How early is ME picking up?

[KangaFan]

For those who've taken ME recently--

How long have you waited to get a bus to your resort and where did you stay? Did you have a lot of stops on the way?

how many hours before your flight are you being picked up by ME?

Just weighing the cost of a town car vs the benefits of time saved

Thanks!

 

[DebbieB]

For those who've taken ME recently--

How long have you waited to get a bus to your resort and where did you stay? Did you have a lot of stops on the way?

how many hours before your flight are you being picked up by ME?

Just weighing the cost of a town car vs the benefits of time saved

Thanks!

I am at MCO now. Got picked up at WL at 5:30 for an 8:35 flight. No additional stops but there were people already on the bus when I got on. I arrived last Sunday at 2:30, got to the resort around 3:50, first stop.

 

[Carriemel]

I took excessively detailed notes in March when we flew in.

5:00pm Plane arrives at gate.
5:25pm Off plane, potty break, run to DME.
5:27pm On bus to BCV
5:32pm On the road
6:00pm Through the first welcome gate where Mickey and Minnie are.
6:04pm At CBR, where 19 people get off, including a few bags
6:07pm Depart CBR
6:12pm Arrive BWI
6:16pm Finally pull up to let people off at BWI - 2 people get off.
6:18pm Depart BWI
6:20pm Arrive BC, where 6 people (including us) got out.
6:27pm Receive keys to room.

So, 87 minutes exactly from the time the plane arrived at the gate until we had the keys in our hand.

 

[Mr. Pig]

We stayed 4/26 - 5/5 at POR.

We landed at MCO at 10:30AM on a Saturday. Lines at ME were long and we waited a good 20 minutes to get on a bus. Stopped first at POFQ then on to POR. We got to the resort just before noon.

Going home we were picked up (POR) at 8:30AM for a 11:20 flight. The bus was maybe 5 minutes early and it took about 10 minutes to load up. As it worked out we were the only stop - lots of people got on. We had dropped off our bags at RAC and got our boarding passes. Security did not have a long line so we were at our gate with a lot of extra time.

A town car is nice going to the resort if you want to make a grocery stop on the way, otherwise I don't think you save all that much time.

 

[goofy4tink]

Plan on it taking up to 90 mins to get from the gate to your resort...sometimes it will take less time, and once in awhile it could take longer, but not much longer. My times are running about 75 mins..with little rushing.
The bus routes can, and do, change. It is hard to say what route each resort will be on....I stay at BWVs a lot.....I have had about 5 different routes to date!

Going back to the airport, figure on being picked up about 3 hrs prior to your flight departure...give or take 15 mins either way.
Word of caution...if you decide to take a towncar back to the airport....leave at least 2 hrs prior to flight time. The towncar companies will tell you that you will have plenty of time if they pick you up 90 mins prior....and you could very easily run into issues with that timing.

Here are my average travel times..using various modes of transportation (as best as I can remember!)

DME...from 60-90 mins. One time it was 90 mins, otherwise usually around 75ish.

Car service...carry on bags only.....45 mins from gate to resort.
Car service...checked bags......60 mins

Mears shuttle....carry on bag.....80 mins
Mears shuttle...checked bag......115 mins

Do with that info as you will.

 

[KangaFan]

Thanks for all the good intel everyone!

 

[TheRustyScupper]

How long have you waited to get a bus to your resort and where did you stay?
. . . usually 10-20 minutes

Did you have a lot of stops on the way?
. . . buses have four "routes" which cover all resorts
. . . sometimes, there are enough passengers to go to just one resort
. . . other times, they make all four stops
. . . typically a bus makes 4-stops during the day
. . . typically a bus make 1-2 stops during morn and eve flight "rush hours"

how many hours before your flight are you being picked up by ME?
. . . it is "approx" 3-hours
. . . each resort has two routine pickups per hour
. . . example: 10-minutes and 40-minutes after the hour
. . . however, if no one is scheduled, they do not stop
. . . so, if you kiss your bus, there is no way to determine the next bus

Just weighing the cost of a town car vs the benefits of time saved
. . . a town car still wants at least 2-hrs