Southwest and DME

[jenperich]

Has anyone flown Southwest and used DME? How does it work? I have a vague understanding of how it works, but I'd like some more understanding. :-) Also, how quickly does it get you from the airport to Disney? I just want to start my vacation so quickly, but would like to use DME. Thanks for you help!

[BigRedDad]

You go to the DME section at the airport, hop on the bus, and you are one your way. I am not sure how long it takes, but it is about 25-30 minutes once you start moving. Of course, a limo or town car service is faster, but that cost money.

[Strmchsr]

You can get the complete lowdow on how DME works in Info Central here (http://www.intercot.com/infocentral/transportation/magicalexpress/default.asp).

Using SW is just like any other airline for arrival. You put the yellow tags from DME on your bags, check them in at your airport, and they "magically" appear in your room around 3 hours after your plane lands. On the return trip, just take your bags with you, the DME driver will put them under the bus, and off you go to the airport where you check your bags. No big deal.

As for how long, that varies. Anywhere from 1-2 hours after you land depending upon how fast you walk to the DME check-in area, how many folks are in line, and how quickly the bus is ready to leave when you get in line. For us it was 70 min from wheels down on the plane to check-in at our resort. I would estimate 90 min to be the average of that transaction, but I would always allow 120 for planning purposes. When we used Happy Limo it was maybe 5-10 minutes faster by the time I waited and retrieved my own luggage, got it loaded into the vehicle and we were on our way.

[Mickspal]

We flew Southwest and used DME last year. We will do so again next week. We were very impressed. You don't have to get your bags at the airport, they "magically" appear in your room. We didn't wait long at all. On your return trip you can't check in at the resort because Southwest is not yet a member. It will be nicer when they do, but now you just get on the bus and the driver gives you your bags at the airport. Then you check in at the Southwest counter like a normal person.

[2Epcot]

Both Chris & Mickspal have already described it well. I flew Southwest and used DME on my last visit (My first time using the service). Everything went well, I had no problems, and I will certainly use it again the next time I go to WDW. :mickey:

[faline]

but now you just get on the bus and the driver gives you your bags at the airport. Then you check in at the Southwest counter like a normal person.

You are still responsible for having your bags with you when the bus arrives so they get loaded on the bus to go with you to the airport.

[CleveRocks]

Of course, a limo or town car service is faster, but that cost money.
This is just simply NOT TRUE! You can't make a blanket statement that car service is faster than DME.

Well, you can say it, but you won't be accurate.

My 2 DME experiences -- time from airplane exit to resort drop-off: 63 minutes one time, 56 minutes another time.

If there is ANY delay at baggage claim, DME can EASILY beat a car service.

CAR SERVICE BEST-CASE SCENARIO:
10 minute walk airplane to baggage claim (includes the monorail ride). 15 minute wait at baggage claim. 5 minute wait for driver to get the vehicle from the garage. 2 minutes to load the vehicle and get moving. 30 minutes to resort. Time in best-case scenario: 62 minutes.

With DME, I beat that once and missed it by only one minute once.

[GenieOfPA]

it works great :thumbsup: we'll be using it ourselves in 10 days! :mickey:

[CleveRocks]

Has anyone flown Southwest and used DME? How does it work? ARRIVAL DAY (and before):

For your arrival, DME works the same for everyone regardless of airline.

First, you need to make a DME reservation.
Anywhere from 2-6 weeks before your trip, you'll receive a DME packet (or if you use a travel agent, the TA will receive it). Among the items in there are your DME luggage tags.
Before you leave home, place one DME tag on each piece of luggage you'll check with your airline.
When you arrive at MCO, skip baggage claim. Go directly to the DME Welcome Center. One person from your party gets in line to check in.
You will be shown to your bus queue.
A greeter will escort you to your bus.
If you want, the driver can load your carry-ons under the bus. You will get them back immediately upon arrival at your resort. You MUST have the driver stow them if they are too large to fit under your own seat or on the overhead shelf.
The policy is that once the first guest boards the bus, the bus must leave within 15 minutes.
Your bus will have guests from other resorts, most likely. No more than 4 resorts are served per bus. Four is rare, as is 1. Two and 3 are more common.
Once you are dropped off at your resort, go and check in. Even if your room isn't ready yet, you can get your park tickets, have Bell Services (Luggage Assistance at the Value resorts) store your carry-ons, and then go out and have fun!
Your checked luggage is supposed to arrive INSIDE your resort room within 3 hours of your arrival at the resort (NOT 3 hours from the time your plane lands). You don't need to be in your room. The bags will be brought in there whether you're in there or not. And the person doing the delivery has already been pre-tipped by Disney!

LUGGAGE ON ARRIVAL DAY:

Here's the trip your luggage takes. It never goes onto the baggage claim carousels ... it's pulled behind-the-scenes.

Some airlines gather the DME-tagged luggage and bring it to a centralized drop-off point, where Disney collects it. Other airlines don't; in those cases, Disney has its own CMs pull the DME-tagged bags. In both cases, Disney has other CMs watching to make sure no DME-tagged bags leave the "back" of the airport and see the light of day of the baggage claim carousel.

All the DME-tagged bags are brought to a separate Disney area. The DME tags have barcodes. These barcodes are scanned 5 separate times in this process. They are separated by resort and placed into locked cages. The cages themselves have barcodes and are scanned. The cages are loaded onto delivery trucks. The trucks are tracked by GPS. The cages are unloaded at the proper resort, and from that point the resort's Bell Services is now in charge of the DME luggage. The bags are scnaned upon arrival, and are then brught to your room, where they are scanned yet again.

Disney knows where your bags are at all times.


ON THE WAY HOME:

For the trip home, the procedure goes one of two ways, depending on whether or not you are flying a "participating airline." If you are flying a participating airline, you can use a service (which is separate from DME) called Resort Airline Check-in. Each WDW owned-and-operated resort has a RAC desk in the lobby. Think of RAC as curside check-in ... you check your bags and get your boarding passes. The luggage will be delivered by truck to your airline at the airport, and the next time you'll see it, it will be on your home airport's baggage claim carousel.

If you are NOT on a participating airline, you get your bags to the DME bus. The driver will load them under the bus, and you'll get them back as soon as you arrive at the airport. From that point, you take your bags to your airline's ticket counter (or to curbside check-in, if available) just like you'd do at any other airport.

No matter whether you use RAC or not, if your bus doesn't leave until a while after check-out time, you can have Bell Services store your bags (checked bags, carry-ons, or both), then you can go out and play, and get your bags back before your DME bus pick-up time.

Early in the morning on the day before your departure day, you'll get an envelope hanging on your door, informing you of your DME bus pick-up time to go back to the airport.

[biodtl]

You are still responsible for having your bags with you when the bus arrives so they get loaded on the bus to go with you to the airport.
When we did it in Oct, we were able to simply go from the plane to the DME. They delivered oujr bags when we were in the park.

That said, the bags didn't come until later in the day, so if you have anything you need right away, make sure you have it in your carry on.

[CleveRocks]

When we did it in Oct, we were able to simply go from the plane to the DME. They delivered oujr bags when we were in the park.

That said, the bags didn't come until later in the day, so if you have anything you need right away, make sure you have it in your carry on.The person you quoted was talking about LEAVING Disney, the trip from the resort back to the airport. YOU are talking about ARRIVING in Orlando.