Did you rent transportation? - UPDATE, found very affordable transportation!

[Jilian]

I'm torn on whether or not to charter transportation for our VR. We'll have about 40 guests. Our VR is @ the Swan and although Dis transportation goes there, it is a big pain in the butt. H and I were there this past weekend for our menu tasting and it took us 45 mins to get from the Swan to MK after we left, that was just time on the bus, it didn't include the 20 mins we waited for the bus. Our guests would have to do that and then switch busses to get back to their resorts. Not cool. About half of our guests will have their own transportation but the other half won't. Should we provide transportation? Both ways? Our VR will end around 7:30 so most people won't be going back to their resort, would it be ok to just charter transportation to get everyone to the ceremony and then let them do their own thing after?

UPDATE I wanted to update and share the great deal with my fellow Dis Brides So we're looking to transport 40 people and were told that we'd need the 55 passenger motor coach, which was around $500 for 5 hours and just under $500 for a round trip. So my aunt, who is a wedding planner up in Boston, made some calls for me and figured out that we could rent 5 of the 8 passenger luxury vans instead. It is $14 each way for each 8 passenger van! So our total for 8 vans round trip is $140 with tax! Just wanted to share to hopefully save you all some money too. We booked through Mears (which comes recommended by our wedding planner).

 

[BethieTink]

Our ceremony and reception are inside Epcot, so we have no choice, but to get a bus. I think we will probably have to get one to get them back too. I hope a return trip is not necessary, but think that it is.

We are also having a DP that night in the UK, but since most of our guests should be at the Beach Club, our consultant told us we can walk in with a guide. I may have to do a van from Coronado depending on how many people stay there.

Transportation is one of the big reasons we kept all of our events in Epcot or the Epcot resort area.

 

[DoomBuggy0922]

We're providing transportation to the ceremony/reception (both are at the Boardwalk), but not from it. Our reception ends at 3:30, and we're giving people the option of going wherever they want--- hey, some might want to hit up a park!

We're also having a DP at Sago Cay on the wedding night, and we're not providing transportation to it (with the theory that we have no idea where our guests will be!), but we will provide them with transportation back to their hotels afterward. For the record, we're also not requiring formal attire for the DP.

 

[Jilian]

OK, I'm glad to know that others are doing transportation only to the event, I think we might go with that.

 

[Jilian]

We got a great deal on round-trip so I ended up booking round trip instead, I updated the OP with the details.

 

[v_misses_epcot]

I'm not sure but doesn't carrys book mention that mears will sometimes leave you in the dark and can't be reliable?

 

[lurkyloo]

Disney's Fairy Tale Weddings uses Mears for all its transportation (except specialty vehicles like the carriage, the Rolls, etc.). But what happened to me was, in trying to lower our transportation costs, I asked Disney about using town cars instead of a charter bus and was told that the town car drivers are always on the lookout for $$$ airport fares and might strand our guests if they got offered one of those instead. I have never heard of this actually happening at a Disney wedding, and people seem to use town cars all the time with no problem. What spurred me to create my detailed chart of transportation options for the PassPorter book was that we were not offered anything besides a limo or a huge charter bus for our small group. If I'd known there were so many other smaller, cheaper transportation options than a charter bus, I coulda saved a bundle.

 

[Jilian]

Mears was recommended to me by my wedding planner as one of the preferred vendors she uses. I sure hope they don't strand us, we've paid and I have confirmation numbers and the lady who booked us was told that it was for a vow renewal. I just went back and checked the e-mail from my wedding planner and she specifically recommends Mears for smaller vehicles because of their one-way and round trip pricing. I'll double check with her to see if she's heard any horror stories about people being stranded. I think the Swan even has a contract with Mears too, I did see a Mears table when I was there with brochures and a phone to contact them directly...I'm assuming that they wouldn't want to do anything to hurt that relationship.

 

[tinkerbell 766]

Another of Karen's preferred vendors is Destination MCO, which is who we used for our limo. They were very good and were always where they were supposed to be when they were supposed to be!! They were reasonable, and their price included driver's gratuity.

 

[Jilian]

Yep, MCO was the second place I got a quote from. They were $96 each way for an 8 passenger van.

 

[tinkerbell 766]

Wow, that's quite a difference from $14 each way isn't it? No wonder you went with Mears!!