To Magical Express or not...

[Tasmen]

We are nearing the date of our trip and I'm trying to decide if we are going to use ME as our transportation to the Poly or not. While I like the idea of not having to deal with our luggage upon arrival, I also do worry about our luggage making it to the resort or not. We already plan on taking a towncar to the airport on our departure date. I just can't make up my mind on if we want to have a towncar pick us up when we arrive.

Help me make up my mind

 

[seashoreCM]

Psst! There's a bigger chance of luggage being lost by the airline on the way to MCO. Should this happen and you did use DME, DME will take care of the luggage situation without your having to go back to MCO.

You can also not use the yellow tags and fetch the luggage from the MCO carousels yourself and then bring the luggage on DME with you.

If you have not used DME before, it's worth trying just for the experience. DME one way is no problem.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

 

[Tasmen]

Psst! There's a bigger chance of luggage being lost by the airline on the way to MCO. Should this happen and you did use DME, DME will take care of the luggage situation without your having to go back to MCO.

True..true. I guess in the end, I'm probably second guessing what we had planned at first mostly because we are 3 months out and I am running out of things to plan so I start to second guess the things I have planned

 

[CleveRocks]

The DME luggage tags have barcodes. Those barcodes are scanned 5 separate times between airplane and the inside of your resort room (the site of the 5th scan). In addition, the trucks delivering the luggage between airport and resort are tracked by GPS. Disney knows where your luggage is at all times. It's a very sophisticated system.

If there were rampant problems of luggage not making it to resorts, Disney wouldn't have extended DME from its original end date of October 2006 to at least the end of 2011.

 

[doodlesmommy]

I am so glad you started this thread. I have been second guessing my plans to use it as well. The last post puts a little more security in my decision so we will go ahead with the original plan. I will be sure to pack some of our most special outfits in a carry on. I just can not give up 100% control. What's wrong with me. LOL!!

 

[abner1776]

When you have not had a problem with ME, then glowing recommendations usually always follow. We used ME last year and not having to trapes around with our bags was a real plus. Get on the bus, get off the bus, check in, check out the room and head off to the park...without so much as a worry about the bags.
Obviously, there is always that bit of concern when you return to your room later in the evening and open the door and HOPE that your bags are there...and ours were right where we expected them to be.

The return trip home with ME was a problem, but the problem was a cancelled flight and nothing to do with ME.

If WDW is offering free trans with baggage transfers...why would you pay to go with someone else ??..unless you just have to know where your bags are at all times.

 

[LisaBi]

Just to boost confidence even more - I've used DME 4 times without incident. On my last trip (Jan 31 to Feb 5) I changed my travel dates just a few weeks before. I never got new DME tags or paperwork. (I'd already received it for my original date - but they said to definitely NOT use that).

I was leary - no tags? They said to just give them my airline luggage claim checks at the DME counter.

Well, everything was fine. We got all of our luggage as always.

The only hitch was I didn't get a notice the day before departure - they still had my original departure date in the system. I just called - not problem.

Lisa

 

[doodlesmommy]

Great info (and support for the liery) guys! It is greatly appreciated. How long before your trip did you receive your luggage tags?

 

[CleveRocks]

Great info (and support for the liery) guys! It is greatly appreciated. How long before your trip did you receive your luggage tags?

lately it seems to be about 4-6 weeks prior to departure. You'll get a DME info booklet, with important info as well as your bus vouchers. The tags aren't part of that booklet but come in the same mailing.

 

[bab31]

Trust it

use it

love it

it works!

 

[Tasmen]

Yeah, I've pretty much decided to just stick with the original plan and only get the towncar for the return trip to the airport and to take ME from the airport to the Poly. Thanks for all the input!

 

[bigbabyblues]

We chose a towncar because we were flying in late at night and we didn't want to have to wait any longer at the airport. We landed at 11:05 and were checked in at Pop and in our room by 11:45. No problems.

I think it's a personal preference. The ME bus came while we were getting in the towncare to return to the airport and it looked full. That doesn't bother me, but I'd rather ride with just my family.