Split arrival and departure

[Rhinocerous]

I haven't been able to find any information about whether this is possible. Figured if anyone would know, it would be the denizens of WDWMagic.

The situation is this: My parents are going to Disney World for a lengthy stay in December. They would like me to join them for a few days. The question is: does Disney have a mechanism in place to allow someone to join a party for only part of a trip? (Same room, reservations, etc.) My main concern is the Fastpass and DME implications.

Thanks for your help.

 

[wdwmagic]

DME is only for day of arrival and day of departure, so they do not officially support mid-reservation transfers.

FastPass won't be a problem, because you will just link yourself to your parents in MDX.

 

[NeedMoreMickey]

In 2014 we didn’t have a problem with splitting up DME. My sister and I checked in on Wednesday and my niece came down Saturday morning. She left Sunday night and we left Monday night. We were all listed on the same reservation number. This year my niece came down with us but left a day early, no problem with catching the bus. Just call Disney and set it up, they will send you the information to give to DME at the airport.

 

[Rob562]

DME is only for day of arrival and day of departure, so they do not officially support mid-reservation transfers.

FastPass won't be a problem, because you will just link yourself to your parents in MDX.

Actually, DME will handle arrivals and departures other than on checkin and checkout days. I've done it a few times in the past, the most complicated being 4 people arriving on 3 different days from different cities on different airlines. I just recommend that you contact Magical Express directly (866-599-0951) to arrange the arrival and departure flight info rather than trying to arrange it through Central Reservations.

The only catch to this is that the people arriving must be listed on the hotel reservation up front. But doing so will often trigger an extra per-person-per-night fee for having two extra adults in the room, and this would include all nights of the trip rather than just the nights the extra person plans on being there.

You can save money by having the parents talk to the front desk about adding the extra person only for the nights needed. They can easily add someone to the room (up to the room's maximum capacity) after checkin. But doing so means that the extra person won't be booked on DME and will have to make alternate arrangements at least *to* the hotel when they arrive. (You may be able to arrange DME transport back to the airport after the extra adult is added to the reservation)

Also note that if the parents are on a *package* reservation, if you list the extra adult on the reservation for the whole trip you'd have to also include the same tickets and/or dining plan that the parents have on the package for the entire trip.

-Rob

 

[pixiesteno]

We did this in 2010 with our son who was at college in Winter Park at the time but the transportation to and from was not an issue. We asked at check-in and they just added him on the ressie and printed out a room key so he could use the comfort station as we were staying at FWC.