DVC Should Pay for Mears Transportation

[we"reofftoneverland]

I'm confused as to why we are paying for it . I get it that we're owner's but the service is available to anyone staying onsite not just DVC.As a caveat to all this I can't remember the last time we used DME.

Dvc owners pay a portion of all transportation (monorail, buses, and RIV owners pay an outsized % of the gondolas).

 

[dez1978]

I can see it being $40 to $50 per person round trip, I just went with a friend and I could not get the car for less than $275 for the 4 day trip and that was economy. I started looking back in January when we decided. Granted it was spring break. So far, for my June trip is $334, and July is around the same.

So, even a family of 5, with luggage, is going to be similar. I just don’t see it being that much cheaper to rent a car unless it’s a short trip. And, there is an ease of using transportation as well. So, I think the savings has to be a lot for some people to choose the rental car.

Again, some will but I just don’t think it’s going to be overwhelming enough to swamp the parking lots.

We have 8 ppl. $800 round trip is a ridiculous amount of money considering it was free.

 

[Brian Noble]

We have 8 ppl. $800 round trip is a ridiculous amount of money considering it was free.

You'd probably be better off with a limo---about half that including gratuity. Plus it would be an awful lot of fun.

https://www.mousesavers.com/transpo...-sedan-limo-van-service-disney-world-orlando/

 

[Travel60]

How is that train? Do you get a cabin or just regular seats? It's still quite a bit of time.

The auto train is good. Struggling last few years but seems to be coming back, quality wise.

Traveling south you start at station in southern DC suburbs. Arrive noon to 1:00 pm, leave all your stuff in car except for small carry-on bag. They drive car onto train. You can get regular train seat, sleeper with sliding door (2 facing chairs that make into bunk beds), or a sleeper room with sofa that makes into bunk beds, a small chair and a tiny bathroom (think airplane). If you have the regular seats or sleepers, there are bathrooms at the end of each car. Train scheduled to leave around 4:00 pm. Arrives Sanford Fl (just north of Orlando) about 8:00 am. There is a snack car or for those in sleepers or rooms, there is a dining car that serves dinner and breakfast. This may have been impacted by Covid.

Going north, schedule reverses...leave Sanford around 4:00 pm, arrive DC around 8 am.

Sometimes it takes a while to get your car but, unless there is a track problem, it is much shorter time and more restful than driving I95!

We use it one way almost every year. Going other direction we drive but stop to see friends along the way. Started this when kids were young and you could get adjoining rooms with adjoining wall opened back. I think now they may have one family room per car.

 

[Sandisw]

We have 8 ppl. $800 round trip is a ridiculous amount of money considering it was free.

$50/round trip was my guess, not one way, so that would be only $400. But in reality the service was never free, it just felt that way.

We as owners paid for it. So did cash guests. We just all paid via dues or room rates,

Again, other ways may work out better for individual situations. As I mentioned, it will be built into my budget and if it means I have less to spend in the parks, then that is what I will do,

Mears connect pricing will be coming out soon. My hope is by June or July since it will be starting in January. Then at least everyone will now what the service, which they have said will be the same as DME, will actually cost.

 

[dez1978]

$50/round trip was my guess, not one way, so that would be only $400. But in reality the service was never free, it just felt that way.

We as owners paid for it. So did cash guests. We just all paid via dues or room rates,

Again, other ways may work out better for individual situations. As I mentioned, it will be built into my budget and if it means I have less to spend in the parks, then that is what I will do,

Mears connect pricing will be coming out soon. My hope is by June or July since it will be starting in January. Then at least everyone will now what the service, which they have said will be the same as DME, will actually cost.

lol, I was thinking each way, my bad. I just don't see our dues going down at all when this goes away. They will just slide it into some other line item. Just like cash room rates won't go down and haven't gone down even though you have less amenities than before, and none of the on site perks, because Disney knows people will still pay it.

 

[Sandisw]

lol, I was thinking each way, my bad. I just don't see our dues going down at all when this goes away. They will just slide it into some other line item. Just like cash room rates won't go down and haven't gone down even though you have less amenities than before, and none of the on site perks, because Disney knows people will still pay it.

I agree we won’t see it, but they are supposed to base things on actual operating expenses and we as owners can go and look at things at the DVCM offices,

So, whatever the amount was should at least help to offset somewhat the transportation line item increase that happens every year.

 

[DVCSunDevil]

Mears just announced they will continue resort transportation after 2021 for a fee. Disney should pay for that service for , at least, current DVC owners.
I think a majority of DVC owners whom come from out of state see Magical Express as a huge perk of ownership. This service was also touted by the DVC reps we toured with as a selling point and benefit against other timeshares.
Even though I dont think it specifically states transportation is provided in the contracts, it did state complimentary transportation on all the DVC resort websites and it would be really great PR for DVC to continue the service for free and looked as taking care of their members.
Am I out of line here or is this something others are thinking?

To be honest, I never used it so I would actually prefer that they go forward with the pay per use option via Mears. We pay for that DME service via our dues, so I would prefer the cost of that service to be taken out of my dues (because we all know Disney isn't going to all of a sudden pay for the DME just to do DVC members a solid). But that's just my opinion, and I also had no issues with it being in my dues while not using it before.

 

[DVCSunDevil]

We have 8 ppl. $800 round trip is a ridiculous amount of money considering it was free.

If you have 8 people then you should get a private van. We just got back from our trip and we hired a van that seats 10. It was $140 round trip. And they include a 30 min stop at a Publix for groceries if you want. They also have car seats so you don't need to bring one.

 

[DVCSunDevil]

Well today its free in January its not.

I can't imagine that Mears will run the shuttle much cheaper than renting a car if you have 5 or more in your party. I think 4 or less will be the sweet spot of it being cheaper than renting a car.

$40 a person each way or round trip? What do we think the price will be?

I think it will be a lot lower than what many think. Say, $20 round trip? I saw estimates that Mears was getting around $7 round trip for each guest that used the service, especially when the service was humming and those buses were full. Mears wants to keep that DME user and also attract new users, so pricing it crazy will kill the whole model. $20-$25 per person will be a huge increase over what they were getting from Disney. They want those buses to be full to maximize their economies of scale. If they price it at $40 per person, then a family of 4 will cost $160. It is cheaper at that point to just hire a private van like my family just did last week for $140 round trip. I am betting on $20 per person from Mears.

 

[DVC-Don]

Not if it increases my dues. I live near WDW and have never used DME.

 

[Bearval]

Another item that makes our AutoTrain decision look even better for next year.
We tried it for the 1st time, Jan-Feb 2021, and it was better for Social-Distancing than flying, saved us a ton vs. renting a car for 7 weeks, and it was great being able to spread out and relax during the trip and not have white-knuckles from driving I-95. I also look at it as saving me 2 Nights worth of Points/$$, as the overnights spent onboard the train are relaxing & refreshing and, if we drove we would waste at least one of those nights recuperating in our room to catch up on lost sleep.
For those DVC members that are a reasonable drive from Lorton VA, I would recommend giving it a try.

I just priced a trip in June for a family of 4 . 2 adults and 2 children with a car round trip and it was 3100.00 without tax. This was for a bedroom two roomettes would have been about 2800.00. I think I will just drive.

 

[DVCSunDevil]

I think this all brings up a much broader question I have been asking for years. Why do we have to pay for any of the transportation?

We don't use it, other than to take the monorail to MK. I drive everywhere.

The "parks" are not part and parcel to my timeshare ownership. You guys say that all the time. "They're not guaranteed." "They could go away."

Transportation to and from the parks is solely a benefit to the parks division. Those transportation options benefit Parks directly. Financially and otherwise. Nice gig if you can get somebody else to pay for it for you.

I think there is a legitimate argument to be made for DVC members not having to pay for a transportation line item in their dues. It's promoted all the time as "free." It's either free or it's not. For us, it is not.

And don't even get me started about the cost of DME for those of us that drive and pay for it.

Me and my family use the transportation all the time. We go to/from parks and DS to our resort. I don't mind the cost being in my dues because we use it all the time.

 

[Sandisw]

Me and my family use the transportation all the time. We go to/from parks and DS to our resort. I don't mind the cost being in my dues because we use it all the time.

To add, it was part of what we agreed to in terms of operating costs of having our DVC resort located as part of the WDW resort.

So,I agree it should be considered a shared expense as we are eligible as onsite guests to use it!

 

[JanszLoveOswald]

I've got a question for everyone about this. If Disney is getting rid of what my kids affectionately call the "Mickey Bus".... what happens to your luggage? Right now, if I'm travelling without my DH and bringing my two kids, I love the fact that I drop off my luggage when I check into the airport and it "magically" appears in our room? To me, this is a HUGE perk of DVC and was a selling point when we bought our contract. I do NOT want to schlep my luggage through the airport to either a MEARS bus, taxi or limo.

 

[DebbieB]

I've got a question for everyone about this. If Disney is getting rid of what my kids affectionately call the "Mickey Bus".... what happens to your luggage? Right now, if I'm travelling without my DH and bringing my two kids, I love the fact that I drop off my luggage when I check into the airport and it "magically" appears in our room? To me, this is a HUGE perk of DVC and was a selling point when we bought our contract. I do NOT want to schlep my luggage through the airport to either a MEARS bus, taxi or limo.

Luggage transfer was handled by a separate company and did not return when they reopened last July. Likely gone for good.

 

[Deb & Bill]

I've got a question for everyone about this. If Disney is getting rid of what my kids affectionately call the "Mickey Bus".... what happens to your luggage? Right now, if I'm travelling without my DH and bringing my two kids, I love the fact that I drop off my luggage when I check into the airport and it "magically" appears in our room? To me, this is a HUGE perk of DVC and was a selling point when we bought our contract. I do NOT want to schlep my luggage through the airport to either a MEARS bus, taxi or limo.

You get one of those rental luggage carts (I'm sure they still have them around), load your luggage and one or two kids on it and roll it to the bus. Then you unload at the bus, haul the cart to the turn in spot, get $1 back (don't know if they still do that or not) or let someone working at the airport take your luggage cart back to the reload spot and they get the $1.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

Me and my family use the transportation all the time. We go to/from parks and DS to our resort. I don't mind the cost being in my dues because we use it all the time.

Honestly, there is no such thing as free. If the cost is not buried in dues or hotel rates, it would be buried in the cost of admission. A rose by any other name....

 

[DVCSunDevil]

Honestly, there is no such thing as free. If the cost is not buried in dues or hotel rates, it would be buried in the cost of admission. A rose by any other name....

When did I say it was free? I even said “I don’t mind the cost being in my dues”. I 100% know I am paying for it and I 100% don’t care because my family uses it all the time when we visit WDW.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

When did I say it was free? I even said “I don’t mind the cost being in my dues”. I 100% know I am paying for it and I 100% don’t care because my family uses it all the time when we visit WDW.

Did not intentionally mean to single you out. It’s quite possible I quoted the wrong post.