Taking DME to a resort at which you're not staying?

[Mendelson]

So we're flying in pretty early (9amish) next Thursday and plan to hit MK straight away. I see no reason to take our DME bus to CBR simply to check in (especially given that our room might not be ready) and then hop on a bus to the park.

What I'd like to do is get off at the Poly or Contemporary, assuming our DME bus is stopping there, for the short monorail hop over to MK. I assume this is okay, right? I see no reason why it wouldn't be, but you know Disney with their garsh darn rules.

[Capt_redshirt]

to my knowledge, (unless you talk to a member of DME) all they do is look at your ticket in the book, sign you in, and put you in the line for the hotel your staying at (now you might get lucky and get the line to poly or the like) but they monitor everything. Im guessing that you will already have your tickets at time of check in or are you purchasing them day of?

[Mendelson]

Yep, we've got our tickets.

Are the busses resort-specific? Guess I just don't remember, but I thought maybe each bus hit a few resorts.

If they are resort specific I suppose I could just ask for the Poly...I don't see why they'd care.

[BrerGnat]

If you have baggage going to your resort, you have to be checked in at your resort in order for your bags to be handled properly. If the bags arrive at the resort and you haven't checked in yet, Disney will wonder what happened to you and you might have issues getting your bags later.

[Mendelson]

But if I do online check-in, this shouldn't be an issue, right?

If you have baggage going to your resort, you have to be checked in at your resort in order for your bags to be handled properly. If the bags arrive at the resort and you haven't checked in yet, Disney will wonder what happened to you and you might have issues getting your bags later.

[Davy Crockett]

We've used DME a couple of times and they are resort specific unless that changed in the past 12 to 18 months as we did not use it last May.
I would suggest contacting ME directly prior to your departure and see if you can be separated from your luggage.
In these days of heightened security it is a very real possibility that if you are not there to claim you luggage at your resort destination Disney Security could identify the luggage as "suspicious" and take it. That would not be a good way to start a vacation.

[Capt_redshirt]

there is a difference between online check in and physical check in. online check in just gets the ball rolling (they get a credit card and your packet ready) physical check in means your there and they can now find a place to put you. yes the DME buses go to a few different stops but they are coded by whos going where so if you're in line and no ones going to poly they don't stop

[Davy Crockett]

But if I do online check-in, this shouldn't be an issue, right?

DME resort off load is not right at the lobby, so your luggage is removed from the bus and you are responsible for getting up to the check-in area. As this has been the case for us. So if you're not there to receive it then it will just be sitting on the curb.

[PopPhan]

But if I do online check-in, this shouldn't be an issue, right?

Actually, it COULD be a problem. Your DME ticket is scanned and that information is given to the driver - the number of tickets scanned for each outgoing bus - so that they know that everyone who has checked in through DME is on the bus before they leave the airport. If you scan for, say Pop Century, and get on a different bus, say Poly, the numbers will not add up and, it is possible that a driver could sit and wait until the correct number of passengers gets on their bus. They do actually do a cursory head count before they leave and ask whether or not you are on the correct bus.

Online Check-In only secures your room in advance, you still need to physically check in so that they can log in the system that you have arrived. Once they log you in to the reservation system, your bags can be delivered.

This has actually happened to me...My luggage had been loaded onto the plane, but due to mechanical problems, no passengers were allowed to board the plane. We were put on another flight - the next day - but the original flight actually went to its destination - empty, except for flight crew and luggage. My luggage arrived on time, but I didn't arrive until the next day. It actually sat in the airport overnight, until I arrived to claim it.

In that case, what do they do with your luggage? They don't know if you HAVE arrived, or are GOING to arrive.

DME is designed to get you to/from your BOOKED resort, not to/from someplace close to the park you want to visit first/last. Please use it that way.

[Capt_redshirt]

DME resort off load is not right at the lobby, so your luggage is removed from the bus and you are responsible for getting up to the check-in area. As this has been the case for us. So if you're not there to receive it then it will just be sitting on the curb.

i believe mendelson is taking advantage of the DME baggage pick up where DME takes care of it for them i could be mistaken

[Davy Crockett]

i believe mendelson is taking advantage of the DME baggage pick up where DME takes care of it for them i could be mistaken

Good point!

[Mendelson]

DME is designed to get you to/from your BOOKED resort, not to/from someplace close to the park you want to visit first/last. Please use it that way.

Actually, DME is designed to keep me on Disney property for the duration of my stay by limiting my options for getting to other place and spending my money elsewhere (no rental car = less likely I make a trip to Sea World). In that regard they are getting what they want from our family, which is why I don't see why they'd care. But yes, a head count mismatch could be a problem.

Regardless, thanks for the comments...guess I'll simply ask when we check in to DME and see how it goes from there. Not a real huge factor in the start to our trip regardless of how it goes.

[kakn7294]

Basically, it boils down to this - since DME is designed to be a free service to get you to the resort at which you are registered to stay, they will not take you to another resort. You will need to go to your resort, check-in (which shouldn't take that long, especially if you do the online check-in), and grab a bus to MK. If you try to buck the system and get onto a bus to a MK area resort, you could potentially cause another guest to miss their bus instead. I would be rather upset at that if that were me.

[Tinkerbella16]

I honestly think it is easier and less of a hassle to just do it the way the system is supposed to work and just take the right DME bus and check-in first and get it over with. That process is never really long at that time in the morning. This way your luggage will be able to get to your room and you can be good to go. You will need your Keys to the World anyway won't you? You have to get those at check-in, unless you have AP's.

[Mendelson]

I didn't realize anyone was still commenting on this, but as the OP I'll report:

It ended up being a moot point due to some changes we made in our plans for arrival. But out of curiosity I did ask when I checked in at DME if it would be possible. The agent sort of thought for a second and said that it would take some re-adjusting but they'd be able to accommodate, had I wanted to do that.

For what it's worth.

[Kaps]

They arre resort specific. I stayed at POR but was upgraded to a monorail hotel. My family came in next day and had a hard time getting on the bus to the POLY because the ticket said POR. You can try though good luck

[mom2morgan]

Actually, DME is designed to keep me on Disney property for the duration of my stay by limiting my options for getting to other place and spending my money elsewhere.

Oh, you are SOO right. Disney doesn't do no favours for nobody ;-) Every "perk" they offer has a financial incentive for them! That said, I'd feel perfectly comfortable ASKING about any exception I wanted, as long as it was reasonable and wasn't going to inconvenience other guests.