Arrival night now at The Swan - did I really just lose my ME?

#1

Our work schedules opened up, giving us the option to add a day to the beginning of our 8 night split stay ( YC & OKW). We found a great rate at the Swan so booked it , planning to Uber from MCO since we knew the Swan did not have the Magical Express benefit .

My question is- since we already have an ME reservation to the YC the following day, is it possible to just arrive a day earlier , tell them our plans changed last minute and hop on a ME bus to the YC? It’s only two of us so we could easily walk to the Swan from there .

This is not about the cost of an Uber, we actually enjoy starting our Disney vacation on ME and realized this will be our last chance since the service is ending before we will return to Disney . The ride back to the airport on departure day definitely does not have the same happy feels.

1 Like
#2

I think this is a little outside the scenarios I have seen (they will definitely allow you to come later than your scheduled arrival and split parties) but I don’t recall an example of someone arriving the day before. I have heard that the general rule is that they will allow each person one arrival and one departure for your onsite stay. So it’s very possible this could work. Hopefully someone else will chime in!

Worst case scenario you go down to DME and they tell you to take a hike, then you go hail an Uber!

1 Like
#3

They scan your band at ME to confirm your resort reservation so I don’t think it will work to do what you’ve said.

2 Likes
#4

I agree with @OBNurseNH. Is your Swan reservation linked to your MDE account?

Welcome to the forum!

#5

Thank you very much! I really love this discussion board, the people here are so helpful!

The Swan reservation was purchased through Expedia and is not linked to my MDE account.

I planned to just show them the ME reservation letter sent to my home and not have the CM scan our magic bands since it’s really not required to check in. We will put them on AFTER we get to the resort.

2 Likes
#6

Doesn’t your ME letter have a different date on it?

1 Like
#7

I say you try it and report back here what happens … for science. :slight_smile:

6 Likes
#8

Yes it does, it shows our arrival day at the YC and the departure day 8 days later at OKW. I will explain that we had a last minute change and are a day earlier than expected. They can look me up in the system and see my 8 nights in a Disney hotel are booked and fully paid for starting the following day . (Really only 6 hours later. ) :grin:

That’s why I’m asking the question - it’s not like I’m staying at the Swan all week and expect a free ride that I don’t deserve. As Jeff mentioned earlier, I believe the intention of ME is that each person receives one arrival and one departure for their on-site stay.

I was hoping someone had experienced this situation before and was able to board the ME bus earlier than expected . Or were told flat out they couldn’t.

I guess I’ll be the the guinea pig and report back… for science :wink:

3 Likes
#9

They might offer Pixie Dust and allow it, but technically, no, they have every right to just say no. And they very likely would. So be prepared with a backup plan. I had asked about a similar situation for my son and DIL last August, but the answer was no. In that case it was more than one day early, but they did have a Disney reservation and used DME to head home.

3 Likes
#10

Another complication…If they don’t have anyone else scheduled for Yacht or Beach, around the time you land, it may be a long wait for the next planned ME.

#11

I think the main issue is that DME is Mears, not Disney and with their current Mears/Disney relationship I would question if Mears would give the ride knowing Disney might not give them the credit for it?

#12

As long as you have a back up plan I’m glad you’ll try it so we know! Thanks for taking one for the team!

1 Like
#13

I’m back and happy to report that we were allowed to board ME a day earlier than our actual reservation without any issue :grin:
We told the CM that we had a last minute change and were arriving a day earlier. He looked us up and could see our YC reservation for the following day, said “ no problem at all - the reservation system must not have caught up yet” , wrote us up a pass of some sort and we boarded the bus with no wait . We never lied to him, he just assumed we were staying at YC that night as well and of course we didn’t correct him.
It was the perfect start to our fabulous Disney vacation!

7 Likes
#14

Well done!

How did you like the Swan? (I’ll be there next month.). Did you eat at any of the restaurants there, and if so, what were your thoughts?