I’m endlessly trying to build in back-ups and redundancies in my planning. I’m all about worst-case scenarios and contingencies.
My (international) flight arrives at MCO at 3pm. I’m staying at CSR. I have a dinner reservation at GF for 7.45pm. In theory I’m fine.
But suppose things are running a little late. Can I board a DME bus to GF, leaving my bags on the carousel to be picked up and shipped to CSR?
I think the system is that your bags and you aren’t necessarily on the same bus, yes?
When we checked into DME, they looked us up to see where we were staying and directed us to the appropriate roped area. Not sure they allow people to hop on a different bus for an ADR.
As far as your bags, unless they are with you, they are not put on the DME buses. There is a completely different pick up system for luggage.
They will scan your band or documents before boarding the bus.
Unless the GF happens to be an earlier stop on the route to CSR, you won’t be able to take the DME to GF.
What you could do is to get off at the first resort you stop at and get an Uber from there to the GF. In that case, you would need to leave your luggage receipt tags with the DME desk (not just the CM with an iPad) before getting in line for a bus.
Although @amywdw did that a couple of days ago and her bag never showed up. She was up half the night trying to find out where it went, it was still at MCO. I assume it was collected and brought to her yesterday but she hasn’t updated. So maybe keep some essentials with you in your carry on bag.
If your bags are tagged with the yellow DME tags, then they are pulled and put on a truck to WDW to be distributed to the resorts. If there is no yellow tag, you could leave your claim tags with them at the DME counter, but I’ve never tried that. Granted, I don’t do checked baggage if I can help it, so…
But you cannot get on a bus to a different resort from your reservation.
Happened to us once too. But the bags were still in London! But all international guests use this all the time without any issues.
So her bag may have missed her flight, been mislaid at MCO coming off the plane, or been missed by the badge handlers collecting the DME luggage. No way of knowing.
Either way, Disney sorted it and delivered it. Now if she hadn’t actually checked in at DME and got on a bus, they wouldn’t have done. That goes for either the luggage receipts (for international guests) or the yellow DME tagged bags. That is the warning I tell people thinking they would just skip DME but let them deal with the bags.
Yep I warn of that too. It probably happens 1 time in 10000 but it’s possible. I only have stuff I need on the flight in my carry on so I’d be buggered! That’s why I always get my own bags - I’d be the 1 person in 10000!
I have always packed a change of clothes, swimwear and anything else needed for 24 hours in a bag when flying.
It just gets put in the overhead locker for the duration of the flight, but it gives me peace of mind.
We’ve done it both ways. If we fly direct we sometimes put the bags back on the conveyor belt after customs, othertimes we take it with us. But if we fly into a Hub airport, we always just leave the luggage receipts with the DME desk.