Rental Cars....and Magical Express

[jcanter426]

Ok...so I am flying down with my parents, husband and daughter....5 of us total. I know the night before we leave to go home we can arrange to check our luggage at the hotel and sent to the airport. But what I do not know is when we arrive in MCO what to do.

I want to rent a car for our offsite trips because a van will cost double. But I am not sure how to get my luggage from MCO to the hotel... Please correct me if I am wrong but I don't believe we can use Magical express for our luggage if we are not riding? It would be great if we could but I don't think we can.

So.....what would you do. Would you have one or two people ride magical express with luggage. Would you wait and rent at the car care center at Disney. If so where is that located and how inconvenient is it? After checking into our hotel the first thing we are going to do is go to Downtown Disney to eat at Wolf Gang Puck Express... we may could rent at the Swan.

Thanks in Advance for any suggestions.

 

[Lewisc]

http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2015788
Some people use DME for luggage only, generally works. Some people have at least one family member ride the bus, may protect your rights if your luggage is permanently lost.

You really have to price a rental. Sometimes you'll get a better price if you pickup at MCO and sometimes if you pick up at WDW. National/Alamo are at S/D and CCC. Other agencies are in the DTD hotels.

Passengers flying participating airlines can use RAC, even if they don't ride the DME bus. Make sure your flight times work with the program rules.

 

[goofy4tink]

Disney will tell you that they are not a luggage transfer service. They will tell you that you need to ride the DME bus in order to get the luggage delivery perk. But...many, many guests have tagged their bags and sent them along, to be taken care of by Disney. Then, those people have either rented a car at MCO or hired a car service to take them to their resort. Are you supposed to do it that way? No, not according to Disney. Can you do it that way? Yes.
Lewisc has given you good advice.
You can rent at the Dolphin through Alamo/National. Budget is located at the Doubletree in DTD, other companies are in other resorts in DTD. Some provide shuttle services to pick you up at your resort and bring you to the rental company office, and then back to your resort when you've returned the car.

 

[CleveRocks]

Ok...so I am flying down with my parents, husband and daughter....5 of us total. I know the night before we leave to go home we can arrange to check our luggage at the hotel and sent to the airport.

Are you talking about Resort Airline Check-in, where you go to a special desk in your resort lobby to check-in for your flight and check your luggage through to your final destination? NO, you CAN'T use this service the night before you leave. It can only be done same day.

The RAC desk at each resort is open from 5 a.m. to 1 p.m. daily. You CAN'T use RAC on Monday for a Tuesday flight, for example. If you are to use RAC, you have to use it on the same day, and also no later than 3 hours before your flight. So you can't use it too early and you can't use it too late ... it has to be juuuust right.

 

[jcanter426]

Yes we are renting through alamo. I have reserved a mid sized car for Sept 26-Oct 3 for 146.00 Including all taxes and fees Base rate was 94.00. This price was the same at the WDW Car care center and at MCO.

As far as checking our luggage for our flight I was under the impression you should schedule that service the night before, but I see that is luggage pickup. So If I have a flight that leaves at 6:00p.m. on my departure day...then what do I do about getting my luggage to the airport....can I still tag it to go with DME, and take my rental car back to MCO...or is there no getting around it on the way back?

Thanks for all your help!!!

 

[goofy4tink]

Yes we are renting through alamo. I have reserved a mid sized car for Sept 26-Oct 3 for 146.00 Including all taxes and fees Base rate was 94.00. This price was the same at the WDW Car care center and at MCO.

As far as checking our luggage for our flight I was under the impression you should schedule that service the night before, but I see that is luggage pickup. So If I have a flight that leaves at 6:00p.m. on my departure day...then what do I do about getting my luggage to the airport....can I still tag it to go with DME, and take my rental car back to MCO...or is there no getting around it on the way back?

Thanks for all your help!!!

There is no need to schedule this. You will just bring your luggage (or have Bell Services do it for you) down to the lobby of your resort. You will see the DME/RAC counter there. The counter opens at 5 am, and gets a bit busy around 8am, so plan accordingly. You will hand your bags off to the CMs there, they will tag the bags and the bags will go to the airport on a special luggage truck. You will get your boarding passes issued. Any carryon luggage you have can be left with Bell Services until you are ready to leave the resort.
Now...if you have to pay any checked baggage fees, you will need to call BAGS the day/night before you leave. They will take payment over the phone..a credit card payment. Then, you will be able to check your bags the next morning.

This service is not the same as DME. Yes, Disney markets it that way. But it isn't. You do not have to ride the DME bus back to MCO in order to use the RAC service. I"m using a car service in August but sending my bags back to MCO via RAC. Anyone at all can use it...as long as they are flying home on a participating airline.

 

[WeLuvTink!]

As far as checking our luggage for our flight I was under the impression you should schedule that service the night before, but I see that is luggage pickup. So If I have a flight that leaves at 6:00p.m. on my departure day...then what do I do about getting my luggage to the airport....can I still tag it to go with DME, and take my rental car back to MCO...or is there no getting around it on the way back?

Thanks for all your help!!!

You can still check your luggage at your hotel RAC desk the morning of your departure. Then you don't have to worry about handling your bags again until you arrive at your home airport. We do this, then check out of the hotel, go to the parks, have lunch, whatever we want to do. Then drive ourselves to MCO and return the car.

 

[jcanter426]

Thank you so much I feel better.
Thanks

 

[tkldisney]

You can still check your luggage at your hotel RAC desk the morning of your departure. Then you don't have to worry about handling your bags again until you arrive at your home airport. We do this, then check out of the hotel, go to the parks, have lunch, whatever we want to do. Then drive ourselves to MCO and return the car.

We do exactly the same thing!!