Question about using DME for the first time

[Aidensmommy22]

Hi everyone! We are taking our first flight to Disney in January. Our plane is scheduled to land at 9:25am. Once we get on DME & get to our resort, will we be able to check in at that time? It says check-in is 3pm so I'm wondering how that works. Also, our return flight is 4pm so we will have at least 2 hrs to kill after check-out before we board DME for the airport. Will we have to keep our luggage with us until DME picks us up? I would greatly appreciate any info, thanks!

 

[sam_gordon]

Hi everyone! We are taking our first flight to Disney in January. Our plane is scheduled to land at 9:25am. Once we get on DME & get to our resort, will we be able to check in at that time? It says check-in is 3pm so I'm wondering how that works. Also, our return flight is 4pm so we will have at least 2 hrs to kill after check-out before we board DME for the airport. Will we have to keep our luggage with us until DME picks us up? I would greatly appreciate any info, thanks!

1) You should get to your resort by 11am. You can check in, and if your room is ready, great! It probably won't be, in which case, you'll be given your room key, but they won't tell you what room. You can leave your checked bags with baggage services and head to the parks. You'll leave a phone number with the front desk and they'll text you with the room number (or you can call later). When you're done at the parks, but after you find out the room is ready, you go right to your room.
2) If you're on a "participating airline", check your bags at the front desk after 5am, leave carry ons with luggage services, and head to the parks (or hang out at the hotel). Make sure you're at the DME pickup site ready to board the bus (bags collected, bathroom stops made, etc) 15 minutes before your assigned pickup time.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

You can check in as soon as you arrive however rooms are not usually available until late in the afternoon 3 -4p.m


But you might get lucky and get a room right away but don't be surprised if they tell you it won't be available to later in the day.

Regarding your return flight you can do one of two things with your luggage.
* You could check in for your flight with the RAC (Resort Airline Check) the morning of your departure. RAC is only open till 1:00 p.m. When you check in with them they will take your luggage from you and take it directly to the airport for you. This is my preferred method!


** your second option is that when you check out in the morning you can give it to bell services to hold for you. Since your flight is at 4:00 the DME will pick you up at 1:00 p.m I would be at bell services no later that 12:15 to collect your luggage from them. Then you can walk over to the DME waiting area which is usually not far from bell services. Make sure to tip the bell services folks for babysitting your luggage. When you are ready to leave your room you can call bell services and they will come to your room and collect the luggage for you.

 

[Aidensmommy22]

1) You should get to your resort by 11am. You can check in, and if your room is ready, great! It probably won't be, in which case, you'll be given your room key, but they won't tell you what room. You can leave your checked bags with baggage services and head to the parks. You'll leave a phone number with the front desk and they'll text you with the room number (or you can call later). When you're done at the parks, but after you find out the room is ready, you go right to your room.
2) If you're on a "participating airline", check your bags at the front desk after 5am, leave carry ons with luggage services, and head to the parks (or hang out at the hotel). Make sure you're at the DME pickup site ready to board the bus (bags collected, bathroom stops made, etc) 15 minutes before your assigned pickup time.

You can check in as soon as you arrive however rooms are not usually available until late in the afternoon 3 -4p.m


But you might get lucky and get a room right away but don't be surprised if they tell you it won't be available to later in the day.

Regarding your return flight you can do one of two things with your luggage.
* You could check in for your flight with the RAC (Resort Airline Check) the morning of your departure. RAC is only open till 1:00 p.m. When you check in with them they will take your luggage from you and take it directly to the airport for you. This is my preferred method!


** your second option is that when you check out in the morning you can give it to bell services to hold for you. Since your flight is at 4:00 the DME will pick you up at 1:00 p.m I would be at bell services no later that 12:15 to collect your luggage from them. Then you can walk over to the DME waiting area which is usually not far from bell services. Make sure to tip the bell services folks for babysitting your luggage. When you are ready to leave your room you can call bell services and they will come to your room and collect the luggage for you.

Thank you! If we go through RAC, willl our luggage be at the airport waiting for us to have it checked or will it go directly on the plane?

 

[karly05]

Bags checked at RAC go from there directly to the plane. It's great. IIRC, the resort should give you a sheet about RAC when they give you your Magical Express departure info. (I'm pretty sure that's what happened for me this year.)

 

[Aidensmommy22]

Bags checked at RAC go from there directly to the plane. It's great. IIRC, the resort should give you a sheet about RAC when they give you your Magical Express departure info. (I'm pretty sure that's what happened for me this year.)

Thanks! Our plan is to do a little shopping in DTD that morning before we leave. Do you know if we can do RAC & then go to DTD then come back before our DME departure time? Sorry if these questions are silly. Just want to make sure I know everything I need to before we plan anything.

 

[sam_gordon]

Thanks! Our plan is to do a little shopping in DTD that morning before we leave. Do you know if we can do RAC & then go to DTD then come back before our DME departure time? Sorry if these questions are silly. Just want to make sure I know everything I need to before we plan anything.

Yes you can. Just be cognizant of the time. Your bags need checked at RAC more than 3 hours before your flight. And transportation between DTD & resorts could take a while (I'd allow an hour at least to get back).

 

[siskaren]

You can check in as soon as you arrive however rooms are not usually available until late in the afternoon 3 -4p.m

That hasn't been my experience. I've made 10 trips to WDW, and for 9 of them I arrived at the resort around noon, and I think only one of those times did I have to wait for my room to be ready, and that was just because this was before all rooms were non-smoking, and I chose to wait for a non-smoking room rather than take a smoking room that was immediately available.

 

[ncc1701]

That hasn't been my experience. I've made 10 trips to WDW, and for 9 of them I arrived at the resort around noon, and I think only one of those times did I have to wait for my room to be ready, and that was just because this was before all rooms were non-smoking, and I chose to wait for a non-smoking room rather than take a smoking room that was immediately available.

We have gotten to POFQ around 12:00 or slightly earlier on our trips.We have had to wait on 2 of our 7 trips to get the room .Getting in the room early depends on how full the hotel was the night before and if the people checking out get out of their rooms early.

 

[goofy4tink]

Being able to get into your room right away depends greatly on the time of year, the day of the week, and the resort you are staying at. I have usually been able to get into my room well before the official 3pm checkin time.
As far as your last day goes....if your flight is at 4pm, your pickup time will be between 12:45 and 1:15....depends on the resort. You should check your bags first thing in the morning...on your way out to DTD works. You will get boarding passed issued at this point. Go off to DTD and shop. But be sure to leave plenty of time to return to your resort for your pickup time. You need to be back at the resort about 45 mins prior to your p/u time...and out at the bus stop about 15 mins prior to the stated p/u time! Buses back to the resorts from DTD are notoriously slow...so prepare to leave enough time.

 

[Aidensmommy22]

Being able to get into your room right away depends greatly on the time of year, the day of the week, and the resort you are staying at. I have usually been able to get into my room well before the official 3pm checkin time.
As far as your last day goes....if your flight is at 4pm, your pickup time will be between 12:45 and 1:15....depends on the resort. You should check your bags first thing in the morning...on your way out to DTD works. You will get boarding passed issued at this point. Go off to DTD and shop. But be sure to leave plenty of time to return to your resort for your pickup time. You need to be back at the resort about 45 mins prior to your p/u time...and out at the bus stop about 15 mins prior to the stated p/u time! Buses back to the resorts from DTD are notoriously slow...so prepare to leave enough time.

Thanks for the info! It won't be a prolbme if rooms are not ready. We are planning to check-in then go exploring. What will happen when our luggage arrives? Will they put them in our room for us? Just want to make sure we don't need to be there.

 

[karly05]

This is the most awesome part about using DME. Just put the yellow DME tags on your checked bags and check them at your home/departure airport and they will magically appear in your resort room! You don't have to be there when they arrive. I've used DME on my last two trips, checked into my resort (mid-afternoon, my room was ready both times), dropped off my carry-on stuff in the room and went straight to Epcot. Came back to my room later in the evening and my checked bag was right there, waiting for me.

 

[Aidensmommy22]

This is the most awesome part about using DME. Just put the yellow DME tags on your checked bags and check them at your home/departure airport and they will magically appear in your resort room! You don't have to be there when they arrive. I've used DME on my last two trips, checked into my resort (mid-afternoon, my room was ready both times), dropped off my carry-on stuff in the room and went straight to Epcot. Came back to my room later in the evening and my checked bag was right there, waiting for me.

It all sounds too good to be true ! We have never flown before & it just sounds so easy. I will probably never want to drive again! It looks like we will be there at the same time !