Using ME flying out of Canada

[drag n' fly]

How does ME work if you are flying out of Canada. I am a little confused about what happens when you land in Orlando because we are flying direct out of Calgary and our first point of entry is in Orlando. Do we have to collect our luggage and go through customs and then hand it over to ME?

 

[Scratch42]

Yes, that's your best bet! That way you will make sure it arrives in a timely manner!

Don't put your tags on until after you pick up your luggage and then bring it to ME and they will place it on the bus. When you arrive at your hotel, you will have your luggage with you. No waiting!

j

 

[bbangel]

Calgary has a pre-clearance for customs, so you will actually take your luggage through customs in Calgary (no waiting in Orlando). You can still pick up your luggage and take it to ME.

 

[blizzard]

We used Magical Express last time we flew out of Calgary.

As others have mentioned, you pre-clear US Customs, so it is your choice as to whether you want ME to handle your luggage in Orlando. If you do not want to pick up your luggage in Orlando, make sure the tags are attached when you send the bags down the belt. If you would like to pick up your bags and take them with you to the ME counter, do not put ME tags on them. Pick them up and then take them with you to ME counter and they will ensure they go on the bus with you.

Which method you should choose may depend on your arrival time. We let ME handle our bags for a flight arriving in the evening, and had a long wait for the bags when we would have rather been sleeping. If you are arriving earlier in the day and then going to a park, or will have to wait to get your room anyway, then it can be easier to have ME take care of your luggage. In either case, make sure you have any absolute essentials (prescriptions, ID, money/wallet) in your carry-on. You never know when a bag will be lost.

 

[drag n' fly]

We used Magical Express last time we flew out of Calgary.

As others have mentioned, you pre-clear US Customs, so it is your choice as to whether you want ME to handle your luggage in Orlando. If you do not want to pick up your luggage in Orlando, make sure the tags are attached when you send the bags down the belt. If you would like to pick up your bags and take them with you to the ME counter, do not put ME tags on them. Pick them up and then take them with you to ME counter and they will ensure they go on the bus with you.

Which method you should choose may depend on your arrival time. We let ME handle our bags for a flight arriving in the evening, and had a long wait for the bags when we would have rather been sleeping. If you are arriving earlier in the day and then going to a park, or will have to wait to get your room anyway, then it can be easier to have ME take care of your luggage. In either case, make sure you have any absolute essentials (prescriptions, ID, money/wallet) in your carry-on. You never know when a bag will be lost.

Our plane lands in Orlando 5:10pm. What do you think we should do?

 

[bbangel]

Pick up your own bags and then you don't have to worry about when you will get them.

 

[drag n' fly]

Pick up your own bags and then you don't have to worry about when you will get them.

Are you saying we should not use ME or pick up our bags at the airport and then deliver them to ME. I told you I was confused

 

[cdnmickeylover]

If you pick up your bags in Orlando you will take them with you on the bus and then take them with you to your room (unless you then request baggage service at the resort).

For a flight arriving at 5pm I'd pick up my own bags and take them with me to the resort myself. You can still use the Magical Express buses which is the best part.

Fiona

 

[drag n' fly]

If you pick up your bags in Orlando you will take them with you on the bus and then take them with you to your room (unless you then request baggage service at the resort).

For a flight arriving at 5pm I'd pick up my own bags and take them with me to the resort myself. You can still use the Magical Express buses which is the best part.

Fiona

I have to try and fit 5 huge suitcases on the bus or do they store them under?
I am sure I am sounding like a stressed wingnut

 

[Canuckdad]

I have to try and fit 5 huge suitcases on the bus or do they store them under?
I am sure I am sounding like a stressed wingnut

Don't worry, the driver will do that for you. But be sure to have a tip at the end when they unload those suitcases at the resort -- a buck a bag or so.

 

[blizzard]

One nice thing about letting ME handle your bags is that you don't have to drag them with you to check in and then take them to the room. (If you like using bell services and waiting for them to take you to your room, then it wouldn't matter) ME will deliver them straight to your room (leaving them in the room if you aren't there)

With a 5:10 arrival, I would say you could go either way. ME can take up to 4 hours or more. (or the bags could be delivered within an hour of your arrival - it's a bit of a random thing)

I guess it all depends on your comfort level and how late you think you might be up. If you are thinking bed around 8 or 9, then I'd make sure you have your own bags. If you are planning to hit the ground running and won't be making it to bed until midnight, then you should be fine with ME.

PS. I'm assuming that you are flying WJ (or AC). Be aware that you will have to take your bags with you on the bus for the return trip. Yes, they will put them under the bus, however you will need to watch to make sure all bags are loaded and then unloaded at the airport. Then you need to take them with you to check in.

 

[drag n' fly]

One nice thing about letting ME handle your bags is that you don't have to drag them with you to check in and then take them to the room. (If you like using bell services and waiting for them to take you to your room, then it wouldn't matter) ME will deliver them straight to your room (leaving them in the room if you aren't there)

With a 5:10 arrival, I would say you could go either way. ME can take up to 4 hours or more. (or the bags could be delivered within an hour of your arrival - it's a bit of a random thing)

I guess it all depends on your comfort level and how late you think you might be up. If you are thinking bed around 8 or 9, then I'd make sure you have your own bags. If you are planning to hit the ground running and won't be making it to bed until midnight, then you should be fine with ME.

PS. I'm assuming that you are flying WJ (or AC). Be aware that you will have to take your bags with you on the bus for the return trip. Yes, they will put them under the bus, however you will need to watch to make sure all bags are loaded and then unloaded at the airport. Then you need to take them with you to check in.

We are flying AC. What we have to keep reminding ourself is the time difference. What is 5:10pm there will seem like 2:10pm to us. I think it is 3 hours? So for the first day or two until we get use to the time change or drop dead from park exhaustion we will be up really late. We never noticed this with trips to DL so that will be a bit of adjustment mostly for meal time. The kids however will be able to handle evenings in the parks easily!

No wonder I was so confused about this. There really is nothing telling international visitors in detail what to do. The first day is just chillaxin. We have an adr for 8 then off to downtown disney for a looky loo and back to the hotel. I do have one piece of information for the 6th and 7th. The hotel is completely booked...apparently solid. Hence that annoying little code issue! Will that affect my ME decision also? I got the hotel I wanted on the dates I wanted all the adr's I wanted at the times I wanted got my gospel brunch tickets and got my flights at a smokin price...the Canadian code becomes a general available to everyone as of 7am my TA is going to try that route but even if I dont get it everything fell into place beautifully...no complaints here I could have got the code if I changed my dates by 48 hours.. oh well no biggie!....except for ME and my neurotic worrying about it! I know I should put this puppy to bed but man I am trying to make this as painless as possible. I really appreciate everyone's experienced input!

 

[Prairiemom]

This is great info as this is my first trip and I will also be using ME. Any info is good to know as otherwise I would probably be confused too. Thanks for posting this

 

[cdnmickeylover]

We've used ME a couple of times now with great success although with the exception of the first use we pick up our own bags. The first time we used ME we landed at Orlando at approximately 6pm. The ME bus worked great and we were in MK by 8pm -- we'd checked into POP, checked out our room and taken the bus to MK by 8pm so we were impressed. MK was open late and we got back to the room at around 12:30am fully expecting to see our bags there -- they weren't. I called and they still weren't delivered til around 1:45am which we thought was a rather long time for delivery. So when we fly in late we pick up our bags. This, I stress, though was just our experience. Lots of people have received their bags really quickly -- we weren't that lucky though. And one of the bags had the wheel ripped off and since we'd used ME we didn't know if it occured at the airline or at Disney.

Fiona

 

[MECH8T7]

We've used ME from the airport twice. On each occasion, we had ME transport our bags from the airport to the resort. On our carry-ons, we made sure we had enough to get by in case there was a problem or serious delay in getting our luggage (i.e., one set of sleepwear, bathing suits, underwear, etc.). We're a family of 5 and travel with a lot of stuff including a stroller, car booster seats for our two older kids, laptop, camera equipment, etc.

When we arrive at MCO, it's nice not having to wait at the luggage carousel for our bags. It's even better not having to handle the check-in baggage because, with DW pushing the stroller, I would be on my own handling both the check-in baggage and carryons. On the flight back, we've had to take our own bags with us and it's a pain...usually a pile of bags unevenly stacked on a luggage cart with one dropping off every 100 feet.

Anyways, the two times we used it, we really appreciated having ME handle our checked bags.

 

[blizzard]

Orlando is on Eastern Time Zone, so only a 2 hour difference from Calgary. Do not underestimate however how tiring a 5 hour flight can be. We find that when we get there we go to bed around a "normal" time. We usually plan to be up for a park opening the next day.

Since you are planning the next day off anyway, it probably won't matter if ME is a little later with your bags. If you have small children however, I would strongly recommend that you make sure you have PJ's and anything else required for bed in your carry-on. We didn't think about PJ's and ended up having to make due.

A lot depends on your comfort level for having other people handle your bags. If it makes you uncomfortable, you can easily pick up your bags at the airport and bring them to the ME counter. It will slow you down a little bit, but not more than about 1/2 hour. If the convenience of having someone else get the bags from the airport in Calgary all the way to your room in Disney is something that appeals to you, then ME fits the bill.

Either way you do it, I'm sure you will have a great trip!

 

[deany]

When we went to WDW on Sept 30, we flew out of Seattle so we avoided the customs line at the airport. ME was great, once we checked in our luggage at Seattle we did not worry about it until it ended up in our room. We landed at MCO about 7pm. We had packed our bathing suits and shorts in our carry-on. Once we got to the resort and checked in, we ate supper at the food court and then swam in the pool. We were going to go to DTD but even with our 3hr time difference we were kind of worn out as we had gotten up at 6am. Our luggage arrived at the room by 9:30. When we left to come home, we were able to do airline check in at the resort (POR) and we got our boarding passes there and dropped off our luggage. It was so easy.

 

[Chester's Mum]

We flew out of Toronto in January and used ME, we cleared US customs in Toronto airport. When we arrived we met the ME greeter in the baggage pick up area. We did not have the ME tags because we only requested it about 3 days before we left. The greeter directed me to the counter, where they showed me pictures of types of luggage and I pointed out the sizes and colours of our luggage. We gave our baggage claim tags to the ME desk staff. Then we were directed to the bus loading area. That was about 2:30 pm.

The bus wait was around 10-15 minutes, and they dropped some people off at Pop Century before going to CSR, but it was not a big delay. It was good to see Pop Century, as I had never seen it before.

We arrived at CSR, checked in, freshened up and went out to dinner at the boardwalk. When we arrived back around 8pm at the room, our bags were there. No problems. It's a great service, and I hate waiting at those carousels to pick up my bags.

I would recommend that you have some basic needs in your carry on luggage. I don't know how easy this will be with the new airline regulations.

 

[Step]

I have to try and fit 5 huge suitcases on the bus or do they store them under?
I am sure I am sounding like a stressed wingnut

We used ME straght and no issues (except that our flight arrive at 9pm at night so the bags arrived at 1am... but we knew that would happen). Just stick your ME tags on and let disney handle it. You save yourself the tip money cause disney includes it for you.

 

[mollyseven]

O.k I'm confused. In May we flew from Toronto and were told we had to collect our own bags and take them through security and drop them off at the ME counter where you have to check in before getting on a bus to your resort. After that we didn't see them again until the hotel room about 4 hours later. That was fine because it was a 920 am arrival in MCO. So....if we hadn't collected our bags at the carousel they would've still made it to the hotel???? I was told by Air Canada and us customs at MCO we had to collect our own bags and take to the ME counter?????