Wheelchair needed when Magical Express drops us off

[JudyS]

In the OP's situation, If someone in your party is able to push the wheelchair, it might be best to just rent one at home for the length of your trip. Then you'd have it at both airports and at the DME pick up and drop off. It would take away all of the worrying over how getting help should work and how it might go wrong.

Even if there is another person in the party who can push the wheelchair, you still have the problem of how to carry the luggage. If the traveling party contains two people, then the able-bodied person will have to both push the wheelchair *and* carry both people's luggage. If your airline allows checking luggage at the resort, this problem is reduced, but it still requires the able-bodied person to push the wheelchair while carrying any carry-on items for both people. (Smaller items can maybe be placed in the wheelchair user's lap.)

There are skycaps at airports for a reason. People need help with luggage, and sometimes need assistance getting to and from the gate. Unfortunately, Disney has not yet worked out a good system for getting skycaps to the DME drop-off area.

You can always get an earlier Magical Express bus back to the airport, just for the asking. This will give you more time to get assistance if needed....
I do not see how a car service can do better at getting you assistance when you are dropped off at the airport. The driver is not allowed to park the car anywhere along the curb while he goes inside or whatever.

This has *nothing* to do with needing more time. The problem is that DME drops people off in an area with no one to provide assistance.

A car service or taxi is *way* better because they actually take passengers to the departure area. If I take a cab, the cab will bring me to curbside check-in for my airline. There will be skycaps stationed in that area, and the skycaps will assist me. (And yes, cab drivers are allowed to leave their cabs at the curb while they go talk to the curbside skycaps, or bring items to the curbside check-in. They do this all the time, and it does not require going inside the airport.)

On the other hand, if I take DME, it drops me off *nowhere* near departures, and the airlines are not allowed to station skycaps at the DME drop-off area.

We have an ECV rented to be delivered to AKL. Typically the airline provides wheelchair service to the departing gate from the skycap stand and to baggage check from the arriving gate. In this case, the skycaps are NO WHERE near the DME drop off area. That is the problem. It has no bearing on whether we arrive early, late or on time 2 hours in advance (which we do). It is simply a matter of logistics getting a skycap to the DME drop off area.

Yes, exactly what RmeDad said!

 

[JudyS]

Ttintagel, were there other times when the airline actually did send someone to meet you at the DME drop-off area?

Not right AT the area, but close.

Thank you for the information, Ttinagel! How close are we talking about here? Would you say it was more than 100 steps or so? I could manage walking 100 steps, but maybe not more.

Also, how did you let the airline know when and where to meet you?

 

[SueM in MN]

Have you ever actually done this? I've tried, but the airlines say Disney doesn't give them the information they need.

Not to get a wheelchair, because my daughter has her own.

The last 2 or 3 times we traveled on an airline that did not participate in DME, so we had to bring our own bags from the DME drop off point to check in. We had arranged with the airline to have a skycap waiting to help with our bags.
DME is kind of stuck because the Skycaps are not their responsibility.

It may also depend at which point you get dropped off at. The ones for the non-participating airlines may actually have Skycaps waiting because it's very likely they will be needs. I imagine they don't get much business at the participating airline stops.
And, since the Skycaps are arranged thru the airline, the non-participating airlines might provide more Skycaps.

The phone numbers that book girl posted sound like a good idea to have, but the Orlando Airport website says to arrange for a Skycap with your airline.

 

[JudyS]

Not to get a wheelchair, because my daughter has her own.

The last 2 or 3 times we traveled on an airline that did not participate in DME, so we had to bring our own bags from the DME drop off point to check in. We had arranged with the airline to have a skycap waiting to help with our bags.
DME is kind of stuck because the Skycaps are not their responsibility.

It may also depend at which point you get dropped off at. The ones for the non-participating airlines may actually have Skycaps waiting because it's very likely they will be needs. I imagine they don't get much business at the participating airline stops.
And, since the Skycaps are arranged thru the airline, the non-participating airlines might provide more Skycaps.

The phone numbers that book girl posted sound like a good idea to have, but the Orlando Airport website says to arrange for a Skycap with your airline.

Thanks, Sue, for telling me about your experience. But, whenever I call my airline, they say they can't do anything because they don't know the exact time the DME bus will arrive and which parking spot it will be in. How did you get around this problem?

 

[SueM in MN]

My DH arranged it. I think he told them our DME pick up time.
But, the airlines that are not participating may be more willing to arrange things.

It sounds like you might be better in your situation using a cab so you can be dropped off at the curb died check in.

 

[ttintagel]

Thank you for the information, Ttinagel! How close are we talking about here? Would you say it was more than 100 steps or so? I could manage walking 100 steps, but maybe not more.

Also, how did you let the airline know when and where to meet you?

Honestly, I was on so many painkillers that the details are a bit fuzzy, so maybe it's best to take the whole thing with a grain of salt. I remember that they did bring the wheelchair out to the bus, but it seems like somebody must have gone over and asked them to. Might have been the driver?