We didn't like ME

[Twingle]

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.

I was the poster that mentioned the wait in line and the wait on the bus. Yes, I was REALLY in the ME line for that long. Yes, I was REALLY on the ME bus for that long. I understand that this is a very unusual occurance, but it did happen to me. Do I think it happens often? Nope, otherwise people wouldn't have positive stories about ME. I was sharing what happened to myself on my vacation. I'm sure that taxis, towncar services, rental cars and the like all have the occasional horror story that is unbelievable, but, doesn't mean it didn't happen to the person it happened to.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

My most recent DME experience wasn't perfect, but I would gladly use DME again.

Our flight arrived at 3:00 p.m. on a very busy Saturday. There was a long line at the DME Welcome Center. But there were people working shoulder to shoulder at the counter, and the line moved well. I didn't time our wait. We had another wait in the line for the motorcoach, and another wait on the motorcoach itself.

We were probably on the road 45 minutes after our plane landed. Our resort, OKW, was the first stop. Plane-to-resort was around 75 minutes. (A towncar might have cut around 15 minutes off of that, when accounting for the wait at baggage claim, the wait for the driver to retrieve the car, and the 30-minute trip.)

We returned to our room at around 10:00 p.m., expecting to find our luggage waiting for us. We looked all over, even in the closets. No luggage. I called Bell Services. They apologized, said they had our luggage, said they were way behind because of double the usual number of DME guests that day, and said they would send it over right away. About 15 minutes later, we had our luggage. So the lugagge took over 7 hours after landing, and required me to make a phone call. Certainly not perfect, but also not a horrible experience either. (And, yes, we had a carry-one bag with everything that we needed upon arrival at the resort.)

Our return trip to the airport was scheduled for around three hours before our scheduled departure. That seemed completely reasonable. It's not reasonable to plan on a two hour flight delay. It's far more reasonable to have a time cushion for stops at one or two other resorts, traffic delays, check-in delays, and security delays, and the fact that boarding actually starts 30 minutes before scheduled departure. We made one stop at SSR and had no delays due to traffic, check-in, or an unusual security wait. So we arrived at the gate too early, and we sat down and read. Again, not a horrible experience.

I wish I could book DME for our January 2007 vacation, but they're not taking any DME reservations for 2007 yet.

 

[sluggo]

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"?

I know that the DME CM's at the airport have this precise information and I am pretty sure that the resort CM's can get it.

A couple of things to remember when you decide to not put the yellow tags on your bags and pick them up yourself.

1. If your bag is delayed by the airline (which happens to about 5% of all bags), you will have to stand in the long line (if you are flying AA, it will be a really long line) to file a claim with the airline for the missing bag. If you let DME pick up the bag and it is delayed by the airline, a DME CM will stand in the long line and put in the claim with the airline for you.

2. During the spring, summer and fall between 3PM and 8PM there is almost always a thunder storm in Orlando. When these occur, the airport shuts down all baggage operations. This will cause all the people waiting for their bags at the carousels to have to wait a long time. I have seen people waiting for over 1 1/2 hours for the bags to arrive. If you let DME handle your bags, you can be on your way to your resort while everyone else is waiting and waiting at the carousels.

Sluggo

 

[pugdog]

Like other posts have said DME carries 6000 to 10000 people per day. The few people that hop on here and complain means that 99% of us using it have few if any problems. But the airlines lose 5% of bags each year?
Sounds like you odds are much better using DME.

 

[snowbunny]

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

I'm definitely one of those people. Thanks for the clarification.

 

[cinmell]

I'm definitely one of those people. Thanks for the clarification.

I'm one of those people too and my husband thinks I'm crazy. I really can't decide if I want to use DME or not. I don't want to chance long lines or not having luggage delivered for quite a few hours. Also, when returning home, I think I would prefer to leave the resort 2 hours before the flight instead of 3. I just can't decide.