Shipping a box to arrive ahead of time. About This Page:

[kstock75]

Have any of you shipped a box of items to arrive ahead of your arrival? I've been thinking of shipping a large box ahead of time [beach towels, collapsible cooler, collapsible laundry basket, beach bag, pool toys, shampoo, conditioner, etc.]. Do hotels [we are staying at AKL] seem to be okay with this? With baggage fees on Delta Airlines, I think it would be a money saver. I'm not planning on bringing those items home, so I wouldn't have the worry of where to pack them on our way back. Thoughts?

TIA, Kristy

[Caldercup]

I've done this several times -- it's free to ship to a Disney hotel, as long as it's not one of the convention hotels (Swan/Dolphin, Yacht Club, Coronado Springs, etc.)

Just ship it as follows: (I got the address from the hotel's page in the PassPorter)

Jane Doe
Hold for guest arrival 11/15/2009
Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge
2901 Osceola Parkway
Bay Lake, FL 32830

Some people like to include their reservation number, but I've never had to do that.

I like to ship it so that it is scheduled to arrive 1-2 days before my check-in date. They will hold it and let you know when you check-in that they have a box for you. (You can ask if they don't mention it.) When you get in your room, call down to the front desk and they will deliver it for you.

Easy peasy.
Eileen

[jimmymac]

We do that every trip. They're very good about holding the package. The convention resorts charge by weight though (AKL is OK). We incluide our reservation number to make it easier for them

[debrabrown]

Seems obvious... but make sure the name under which the ressie was made is the name on the package! They lost ours last year for that reason - it didn;t match,

[amywma]

I just did this for our trip earlier this month. I shipped down a bunch of consumables (cereal, granola bars, diapers & wipes, etc.). It worked out wonderfully. In addition to putting my arrival date on the shipping label (addressed like Eileen suggested above), I also wrote my name and arrival date on a couple of sides of the box so they could find it easily if they stored it on a shelf. They brought it up with our luggage which arrived later from Magical Express.

[Disney Dork]

[QUOTE=Caldercup;3019556]I've done this several times -- it's free to ship to a Disney hotel, as long as it's not one of the convention hotels (Swan/Dolphin, Yacht Club, Coronado Springs, etc.)

This may sound like a silly question, but how is it free? Do you mean Disney doesn't charge extra to deliver it to your room? Or is there a shipping company that ships packages free to Disney for some reason?

[Caldercup]

It will cost you to ship it to Disney, but Disney will not charge you to receive/store it until your arrival -- unless you are staying at one of the convention resorts (then there's a weight charge for each package you have them store.)

In the past, we've tried to tip the cast member who delivered the package to our room and were only able to do this if it was the Magical Express/Luggage Services CM who brought it to the room. If it was a regular CM, they wouldn't take our tip.
Eileen

[Disney Dork]

Thanks, Eileen for clearing that up for me.

[kstock75]

Thanks for the information. I think I'm going to ship a box of stuff. It will make our travel day easier!

[ddavis]

What if you wanted to ship a box back home? How do you manage or arrange for that?

Dorothy

[jenjen1127]

I have shipped both ways. When shipping down to the resort I used FED EX and each time the box was brought to my room by bell services. As far as shipping back, one time we drove to a FED EX and shipped it back and the other times staying at the BC we had bell services bring the box to the convention center where there is a shipping office and they will ship it FED Ex for you. You just have to go over there and fill out some paperwork same as if you went directly to a FED EX. It sounded more difficult than it was but it was really easy to do.

[Caldercup]

Many people here have set up a shipping account with one of the shipping companies (FedEx, UPS, etc.) They then bring a filled-out shipping label from the shipper with them and packed up the box as they are preparing to leave the resort. Then then took the prepared box to the gift shop of their hotel, and -- as long as payment was already taken care of -- it was shipped from there. (Not sure what they do if you need to pay shipping.)

Can anyone confirm that?
Eileen

[jagafen]

Originally Posted by Caldercup

In the past, we've tried to tip the cast member who delivered the package to our room and were only able to do this if it was the Magical Express/Luggage Services CM who brought it to the room. If it was a regular CM, they wouldn't take our tip.
Eileen

Hmmm.....we never had a tip refused when we stayed last summer??? I just assumed that when the packages were brought up that bell services (or whomever handles the package delivery) would appreciate a tip.....are they not supposed to accept them? Won't really matter TOO much, as I'd still offer it. I'm fuzzy about who is/is not supposed to accept tips at Disney!!

[tinkz]

Originally Posted by Caldercup

Many people here have set up a shipping account with one of the shipping companies (FedEx, UPS, etc.) They then bring a filled-out shipping label from the shipper with them and packed up the box as they are preparing to leave the resort. Then then took the prepared box to the gift shop of their hotel, and -- as long as payment was already taken care of -- it was shipped from there. (Not sure what they do if you need to pay shipping.)

Can anyone confirm that?
Eileen

Last year we sent a couple of boxes home from the Poly. We used UPS but went to front desk & they took care of everything for us. We just payed them the shipping. They weighed it & got shipping price for us.

[Caldercup]

Originally Posted by jagafen

are they not supposed to accept them?

If it was a Bell Services/Luggage Storage CM, they are a tippable position. If it's a "rank and file" CM, they cannot.

I always offer the tip and if they refuse, I don't press -- it's actually a hassle for the CM if they are pressed. I just make a point of thanking them profusely in that case.
Eileen