Tricky DME questions??!?!?!?!?!!?!?

[mmiller]

Ok. we have advanced reservations for five for DME(DH, DS(4), myself, DNeice and DNephew(they are 30 yrs old) Ok....now my DH, DS and I have decided to rent a car to take a trip up to Winter park directly from the airport so we do not want to go on the Disney bus BUT my neice and nephew are still going to go on the disney bus......BUT I still want DME to take DH, DS and my luggage to the AKL. should I call them ahead of time and canel the reservation for DH, DS and me or just let them assume we are all coming so that they will take our luggage and have my neice and nephew tell them when they show up at DME counter that we are renting a car instead and will meet our luggage at the AKL? In other words, will they take my luggage with out my physical body on the bus? Thanks

 

[tmt martins]

Ok. we have advanced reservations for five for DME(DH, DS(4), myself, DNeice and DNephew(they are 30 yrs old) Ok....now my DH, DS and I have decided to rent a car to take a trip up to Winter park directly from the airport so we do not want to go on the Disney bus BUT my neice and nephew are still going to go on the disney bus......BUT I still want DME to take DH, DS and my luggage to the AKL. should I call them ahead of time and canel the reservation for DH, DS and me or just let them assume we are all coming so that they will take our luggage and have my neice and nephew tell them when they show up at DME counter that we are renting a car instead and will meet our luggage at the AKL? In other words, will they take my luggage with out my physical body on the bus? Thanks

No they will not take your bags without you being on the bus.

The only way this would work is if you put DNc DNp tags on your bags and had them take them but this may end up to many bags for them so this might not work either.

 

[kaytieeldr]

No, they won't. Luggage handling is a perk of DME, not the purpose of it.
Even if you put the DME tags on your luggage, if you don't check in for and board the bus, your luggage will not be transported from the airport.

 

[CleveRocks]

It's really not a tricky question -- the simple answer is no.

BUT ...

About 3 weeks before departure, you receive your DME packet. In the packet is 2 DME luggage tags per person. IF you guys tend to pack lightly AND IF your niece and nephew are able to request and are granted say a total of two extra DME tags (in advance, receiving them through the mail), you MIGHT get away with it. Each DME luggage tag (they are sticky paper, just like airline tags only they are yellow and skinnier) has two names on it, the name of the exact passenger/guest and the name of the person who made the reservation (in other words, my wife's tags had my name and her name, my mother-in-law's tags had my name and her name, etc.). If your niece and nephew each get one extra DME tag with their name on it, that will give them a total of 6 DME tags with THEIR names on them. If the five of you check no more than 6 pieces of luggage, make sure your niece's and nephew's yellow DME tags are on each piece, and throw away the ones that do not have either of their names on them. As long as your niece and nephew ride DME, all the luggage with their DME luggage tags on it will automatically be delivered to their resort room.

I hope that makes sense.

-- Eric

 

[Letsbgoofy]

Cleverocks,

How will they get an extra luggage tag? Can they be requested?

 

[CleveRocks]

I've read some posts here from people saying they've called Disney/DME and requested and received some extra DME tags. I think Disney allows this because there are a few airlines that allow 3 checked bags per person. Plus, on any airline you can pay extra to take extra checked bags with you.

But like I said, I don't know this first hand, I only "know" it from the reports of a few other people.

-- Eric

 

[goofy4tink]

Even when we go for a week, we've never needed to pack two bags each, in addition to our carry-on. So, if you can possible get it done with just one bag each (use a larger suitcase rather than carry-on size) then the people using DME should be able to just afix their extra yellow tag to the bags of those renting a car. Since you get two tags apiece that should work.
I can't believe I am actually giving advice as to how to beat the DME system!! I'm usually such a stickler for the rules.

 

[mmiller]

I did not know this was not allowed which is why I am asking I thought that since I was staying at a Disney resort and they were picking us up and did not think they would have an issue with simply transporting my luggage one way and then we are returning on DME to the airport......

 

[kaytieeldr]

Disney will NOT have an issue with returning your luggage TO the airport, with or without you, as long as you are flying home on a participating airline.

The primary purpose of DME is to transport Guests from the airport to their Disney-owned Resort without them stopping and spending money on the way that could instead be spent at Walt Disney World. Transporting your luggage is just an added feature. But DME is not, and was never intended to be, solely a luggage service.

 

[goofy4tink]

I did not know this was not allowed which is why I am asking I thought that since I was staying at a Disney resort and they were picking us up and did not think they would have an issue with simply transporting my luggage one way and then we are returning on DME to the airport......

I'm sorry...I didn't mean to imply that you were!! It is the popular belief that Disney institued the DME, and made it free, in order to get people to not feel the need to rent cars. This way, we are 'held captive' on-site at WDW...can't get over to those 'other' evil parks and spend our cash. So, they did state that they would not transport any luggage without that person being checked in at the bus. That's what I meant when I used 'beating the system'.
Also there was speculation as to what would happen to those who put the yellow tags on their bags and then just never showed up at the DME desk/bus. We found out that the luggage would not be transported until the owner checked in. So......we just try to make sure that everyone understands the ramifications of any actions they make.
I didn't mean to be insulting or make anyone feel badly.

 

[mmiller]

We are planning on moving to Florida and the area we wanted to visit was Winter Park and when we realized that we were within several miles from there from the airport we decided it would be smarter to rent our car at the airport, go see houses and then return the car the next morning at the Alamo drop off at The Dolphin. So I guess we will not put the tags on our luggage, pick it up a Baggage claim and take it with us. But, then can we take the DME back to the airport from the AKL when we are ready to go home...or do you have to use the service BOTH ways????? Thanks My goodness, vacation planning is soooo stressful

 

[goofy4tink]

We are planning on moving to Florida and the area we wanted to visit was Winter Park and when we realized that we were within several miles from there from the airport we decided it would be smarter to rent our car at the airport, go see houses and then return the car the next morning at the Alamo drop off at The Dolphin. So I guess we will not put the tags on our luggage, pick it up a Baggage claim and take it with us. But, then can we take the DME back to the airport from the AKL when we are ready to go home...or do you have to use the service BOTH ways????? Thanks My goodness, vacation planning is soooo stressful

You can use DME just for your return flight. I did just that last month. My ds picked me up at MCO but I needed a ride back from BW to MCO. I just kept my reservation and only used the return part.
Have to say that I'm envious....I would love to be making the move to Florida!!! Maybe someday.

 

[jetsetter90]

Why not use DME and rent your car either from the car care center or the Dolphin? We picked up the day after arrival at the Dolphin and dropped it off at the airport. Best of both worlds!!!

TTFN
Jetsetter90

 

[mmiller]

we were going to use DME and rent the car from the Dolphin the next day....but then DH pointed out that from MCO we are almost at the town we want to see which is north of the airport and WDW is south...way south....so it makes more sense to drive the 8-10 miles on arrival day...and then we can just enjoy the rest of the trip at WDW......yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[paults]

is not a baggage handling perk. they will take your bags back to MCO from resort without you on board because you are leaving but when you arrive they want you to came straight to the resort and drop off your money. If you are renting a car why not just take your bags with you that way you know you have them and you can do what you want in winter park.

good luck house hunting