We didn't like ME

[EjandMD]

I arrived at 10:20 am and didn't see my lugage until 6:30 p.m. A little too long for my comfort! I did understand that I should have packed things in a carry on and prepare not to see my lugage for about 4 hours but 8? When I phoned the front desk they also have no way of knowing where your lugage is. They can say that a bell hop took it but can't say which one or contact that person. The bags may also be seperated, so you may get one and have to wait hours before gettin another one. Also the ride to the hotel took about an hour and a half! We waited and waited and waited, until the bus was completely full.

On the way back for my 6:20 pm flight they wanted me to be ready at 3:05 p.m. I actually got a ride from my brother which worked out great because or flight was delayed by 2 hours. So those who got there at 3:05 never boarded until 8:30 p.m.! What do you do with kids in an airport for five hours?

My mom took a different flight, as she is from a different city, her ME bus was so filled that people had to stand all the way to the airport!

In the future I would pay the $50 and get a cab!

Just a thought for those of you who want to take the ME. Yes, it's free but that's about it...P.S. You also have to tip.

 

[helenk]

Just a thought for those of you who want to take the ME. Yes, it's free but that's about it...P.S. You also have to tip.

You do not have to tip...tipping is optional.

 

[goofy4tink]

I'm really sorry to hear you had a bad DME experience. That was way too long a wait for your luggage!! And yes, the early pick up times drive me crazy....I like to be at the airport about 90 minutes ahead, not 2 1/2 hrs!!! But, other than the 'pick-up' time issue, I have always had decent service. I've never taken more than 1 hr. 15 min from deplaning to resort check-in. And the one time I used the luggage part, I got my luggage 15 minutes after I got into my room...granted that was about 4 hrs after I landed. The other times I had only carry-on.
But, if the driver didn't touch your luggage, you didn't need to tip!!! Sorry if the driver misled you. I have heard of that type of behavior from a few drivers. If I have only carry-on, and I am able to have it on the bus with me, or my luggage is being delivered to my resort, the driver doesn't get tipped. I have tipped when the driver didn't touch my luggage, but that was because he went way over the top and gave us a very entertaining ride. He was a hoot.
Thanks for telling us your experiences...we really do need to hear the not so terrific reviews also. Nothing is perfect, and DME in no different.

 

[safetymom]

DME does track your luggage all the way through so they would have known where your luggage was. The resort CM didn't check with the right people.

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

Are you sure your luggage issue was with DME? Don't forget, the airlines loose on average 10,000 bags per day. DME uses barcodes, scanners, and even GPS to track your bags. (Bags that weren't tagged are given replacement tags when they are claimed) Bags get scanned 5 times in DME possession. First when they take posession of the bags, second when they get put into a security cage, third when they put the cage on the truck, fourth when the bag gets to the resort, and fifth when it gets delivered to the room. The trucks all have GPS on them, so we know at all times where your bags are. If no one knew where the bag was, then it hadn't been scanned, which means it had not been turned over from the airline to DME yet.

Also, I'm not quite sure what you mean about blaming DME for getting folks to the airport early, and the flight being delayed. If a flight is delayed, that's out of DME's control. DME works so that you arrive to the airport 2 hours prior to flight time, which is what time you're supposed to get there regardless of what form of ground transport that you use. Those folks with rental cars and who took taxis had to wait for the delayed flight too. Yes, 5 hours isn't fun, but that's an airline issue.

I'm sorry you didn't enjoy DME. It's not for everyone. But it is certainly a great thing for many.

 

[Twingle]

We also had a horrible experience with ME - sorry that you did as well. After waiting in the ME line for over forty minutes, we waited almost two hours before the bus left for our resort. The driver said he HAD to wait for the bus to be full. Then, we stopped at three other resorts (which I understand that most of the ME buses go to more than one resort), which took an additional 45 minutes. SO, we didn't get to our resort until almost four hours after our flight landed. Add to that that there was only ONE CM checking in, it took us an additional 30 - 45 minutes to get our room information. Now, we had been told beforehand to pack anything we would need for our first 7-10 hours in our carryon. So, we expected we'd see our luggage maybe three hours after we got into our room, since we'd already been in Florida for five hours. NOPE! We got into our room around 10:00 Saturday night, we still did not have our luggage by 9:00 the next morning! As far as being told that they didn't know where your luggage was - we were told the same thing. I spoke with several CM's, including the resort manager that was there at the time, and they said they have NO WAY to track your luggage once it leaves the airport. I was told the bar codes are for the airlines, and that ME uses the NAMES on the tags. When I asked if the luggage was lost by the airlines, they told me no, that they knew it had gotten onto a ME bus, but didn't know where it was. We finally got our luggage around 11:00 a.m., but all in all, I was not a happy camper.

Our return trip was okay - I wasn't crazy about the pick up time, but there were only a handful of people on the bus, and the driver was super nice.

I'm sure ME can work very well for many people, but I will not be using it again. It was a very unpleasant way to start my vacation!

 

[goofy4tink]

Tyler...you seem to have a handle on the inner workings of DME, so I'll ask you. Why are some reporting that they have had to wait until the bus if full before the driver will leave and others have the opposite experience? I have yet to ride on a full bus...usually about 2/3 full at best. And even when the DME desk line looked long, it never took over 8 minutes or so to get through it...at least that has been my experience. It boggles my mind that we can have such varied experiences. I sure do wish everyone had had my experience with DME.

 

[seashoreCM]

I venture to guess that a bus may be held at the airport unusually long if there no bus coming back from Disney soon to replace it and get the next batch of guests. There could have been a traffic jam out there halfway.

Enough trip report stories have hit these forums describing how guests with their assigned 3 hour in advance ME trips back to the airport barely made their plane for one reason or another. So I would think that ME should stick with the 3 hour in advance scheduling for going back to the airport.

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

The goal for DME at the airport is for the guest to not wait more than 15 minutes in queue lines, and for the bus to not hold more than 15 minutes once a guest is on board.

A previous poster mentioned that they spent 45 minutes in line at the DME counter. Considering the average transaction at that counter takes 60 seconds or less, that would mean that DME must have been super duper busy. I've seen the line halfway down the terminal, and still be less than 20 minutes. They then go on to state that they sat on the bus for two hours because they couldn't leave until it was full. Something's not adding up right. No bus would ever sit for that long. The Mears driver would probably pull out without permission than sit that long. But it would never come to that, because DME would never hold a bus that long.

 

[maddhatir]

i have read tons of posts about ME. we are using it in sept for the first time, and, i have decided to take my luggage with me on the bus. i dont mind wheeling it to my room-- at least i know when it will get there and where it is!

 

[CleveRocks]

I spoke with several CM's, including the resort manager that was there at the time, and they said they have NO WAY to track your luggage once it leaves the airport. I was told the bar codes are for the airlines, and that ME uses the NAMES on the tags. When I asked if the luggage was lost by the airlines, they told me no, that they knew it had gotten onto a ME bus, but didn't know where it was.

Sorry you had such a lousy experience. The CM manager you spoke with had a coupla things wrong, however. Number one, the airlines have no use for DME tags. When you fly into MCO, the airlines have NOTHING, NADA to do with DME. DME luggage doesn't get separated from non-DME luggage until after ALL the luggage is released from the airline's control to the airport's control. Perhaps he was referring to the tag put on each piece of luggage by the airline, you know, the one with the 3-letter airport code on it. Like I said, there's no way on God's green Earth that the airlines use the barcode on the DME tag!

The other thing the CM got wrong was that DME luggage is not normally transported by DME buses. It goes on trucks (or perhaps vans?).

So if he got those things wrong, he may have gotten more wrong, also. But the more important point is that you had a bad experience, one of the very few I've read about. You have every reason to be unhappy with your DME experience.

 

[snowbunny]

i have read tons of posts about ME. we are using it in sept for the first time, and, i have decided to take my luggage with me on the bus. i dont mind wheeling it to my room-- at least i know when it will get there and where it is!

I thought you couldn't do this? Unless you are planning not to check any luggage?

 

[goofy4tink]

I thought you couldn't do this? Unless you are planning not to check any luggage?

You can do it if you go to baggage claim and pick up your luggage yourself. You just wouldn't put those yellow tags on them. There are a lot of people that prefer to have their luggage with them, so they go to baggage claim, get it themselves and then go to DME to check-in. The luggage gets loaded underneath the bus. Of course, if you do it this way, be prepared to tip the bus driver.

 

[EjandMD]

Hi all!

The real purpose of my post was not to gripe, although that's what it is, I really wanted to post it for people who were undecided about using it. If you choose to use it, this is what could happen. But, hey, it's free...so use your judgment. What's more important, the free trip or the timing? Then make your decision. When I read the boards for advice on this issue, most people told me they loved it and to be prepared to be without my luggage for about four hours. No one ever told me 8 hours and that it would take me 2 hours to get to the resort. So if you have 4 kids and traveling is already stressfull enough maybe springing for a cab is better.

 

[Maude4Disney]

You can get your own luggage, as long as you don't use the yellow DME tags. Correct??

 

[boomhauer]

I've taken ME twice - While the buses are nice and comfortable, the waiting is a bit much.

My decision was, we'll get a limo when we arrive in Orlando, and take ME home. Don't care how long it takes to get to the airport.

 

[kaytieeldr]

When I asked if the luggage was lost by the airlines, they told me no, that they knew it had gotten onto a ME bus, but didn't know where it was. We finally got our luggage around 11:00 a.m., but all in all, I was not a happy camper.

That's a surprising claim, since unless you don't tag your luggage and instead pick it up and bring it to the DME counter yourself, it doesn't GO on a bus.
And, just for general information: figures were released last week indicating that airlines misdirected (the actual word used was lost, but I'm being positive ) 10,000 pieces of luggage PER DAY in 2005.

 

[Lewisc]

The number of reports of real horror stories, trips taking more than 2 hours and luggage lost for a day is about as small as the number of people who post regarding a town car not showing up for a scheduled pick up. Both are very rare.

Most of us find the time from landing to arrival at our resort is 60-90 minutes and that includes the 10 minutes it takes to get off the plane, take the tram and walk to the DME desk. Most of the expected time savings with a towncar is lost waiting for your luggage.


Most of us get our luggage in our room in less than 4 hours. Most of us don't know exactly how long it take since we're at the pool, eating lunch or in a park when the luggage is actually delivered to our room.

 

[seashoreCM]

Do the resort CM's really have access to precise GPS information such as "the truck is between exits 2 and 3 on the 528 the Beach Line"?

As opposed to checkpoints such as "Pulled from airport carousel" or "Arrived at WDW baggage sorting warehouse"?

 

[Buzzsgramma]

Okay, i will say that DME went well for our family of 10 arriving last Oct...early afternoon....and also departure back to MCO....guess DS didnt listen about putting the yellow tags on his luggage so upon arrival I said he would have to retrive his luggage and meet us down by DME to depart....that went well and he meant us in line....I will say i was very torn about doing this as we always rent a van and a car...but when I considered we would save nearly $500 between us we voted for DME....we were taken to BWV (8 days)and stopped at one resort before us....