Magical Express Negatives Anyone?

I don't like ME and would rather have a rental car. We waited for an
hour to board our bus and watched buses come and go for other
resorts. On the way back to the airport, the bus wasn't marked in any
way to indicate that it was the ME bus and was very disorganized
loading luggage and people. Most likely will never use it again.

Hey folks, I just got my ME paperwork today, and I have a question or
two.

1) I am a single guy, traveling alone. I'll have just my carry-on, and
I prefer not to check it. Is there some way to get it delivered to my
room? Should I just take advantage of the bell desk at the resort?

2) My paperwork says they'll book my return trip to the airport
"approximately three hours before my flight." I realize the bus may be
going to other resorts on the way to MCO, but again, I'm a single person
traveling alone with only one carry-on. I will have already checked in
for my Southwest flight, so the only wait I'll have at the airport will
be security. Three hours seems awfully early. Anybody ever get ME to
arrange for a later pickup?

-Thanks!
D.F.

On Aug 28, 3:51 pm, "NY Teacher" <Te...@you.com> wrote:

> Disney also conveniently "forgets" to weigh your
> luggage, so if you are a few pounds over the 50 lb limit, you don't have to
> worry about it.

That is not actually true, In July, the family in front of me was re-
arranging luggage as they were overweight. Check-in is done by TSA not
Disney, and the do indeed weigh your luggage at check-in.

Disney Fun" <Fun@DF.com> wrote in message
news:Xns9B08AA622C1D9DF@216.196.97.142...
> Hey folks, I just got my ME paperwork today, and I have a question or two.
>
> 1) I am a single guy, traveling alone. I'll have just my carry-on, and I
> prefer not to check it. Is there some way to get it delivered to my room?
> Should I just take advantage of the bell desk at the resort?
>
> 2) My paperwork says they'll book my return trip to the airport
> "approximately three hours before my flight." I realize the bus may be
> going to other resorts on the way to MCO, but again, I'm a single person
> traveling alone with only one carry-on. I will have already checked in
> for my Southwest flight, so the only wait I'll have at the airport will be
> security. Three hours seems awfully early. Anybody ever get ME to
> arrange for a later pickup?
>
> -Thanks!
> D.F.

I, too, take just a carry-on. The only thing I am aware of that you can do
it to take advantage of Bell Services. Since it contains all I have
brought, I tend to keep it with me until I get in the room though, if I were
to get there early, I'd have no problems leaving it at Bell Services until
later. (I have a lock on it, and have left it with Bell Services several
times at the end of the stay since I don't usually leave until the
afternoon. I've had no problems leaving it with them.)

As far as the three hours goes, yes it seems a bit excessive. However, I
remind myself that a) you may be the first of several stops before leaving
Disney property, b) depending on the day you leave you may hit rush
hour/holiday traffic, c) the bus may be late getting to your hotel, and/or
d) there may be an accident on the road or other unexpected delays (such as
loading someone with a wheelchair) that take up some of that time.
Personally, I'd rather wait an extra hour at the airport than be late, so
I'm not too concerned about it. You could call them and talk to them about
it ahead of time, or even once you get there. I've heard of people missing
their bus and being able to get on a later one, but there's no guarantee
that you'll be able to do that (either because there just plain isn't
another one at a time that works for you or because they've already got it
filled and there's no room for you. I definitely believe that they are
under no legal obligation to accommodate you if you miss the scheduled
pickup at your hotel.)

MAO

"Mark L. Fendrick" <mark.fendrick@> wrote in message
news:9ccbf2d4-ea60-4594-8ab9-b06502692859@d77g2000hsb..com...
On Aug 28, 3:51 pm, "NY Teacher" <Te...@you.com> wrote:

> Disney also conveniently "forgets" to weigh your
> luggage, so if you are a few pounds over the 50 lb limit, you don't have
> to
> worry about it.

That is not actually true, In July, the family in front of me was re-
arranging luggage as they were overweight. Check-in is done by TSA not
Disney, and the do indeed weigh your luggage at check-in.

We've flight-checked our bags at the Contemporary, POR, and POFQ (twice).
None of those times did the baggage people weigh our bags. I asked the lady
at the contemporary and she said they don't weight any of the bags. Also,
it was definitiely NOT TSA that did the check-in.

"MAO" <none@nowhere.com> wrote:

> I, too, take just a carry-on. The only thing I am aware of that you
> can do it to take advantage of Bell Services. Since it contains all I
> have brought, I tend to keep it with me until I get in the room
> though, if I were to get there early, I'd have no problems leaving it
> at Bell Services until later. (I have a lock on it, and have left it
> with Bell Services several times at the end of the stay since I don't
> usually leave until the afternoon. I've had no problems leaving it
> with them.)
>
> As far as the three hours goes, yes it seems a bit excessive.
> However, I remind myself that a) you may be the first of several stops
> before leaving Disney property, b) depending on the day you leave you
> may hit rush hour/holiday traffic, c) the bus may be late getting to
> your hotel, and/or d) there may be an accident on the road or other
> unexpected delays (such as loading someone with a wheelchair) that
> take up some of that time. Personally, I'd rather wait an extra hour
> at the airport than be late, so I'm not too concerned about it. You
> could call them and talk to them about it ahead of time, or even once
> you get there. I've heard of people missing their bus and being able
> to get on a later one, but there's no guarantee that you'll be able to
> do that (either because there just plain isn't another one at a time
> that works for you or because they've already got it filled and
> there's no room for you. I definitely believe that they are under no
> legal obligation to accommodate you if you miss the scheduled pickup
> at your hotel.)
>
> MAO


Thanks MAO!
-D.F.

NY Teacher says:

> We've flight-checked our bags at the Contemporary, POR, and POFQ
> (twice). None of those times did the baggage people weigh our bags.

We just used the service at POR for our return flight yesterday. They did
indeed weigh bags.

-- Alpha

Pam says:

> I would like to hear if anyone has had any negative ..not minor stuff
> but take the magic away sorts of experiences.

We used ME and had an excellent experience. We waited no more than a
minute to board the ME bus at the airport and were glad not to have to wait
at baggage claim. The downside was that we checked into our room at
7:00pm, and while our luggage had arrived at the resort by 10:00, it didn't
get delivered to our room until 11:45. That was a bit of a pain because we
were in danger of falling asleep and the kids were in danger of *not*
falling asleep.

On the return flight, we checked our bags at the resort. The bus got us to
the aiport in plenty of time, and when we got to our destination airport,
our bags were among the first dozen or so to make it onto the baggage
carousel.

I would definitely use ME again; the one not-so-great part of our
experience was minor compared to the great convenience overall, as well as
the cost savings over renting a car, which is what we normally would have
done.

-- Alpha

I think it depends on the person checking your bags on whether they
weigh them or not. From POR they did, but at the Beach Club they
didn't at all. We even questioned it, because we weren't sure they
were under the 50 pounds and didn't want a charge later on. They
explained that once they checked it in, we couldn't be charged. We got
a smile and a "Don't worry about it" :)

On Aug 30, 11:49�pm, Alpha <notr...@> wrote:
> Pam says:
>
> > I would like to hear if anyone has had any negative ..not minor stuff
> > but take the magic away sorts of experiences.
>
> We used ME and had an excellent experience. �We waited no more than a
> minute to board the ME bus at the airport and were glad not to have to wait
> at baggage claim. �The downside was that we checked into our room at
> 7:00pm, and while our luggage had arrived at the resort by 10:00, it didn't
> get delivered to our room until 11:45. �That was a bit of a pain because we
> were in danger of falling asleep and the kids were in danger of *not*
> falling asleep.
>
> On the return flight, we checked our bags at the resort. �The bus got us to
> the aiport in plenty of time, and when we got to our destination airport,
> our bags were among the first dozen or so to make it onto the baggage
> carousel.
>
> I would definitely use ME again; the one not-so-great part of our
> experience was minor compared to the great convenience overall, as well as
> the cost savings over renting a car, which is what we normally would have
> done.
>
> -- Alpha

Can't wait to read the trip report.