DME Departure time changes with MCO Travel Advisory

[Eastern]

I like what someone else mentioned about having a choice of when they pick you up (3 vs 4 hours). I understand that it takes me much longer to do everything with the 2 little kids plus the double stroller and all our stuff. It's definitely not fair to the solo travelers or the travelers without young children and people with pre-check.

Precheck will definitely save you a chunk of time. It's not about people with strollers boarding the bus, it's that DME wants to make as many stops as possible to fill the bus. And you have to wait at each stop. All that time adds up.

 

[PuppyPrincess]

I am not happy with the change. I had planned on a 3 hour pick up and had plans for that time in the parks. Does anyone know an approximate cost of an Uber from the resorts to MCO for 2 ppl. I will be using RAC and will probably have a carry-on. My flight is on 12/1 at 4:00 p.m.

TIA.

 

[goofy4tink]

When I left Music, just under three weeks ago, I had a 10:35 p/u time. Now, I've used DME more times than I can count or remember. So, I know how the system works. I know that sometimes they use non-DME marked buses. I get it. I always arrive at the bus stop area at least 20 mins prior to my p/u time. This time, I arrived around 10ish....we had nothing better to do, and we were sitting there, watching the half marathon runners getting off their buses. Well, a bus drove up around 10:20. I though that maybe it was a bus dropping off since it was so early for the 10:35 p/u. then, I noticed that the driver was stowing bags, not unloading them. So, I hopped up, and went over to ask him if he was, in fact, the 10:35 bus. He looked at me like I had two heads, and said 'Well, do you have any paperwork?' Of course I did. I handed it to him...he read it, then reread it. He said, and I quote 'Well, I guess you can get on. I have room for two.' Seriously??? You have room for two? I have a reservation, on your bus, you had best have room for two. And not good that you make it sound like you're doing me a favor. My only thought was that he had allowed those without reservations for this particular bus on early. This was at about 10:30, so I wasn't late..I was actually right on time!!!! When we boarded the bus, it was pretty full. We made a stop at Movies, then left. It took nearly 45 mins to get to MCO....traffic and he drove like a snail!!!
I'm about ready to just keep my rental car and return it at MCO! I usually like to drop it off at the Dolphin..gas refill is soooo easy there, and then I can just hop on DME back to MCO. Not so much anymore!

 

[ChrisNY2]

I am not happy with the change. I had planned on a 3 hour pick up and had plans for that time in the parks. Does anyone know an approximate cost of an Uber from the resorts to MCO for 2 ppl. I will be using RAC and will probably have a carry-on. My flight is on 12/1 at 4:00 p.m.

TIA.

Around $25. Varies based on demand and exact pickup point.

 

[AngiTN]

When I left Music, just under three weeks ago, I had a 10:35 p/u time. Now, I've used DME more times than I can count or remember. So, I know how the system works. I know that sometimes they use non-DME marked buses. I get it. I always arrive at the bus stop area at least 20 mins prior to my p/u time. This time, I arrived around 10ish....we had nothing better to do, and we were sitting there, watching the half marathon runners getting off their buses. Well, a bus drove up around 10:20. I though that maybe it was a bus dropping off since it was so early for the 10:35 p/u. then, I noticed that the driver was stowing bags, not unloading them. So, I hopped up, and went over to ask him if he was, in fact, the 10:35 bus. He looked at me like I had two heads, and said 'Well, do you have any paperwork?' Of course I did. I handed it to him...he read it, then reread it. He said, and I quote 'Well, I guess you can get on. I have room for two.' Seriously??? You have room for two? I have a reservation, on your bus, you had best have room for two. And not good that you make it sound like you're doing me a favor. My only thought was that he had allowed those without reservations for this particular bus on early. This was at about 10:30, so I wasn't late..I was actually right on time!!!! When we boarded the bus, it was pretty full. We made a stop at Movies, then left. It took nearly 45 mins to get to MCO....traffic and he drove like a snail!!!
I'm about ready to just keep my rental car and return it at MCO! I usually like to drop it off at the Dolphin..gas refill is soooo easy there, and then I can just hop on DME back to MCO. Not so much anymore!

There have been a few reports lately of full DME buses on return trips to MCO. Maybe it wasn't a mess up on his part after all.
But wouldn't the bus there at 10:20 be within the 15 min window for a 10:35 pick up? So not really early beyond the possible time they tell you to be prepared to be picked up.
Anyway, the vague pick up info is just one more reason we've been using Uber for the past couple of years. My time at Disney is worth the $25 or so we spend to get back to the airport. I like being in control vs the bus. We save not only the extra DME time but we save the travel back to the resort time too

 

[Cirlonde]

Someone previously mentioned claiming you have a later flight out in order to manipulate the DME pick up time. I am considering do this because we are two adults with pre-check with an 8am flight who do carry-on only. I seriously do not want to leave the hotel at 4am for no good reason! But I'd prefer DME pick-up to an Uber...not that I mind Uber generally, but we had a harrowing experience with a young man driving 90+ mph on the way to the airport the last time we had to make a 6am flight while he was also complaining about barely being able to stay awake.

Anyone have any experience "falsifying" your flight time? I can't imagine why it wouldn't work just fine, particularly since we don't have any luggage to worry about.

 

[AngiTN]

Someone previously mentioned claiming you have a later flight out in order to manipulate the DME pick up time. I am considering do this because we are two adults with pre-check with an 8am flight who do carry-on only. I seriously do not want to leave the hotel at 4am for no good reason! But I'd prefer DME pick-up to an Uber...not that I mind Uber generally, but we had a harrowing experience with a young man driving 90+ mph on the way to the airport the last time we had to make a 6am flight while he was also complaining about barely being able to stay awake.

Anyone have any experience "falsifying" your flight time? I can't imagine why it wouldn't work just fine, particularly since we don't have any luggage to worry about.

There is no reason for it not to work. They don't verify your flight details like the airline or TSA would. They (DME) will never know or find out you are on a different flight than you say. Really, they just need to know the time so they can know what bus to assign you to.

The only drawback as someone has mentioned in one of these many thread on the change, you won't have any recourse to Disney or DME/Mears if you miss your flight. Not that I can imagine anyone blaming either of them if they willingly take a later bus than suggested.

 

[siskaren]

If you give a fake return flight to buy you more time, does it complicate the resort luggage check in process since they would need your real flight? Just curious. I'm most likely going to stick with my real flight info and just suck up the early pickup time, but just wondering about this just in case!

So I wonder how this will impact RAC for checked luggage from the hotels. RAC is (was) 3 hours prior to flight which had RAC/DME match. My family and I are looking at RAC for luggage and then our own transportation to MCO. Hopefully RAC is still 3 hours.

RAC and DME are separate services - you don't have to use DME to use RAC. (RAC is just curbside check-in, except the curb is at your hotel.) I would assume then that RAC has no way of knowing what flight time you give to DME.

 

[Cirlonde]

There is no reason for it not to work. They don't verify your flight details like the airline or TSA would. They (DME) will never know or find out you are on a different flight than you say. Really, they just need to know the time so they can know what bus to assign you to.

The only drawback as someone has mentioned in one of these many thread on the change, you won't have any recourse to Disney or DME/Mears if you miss your flight. Not that I can imagine anyone blaming either of them if they willingly take a later bus than suggested.

Oh absolutely not...if I miss my flight it's totally my own fault! I'm still going back and forth on it...the next closest flight leaves at 9:55am and being picked up at 5:55am #1-doesn't get me that much more sleep and #2-could be cutting it pretty close to the 7:35am boarding time depending on how many other stops the bus makes.

We're doing the Christmas Party the night before we leave, so we won't get back to the hotel until probably close to 1am. We could stick with the 4am pick up and just pull an all-nighter rather than try to catch 2 hours of sleep. We've done it once...it's pretty brutal but survivable. I sure do hate sitting around the airport for 2 or 3 hours though! Decisions, decisions!

 

[Pixiedustspreader]

...the next closest flight leaves at 9:55am

Surely there is some flight leaving MCO between 8A and 10A? I am thinking about this as well except my flight home is 9:35pm and we have our final ADR at the resort at 5:10pm. 6:30p magical express departure doable; 5:30p - not. I will be looking for a flight, any flight, that leaves at 10:30pm.

 

[Jimsig]

...the next closest flight leaves at 9:55am

Surely there is some flight leaving MCO between 8A and 10A? I am thinking about this as well except my flight home is 9:35pm and we have our final ADR at the resort at 5:10pm. 6:30p magical express departure doable; 5:30p - not. I will be looking for a flight, any flight, that leaves at 10:30pm.

Check other airlines for departures aroud the time you want. DME drops you off an the same spot no matter the airline.

 

[Cirlonde]

Surely there is some flight leaving MCO between 8A and 10A? I am thinking about this as well except my flight home is 9:35pm and we have our final ADR at the resort at 5:10pm. 6:30p magical express departure doable; 5:30p - not. I will be looking for a flight, any flight, that leaves at 10:30pm.

I'm sure there is! I was just too lazy to look at any other airlines besides Southwest, haha! If we decide to go that route I will do more serious research. Right now, I'm wondering if it is really worth the trouble just for an extra hour or so. If we took an Uber, I could probably put off leaving until ~6am. But I feel like the timing is so unpredictable with DME (depending on how many stops the bus makes post-pick-up) that I'd need to be on the bus by ~5 to be safe. It's a lot of mental gymnastics trying to weight all the options! But I don't have anything else to do to kill time until we get to leave in 10 days!