“Accidentally” missing your DME to MCO ?

[kaytieeldr]

DME is not Disney, 3rd party provider.

DME is (owned by) Disney. Operared by Mears.

If it were not Disney, you would be able to book it on the Mears site.

If I were ordering my Uber and saw a ME bus loading I might ask, but Uber would be my first plan.

No. If you plan to leave the resort 1.5 hours before flight departure, that DME bus might be on its way to the airport. Or your resort might be the first of four pickups, getting you to the (far) corner of the terminal with maybe 30 minutes to spare before your plane takes off.

 

[tjmw2727]

This is a good hack. I've never tried it myself, but it makes a lot of sense. Honestly, I haven't used Magical Express to the airport in many years because of how early it forces you to leave. I understand certain people need more time at the airport and others feel more comfortable with more time at the airport. I completely respect that. But my family I simply do not. We're more than comfortable strolling up to the gate right before -- or even during -- boarding.

I'm sure there are going to people in this thread giving minute-by-minute breakdowns explaining why Magical Express leaves at the appropriate time and how leaving any later would put you in serious danger of missing your flight. My response to that is you know how long you need at the airport. So don't hesitate to leave for the airport later than Disney wants you to if that works better for you. Disney's primary concern is the fallout from guests missing their flights, so the company makes sure you get to the airport extremely early. it covers the company's butt.

Again - the issue for me is that you don't know how long the DME bus you board will take to get to the airport! If you choose a later DME bus and it then makes 3or4 additional stops and or waits for a late running family or loads a wheelchair then your adding quite a bit of time to the trip. Unfortunately there is no way of knowing how soon the bus you board is going to the airport.

Sure - leave for the airport later if that works for you but use a rideshare / taxi / private car etc. knowing you will go directly to the airport.

IMHO - If a guest is truly willing to take a chance and not blame Disney if things go wrong then by all means take a later bus - just make sure you make a reservation (and I think you can just tell them you want a ride to the airport no fake flight necessary). Otherwise to just say "sure make a reservation for the time you want to leave and it will be fine" isn't helping them unless you give all the pros and cons that go with it

 

[mekay1012]

Not only a DME risk, but there's always a chance your flight delay could change to being on time.

This happened to us. Our flight was delayed about 4 hours. We talked with the front desk about changing our me time, but decided to just go on to the airport. By the time we got to the airport, our flight was back to being on time.

 

[bumbershoot]

I'm also not a fan of sitting in MCO for 2+ hours with young kids.

I’ve never been able to sit at MCO for 2 hours waiting. Especially not with DME. It’s not a concern I have.

My response to that is you know how long you need at the airport.

That’s terrific if you have a rental car and you know how the rental car drop off traffic is OR will use taxi/rideshare and know how quickly they’ll get to you, and how the main traffic will be and how the TSA agents are gonna to act that day.

Alas none of those things are under your control. And neither is DME.

Or your resort might be the first of four pickups, getting you to the (far) corner of the terminal with maybe 30 minutes to spare before your plane takes off.

Exactly. That was my story back on 2016? We were at Bay Lake and I think they’d stopped at CR first then we got on. And we had three more stops. At each stop the driver waited and waited. For whom? I don’t know. But he did. And he drove so much slower than necessary. He went below the speed limit the entire way.

My cousin completely missed her bus to Daytona that left from the airport. I had to run to my gate. It was not good.

 

[Apopper74]

On my last DME to MCO we got stuck on the highway due to a car fire. We made it to the airport about 30 minutes to 45 minutes later than normal. I had my TSA pre-check and checked bag so I wasn’t running anywhere, but there were plenty running off the bus with bags needing to be checked.

 

[krayzie]

On my last DME to MCO we got stuck on the highway due to a car fire. We made it to the airport about 30 minutes to 45 minutes later than normal. I had my TSA pre-check and checked bag so I wasn’t running anywhere, but there were plenty running off the bus with bags needing to be checked.

Yeah, one accident will ruin your day.

 

[kaytieeldr]

This happened to us. Our flight was delayed about 4 hours. We talked with the front desk about changing our me time, but decided to just go on to the airport. By the time we got to the airport, our flight was back to being on time.

I don't remember if I was leaving Orlando or Law Vegas, but I found out before I left the hotel that my flight was delayed 2-3 hours. I called the airline, and they said to still arrive at the airport based on the publisher schedule. I did, and whaddaya know? My plane left on time.

Yeah, one accident will ruin your day.

Imagine what it does to the person or persons involved in the accident?

 

[jdisnut]

Sure - leave for the airport later if that works for you but use a rideshare / taxi / private car etc. knowing you will go directly to the airport.

I agree completely. I wouldn't do the fake flight thing. It just seems dishonest. I'd rather spend the $30 or whatever and take an Uber to the airport. I know it's going to take 30 minutes, it can come pick me up wherever and whenever I want it, and it's not expensive. It's not free like Magical Express, but it's worth the cost for me for a few more hours on property. My vacation time is precious and rare. I value it and treat it as a commodity.

 

[maxiesmom]

Again - the issue for me is that you don't know how long the DME bus you board will take to get to the airport! If you choose a later DME bus and it then makes 3or4 additional stops and or waits for a late running family or loads a wheelchair then your adding quite a bit of time to the trip. Unfortunately there is no way of knowing how soon the bus you board is going to the airport.

Or have the trip I did where your resort is the first of 4, and then right before the bus goes to get on the highway they get a call that someone left their wheelchair behind, so you have to go back to one of the resorts. I was freaking out that I would miss my plane.

 

[jdisnut]

That’s terrific if you have a rental car and you know how the rental car drop off traffic is OR will use taxi/rideshare and know how quickly they’ll get to you, and how the main traffic will be and how the TSA agents are gonna to act that day.

Alas none of those things are under your control. And neither is DME.

In my line of work, we always say that if you've never missed a flight, you're spending too much time in airports!

(I say that as somebody who, so far, has never missed a flight. But I've come close once or twice. The biggest near-miss I had was when I arrived at the airport 65 minutes before my flight, only to realize I had left my ID at home. Had to get an Uber to drive me 20 minutes each way from the airport to my home. Got to the gate just in time!)

 

[tjmw2727]

In my line of work, we always say that if you've never missed a flight, you're spending too much time in airports!

(I say that as somebody who, so far, has never missed a flight. But I've come close once or twice. The biggest near-miss I had was when I arrived at the airport 65 minutes before my flight, only to realize I had left my ID at home. Had to get an Uber to drive me 20 minutes each way from the airport to my home. Got to the gate just in time!)

OT but YES ......my oldest daughter did this once - she was 20 and we were panicking until I remembered that her passport was in my carryon zippered pocket from our prior trip!

I don't think she leaves her room without ID now lol!

We live over an hour from the nearest airport so we would have definitely missed our flight.

 

[seashoreCM]

In my line of work, we always say that if you've never missed a flight, you're spending too much time in airports!

If one of your colleagues missed a plane for a business trip, does the supervisor say, "No need to explain in extreme detail; just put whatever expenses are needed to make the trip happen on the expense report and it will be covered."?

... right before the bus goes to get on the highway they get a call that someone left their wheelchair behind, so you have to go back ...

Low information voter CMs did not think of sending the wheelchair after the bus in a taxi (Would take a bit longer to call for an Uber.).

 

[jdisnut]

If one of your colleagues missed a plane for a business trip, does the supervisor say, "No need to explain in extreme detail; just put whatever expenses are needed to make the trip happen on the expense report and it will be covered."?

I hope never to find out!

 

[Bjkandma]

You are basing everything on going smoothly. I'm the person who needs the chairlift on Magical Express and beds to be "locked down". Depending on the driver's experience with this, it can easily add 15 minutes to loading the bus. The bus driver was stopped too close to a bench that was screwed down to the sidewalk. The chairlift could not come completely down.

 

[Chrisizzle]

and then right before the bus goes to get on the highway they get a call that someone left their wheelchair behind... was freaking out that I would miss my plane.

First, I always wondered about that kind of thing. How you can leave something critical?

Perhaps the guest brought it and it was overlooked in bus loading, but you see all kinds of shows or articles where airports, hotels and train stations have lost-and-founds filled with unclaimed wheel chairs, prosthetic legs, etc...

If the wheel chair was left behind in the room or something, I would be tempted to find the person on the bus and ask how the hell did they forget a wheel chair.

Next, I’d also take issue with making other people late because one person was absent minded. At a certain point you have to carry on and let this person learn from the experience.

Plus, isn’t Disney really good about returning lost items and shipping them home?
Yes, a wheel chair is a larger and exceptional item... but as an earlier poster said, they could have sent the wheel chair in another means of transport to the airport.

 

[Disney Frenhines]

It's up to you. Last week the DME was only able to take two passengers and the one that followed was nearly full. Just be aware that going through security could take longer than you expected and you could end up being scuppered there.
I'd rather be too early than too late

 

[gatour]

First, I always wondered about that kind of thing. How you can leave something critical?

Perhaps the guest brought it and it was overlooked in bus loading, but you see all kinds of shows or articles where airports, hotels and train stations have lost-and-founds filled with unclaimed wheel chairs, prosthetic legs, etc...

If the wheel chair was left behind in the room or something, I would be tempted to find the person on the bus and ask how the hell did they forget a wheel chair.

Next, I’d also take issue with making other people late because one person was absent minded. At a certain point you have to carry on and let this person learn from the experience.

Plus, isn’t Disney really good about returning lost items and shipping them home?
Yes, a wheel chair is a larger and exceptional item... but as an earlier poster said, they could have sent the wheel chair in another means of transport to the airport.

Twenty years ago when we got married. I planned the honeymoon, a seven day cruise. I didn't tell my know wife, just to pack warm weather clothes, some dress up clothes and her passport.

After the reception we drove halfway down to Ft Lauderale and spent the night at a beach hotel in Cocoa Beach. The next morning, I hear my now wife scream out "oh, no". She had left her passport on the kitchen counter. Luckily her sister had a key to my wife's house. So we started to head north while her sister went the house, picked up the passport and started to head south, keeping in touch by cell phone. We met up in Daytona Beach.

So yes you can forget something critical.

And yes Disney is good at getting lost items back to you. A long time I lost my pager (every few weeks I would be on a "hard" on-call where if it went off I was expected to respond. The rest of the time, I was on "soft" on-call where if it was possible, I should respond but not required to. I think Disney didn't find until closing time when they must have check the ride vehicles. The next day I called, and they said the had found it. They shipped it back to me on their dime.

 

[Jimsig]

On our first trip using DME back to the airport it never showed up at OKW. About 15 min after it was supposed to be there (we arrived back 15 min before that as we had bags to get) the CM at Bell Services noticed we were still there and came over to us and said "weren't you supposed to be on the 4p bus?" When we said yes she made a phone call and then came back over to us. She said she didn't know why but the bus we were supposed to be on had been cancelled. She said they would get us a taxi at their cost as it was their fault but as the other bus was arriving shortly she would check to see if there possibly was room for 3 first. The next bus showed and there was plenty of room on the bus. We were the last stop and there was only 15 other people on the bus when we got on. We over heard the driver saying something to the CM about the first bus not having a lot of people scheduled on it and they knew his bus had a ton of room so they probably cancelled it. He then said he had a few people on board that were supposed to be on the earlier bus as well and that if it had been Sunday afternoon and not Sat the bus would have been full.

Luckily there was plenty of room for us but if there had not been at least in our case they would have paid for our taxi, but if you miss it on your own Disney is not responsible and you might miss your flight.

 

[kaytieeldr]

On our first trip using DME back to the airport it never showed up at OKW. About 15 min after it was supposed to be there (we arrived back 15 min before that as we had bags to get) the CM at Bell Services noticed we were still there and came over to us and said "weren't you supposed to be on the 4p bus?" When we said yes she made a phone call and then came back over to us. She said she didn't know why but the bus we were supposed to be on had been cancelled. She said they would get us a taxi at their cost as it was their fault but as the other bus was arriving shortly she would check to see if there possibly was room for 3 first. The next bus showed and there was plenty of room on the bus. We were the last stop and there was only 15 other people on the bus when we got on. We over heard the driver saying something to the CM about the first bus not having a lot of people scheduled on it and they knew his bus had a ton of room so they probably cancelled it. He then said he had a few people on board that were supposed to be on the earlier bus as well and that if it had been Sunday afternoon and not Sat the bus would have been full.

Luckily there was plenty of room for us but if there had not been at least in our case they would have paid for our taxi, but if you miss it on your own Disney is not responsible and you might miss your flight.

Yep. If the delay is Disney's fault, they absolutely take responsibility. If it's caused by somebody "accidentally missing" a bus, all bets are off.

 

[pooh2001]

We are getting our own luggage - flying in to MCO about 9:15 PM - could we ask for a DME ride to POFQ about 10:15 PM ? this was we can get our own luggage and get to the other side on MCO - We are flying Jet Blue
Does DME decide you bus time ?
Can you not request your own DME bus time ?