Does the bag delivery service work pretty well with Magical Express? When we went last time, we grabbed our own bags and stroller and took them to the ME and it was pretty easy to do, and then we didn’t have to worry about bags being delivered late. In general do the bags make it to your room promptly? What about strollers?
1 Like
I think I have used it at least 50 times over the years and I have never had an issue. I do usually arrive early morning.
4 Likes
I loved it. We arrived very early and would not get our rooms for a long time. It was great to walk straight from the plane to MDE to get to our resort and not be bothered by our suitcases.
However, to be on the safe side, I would allow 4-5 hours to get the bags back. If you need them earlier than thay, pick them up.
2 Likes
I rarely check bags, but when I do, my cut off is three pm. If my flight arrives before three, I let Disney pick up and deliver my bags to my room. After three, I grab them.
2 Likes
I would not use it if you arrive 6pm or later. One year I arrived around 6:30pm and did not receive my bags until 1:00am. All the time I have arrived earlier I have never had a problem. If my room is ready I go right to it when I arrive, if not I check my carry on in at bell services and head straight to a park. So it is never an issue unless you need to get to your checked bags.
1 Like
I’ve always used it and never had a problem. I take a carry on bag with pj’s, swimsuits, toiletries, or anything we might need depending on when our flight arrives. We had a flight get delayed once and didn’t get to the airport until about 9:30 PM. Bell service didn’t deliver our bags that night because they didn’t want to wake us which I appreciated. When I called at 6:30 that next morning, they brought them immediately. I love getting off the plane and heading straight to the ME.
3 Likes
I’ve n ver used it because I always drive, but with the hundreds of thousands of people who use it, I have to assume they have it down pretty well…
Can you let ME take your bags but take yourself in a hire car? May be convenient as I wouldn’t need a big car just for suitcases. I am the person who walks up and down the car hire lane looking for a ‘small’ car about the size of the car I drive at home, while DS20 tries to cajole me into picking a huge beast. Last time was okay because I had a Merc ML and I found something about the same size. Now I drive a mini clubman, so I think there is no hope. Thank goodness for valet parking.
You could only have ME take your bags while you drive if someone from your party takes ME. So if you drive and your DS20 takes ME, that’s fine. If everyone from your party is driving and no one is on ME, they won’t take your bags…
2 Likes
Not true, they put those bags on trucks and busses without checking. I know this b/c we were there last spring and I asked b/c there was a HUGE delay with ME and the lines were almost up the escalators. My kids were super tired and melting down hard after a long travel day so we took an Uber but asked and the CM said just go, the bags will get delivered to your resort. We had no problems. I’m sure they don’t want to be used as a baggage service, but they also aren’t checking either.
1 Like
You are taking a chance. There have been reports that people have been told that they needed to return to the airport to pick their luggage up since they did not take DME . It does not happen every time, but it can happen.
4 Likes
Definitely a roll of the dice then. From what I’ve heard on liners they don’t check the tags but just grab yellow and haul it to the resorts BUT when one bucks the system a little there is always the chance of getting burned. 
1 Like
I think the timing plays a part.
-
The luggage will get taken from MCO at certain times of the day.
-
Maybe at fixed times, maybe when they have a truck load of bags.
Given that not all the bags pulled have the yellow tags, those of international guests are claimed using the badge receipts that we hand over, at some point they presumably do a check on bags that have been delivered to resorts and guests checked into MDE.
If that cross check happens before your bags are loaded at MCO, and they find you haven’t checked in for ME, then they could just leave the bags to be delivered once you check in for ME. And if you haven’t turned up, they could just leave them at the airport.
2 Likes
I’d wager a guess that they do scan the yellow tags and match them against people who have taken DME and those that don’t match up don’t go.
Do they catch them all? Probably not. But would you want to be the one who gambles and has to give up part of a vacation day schlepping back to the airport to get bags that were left because you thought you’d gain maybe an hour by gaming the system?
1 Like
I agree.
They have a contract with Disney to deliver the bags for guests using ME. They are bound to cross check at some point, if only to establish if there are any bags missing from the delivery.
2 Likes
Like I said, it was insanely busy and I was told by a ME employee that it was totally fine. We also checked in with the resort and told them and they said we shouldn’t worry. Think they were honestly okay with people taking other transportation to get the crowds down. After mentioning it on Lines and maybe even here back in April quite a few people mentioned their own hypothesis of how they actually operate. Next trip I plan on grabbing my luggage and checking out the ME line. If it’s fine we’ll hop on board with our bags and if not get out of dodge once again.
2 Likes
It’s also possible that in exceptional cases where they are hugely backed up and know large numbers of customers are skipping ME because of that, they reduce the checking. Frankly they already let you down with ME, they aren’t looking for a double whammy of hosing you on your luggage too. Now I’ve never heard other anecdotes of ME being backed up like what you saw and certainly never seen it myself, so I think your experience might be a relatively unique one which created “special rules”…
1 Like