Quick DME question.

[BrerVeritas]

Hi,
Normally I'd do an extensive search before posting, but I'm frantically preparing for my trip in less than 48 hours, so I thought I'd give the experts a try.

Do you need to do anything special when checking your bags at the departure airport? Do you need to do some sort of DME check in? Do you need to mention to the curbside bag check guy you are using DME or will they just find any bags with the yellow tags?

I've seen lots of threads about what you do once you are at Orlando Airport, but I'm not quite sure what to do on the other end.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Nemo14]

Hi,
Normally I'd do an extensive search before posting, but I'm frantically preparing for my trip in less than 48 hours, so I thought I'd give the experts a try.

Do you need to do anything special when checking your bags at the departure airport? Do you need to do some sort of DME check in? Do you need to mention to the curbside bag check guy you are using DME or will they just find any bags with the yellow tags?

I've seen lots of threads about what you do once you are at Orlando Airport, but I'm not quite sure what to do on the other end.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

No you check your bags as you normally would. When they reach the Orlando airport, DME takes over from there.

Have a geat trip!

 

[BrerVeritas]

Thanks!

I guess I just couldn't believe it would actually be that easy.

Kudos to Disney on that one.

 

[Monty]

The yellow tags are all you have to affix to your luggage. Check-in is as normal.

 

[CleveRocks]

Hi,
Normally I'd do an extensive search before posting, but I'm frantically preparing for my trip in less than 48 hours, so I thought I'd give the experts a try.

Do you need to do anything special when checking your bags at the departure airport? Do you need to do some sort of DME check in? Do you need to mention to the curbside bag check guy you are using DME or will they just find any bags with the yellow tags?

I've seen lots of threads about what you do once you are at Orlando Airport, but I'm not quite sure what to do on the other end.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

No one at your home airport (and I mean no one) knows anything about DME, and no one has to. DME takes place 100% in Orlando.

Let me explain it in a different way, to help you feel at ease. Let's say you were flying to Orlando to spend a week with your favorite Aunt Edna, you know, the one who wears too much perfume and lipstick and her house smells like cheese? Anyway ... let's say Aunt Edna is picking you up on her motorcycle, and you won't be able to transport you own suitcase to her house. So she gets her next-door neighbor, Goober, to pick up your bags for you. Goober is going to wait at baggage claim for your suitcase, and then drive it to Edna's place. Aunt Edna, bless her heart, wants to make things easy on Goober, ever since his sister ran away with his favorite dog. To make things easier on Goober, she tells him to look for the suitcase with the bright purple ribbons tied onto the handle. He'll know the bag is yours because of those bright purple ribbons. And she tells you to put those ribbons on your suitcase before you leave home so Goober can pick them up for you.

So now imagine you're at your home airport. You check-in at your airline's ticket counter, and as you hand over your suitcase you tell the ticket agent that you put the purple ribbons on there so Goober will find it easier. You can just imagine the look on the ticket agent's face, right?! No one at your home airport gives a hoot who is going to pick up your bag for you in Orlando. They know nothing of Goober, and they don't need to.

And so it is with DME. DME handles your bags once they arrive in Orlando. All the people at your home airport have to do is make sure your luggage gets on your airplane. After that, it's all out of their control, anyway.

I hope this helps you understand why you'll produce nothing more than confused or bored looks if you ask about DME at your home airport.

 

[Heatherbell]

Whoa, good analogy.

 

[CleveRocks]

Hi,
Normally I'd do an extensive search before posting, but I'm frantically preparing for my trip in less than 48 hours, so I thought I'd give the experts a try.

Do you need to do anything special when checking your bags at the departure airport? Do you need to do some sort of DME check in? Do you need to mention to the curbside bag check guy you are using DME or will they just find any bags with the yellow tags?

I've seen lots of threads about what you do once you are at Orlando Airport, but I'm not quite sure what to do on the other end.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Now that you understand the concept, let me give you the nuts and bolts. The DME tags are unique .. bright yellow sticky paper, pre-printed with your information, including a barcode. When luggage is unloaded in Orlando, airline/airport workers separate out all the DME-tagged bags. Disney collects them and brings them to a special luggage sorting facility in the airport grounds. They also have CMs stationed at each airline looking for DME-tagged bags that might have slipped past the folks who were supposed to separate out those bags. DME-tagged bags never make it out to the baggage claim carousel ... they are pulled behind-the-scenes, as explained above.

At that sorting facility, the bags are loaded into individual cages by resort. By the way, by this point, the barcodes on each bag have been scanned two times. These cages are locked, then loaded onto dedicated DME luggage delivery trucks, and each cage is scanned. That's a third scan. The trucks (which are tracked by GPS) drop off the proper cages at the proper resorts. At the resort, Bell Services CMs unload the bags and scan them a fourth time. The bags are then delivered to the rooms, and are scanned a fifth and final time (by a wireless hand-held device) when they are inside your room. Disney knows where your bags are at all times. They can be individually tracked by CMs at the resorts.

The bags are delivered to the inside of your room whether you're in there or not.

Very cool, very high-tech system.

 

[Monty]

Now that you understand the concept, let me give you the nuts and bolts. The DME tags are unique .. bright yellow sticky paper, pre-printed with your information, including a barcode. When luggage is unloaded in Orlando, airline/airport workers separate out all the DME-tagged bags. Disney collects them and brings them to a special luggage sorting facility in the airport grounds. They also have CMs stationed at each airline looking for DME-tagged bags that might have slipped past the folks who were supposed to separate out those bags. DME-tagged bags never make it out to the baggage claim carousel ... they are pulled behind-the-scenes, as explained above.

At that sorting facility, the bags are loaded into individual cages by resort. By the way, by this point, the barcodes on each bag have been scanned two times. These cages are locked, then loaded onto dedicated DME luggage delivery trucks, and each cage is scanned. That's a third scan. The trucks (which are tracked by GPS) drop off the proper cages at the proper resorts. At the resort, Bell Services CMs unload the bags and scan them a fourth time. The bags are then delivered to the rooms, and are scanned a fifth and final time (by a wireless hand-held device) when they are inside your room. Disney knows where your bags are at all times. They can be individually tracked by CMs at the resorts.

The bags are delivered to the inside of your room whether you're in there or not.

Very cool, very high-tech system.

I was with you right until you said "never"... In February when I was waiting for my luggage [my only off-site stay to date], two bags clearly displaying yellow DME tags destined for All Star Movies circled the carousel for the whole time we were waiting for our bags to show up. So, it is possible [however rare it may be] for tagged bags to be missed 'behind-the-scenes'...

 

[ThinkTink721]

Hi,
Normally I'd do an extensive search before posting, but I'm frantically preparing for my trip in less than 48 hours, so I thought I'd give the experts a try.

Do you need to do anything special when checking your bags at the departure airport? Do you need to do some sort of DME check in? Do you need to mention to the curbside bag check guy you are using DME or will they just find any bags with the yellow tags?

I've seen lots of threads about what you do once you are at Orlando Airport, but I'm not quite sure what to do on the other end.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

If you booked your trip yourself through WDW, they will send you your luggage tags about 4 to 5 wks. prior to your trip.
We actually received ours today!
:wave: