Mears Transfers

[Jenn4615]

Can someone PLEASE explain to me how the Mears transfers work between MCO and your resort in Disney? Is it clear after we arrive at the airport were we find this transportation bus? Do my husband and I need to go get our luggage and take it on the bus with us? or do they arrange for it to arrive at our resort? PLEASE HELP! I am so confused!::MickeyMo ::MickeyMo ::MinnieMo ::MinnieMo

[CharlesandCamilla]

You claim your luggage and then find the bus. It isn't difficult to find. The driver tosses your bags into the luggage compartment of the bus. Then you wait until the bus is full. It hardly ever leaves 'tl it's full. Then you ride with people who are staying all over the place until the bus finally reaches you're destination. You get you're luggage and you're on your own. On the return trip they go to a number of resorts before heading to the airport.

I've done Mears twice and found that the waits were horrible. It is still better than getting a rental car at the airport but not by much.

If you have four or five in your party I would suggest a towncar service. There's a bunch of them. They'll pick you up at baggage claim and take you straight to your resort. At the end of your vacation they pick you at the agreed time and take you straight to the airport. For round trip they run around $100 to $110 with the tip. A better deal than Mears. And If you ask nicely they might stop by the local grocery store so you can get some supplies.

I've never done the town car before, this will be our first. (my wife has planned the previous trips, this one's mine) I'm really looking forward to the convenience of it.

[Jenn4615]

Thanks so much for the info!
I heard the Transfers were slow...but not until after I had already booked the vacation. Since it is only my husband and I...I guess waiting around won't be so bad!
On the way back to the airport, should we plan to have mears pick us up way in advance? I believe there was a time on the transfer tickets.
Have a great trip...we are staying at CBR too, I haven't stayed there before...Hope it's nice!
Jenn

[dimoe]

I am wondering is there an extra cost for the mears and how do you arrange it if there is.
thanks Diane

[Jenn4615]

i added the Mears transfers right into my disney package, which I did on the Disney sight. However, it looks like you can do it if you go to this website... http://www.mearstransportation.com/ Hope this helps! Jenn

[CRAVENDISNEY]

Yes, there is most definetly a charge to use Mears transportation. Not sure of the cost. I know they are cheaper to use than a town car service. We used Mears the first time we went to
Disney. Have since than flown in two other times and decided it was worth the extra money for the two us to hire a town car. We are having a towncar pick us up May 7. Round trip this time is costing us $100 (that is with tip included). My husband hated the Mears bus. We had to stop at several other hotels before we ever got to ours. No need to make ressies with Mears you just show up at the window at the airport and they will plop you on a bus or mini van and then you will have to wait until the bus/van is full. Hope this helps a little. Have a great trip!

[Simba0319]

Charlesandcamilla

Can you please let me know what the # for the Towncar service is? I will never use Mears again...Too crowded, too long a wait I loved using the towncar we used it twice already and it worked very smoothly..

:earseek: :earseek: :earseek: :earseek: :earseek: :earseek:

[CharlesandCamilla]

The cost for Mears is $28 per person round trip.

There are several town car companies out there. Tiffanies is the preferred. I'm trying Florida Town Car 407-277-5466. With 4 people we will actually save money. The limit with the town cars is 5 people. If it was just two of us I don't know that we'd spend the $50 extra to go first class or not.

[my3princes]

We have used mears twice and the wait wasn't bad. I agree if there are several people in your party go with a towncar. We used Tiffany for 9 of us in 2000. They have passenger vans for large parties. It cost around $100 for our entire group and we had a 1/2 hour grocery stop. It was great. The same driver picked us up at the end of our visit and brought us back to MCO with no problem at all.

[Mad4Dizne]

Personally, we wouldn't use mears again--even if they paid us...Long waits, long wait to get to your resort. I feel you spend alot to be on vacation--why take a 2 hour needless trip on the start of your vacation. A taxi can work out cheaper--depending on where you are staying. We have been using Tiffany towncar--with the coupon either online or in The Passporter--it is not much more and you have your own driver waiting for you. They take you directly to your resort--or a grocery stop, if you request inadvance (which could save you in the long run with snacks/water). We highly recommend a car service. Tiffany has been wonderful to us!!!!
Have a great trip!!!
Flo

[Ames]

I agree the wait times can be kind of long for Mears but it the cheapest option so I'll deal with it.


Forgot who asked, but call Mears the morning before you leave and they will be to your resort to pick you up. They normally arrive about 2 hours before your flight is scheduled to leave.

[minnie1928]

We've used Happy Limo the past few times. We've had parties of 6 that are too large for a towncar. HL offers a shuttle van and they will make a stop at the local grocery store for free. For 6 people I paid $130ish (includes a gate fee (I think $10)for the MK resorts), which is definately cheaper than Mears and much, much, much quicker!!!

Their website is www.happylimo.com. Also, if you mention that you saw their information on mousesavers.com you can $5 off.

[disneyjunkie]

We used Mears last month during our Easter trip. We waited outside about 15 minutes for a bus to show up. A bus came while We went to the other side of the airport to pick up another group then headed out.

Our bus was only doing stops at Pop Century and the All Stars. It only took us about 30 minutes to get from the airport to Pop.

Since I was traveling with just my son, I didn't mind using Mears.

We've used Mears twice and have never had to deal with long waits or tons of stops. I guess we're just lucky.

[splash_matt]

My friends and I are using Mears on our trip in May but we don't have time to wait around 2 hours to get to our hotel. That's 2 hours out of Disney time. We've already purchased them but I couldn't care less if we just took a taxi. How much do you think it would be to take a taxi to All Star Resorts and how long.

Do you think that we'd have to wait around for a while around 7Am on a Friday morning?


thanks

[loonertic]

I am curious, I booked Mears to transfer my girlfriend and I from MCO to Swan and we booked a Van shuttle. On the web page it gives you two reservation options, towncar or shuttle, does anyone know what dictates what type of vehicle your shuttle will be, i mean i choose the picture of the van because i thought thats what we would get, am i wrong? Are we in danger of the getting a Coach Bus??? :)

[jeancbpugh]

When we travel as a family to WDW, we rent a car. We like the freedom. We only take buses to MK.

When I travel solo to WDW, I take taxis from MCO to WDW. It costs about $50 each way with tip. I get my bag and walk to the curb and take the first taxi in the cab rack. No waiting for a driver to get the car. No waiting for the Mears bus to fill.

When I'm leaving WDW, I have the bell captain call me a taxi. It is always waiting by the time I walk out to the curb.

You can't beat the convenience of a taxi, if you are travelling solo and don't need a rental car.

[splash_matt]

how long does it take to WDW from MCO in a taxi?

[Nanu57v]

Don't take a taxi. Book a towncar, its got to be cheaper. Look around at the sites for special deals. We used happy limo on our last trip. True, it was about 20 dollars more roundtrip (2 of us)than Mears, but it was direct and we could stop at a grocery store if we wanted to. Mears was a nice option when we went on our honeymoon, but it took long and was crowded. And, no one's mentioned the best part! When you get a towncar and get off the airplane there is a guy standing there holding a sign with your name on it!!!

[jeancbpugh]

Originally posted by Nanu57v
Don't take a taxi. Book a towncar, its got to be cheaper.

Cheaper: maybe. More convenient: no way. The guy with the sign (if he/she is there on time) has to go get the car...:earsboy: :earsboy:

[Nanu57v]

Originally posted by jeancbpugh
Cheaper: maybe. More convenient: no way. The guy with the sign (if he/she is there on time) has to go get the car...:earsboy: :earsboy:

Hmm, I don't know about that. This past trip I took a hotel shuttle to a cheap airport hotel since I had a late flight, and then the towncar picked us up at our hotel. My parents didn't have a problem taking the towncar and stopping at the grocery store though.

[CharlesandCamilla]

Originally posted by jeancbpugh
Cheaper: maybe. More convenient: no way. The guy with the sign (if he/she is there on time) has to go get the car...:earsboy: :earsboy:

That still can't take as long as finding the bus and waiting until it's full. Doesn't the driver go get the car while you're waiting for your bags?

[jeancbpugh]

Originally posted by CharlesandCamilla
That still can't take as long as finding the bus and waiting until it's full. Doesn't the driver go get the car while you're waiting for your bags?

Yes, taking the bus is only faster than walking or riding a bike. All other choices are probably better, LOL

[CharlesandCamilla]

I would think that if you're in shape and you pack light a bike might be faster.

[WhenUwishUponAstar]

I used mears one time and in my book that was one time too many. I got placed in one of the vans instead of the charter buses with 8 other passengers. We were crammed in thier like sardines and while I love our disers from around the world there were several people in this van that were not very ummmmmm hygenic and yes we had skin to skin contact. We stopped at no less than 4 resorts before getting to ours and had all of that luggage pilled on top of ours. The Ac could not keep up and I felt like I needed a bath to be presentable to check into the YC.

On the return trip we had to leave hours before our flight because we were the first to be picked up and then we had to make the rounds again.


I pay for the difference in bottled water alone at the grocery stop.

I know this post sounds very "elitest" and normally I'm a go with the flow kinda person but I just couldn't take the smelly van.

[daystar]

Hi,
We used Mears on our family trip to WDW in Dec 2003 ....We had to claim our luggage and then go to the shuttles.....We had a bad experience with Mears we waited almost two hours for a shuttle to take us to the All Stars Sport....When you have small children that becomes hard, especially when you have been traveling a four hour plane ride....I was not happy with this service i would not use it again....It seems like first come first serve, they give you this round beeper.....When it beeps then they have a shuttle for you....After two hours of waiting they finally got us a bus...

[CharlesandCamilla]

Sounds like another vote for getting a town car.

[loonertic]

Is a Towncar through Mears good, or is that service poor as well?

[acd04]

Originally posted by disneyjunkie
We used Mears last month during our Easter trip. We waited outside about 15 minutes for a bus to show up. A bus came while We went to the other side of the airport to pick up another group then headed out.

Our bus was only doing stops at Pop Century and the All Stars. It only took us about 30 minutes to get from the airport to Pop.

Since I was traveling with just my son, I didn't mind using Mears.

We've used Mears twice and have never had to deal with long waits or tons of stops. I guess we're just lucky.

We must have been lucky too, because we were there at about the same time you were and this was the exact expereince we had. In fact I think we were the second group to pick up so the bus was practically empty and we went did a quick stop at the Pop and then to our hotel. Coming back we were the last pick up, we filled the rest of the bus and did one stop at one side of the airport then us. I didnt think it was bad at all. In fact we waited longer and had more crowded buses on the Disney transports than we did on the Mears

[CharlesandCamilla]

You were lucky.

Next time you're on the Mears bus look around when you get on. Then look around when you get off. All of those people that were there both times you looked around probably aren't having the same wonderful experience you are. One on these times it's bound to be you. I can imagine any town car is better than this, even Mears town car.

[sters]

For 2 people, a taxi cab is usually about the same or cheaper. And it's faster.