Originally Posted By jkayjs Our trip is now a mere 34 days away. Our DME tags came the beginning of the wk and today our luggage tags with YOMD(I liked the previous one's better)on them arrived. I just spent the last 3 days in illness, death and mayhem. The ER just never slowed down. I can't tell you how utterly draining this is both physically and emotionally. So I guess it may come as a surprise that I'm so excited over a little pc of plastic that's only purpose on the surface is to put your return address on it. Of course for me it is a lot more then that, it is my escape from reality, my "Calgon moment" if you will. It's much more fun planning meals,tours and when I might be able to hook up with some of the great folks here @ LP. I take a lot of flack/teasing about my "Disney obsession". Of course this often comes from grown men that play fantasy football and grown women that have a gazillion Longaberger baskets. Oh and BTW I know some women play fantasy football and some men collect Longabeger baskets. Disney is and has always been something I can invest my time in with a pretty good return. We have been to both US parks many times and hope to soon add an international park. Spirit you will be glad to hear I was wrong my husband is all for going to DLP when we go to Irland next year. Of course WDW is our home park because we have one of our DNA experiments(aka our daughter) down there. I guess this whole post is about the fact that Disney and the people that love Disney makes this world a more palliatable and yes a better place at least for this tired lady.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<I guess this whole post is about the fact that Disney and the people that love Disney makes this world a more palliatable and yes a better place at least for this tired lady.>> It does for us too. We love WDW... it is a wonderful part of our lives. It may or may not be what it "should" be. All I know is WDW provides us more enjoyment than we find anywhere else. That is good enough for me. And without getting sappy or going into details; I think our Disney vacations have made our lives better and made us better people than we would be otherwise. Now a question about the Magical Express. We procrastinated and did not call about the Magical Express until about 10 days before our scheduled arrival. Disney said it was too late to get us luggage tags, but they would reserve space for us on the bus. They said we could either: 1) Give Disney personnel at the baggage claim our claim checks and they would take care of our luggage for us. 2) We could get our luggage ourselves and take it to Level 1 Terminal B where we would board the bus and DME would take our luggage. Has anyone tried either of these options? Obviously, option #1 would be easier, but I have some concerns. How does it work? It seems to me that the Disney reps would have to wait until virtually all other luggage had been claimed from the carousel and then try to match claim checks with what remained. Do you think that would be very secure or safe? We could always mess with the bags ourselves, but then that takes away some of the advantages of using DME in the first place. Any thoughts? Thanks.
Originally Posted By jkayjs Trippy I have in fact encountered this. We took a last minute trip too late to get anything in the mail. We just got our bags ourselves and went over to the check-in for DME. We had our email reservation copy and had no trouble. We took our luggage thru the line and they loaded it when we got to the bus. <<We could always mess with the bags ourselves, but then that takes away some of the advantages of using DME in the first place.">> Well it does mean a little more work but it's still a "free ride" which for us is the best part.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<Our trip is now a mere 34 days away. Our DME tags came the beginning of the wk and today our luggage tags with YOMD(I liked the previous one's better)on them arrived. I just spent the last 3 days in illness, death and mayhem. The ER just never slowed down. I can't tell you how utterly draining this is both physically and emotionally. So I guess it may come as a surprise that I'm so excited over a little pc of plastic that's only purpose on the surface is to put your return address on it. Of course for me it is a lot more then that, it is my escape from reality, my "Calgon moment" if you will.>> I can appreciate that, Jackie. But since I have an unused 'collection' of tags, if you ever feel down just let me know and I'll send you some ;-) BTW, when are you planning on being at WDW? A certain Spirit who is fond of you is tinkering with the idea of a visit the second week of December. <<Spirit you will be glad to hear I was wrong my husband is all for going to DLP when we go to Irland next year. Of course WDW is our home park because we have one of our DNA experiments(aka our daughter) down there. >> Check your email! And I am thrilled you'll get to see the most beautiful and detailed MK on earth. And Paris ... what can I say? It is my fave city on the planet. As a matter of fact, I FINALLY saw Ratatouille yesterday (yeah, I know, a bit late) and boy did it make me want to get on a plane to Paris soon.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 Advice for Trippy: get your own luggage and bring it to DME. It's the quickest, easiest option and once you hand it to them, it's still out of your hands.
Originally Posted By jkayjs We must be channeling one another Spirit. I bought Ratatouille today and watched it for the first time. <<But since I have an unused 'collection' of tags, if you ever feel down just let me know and I'll send you some ;-)>> Thanks for the offer I may take you up on that. I too have a fun collection of tags but there is something about getting them via snailmail. We'll be down the 12th-19th. Looks like we'll just miss each other. <<Check your email!>> I did and thanks.
Originally Posted By MPierce If you do decide to have WDW recover your luggage I would suggest taking a picture of it before you depart. With the baggage claim ticket, and the pictures they should have no problem getting your luggage to you. If you don't mind the trek from baggage to DME you might be better off that way though.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip Disney LIKES me... they really, really LIKE me!! After calling way later than we should have, and after being told that we could reserve space on the Magical Express but would not receive luggage tags; guess what showed up today?? LUGGAGE TAGS!! Sent by UPS Next Day Air!! Wow, I sure never expected that. It must be my Year of a Million Dreams bonus. You have no idea how happy I am, and how this has removed uncertainty from the beginning of my trip. They probably can’t do this for everyone… my guess is that as DVC owners who have recently purchased additional points, they decided to try and give us a little extra service (DVC people arrange Magical Express through DVC). Whatever the reason, I am ONE HAPPY GUY!!
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<We must be channeling one another Spirit. I bought Ratatouille today and watched it for the first time.>> Channeling Spirits? That seems so ... so ... right. It should say something about how busy (and crazy!) this year has been that it took me this long to see it. But wow. What an absolutely great film!!! I loved it. Easily one of Pixar's best ... plenty of heart, comedy and jawdropping animation. And boy did it make me want to head back to Paris. Six months away is too much! <<We'll be down the 12th-19th. Looks like we'll just miss each other.>> I thought you weren't arriving until the 14th? Maybe you won't miss me after all!
Originally Posted By jkayjs <<We'll be down the 12th-19th. Looks like we'll just miss each other.>> OK I have no idea where that came from. I am arriving the am of the 14th and I have the ticketless email to prove it. This is exactly why this site needs an edit feature. I too loved Ratatouille in fact I was surprised how much. It did make me even more excited @ the prospect of going next year.
Originally Posted By jkayjs <<LUGGAGE TAGS!! Sent by UPS Next Day Air!! Wow>> All I can say Trippy is "it's great to be the king"!
Originally Posted By CCMOM We are planning a trip in January and can't decide if the 8 of us will use Magical Express or not. I'm thinking of renting a limo as a surpise and if we do that then we want to keep our bags with us. Does anyone have a limo suggestion? We are thinking of something that carries 10 or 12 so there is enough room for luggage.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<We are thinking of something that carries 10 or 12 so there is enough room for luggage.>> How would a big van work for you?? ;-) A limo just isn't going to do the job. Even a stretch limo typically seats only 8.
Originally Posted By CCMOM Actually I have found a couple of companies that have the new Hummer sytle Limos that can seat up to 12 or 16 people. It would be a great surprise for the family and they wouldn't have to wait in line for magical express. I was just wondering if anyone had a suggestion on a company they have used before instead of me just blindly picking one off the internet.
Originally Posted By NikkiLOVESMickey I rode in one of those Hummer limos last night when I stood in my niece's wedding. They can hold about 12 people (we had 10 bridesmaids/groomsmen and four kids), but the inside is taaaaaacky.
Originally Posted By mossy we leave in 2 weeks, and my wife is very nervous about the Magical Express.....do they lose lots of bags ??
Originally Posted By CCMOM I'm more concerned that when I get to my room I will want something out of my bag and I've read that it can take hours to get your bags. So we are going to rent one of the limo's and take our bags with us. Then we won't have to worry about our luggage and we won't get in line to get our room at the same time as everyone else. Hopefully we'll beat the magical express bus and get our room first!
Originally Posted By NikkiLOVESMickey We've used Magical Express on our last three trips with no issues or problems whatsoever (knock on wood!). As far as "beating" a Magical Express bus, I think that's pretty hard to calculate. The buses are assigned to different resorts and leave when they reach a certain capacity. A bus full to capacity could leave for your resort right before you get off the plane. I've never seen an influx of people checking in due to Magical Express, though. I think that's a misnomer.
Originally Posted By jkayjs It can take a little while to get your luggage that is why they tell you plan ahead and take what you will need initially in a carry-on. We have used it several times and have never had a problem. In fact I agree with Nikki. I have not noticed any difference when when our daughter picks us up or we rent a car. When you use DME you go straight from the plane to the loading area. Once you check-in(which has never taken us very long) you get in line for your bus. Depending which resort you may wait a short time or not @ all. Not waiting for you luggage gets you to the buses that much sooner. I'm sure there are those with horror stories but like Nikki maybe we been lucky or maybe it just works pretty darn good.
