Value vs Mod-Is ME that different?

[firegurl]

My family is planning our first stay at CBR. Our last family trip was in 2011 and we stayed at ASMo. I am curious if the ME is any better for the Mods. On our last stay we waited at least an hour and a half just to board to go to the resort. Our bus was shared with the other 2 All Stars, which I expected. That wasn't an issue with me, it was just that we waited so long to leave MCO. I kept waiting for them to decide that they had enough people for the bus (that we could see sitting there the entire time) and it never happened. In the end there were so many people that they had to get 2 buses. Since that is my only experience I don't have anything to compare it to but that seemed to be an excessively long time to wait. That time our flight was in the middle of the day but this time our flight arrives at 9:30 in the morning. By the time you factor in getting up for the day, driving to the airport, waiting for the flight and the actual flight, I am not going to be in the mood to wait for almost 2 hours again. Please tell me that my first experience was not the norm.

 

[dansdad]

ME is handled no different between the resort categories. Most ME I've ever been on stopped at both a moderate (CBR) and a value or 2 (AoA/Pop). Sometimes you leave right away and sometimes you wait. It's a crap shoot. But I will say an hour and a half is abnormal.

 

[serene56]

ME buses go to other resort other then the one you are heading too.

I was shocked that it took me that long to arrive at the contemporary and that it stopped at all the deluxes with CR being the last.

but an hour and half wait just to get on the bus-- that doesnt sound right
what time of day was that?

 

[OKW Lover]

As the PP's have noted, there is no resort differentiation when it comes to ME. Busses will go to various combinations (it changes all the time) of resorts depending on need.

 

[KonaKaiTom]

ME doesn't discriminate -- my stay at the GF involved stopping at WL, CR, Poly and final stop GF.

Tom

 

[MakiraMarlena]

Makes no difference whatsoever. The bus will go where it's needed within a certain area, there is no preference for higher resort categories.

It's very unusual to wait an hour and a half before the bus even leaves the airport though.

 

[Cloudless Nights]

What you experienced is an anomaly. They must have a rush of people/flights coming in all at the same time, and those people happened to be going to the All-Stars. We always arrive around 9-9:30am, and usually wait 20-30 minutes or less for a bus (and we have stayed at values, moderates, and deluxes).

All buses share between at least 2-3 hotels.

 

[Babsy]

We had a similar wait last Jan when going to the CR. We were the first to board the bus but we ended up waiting over an hour before out left. The driver noticed that we were waiting so long and dropped us off first. (He mentioned that he was 'supposed' to go to the GF first, but he didn't want to make us wait any longer.)

I have taken the ME many times. Sometimes it is an hour+ other times it is only a few minutes and everything in between. Be prepared for a couple of hours to get to the resort from the airport.

When I know I am going to be too tired to deal with all this, I book a town car and forgo the ME. Sometimes it is worth the extra $$ to get there quickly and save the extra hour or two.

 

[firegurl]

Thanks, this pretty much answered my question. I knew that ME delivered everyone the same way and that several resorts shared buses but I was really curious about the timing since we had so many people just standing around waiting. I watched plenty of other lines to other resorts come and go that day. It made sense to me that the All Stars would share a bus, it just seemed like they were waiting for a ton of people to arrive. From what I remember we arrived mid afternoon, maybe around 3 or so. We are arriving pretty early this time so I hope things move faster. Luckily they just had us waiting around in line as opposed to sitting on the actual bus. I would have lost my mind at that point.

 

[WEDWDW]

OP,in my experience,DEFINITELY not the norm.

I have stayed at the All-Stars about 15 times since DME was implemented and the longest total wait from arriving at the DME "depot" to leaving on a bus I have ever had was approximately 30 minutes-usually much shorter than that.

 

[goofy4tink]

Nope, no difference whatsoever. In fact, Pop was once on the same route as AKL/Kidani! Now, it may be combined with CBR and AoA. Who knows. There are usually a combination of different level of resorts on each route.

 

[sndral]

I've never had to wait to get on the bus, sometimes I've waited awhile sitting on the bus waiting for more people to board before we take off.
Best ride - Poly - we were first
Worst ride - AKV, we stopped at all 3 all stars, Pop, CBR and Coronado Springs, so we were the 7th stop on that ride. I did get to see resorts I'd never seen before - tho.'

 

[Gottahavemorecowbell]

Not much more to add from what pp's had to say but I am surprised you had a 90 minute wait. An anomaly for sure. Our last 4 trips to moderate resorts had no more than a 5 minute wait to get on the ME and maybe 15 minutes before we were on our way.

 

[lustergirl]

On our AS Sports stays we were on the bus in no time but did stop at POP first, then CSR, and then on to Sports. Waiting that long would drive me crazy

 

[firegurl]

I am so happy to hear this. I didn't expect to wait that long last time and we had ADR's that evening that we barely made. It was close to 5 hours between the time landed and when we finally got to DD for our ADR. That included no wasted time. We checked in at the resort, walked to our room and basically dropped our stuff and met the bus for DD. I feel much better making arrival day plans now.

 

[JCornell]

Yeah, that wait sounds unusual. We've done value, mod, deluxe and almost always boarded ME immediately and left the airport within 10-20 minutes of boarding.

 

[dmband]

I have never waited more then like 15 mins in line and another 15 on board to drive away but I do know multi people who have waited over an hr in line
One lady will not take me since waiting close to 1.5 hrs and just gets a limo. She said the line was wrapped in and out of the rope railing and going out to where you checkin with the cm who tells you what line to get in
Seems like it never fails thought that my resort is last no matter where I stay

 

[Wood Nymph]

My family is planning our first stay at CBR. Our last family trip was in 2011 and we stayed at ASMo. I am curious if the ME is any better for the Mods. On our last stay we waited at least an hour and a half just to board to go to the resort. Our bus was shared with the other 2 All Stars, which I expected. That wasn't an issue with me, it was just that we waited so long to leave MCO. I kept waiting for them to decide that they had enough people for the bus (that we could see sitting there the entire time) and it never happened. In the end there were so many people that they had to get 2 buses. Since that is my only experience I don't have anything to compare it to but that seemed to be an excessively long time to wait. That time our flight was in the middle of the day but this time our flight arrives at 9:30 in the morning. By the time you factor in getting up for the day, driving to the airport, waiting for the flight and the actual flight, I am not going to be in the mood to wait for almost 2 hours again. Please tell me that my first experience was not the norm.

The last few times we have stayed at the BC the ME stopped at the CBR. I have also been on a ME that shared the BC with POR. The ME stopped at CBR first, before going to the Epcot resorts. And on the return trip it picked up last at CBR before heading to the airport.

 

[nkereina]

The number of stops and the wait in line for DME solely depends on how busy they are. We've waited close to an hour to board at DME bus at the airport because we (mistakenly) arrived on a Saturday morning, which was about the busiest time we could have picked during a busy time of year.

 

[tinkerbella16]

I think it was just that day. All of the times we've used DME when arriving we have never waited long. We stay at Port Orleans Riverside or French Quarter and DME always shares with SSR and OKW also, at least all of the times we have gone it did.