For Those Considering Mears Connect...

[What-r-ya Goofy?]

We had a mostly positive experience using Mears for transportation to and from MCO on our recent 5/11 - 5/17 trip.

We arrived at MCO about 10am to an empty waiting area and were on the bus immediately. We waited about 15-20 minutes for other passengers to board before departing. We stopped at three other resorts before reaching ours which was slightly inconvenient. I think we were on the bus about an hour in total. So, not too bad overall.

On our return trip to the airport the bus showed up right on time. We were scheduled 3.5 hours before our flight time. They have a helpful tracking app provided as part of the reservation link where you can see exactly where the bus is on its route to your hotel. This was very reassuring to my party of nervous travelers wondering if and when the bus would arrive.

My only complaint was with our experience in attempting to pick up passengers at the Boardwalk. The driver waited for 30 minutes for passengers that never showed up for the bus. I thought that this was an excessive amount of time to wait for a no show. At one point he was on his phone, so I was assuming that they had made contact with the Boardwalk group and he had confirmation they were coming. But they never did show. Fortunately we were still able to make our flight on time. But the added stress on our travel day was not appreciated. Not sure what Mears' policy is on waiting for no shows, but 30 minutes seems overly generous if that is in fact the policy.

Overall, an A- grade for Mears this time around. I would definitely use them again.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

30 minutes waiting is really generous. back when it was Magical Express I remember a driver leaving a family behind because they couldn't have all their members present and ready to board the bus within 10 or so minutes of arrival (some of them had gone off somewhere). The driver said he had a time when he had to be en route to the airport.

 

[seashoreCM]

If the 30 minute wait at Boardwalk detracted from arriving at the airport 2 hours (or their prominently published parameter) before your flight and also it required good fortune to get to your gate before your boarding zone was called, then the shuttle service did not deserve a B (or 4 out of 5-star) let alone an A (or 5 star) rating.

The family left behind the last time for being tardy had (or should have had) the choice of those family members already there taking the shuttle while the tardy members caught up on their own later.

 

[_19disnA]

When they had DME, 10 minutes seemed like a reasonable time to wait. People are repeatedly told to be at the bus stop a few minutes ahead of time to facilitate boarding. I view it much the same as boarding your aircraft prior to take-off. Once they close the door, they aren't going to re-open it for late arrivals. The clueless ones who think the world revolves around them will realize it doesn't when they miss their bus/airplane a few times.

Holding a bus for an excessive amount of time waiting for someone who is missing, isn't a reason to make those already on board also be late for their flights.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

The family left behind the last time for being tardy had (or should have had) the choice of those family members already there taking the shuttle while the tardy members caught up on their own later.

They were given that option and chose to wait for them. They had to call DME to arrange another pickup and were within the window where they risked missing their flight.