Sticking it to the Magical Express

[eljefe45]

I greatly enjoy not having to deal with baggage once I get off the plane. And I thought I was saving money by not having a rental car for a couple of days. but somebody showed me priceline, where the car deals are off the hook. I could get a car for a full week in Feb for $100 less than 5 days when I picked the car up at the car care center.

so now I want to rent a car at the airport and use magical express for my bags. I called Member services and they said one of us had to be on the bus for them to take the luggage. On the way back I can use airport check in at the resort with no need to be on the bus.

I was thinking of following the bus and picking up my wife and son at the first resort the bus stops at. Or do you think I should just go check in early? Anybody else use it like this?

 

[gokenin]

Why would you do that You are planning on renting a car just get your own bags and head to the hotel.When you get to the resort check your bags with bell services and when you get back simply call and get them delivered. Should you be looking to avoid having to tip the bell services person simply stop at bell services and pick up your luggage and move it yourself. I fail to understand the advantage of what you are suggesting? You don't have to use DME in order to use airline checkin at the end of your trip its not connected.

 

[cranbiz]

I thing the PP missed the point.

Now, If you want the freedom of having a car while you are there, great, rent the car. If the rest of the family wants to ride ME, then let ME handle the bags and the rest of the family.

It will be more trouble than its worth to pick them up at the first stop (unless it is your resort) so I would just go ahead and check in at your resort and wait for the rest of your family.

 

[hoffmann2828]

I don't get it either. Not sure what you are accomplishing other than simply getting out of picking up the bags?

Sorry, but nothing says "Family Vacation" like following a bus with the rest of your family in it.

Jenny

 

[eljefe45]

1. I hate waiting for the bags.
2. If you are travelling with a child, and golf clubs, and your wifes golf clubs and your wife doesn't actually carry much, you'd want to avoid moping around the airport with all that luggage.

I admit I was getting too cute. I was just wondering if anybody had gotten cuter.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Let Magical Express handle your luggage.
Let your wife, or your wife and child/ren take the bus to your resort.
Using Priceline, I'm relatively certain you won't be able to take advant*ge of any car rent*l memberships (e.g. no skipping the line, going to the garage to pick your own car, etc.). You'll need to check in at the counter.
Odds are, they'll get to your resort before you - unless you have them wait in line with you at the car rental counter, then figure out some way to determine which bus they're on, since you won't be *ble to drive the car anywhere near where the DME buses are located.

 

[Jestocost]

Just read this thread and stop the posing.

 

[eljefe45]

Nice.

But has anybody actually tried and gotten away with it?

 

[goofy4tink]

Tried it and gotten away with it??? Seriously??? You're not robbing a bank you know.
It's just not that big a deal. Well, it isn't unless the airline misdirects one of your pieces of luggage, and you don't realize it until later in the day. You see, when tagged bags arrive at MCO, DME people take it, scan it (several times) and then send it along to your resort. When you check in for your bus, you are asked how many bags you checked. This way, if you are expecting there to be 5 bags waiting in your room, but only 4 get scanned, DME can start looking for the bags. If you haven't checked in, and have rented a car and driven off to start your fun rather than wait for a bus at DME area, then DME doesn't have any idea that the four bags they scanned isn't the right number.
So...you get to your resort, fully expecting your five bags to show up about 3-4 hours after you checkin at the resort. Now...only an idiot is going to wait around for their bags to arrive..otherwise they would have just claimed them at the airport since time isn't an issue. So, off you go to a park for the rest of the day. You return to your resort room....and what to your wondering eyes should appear??? Yep, four bags, not five. Of course, now 6 or so hours have gone by with no one missing the bag. So, you now have to start the search..not a good way to end your day. And DME isn't going to take any responsibility since they had no idea how many bags you had. And the airline is going to ask you why you waited so long to contact them.

Now...does this happen often? No, probably not. But, if it does happen, it is going to be a nightmare.

So...go off and rent a car if you want. And tag your bags for DME if you want. But don't come back here and ask 'what happened??'. There is always the possibility of something going wrong. Yes, people have tagged their bags and not gotten onto the bus. And yes, their bags have made it to the resort just fine.
But that isn't what Disney intends. Do what you will with that info. Oh, and by the way...you aren't truly 'sticking it to DME'. They don't really care.

 

[Lewisc]

Not sure what question you're asking. There is a thread whee people discuss using the yellow tags but forgetting.to take the bus. Ask your question in that thread.

I don't think anyone has actually followed the DME bus so they can pick up family members at the first resort the bus stops at. I guess you could use a cellphone. Complete waste of time. The bus probably only stops at 3 resort total. Maybe the person on the bus will save 10 minutes if you execute your plan. Makes more sense if the person with the rental car takes a grocery stop or checks in at the resort. Better utilization of time.

 

[keishashadow]

1. I hate waiting for the bags.
2. If you are travelling with a child, and golf clubs, and your wifes golf clubs and your wife doesn't actually carry much, you'd want to avoid moping around the airport with all that luggage.

I admit I was getting too cute. I was just wondering if anybody had gotten cuter.

don't we allconsider the wait for luggage @ the airport good training for what you'll exerience in the parks.

seriously, I've had lost luggage issues w/airport & many items are excluded from replacement. Im curious as to whether the golf clubs (being sporting equipment) would be covered if lost in transit anyway on ME

 

[gillep]

Also we only got one tag per person from ME which was fine with us however we checked one extra bag. We had to be present at the ME podium to let the person know how many bags we had and that one was not tagged and gave the woman the baggage claim information for that bag as well. As expected all of our bags made it to the resort but if we had not been using ME to give them that information I am sure that our extra bag would not have found our room. So unless you have enough tags for all of your stuff you will need to use the bus to give them that extra info. I also can't even imagine how you would coordinate following the ME bus or how you would know the order of the bus stops. This just seems silly to me.

 

[delmar411]

we've rented a car and taken ME at the same time. We weren't trying to 'get one over' on ME though. We rented a tiny cheapie car to get some stuff done in the area. Anyway, DH and the kids got to our resort long before I did.

The only 'bonus' I got was since I hadn't used my airport to resort voucher, when I returned the car to the airport, I was able to use my voucher to get back to the resort.

 

[dudspizza]

seriously? Is waiting for luggage so bad? Half the time the luggage is there before us..... it amazes me that people are so impatient these days. We live in a world of instant gratification........ this is not intended at anyone in particular... just an observation in general...

 

[maxiesmom]

If you plan on driving the car to the parks, don't forget to add in that extra cost to what you are paying for your rental. I believe parking is up to $15 a day.

 

[bumbershoot]

2. If you are travelling with a child, and golf clubs, and your wifes golf clubs and your wife doesn't actually carry much, you'd want to avoid moping around the airport with all that luggage.

They do have luggage carts that you can rent. Or just have your wife hang with the child, while you scope out the area to see if there are any abandoned carts that weren't returned...

I'm sorry your wife doesn't help with the luggage. Or rather, I imagine that she can't. That must be hard for you all.

Nice.

But has anybody actually tried and gotten away with it?

Did you check out the link Jestocost gave you?

 

[palhockeymomof2]

If you plan on driving the car to the parks, don't forget to add in that extra cost to what you are paying for your rental. I believe parking is up to $15 a day.

unless there has been a recent change...when you stay at a disney hotel parking is free at the parks

 

[tjmw2727]

If you plan on driving the car to the parks, don't forget to add in that extra cost to what you are paying for your rental. I believe parking is up to $15 a day.

Not if your a WDW Resort guest - which the OP is since they are eligible for DME.

OP -

If you really want to use the luggage delivery feature of DME IMHO the easiest thing to do is let your wife & son enjoy the bus ride while you get the rental and meet at the resort. Like a pp suggested you could even make a grocery run for snacks, water, soda etc at normal (not Disney) prices.

 

[eljefe45]

I did check out the link. Great info. I did rent a cart at the airport, and stuff was still falling off of the cart. Part of my problem was that my golf bag was the size of my house (the logic I used when buying such a large bag now eludes me). I have since gotten a very sleek and cool golf bag/travel case combo, I just take off the lid and poof - I have a golf bag.

Like everybody on the board, I love going down to Orlando/Disney. I'm not somebody who is deep into the magic and all that but if I had my way, we'd go 3x per year. For whatever reason the place feels like home, but not because a CM says "Welcome Home" when I check in.

Travelling is tough and expensive and can take a lot out of you. Wouldn't you want to make that process as easy and inexpensive as possible? Owner's Locker, grocery delivery, DME, car rental etc. are all part of that equation. I figure the easier I can make it, the more I'd want to go and more I would convince my wife to go.

If I had my way, I'd walk straight off the plane into my rental car (which I checked in already for if possible), stop at the Waffle House (mmmm Waffle House), grab my check in package at the front desk, go to my room, open a gatorade that is in my fridge and change into shorts and flip flops that are in my Owners Locker. Is that so wrong?

 

[goofy4tink]

Wrong? Nope. It just isn't what Disney intended when they put DME into action. Of course we all want to get to WDW as soon as possible and start our fun.
Let me say this...if I had golf clubs, that I really valued, I wouldn't want to take the chance of not knowing if they had arrived safely. I would want to get them at baggage claim. But, that's just me. It's not that I distrust DME..but I do realize that airlines routinely mess baggage up. I would want to know that my clubs had arrived safely.

I would bet that my dh is thrilled that I carry stuff like a mule....everyone in our family shares the burden..even my dd. She has been lugging her own stuff around airports throughout the country since she was 4!! I can't imagine my dh being okay with being the packhorse while I walked around unburdened...but that's just us.

Do what you will....but be aware that 'stuff' happens. If you allow DME to transport your belongings, whilst you go off and pop your Gatorade and don flip flops and head to a park, but the airline has misdirected a bag or two, or your clubs, then you aren't going to know about it until you return to your room...and that will be many hours after you should have started the search for them. It will not be Disney's responsibility to track them for you....they will do it if you have checked in and were on the bus..but not if you decide to just tag your bags, allow them to move them while you rent a car.

Just want you to be aware of all the possibilities.