with our bags....no I do not mind paying for that.
Each one of the above is an EXCELLENT reason not to use DME. If all of those things are important to you and you are willing to pay for it, then it's great that such services are available to you.
I love DME. I think it's the greatest thing since Mickey met Goofy. Many people agree with me. It's served over 2 million people (about 5,000 - 10,000 per day) thus far, and it's so successful that it has been extended through at least 2011 (it was slated to end in the fall of 2006).
DME is free, convenient, and surprisingly speedy. The reported average time from landing to resort drop-off is 70 minutes. It's also wonderful not to have to carry your luggage -- once you check it in at your home airport, the next time you see it will be inside your resort room (EVERYONE gets this, REGARDLESS OF AIRLINE). You get to totally skip baggage claim, which is quite nice.
DME is a shared ride on a bus. It is not private, and it may or may not be a direct ride to your resort. DME buses will stop at no more than 4 resorts. Most stop at 2 or 3, with 1 and 4 being rare, reportedly. And if your bus stops at 3 resorts, you have a one in three chance of your resort being the first!
ANother little-publicized but very real perk of DME is room assignment. When you check in at the DME Welcome Center at the airport (where you stop before you go to your bus), a message is sent to your resort. If there is a room clean and available that matches your reservation and request type, then that room is held for you. Let's say therre was only one room of that type ready at that time -- it's now yours. Let's say one minute later another family arrives AT THE RESORT (they landed before you did, or they drove their own car from home, etc.) and they have the same reservation type as you. SInce you got the last available room set aside for you a minute earlier, they'll be told their room isn't ready yet. When you arrive on your bus 30 or 45 minutes later, when you go to check in you'll be told your room is ready, while the family that actually got to the resort before you is still waiting for their room (if no others have been cleaned yet). This is a nice "pro" of DME.
Also, the luggage is tightly controlled. Before you leave home, you put a special yellow pre-printed luggage tag on each checked bag. One of the things printed on there is a barcode, which is tied in with your reservation information; another is a pretty visible code for which "zone" your resort is in, for easier visual identification to help prevent any potential mistakes. At Orlando's airport, these bags are pulled from the rest of the bags and are handled by DME. The bags are brought to a central collection point, and the barcodes get scanned. They're then brought to a central distribution point, scanned again. They're then sorted and placed into steel cages, scanned again. The cages are then loaded onto trucks, and the trucks are tracked by GPS, so Disney literally always knows exactly where each of your bags is. The luggage is delivered to your resort's Bell Services, scanned again. Your resort's Bell Services staff deliver your bags to the inside of your room (whether you're in there or not), scanned agai for a 5th and final time.
Bags are typically arrive about 2-3 hours after you do. If you know this going in, it's no problem. When my luggage arrived, my wife and I had our 2 pre-schoolers in the pool enjoying the beginning of our vacation. We had our swim stuff in our carry-ons. Besides, I always pack my carry-on for the first 24 hours of my trip just in case the AIRLINE delays my luggage; I do this every time I fly anywhere, it's my own version of
travel insurance.
So, is DME for you? Depends on what's important to you. If privacy and pampering and the personal touch are important for you, then a car service is just the ticket for you. If that stuff doesn't matter to you, if you like efficient and speedy and FREE transportation, if you like the idea of bering able to skip baggage claim, then give DME a try.
The Transportation forum has several "stickies" about DME, plus dozens and dozens of other threads. I've read
VERY, VERY FEW COMPLAINTS from people who've actually used DME, and
MANY MANY POSITIVE EXPERIENCES, like mine.
