Late Night Arrival & Magical Express

[ajrwdwgirl]

I have a quick question about the magical express. We aren't arriving until almost midnight to our resort, Wilderness Lodge, and our travel agent reccomended that we pick up our luggage ourselves before heading to the Magical Express check-in. She said this way we won't be incovienced at like 1-2 in the morning when the Magical Express delivered our luggage. I'm wondering if it would be possible to just let Magical Express still take care of our bags, but we put a do not disturb sign on the door. Would our luggage then be stored with bell services and then we just call down for it in the morning? Has anyone else had this or a similar experience?

Thanks for any help.

30 days to go!

 

[Shandar96]

I have never personally used Magical Express but many of our relatives have and they always arrive late....usually midnight...they just tell the front desk to have them deliver them the next day. You don't have to be there when they drop them off, so you can just pack a good overnight bag and head to the parks or pick them up at the front desk in the a.m. HTH

 

[dizniz6]

We did the Magical Express and arrived at around midnight and it was a disaster. The service itself was so convenient but just make sure you have all of your toiletries packed in a carry on (they have a restriction of the size of liquids on airlines so we had to put ours in our checked luggage). We had no contact solution, toothpaste, etc. and we were up until 3 AM waiting for our luggage. The front desk didnt even have a complimentary package of contact solution for us to use. :veryconfu The got someone to open the store to get us some, and then they added it to our bill without telling us. The Magical Express is a great service with a major flaw.

 

[phenom1307]

We did the Magical Express and arrived at around midnight and it was a disaster. The service itself was so convenient but just make sure you have all of your toiletries packed in a carry on (they have a restriction of the size of liquids on airlines so we had to put ours in our checked luggage). We had no contact solution, toothpaste, etc. and we were up until 3 AM waiting for our luggage. The front desk didnt even have a complimentary package of contact solution for us to use. :veryconfu The got someone to open the store to get us some, and then they added it to our bill without telling us. The Magical Express is a great service with a major flaw.

i see no fault in magical express. more like poor planning on your part. you know they have travel sized items you can buy?

 

[Kashyyyk]

We had a similar situation last year. Our friends were first timers at Disney and didn't know to pack some overnight supplies in their check-in. The front desk staff did get them some diapers and a shirt from the store, for their child to sleep in but they had nothing for themselves.

At around 1am they told front desk they were going to bed and they would get the bags in the morning, but they kept getting calls and knocks on the door until 3am (they couldn't locate one of the bags). Not a good first impression for our friends.

That said, Disney didn't charge them for the diapers or shirt. I am surprised they charged the above poster for contact solution. I would definitely have had something to say about that.

My DH is coming in on an evening flight next week and but we will be sure to have a days worth of clothes and toiletries so he isn't stuck. That way we can go the next day, even if his bags aren't there yet.

I think the problem lies in Disney not properly explaining the limitations of the Magical Express or making sure travellers know they may not get their bags the same night if they come in on a later flight. This could be improved on.

 

[Monty]

Pack what you'll need overnight and first thing in the morning in your carry-on. Travel-sizes of any toiletries can be bought at most drug stores/pharmacies. Then tell Bell Services to hold your DME luggage until morning. It takes about 15-25 minutes for them to deliver once you call [or you could ask that they be delivered after you've left].

 

[phenom1307]

Off of Disney's Magaical Express-FAQ

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/common/helpFAQ?id=HelpFAQDMEPage



Q. When will my luggage be delivered to my room at my Resort hotel?
A. It may take up to three (3) hours after you check in to your Resort hotel for your luggage to be delivered to your room. You do not need to be in your room to receive your luggage. Please pack any valuables, medications or anything you need immediately upon your arrival in Orlando in a carry-on bag.

 

[CleveRocks]

We did the Magical Express and arrived at around midnight and it was a disaster. The service itself was so convenient but just make sure you have all of your toiletries packed in a carry on (they have a restriction of the size of liquids on airlines so we had to put ours in our checked luggage). We had no contact solution, toothpaste, etc. and we were up until 3 AM waiting for our luggage. The front desk didnt even have a complimentary package of contact solution for us to use. :veryconfu The got someone to open the store to get us some, and then they added it to our bill without telling us. The Magical Express is a great service with a major flaw.

Forgive me ... I don't mean to be mean, but the major flaw was in your planning and preparation, not in Disney's Magical Express.

You knew about the restrictions on toiletries. You could have purchased and packed toiletries of acceptable sizes, and brought them with you in your carry-ons.

You knew that DME luggage gets delivered about 3 hours after you arrive at your resort -- it says so right in the DME booklet that Disney sends you.

So if you know you can take smaller sized toiletries, and you know you'll be without your luggage until about 3 hours after you arrive, then you need to plan accordingly. Your lack of planning, or of reading the directions (in the DME booklet, Disney even recommends you pack a carry-on for your immediate needs).

If you know what to expect, or if you don't know what to expect because you didn't read the instructions, then how is that a flaw of the system???

Let's say you go to a waitress-service restaurant. Let's say you have 3 very hungry and rambunctious kids. You walk in and discover you must wait for a table ... then once you are seated you discover you must wait to get menus ... then once you get menus you discover must wait for the waitress to take your order ... then once you give your order you discover you must wait for the food to be prepared and for the waitress to bring it to you ... and so on. After the meal, you might think that the food was great but the restaurant had a major flaw because of all the waiting, and your kids were hungry and unhappy and caused you difficulty during all that waiting.

Well, of course the restaurant had no flaws at all. No one brings starving and unhappy kids into a waitress-service restaurant and then expects to be eating one minute later. You know how that system works, and based on that knowledge you decide if you want to use that restaurant's system. If you do want to use it, you prepare, either by going to the restaurant before the kids are starving, or by tiding them over with a snack before-hand, or by skipping the restaurant entirely and opting for a buffet or fast food.

I hope you can understand my analogy. It sounds like you described DME the way it was designed to operate, and the way that literally millions of us have been very hapy with.

Again, I say this objectively, not with any intent to insult or flame, but honestly, the flaw was with your lack of understanding of how DME works and how to plan accordingly.

 

[DisnFanatic10]

We had a very large family gathering down there and one of the members of our immeadiate family had to fly down as the rest of us drove. They picked their luggage up. But they didn't bring clothes. They checked a bag of stuff we needed during the week down here. Then we sent the empty bag back with an aunt and uncle so they could check there souveneirs. It was really late when they got to Port Orleans though. The flight got delayed in Atlanta:brick: But once they got on DME they said the reason it took so long was our resort was the last drop.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

thanks for the advice! i think we'll just pack a nice carry on of supplies and then get the luggage in the am. I don't really want to wait around a baggage carousel at 11:30 at night. :wave:

 

[maryszhi]

be warned though, tsa can be a pain in the but. I wear glasses, but also contacts. I put the small travel sized solution, a small tube of toothpast, and a small lip gloss in a small plasic bag. When we went threw security, they said i had to thorow them all away......... lip gloss b/c it was already opened, eye solution because they didnt allow it ??? and the tooth past...... because it was in a combo thing with mouth wash...... also they gave me a hard time on my sinus medicince because i had a sinus infection that i only got over the day we got there. i was so mad..... i had to go to a store once we got to floida!!! also the lip gloss.....very expensive......but at least they offered to "send it back to my house... which i took advantage of since the stuff was useable..the same thing with snow globes..if u forget they will ship it for u incase u forget

 

[CleveRocks]

Another thought about prior planning ....

You don't need to go to Disney-themed message boards to know how to use DME.

You don't have to read the FAQs on the Disney website.

You don't need to be a Disney veteran.

You don't need to have a travel agent or a friend teach you.

The first time I used DME was on May 8, 2005, the fourth day that DME was in operation. There was no one on any message board who had taken DME round-trip and could report on their experiences to teach me. ALL I had was the DME booklet that Disney mailed to my travel agent, and that my TA mailed to me.

And guess what? My TA wasn't a very good TA, as it was clear she didn't even read the stuff. I ended up teaching HER how DME was run, just by reading the instructions that Disney sent me. It's right there in the DME booklet that they send to every party.

I'm not talking about being a message board commando. I'm talking about reading the stuff mailed to me by the place I'm paying thousands of dollars to vacation at.

I was a Disney and DME newbie, but somehow I knew exactly what to expect. I flew with my 5 year old and 2.5 year old. The younger one was still in diapers. Believe me, I knew better than to put ALL of our diapers and wipes in our checked luggage.

I also knew we'd go swimming soon after arriving, so I knew to pack our bathing suits and "beach shoes" in our carry-ons so we could enjoy ourselves the way we wanted to. I guess if I didn't read the DME booklet or didn't bother to know anything about what we were getting into, I would have had a daughter with an obnoxiously full diaper, as well as 2 kids and a wife antsy that we're in Florida and can't go in the pool because we have to wait a few hours for our bathing suits to arrive.

Know what I mean???

 

[maryszhi]

but im glad when we go on vacation,,, we always have a tolitetrees bag with all our stuff that we check . the time we packed it on a carry on was when we were arriving late on ME.......but serioulsy i miss being able to bring tolietrees carry on becuase the tuff was safe and we didnt have to worry about perfume breaking......exc.

 

[sprocketfish]

For two years in a row I had late flights into MCO and used DME... Knowing that it would take at least a few hours to get our luggage, we packed toiletries as previous posters mentioned; for my trip in Dec. '06, our luggage got to our room at like 3:00 AM or so... it really wasn't that much of a problem they knocked on the door, we opened it and they put the luggage in and we went back to bed (actually, I was the only one who woke up and everyone else didn't even notice until they saw the luggage in the morning :lol- the whole luggage operation took less than 2 mins... For our trip in Dec. '07, there was a shortage of luggage handlers so our luggage was held at the desk and we had to call to have it brought to our room... in either case it wasn't that much trouble and we had no trouble getting our stuff in a timely fashion...

 

[CleveRocks]

be warned though, tsa can be a pain in the but. I wear glasses, but also contacts. I put the small travel sized solution, a small tube of toothpast, and a small lip gloss in a small plasic bag. When we went threw security, they said i had to thorow them all away......... lip gloss b/c it was already opened, eye solution because they didnt allow it ??? and the tooth past...... because it was in a combo thing with mouth wash......

Just for those of you playing at home, there's something wrong here. Either the poster didn't pay close attention to what the TSA agent said, or the TSA agent was making up the rules as he/she went along.

First and foremost, there is ABSOLUTELY, DEFINITELY, 100% NO RULE that says liquids or gels must be in unopened (sealed) containers. None whatsoever. And there's no rule against bringing contact lens solution or eye drops. And they don't care if toothpaste and mouthwash are somehow combined. Please check out the TSA website if you think I'm wrong.

I'm wondering, for this poster, if she: a) had containers that were larger than 3.4 ounces [100 ml], or had no size markings at all; or b) used a "plastic bag" that was not a see-through quart-sized zip top bag -- the TSA is very strict about the type of bag ... for example, a cosmetics-type bag just won't fly, it has to be a plastic zip-top quart-sized bag.

 

[maryszhi]

Sorry if i messed up by posting it....but it was going in accordinace to the rule...... plastic see threw zip lock bag and everything and i am soory if i should not have posted it.

 

[CleveRocks]

Sorry if i messed up by posting it....but it was going in accordinace to the rule...... plastic see threw zip lock bag and everything and i am soory if i should not have posted it.

If your containers were the proper size, then you had a TSA agent who was truly making up his/her own rules. If you followed all of the rules correctly, then the TSA agent was just WRONG WRONG WRONG.

I wasn't posting to criticize you in any way ... I was posting so that people don't think there are TSA rules against unsealed containers or contact lens solution.

If anyone wants to get the facts first-hand, go to www.tsa.gov

 

[Space Mountain]

be warned though, tsa can be a pain in the but. I wear glasses, but also contacts. I put the small travel sized solution, a small tube of toothpast, and a small lip gloss in a small plasic bag. When we went threw security, they said i had to thorow them all away......... lip gloss b/c it was already opened, eye solution because they didnt allow it ??? and the tooth past...... because it was in a combo thing with mouth wash...... also they gave me a hard time on my sinus medicince because i had a sinus infection that i only got over the day we got there. i was so mad..... i had to go to a store once we got to floida!!! also the lip gloss.....very expensive......but at least they offered to "send it back to my house... which i took advantage of since the stuff was useable..the same thing with snow globes..if u forget they will ship it for u incase u forget

Ive gotten by with full containers of contact solution..forgot I had it in my carry-on..so it is possible to get passed the TSA

 

[dizniz6]

I know we were not the most prepared with having small toiletries in a separate bag, and next time we will be more ready. But, this is supposed to be disney service. The front desk didn't even have a tube of toothpaste on hand. I can go to the local motel 8 and they would be able to accomidate me better. I am sure I am not the only one who arrived without contact toiletries late at night and you would think disney would have figured out by now that people may arrive and need neccessities, whether they forgot to pack it, their luggage was lost, or it doesnt arrive until 3 AM.:shrug:

 

[Kashyyyk]

I agree with the principle that it would be up to the traveller to read their DME information. And, to me it is common sense to pack some essentials in carry-on. However, first time/infreqent travellers may not realize this.

However, something to keep in mind. Last minute travellers (such as us this year) will not get their DME pack before they leave. Therefore they will have nothing to read that tells them how it works.

I know how it works, but someone who calls to set up DME isn't necessarily told to pack a separate kit of essentials for late arrivals. I know we weren't. We were just told to go the desk when we get there and DME will scan our Airline claim check tags (because we won't have the yellow ones). They have people on staff whose job it is to look for bags without yellow tags and transfer them to the Disney hotels. No mention of the fact they will be delivering them at 3am or that we might not get them until the next day. Common sense would dictate to me they wouldn't even try to deliver them until the morning or that they would at least ask you your preference at check-in.

I know my friends were last minute travellers last year and I am not sure if they got their DME information packs or not. That said, our biggest upset in their case was not that the luggage didn't arrive but that both the front desk and the luggage department kept on calling and knocking on the door until 3am, 2 hours after they had been told they would pick up the luggage in the morning. The disruption to the sleeping baby was not appreciated. Ask any mom with a toddler.