Will DME "Hold" luggage for 1 night

[hbsprite]

I tried searching the forums but couldn't find an answer:

We will be flying to WDW in August with 2 toddlers. Our flight arrives at 8:30PM on a Friday night. We are on a definite budget and don't want to spend the extra money to stay at a Disney hotel the night we arrive, so we will stay at a less expensive hotel near the airport the night our flight arrives (Friday night).

I am thinking of telling DME that we will be arriving Saturday morning and putting DME tags on all our checked bags. I will pack everything we need for the 1 night in the airport hotel in our carry on. Then, Saturday morning, show back up at the airport and hop on DME without having to worry about all our checked bags.

Basically, I want to drop my checked bags off at the airport when we leave Friday, and not have to see them again until we arrive at our WDW Resort Saturday morning.

Will this work? Will DME still deliver our bags to the resort?

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

You must have an overwhelming desire to lose your luggage. There are so many ways this can get screwed up it is hard to imagine.

Most likey if they even take your luggage to the resort and you don't have a reservation for that night Disney may just assume they were not suppose to pick it up and send it back to the airport. It will then be returned to the airline and at some point you will gave to go get it

 

[bumbershoot]

It's not going to work.

Don't tag your bags, take them to your offsite hotel. If you really want to take DME, get back to the airport with your bags. Hire a porter, have them take the bags to DME, tip them as the bags are handed over to the driver. When you get to your resort, find a bell/luggage services person and tip them to handle your bags after you get off the bus. (and you should tip the driver, too...this is all increasing your tip costs in an effort to keep you from handling your bags, so be sure to do the math to make SURE it's not just worth it to stay onsite!)

 

[DebbieB]

I tried searching the forums but couldn't find an answer:

We will be flying to WDW in August with 2 toddlers. Our flight arrives at 8:30PM on a Friday night. We are on a definite budget and don't want to spend the extra money to stay at a Disney hotel the night we arrive, so we will stay at a less expensive hotel near the airport the night our flight arrives (Friday night).

I am thinking of telling DME that we will be arriving Saturday morning and putting DME tags on all our checked bags. I will pack everything we need for the 1 night in the airport hotel in our carry on. Then, Saturday morning, show back up at the airport and hop on DME without having to worry about all our checked bags.

Basically, I want to drop my checked bags off at the airport when we leave Friday, and not have to see them again until we arrive at our WDW Resort Saturday morning.

Will this work? Will DME still deliver our bags to the resort?

I would be afraid that the resort would not have you as checked in and then lose the luggage.

 

[sharadoc]

I don't know when you're going, where you're staying or what you're paying for an airport hotel, but have you priced a Disney value hotel for the first night? If you're staying at a higher level hotel for your trip, you could stay in a value for around $100 a night (and depending on discounts available, could be less). Then if you are moving to a higher level resort on the next day, Disney will transfer your luggage for you.

If you gave us more info about your vacation, we may be able to suggest a good plan for you.

 

[Jimsig]

I know you said you are on a budget so you may already be booked at one for your entire stay, but you could always book at the cheapest on property resort for that first night (probably one of the All Star resorts) and do a split stay. Disney will move your bags for you to the new resort. Depending on where you are staying-how you are getting to and from the hotel and back to the airport it might not be much more. Not only that it avoids any possibly aggravation and you can hit the ground running that first day by not having to get back to the airport and then to Disney which will eat up time on your first full day. You could probably be in the park before you are even back at the airport. Or you can sleep late

 

[Lewisc]

I'll disagree with the PP. I think it will probably work exactly as you described in your OP. I'll speculate you have at least a 60% chance of everything working out. Worse case, assuming your luggage is well labeled, the resort will send your luggage back to MCO where you can pick it up before your return flight. DME gets you to MCO 2 hours before your flight. Should be enough time to retrieve and then check your luggage.

DME might even ship your luggage back to WDW. Maybe a day after you check in

 

[Jimsig]

GMTA Sharadoc

 

[hbsprite]

I don't know when you're going, where you're staying or what you're paying for an airport hotel, but have you priced a Disney value hotel for the first night? If you're staying at a higher level hotel for your trip, you could stay in a value for around $100 a night (and depending on discounts available, could be less). Then if you are moving to a higher level resort on the next day, Disney will transfer your luggage for you.

If you gave us more info about your vacation, we may be able to suggest a good plan for you.

Sure, we are staying for 2 weeks in a studio at Boardwalk Villas/Old Key West using DVC points. We will not be renting a car and will be using Disney Transportation exclusively.

I have a family member who works for a major hotel company and I can get a room near the airport for $35. The cheapest Disney Hotel is the All Stars for $110.

I know lots of people use DME for their luggage only and don't actually ride the DME bus. I was hoping someone had done what I was planning and was curious to hear their experiences.

 

[dudspizza]

I have done exactly what you are thinking, but I didn't tag my bags. We simply picked up our bags, took the airport shuttle to a close airport hotel. We then took the shuttle back to MCO with our luggage and caught DME. They put our luggage under the bus and off we went..... our hotels shuttle even dropped us right at DME.

Your plan could work, but I don't think its worth the possible headaches....

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Those folks who use the DME for luggage only, have a reservation that day at a Disney resort. They are not arrive a day or two later.

 

[bookwormde]

Keep your eyes open for some last minute DVC points for rent at a deep discount, you might be able to get an OKW room for 60 or 80 dollars

 

[goofy4tink]

Possible scenario...you arrive at the airport, having tagged your checked bags. You head off to your hotel for the evening. Your bags are scanned, and the baggage people see that you don't have an active resort reservation, until the next day. So, they put the bags aside for delivery the next day. But...somehow they get forgotten overnight. They have been put aside and the workers the next day don't realize they are there...so they don't get delivered. They will eventually get delivered but it could be days!

I would leave the tags off the bags, take them with you to your hotel close to the airport. Then bring them to the DME area with you and they will go beneath your bus.

Here's the problem...too many people are trying to use DME in their own way, in order to meet their particular needs. And DME doesn't work that way. When you mess with the 'system' you stand a huge chance of something going wrong.

 

[wiigirl]

Keep your eyes open for some last minute DVC points for rent at a deep discount, you might be able to get an OKW room for 60 or 80 dollars

 

[sam_gordon]

I'll disagree with the PP. I think it will probably work exactly as you described in your OP. I'll speculate you have at least a 60% chance of everything working out. Worse case, assuming your luggage is well labeled, the resort will send your luggage back to MCO where you can pick it up before your return flight. DME gets you to MCO 2 hours before your flight. Should be enough time to retrieve and then check your luggage.

DME might even ship your luggage back to WDW. Maybe a day after you check in

I don't think the bolded is the worst case. The worst case would be the luggage being left SOMEWHERE and gets forgotten. Would that be at MCO? A Disney Resort?

While I agree the odds are probably better than worse of everything working out, there would be too big a possibility of things going WAY wrong and not having access to the checked luggage.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

Not sure why OP asked. Apparently she plans to do this and just wanted positive stories of success.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Basically, I want to drop my checked bags off at the airport when we leave Friday, and not have to see them again until we arrive at our WDW Resort Saturday morning.

I think you mean Saturday afternoon, not Saturday morning. Check-in time at DVC resorts is officially 4:00 p.m. Often, but not always, rooms are ready a few hours sooner. However, given DVC's high accompany, it's likely that someone else will have your room the night before you do; after they check out, the room needs to be fully cleaned when a housekeeper can get to it.

Considering that you're traveling with two toddlers, you'll have your hands full even if you don't have to handle your checked bags at Orlando International and when checking in at your resort.

I share the concern that other people have posted here. Using DME baggage transfers normally means that you're flying in on your check-in date and your bags don't have to spend the night somewhere without you before you arrive at your resort.

However, I have a suggestion for you. Instead of taking DISboards member opinions as the final word, call Disney's Magical Express (DME) Guest Services at 866-599-0951 and tell them what you have in mind.

DME has served millions of guests since 2005. DME can handle many different situations, including guests in the same room who arrive on different flights, guests who must clear U.S. Customs in Orlando, guests whose resort reservations have changed, guests with airline schedule changes, and so on.

Tell the DME Guest Services agent what you have in mind. You might have to ask for a supervisor if the agent who answers is inexperienced or does not understand your question.

You might be told that your only choice is throw away the yellow tags, claim your own bags, take them to your first-night hotel, and take them to the DME motor coach where the driver will put them in the cargo hold. (That would be a pain if you're also handling two toddlers, but that might be how it has to be if you stay off-site the first night.)

Or you might be told that DME has a procedure for just such circumstances. Perhaps, when the barcode on your yellow tags is scanned at DME's sorting facility at the airport, the bags will be moved to a secure holding area until the next day. Perhaps the bags will be sent to your resort, and bell services there, upon scanning the barcode, will keep them safely in the resort's baggage storage room until the next day. Perhaps your DME reservation needs to be notated in a particular way.

Then, please return to this thread and post what DME Guest Services tells you.

 

[bumbershoot]

Possible scenario...you arrive at the airport, having tagged your checked bags. You head off to your hotel for the evening. Your bags are scanned, and the baggage people see that you don't have an active resort reservation, until the next day. So, they put the bags aside for delivery the next day. But...somehow they get forgotten overnight. They have been put aside and the workers the next day don't realize they are there...so they don't get delivered. They will eventually get delivered but it could be days!

Exactly.

I personally think the issue is that none of us knows the inner-workings of the baggage-handling part of DME. We don't KNOW what happens if you tag bags then your flight is really delayed and it's after 10. We don't KNOW where the bags might sit in such a situation, and if they get started again in the morning. Therefore we don't know what might happen in your situation.


I still say...bump up the tipping budget and just hire porters/luggage services people to help you, and keep your bags with you rather than gamble and hope that DME can work the way you want it to work.

 

[maxiesmom]

I'd say you need to spend the extra $75 to avoid all of the possible things that could go wrong. Either that, or bring your bags with you to your first hotel. The more complicated you make things the more chances there are of something going wrong.

 

[DonnaL]

I have to agree with the majority of posters...if your plans are to stay at a hotel near the airport DON'T tag your checked bags w/yellow tag. If you were only two adults traveling I might say go ahead and take the chance. But, with two toddlers....no way. You are going to need items from those checked bags the first day of your arrival......I would not take the chance they could be held up for even several more hours into the evening of your first day. It just could end up costing you more money if you need to purchase items from a resort gift shop to get you thru until the bags do arrive. IMO you need to add in ALL costs associated with transporting your own luggage to an airport hotel and back to MCO for ME transport the next morning ....pretty much the cost of tipping ....if the difference is less than $25....my thoughts would be to get yourself and your checked bags to WDW property when your flight arrives....not the next day. We have done the reverse of your plan....stayed at WDW until 9:00 p.m. and taken an ME bus back to MCO that night, stayed at the airport Hyatt (on Last Minute Travel discounted rooms) and walk downstairs for a 7:00 a.m. flight home...with one big difference.....we leave our bags w/WDW Bell Services for the day...pick them up ourselves at Bell Services before we get on the ME bus to airport and transport to airport on the bus w/us....however, as two adults we travel lightly and very seldom even have a checked bag....usually just carryons.