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I was wondering if Disney's Magical Express was available to guests that werent useing the airlines listed as a choice on the WDW website. I was thinking about using southwest on my next trip and it is not a option on the site, would I still be able to use DME or not? Thanks
i flew southwest for my trip down in august and my luggage was handled beautifully! I think the airlines you are seeing are the ones that alllow you to check in for your flight right at the resort. Have fun!
Thanks, hopefully i can get down there within the next 9 months or so, before college begins!
any airline can use the Magical Express Luggage service
WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG. ALL WRONG.Quote:
Originally Posted by gonesouthin
Everyone who flies into MCO and who is a registered guest at a Disney owned-and-operated resort is entitled to the full range of DME services, and this includes the automatic luggage delivery to the inside of your resort room. Airline makes no difference whatsoever. None.
On the way back home, airline does matter. It matters for a separate but related service called Resort Airline Check-in (RAC). When they leave WDW, people flying one of the "participating airlines" can check their luggage in at the RAC desk, and then not see it again until it's on their home airport's baggage claim carousel. People not flying a participating airline bring their luggage to the DME bus for the ride back to the airport.
But to repeat: When you arrive at Orlando's airport, NO ONE HAS TO GET THEIR OWN LUGGAGE!
OK im sorry for giving the wrong information... I didnt know... I dont think you needed to come on here and say rudely WRONG WRONG ALL WRONG! as well as PM me saying that you hope no one was ripped off by using my "expert services" I'm a 14 year old kid and I only help people with advice about their trip I dont book it or tell them how to go about their trip...
I thought a PM was a much NICER forum than in front of everyone.Quote:
Originally Posted by gonesouthin
Allow me to compliment you, then, on writing like an adult. I'm truly glad you said you were 14, because I wouldn't have known that.
Part of what made me think you were a travel agent was the link in your signature. I saw that link, and then the wording in your "tag," and came up with a wrong conclusion. Sorry.
No hard feelings Hakuna Matata... I host a podcast and I am trying to get Chocolate City Travel to be my sponsor so what better way then to get people to give them money lol
Can you get your own luggage so you don't have to wait forever to get it.
Of coarse you can pick up your own luggage... They just load it onto the bus for you... Of course there is the chance your room wont be ready so then you cant do anything while you are waiting for your room unless you give it to bell services but you cant change or anythingg
I hope to be able to use ME next time we go. So far we have driven both times and we are looking for a break. My mother in law used it this time. She booked everything through her travel agent instead of going through Disney. She didn't have any problems though.
Of course, the other side of "waiting forever" is standing around and waiting at baggage claim for your luggage to arrive. If you use the DME luggage delivery, you get to totally skip baggage claim and go right to your bus. If you spend time at baggage claim, you are probably going to miss at least the first available bus to your resort, so that plus the baggage claim waiting time itself means you'll be spending more time at the airport and less time getting your WDW vacation underway. Just a thought.Quote:
Originally Posted by moulds
DME-handled luggage is delivered to the inside of your resort room, whether you are in there or not. So it's not like you have to hang around your room and wait for it.
The key is to wisely pack your carry-on. I actually do this anywhere I fly just in case the AIRLINE delays my luggage. The first time I used DME, we went to the food court, then changed for the pool (from the stuff in our carry-ons), and when we got back from the pool our suitcases were inside our room.
So like I said, you don't have to hang around waiting for it -- that would be a terrible drag!
Do they give you tags so they know which luggage is yours or whats the deal with that. Me and My wife when we go to Disneyworld during christmas this year will have a lot of luggage to check. So I was just wondering how do they know its ur luggage. And what do the tags look like. I think i have might have seen them at where i work but im sure if thats them or not.
Okay, hang on, drink some coffee if you have to, but here's the info you're looking for.Quote:
Originally Posted by moulds
If you have DME reservations, everyone named on your reservation gets 2 DME luggage tags (coinciding with most airlines' policies of allowing two checked bags per person). If for some reason you need additional tags, Disney will get them to you. DME will transport any and all baggage that you check with your airline (in other words, if you pay your airline extra money to have extra checked suitcases with you, Disney will transport them for you, also). Before you leave home, you place one DME tag on each bag you will be checking with your airline. Each tag has barcodes, as well as the master name on the reservation, the name of the guest (so if your name is the "main" name on the reservation, your name appears twice on your tags), the name of the resort, plus a color-coded Mickey-head outline with a two-letter code inside.
The tags themselves are bright yellow, and are made of the same sticky paper that airline/TSA luggage tags are made of -- you know, the tags on your suitcases that the skycap or ticket agent puts on your suitcases, the tags with the 3-letter airport code on it. The DME tags are narrower than those other tags, but maybe just as long once folded and attached around your luggage handle.
Luggage with DME tags never makes it out onto the public baggage claim carousels. It is all pulled "behind the scenes" at the airport.
Many of the airlines pull these bags themselves, and then drop them off at designated drop off points where they are then picked up by a Disney contractor and taken to a sorting facility. These drop off points are supervised by Disney cast members (CMs).
Not all airlines use the drop off points. Many of the smaller ones just send ALL of their luggage towards the baggage claim carousel. For those airlines, Disney has CMs working behind the scenes, before that luggage makes it out onto the carousels, pulling the yellow tagged bags off and setting them aside to be picked up and taken to the sorting facility.
In addition, there are Disney CM's assigned to EVERY airline to catch the bags that the airlines missed taking to the drop off point. They also check every unclaimed bag against a manifest to insure that the bags are found even if by chance the guest forgot to put on the tag or it fell off (highly unlikely).
All of the bags are scanned (that is, the DME tag barcodes are scanned) when they get to the sorting facility, again after they are put into a locked cage, and again when the cage is put into a luggage delivery truck. The luggage has been scanned 3 times before even leaving the airport.
The DME luggage delivery trucks all have GPS devices and their location can be pinpointed at any time.
The bags are scanned again when they arrive at the resort and again when taken to a guest's room. From airplane to room, the bags are scanned 5 separate times.
Disney is well aware of where the bags are at all times. It's all in their database in real time.
If a bag is delayed, the resort will call a central office at the airport and the first thing they check is to see if the guests checked in through the DME Welcome Center and rode the motorcoach (as you board the bus, your DME bus voucher is scanned). If they did not, the bags will not be sent to the resorts. If you don't ride the DME bus from airport to resort, Disney says they will not deliver your bags to you. It is against Disney policy to use the DME as a luggage delivery service.
Disney says that bags can be delivered up to three hours after arrival. Realistically, it could be a bit longer, so plan accordingly as I suggested in a previous post.
I hope all of this helps you understand the system. I've been on message boards for almost 2 years, I've used DME twice (the first time when it was only 4 days old), and I asked questions of CMs each time I used DME, as well, so all this info is the culmination of all that stuff.
Thanx for that help that puts me at a little ease now.