2 Questions re: checking out & transporation

[ThinkTink721]

On the last day of our trip in Sept., we are not flying out until 6:45pm.
We left early in the morning on our last trip.
We will be going to MGM on our last day because it is the closest park to our resort.
Also, the Playhouse Disney Live in Concert show is supposed to be performed at MGM that day.

Question # 1: After we check out of our resort, does the hotel "hold" our luggage until we leave & automatically send it on the Magical Express bus w/ us to the airport?:veryconfu

Question # 2: How early would we have to be back at our resort from the park in order to catch the Magical Express bus to the airport?:veryconfu

Thanks in advance for your help!
:wave:

 

[mouselvrmom]

I'm not sure if you are flying one of the airlines that participates in the early luggage check in or not. If you are not, bell services will hold your luggage for you while you go play at the park. When you get back to leave, you just go retrieve your luggage from them and take it out with you to get on the Magical Express bus. We have done this before since we don't fly on a participating airline, and it worked nicely.

I think that they say you need to be back roughly 3 hours before you leave to catch Magical Express. Either way, they will notify you before you check out, I think the night before what time you are supposed to be down to catch the bus.

Hope you have a great trip!

 

[abug'saunt]

We were there recently (May 22 - June 1), and the day before we left we got a letter thanking us for staying and telling us what time to meet the ME bus. As we had a late flight out (after 6 p.m.), we decided to go to the first day of star wars weekend at MGM. We took our luggage to bell services and was able to pick up our stuff before the bus arrived. Hope that answers your questions. Oh, we were staying at POR. Have a great trip.:wave:

 

[wannabeBelle]

Hi Tink, As others have said you will be picked up at your resort approximately 3 hours prior to your flight departure time.
As far as your luggage, depending on if you are using a paticipating airline or not, you can have the luggage sent to the airport with a participating airline or you may have the Luggage area hold it for you and it will be loaded onto the Magic Express Bus by the bus operator and you can check in with your airline as you would do normally at Orlando International Airport.
Have a great time! Belle

 

[CleveRocks]

Hi Tink, As others have said you will be picked up at your resort approximately 3 hours prior to your flight departure time.
As far as your luggage, depending on if you are using a paticipating airline or not, you can have the luggage sent to the airport with a participating airline or you may have the Luggage area hold it for you and it will be loaded onto the Magic Express Bus by the bus operator and you can check in with your airline as you would do normally at Orlando International Airport.
Have a great time! Belle

I just want to clarify something, as the way it is worded above (in bold) could possibly be interpreted incorrectly.

Let's say you are NOT flying a participating airline. You have Bell Services (or Luggage Assistance, at the Value resorts) hold your bags for you while you go out and play. When you get back to your resort, you MUST get your luggage back from Bell Services. Under NO circumstances will Bell Services automatically bring your luggage to the DME bus driver and have the driver load it into the bus. YOU must take control of your own luggage from Bell Services and then YOU must have the bus driver stow it under the bus.

Resort Airline Check-in (only for people flying on a "participating airline") DOES offer luggage handling from your resort to your airplane, but even with that, YOU must present your luggage to the RAC desk, Bell Services can't do it for you.

I just want to make sure no one expecting the hotel to magically make the luggage disappear. On other threads, I've seen people expect this to happen, and then they got mad at Disney's Magical Express for not doing it for them. It was a case of an uninformed guest, not a case of Disney not doing its job.

 

[CleveRocks]

I forgot to add ....

On the morning of the day before your departure day, there will be a DME envelope hanging from your doorknob. In there will be your assigned DME bus pick-up time. It'll be roughly 3 hours before your flight time (+/- 15 minutes or so).

If you have bags stored with Bell Services, you should allow up to an extra 30 minutes just to be on the safe side, to give them time to dig your bags out for you and get them to you, so you can then get them to the bus driver (it'll be given to you within feet of where you need to bring them to the driver, or at least point out to the driver so he/she can load them).

And on a side note, tips are always appropriate. With DME, your INBOUND checked baggage handling is already covered for you (DME pre-tips the CMs who do that), but no other tips are. If your DME driver (in either direction) handles any of your bags for you, a tip is appropriate. If Bell Services picks up and/or stores your bags for you, a tip is appropriate.

 

[wannabeBelle]

Hey Cleve...Thanks for the clarification. That is exactly what I meant!!! Sorry for any confusion on this one and Have a Magical Day!! Belle

 

[ThinkTink721]

Flying Delta

If we are flying Delta, will the bags be retrieved for us to be loaded onto DME or will we have to retrieve them?:veryconfu
:wave:

 

[Monty]

If we are flying Delta, will the bags be retrieved for us to be loaded onto DME or will we have to retrieve them?:veryconfu
:wave:

No.

But you can check your bags at the Resort Airline Check-in, get your boarding passes and forget about your luggage until you arrive at your home airport [so long as your final destination is a U.S. domestic airport].

DME is a separate thing from the Resort Airline Check-in. If you want your bags to go with you to the airport [some folks do], then you'd need to bring them with you to the bus to be loaded and then take them with you to the airport Delta check-in. If you want to check out of your resort and get rid of your bags before going to the parks for a last visit before catching DME [which you'll have to return to your resort to do], you can pre-check in on your domestic flight on a partner airline [of which Delta is one], you can do so at the Resort Airline Check-in, get your boarding pass for your flight and head out to the parks. Then you return to board your DME bus without luggage, head to the airport and go straight to security and then to your gate. The luggage will have gone to the airport separately and will be off-loaded at your home airport. Just remember that anything you keep with you after you've checked your bags or anything you buy that day in the parks must meet the rules for carry-on luggage.

The list of airlines that participate are: [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Jet Blue, Northwest, Delta Air Lines/Song, United Airlines and Ted.[/FONT]

 

[carebearsrgr8]

Thx

Thank you for asking that question I am in exactly the same situation myself. I figured that we would be okay...but its nice to know for sure...Does anyone happen to have a list of participating airlines?

 

[ThinkTink721]

I know Delta is one.
I'm not sure about the others.
:wave:

 

[shanny]

it tells you who is participating at the very bottom of the page, and all the other info you will need is here! :wave:

http://allearsnet.com/acc/mexpress.htm

 

[Monty]

Thank you for asking that question I am in exactly the same situation myself. I figured that we would be okay...but its nice to know for sure...Does anyone happen to have a list of participating airlines?

See the previous post to yours, last line...

 

[ypcat]

Your list is missing a couple according to allearsnet: AirTran (as of May 2007), Alaska Airlines, American, Continental, Delta, JetBlue, Northwest, and United (including TED).

 

[Monty]

The list of airlines that participate are: [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Jet Blue, Northwest, Delta Air Lines/Song, United Airlines and Ted.[/FONT]

Your list is missing a couple according to allearsnet: AirTran (as of May 2007), Alaska Airlines, American, Continental, Delta, JetBlue, Northwest, and United (including TED).

Actually, I copied and paste the list in my post from a different part of the same page on AllEarsnet.com - I guess they didn't update both iterations at the same time. I guess Deb's editorial staff weren't paying close enough attention! :lol:

But yes the list you have copied is more complete... [I just scrolled to the bottom of the page and the list I got is the last sentence]. :shrug: