how well does mears work for getting from WDW to IOA or Sea World?

[TigerLaw]

I am planning a trip in november and we will be staying at CBR. I want to go to IOA and Sea World each for a day but I am somewhat concerned with what I have read about their service. basically, my general question is how well does mears work in getting people from the WDW resorts to IOA or sea world and back to the resorts?

My plan would be to arrive at IOA and Sea world before opening and leave at closing due to shortened hours-but is this even possible w. mears? how does it actually work-can you tell mears you want to leave at 8 a.m. and get picked up at 7p.m. for example, or will they give you set times that you will have to work around? also, do they use the buses for these trips or the vans?

would it just be easier in the end to use a taxi? how much would that cost?

if anyone can help me out here with some info, I would greatly appreciate it!

 

[nativetxn]

I think you will get some excellent advice about this topic if I move this over to our Transportation Board.

Katholyn

 

[BeanoC]

I haven't used Mears, but I really need to put in a plug for Tiffany here. We stayed at CBR last November, and had Tiffany take us to Discovery Cove. They were excellent. You have your own private towncar, and it doesn't cost any more than Mears! They pick you up at the Custom House, so you need to take the internal bus from your village to Custom House and meet them there. Excellent service!




'Beano'

 

[TigerLaw]

How much did using tiffiany for your trip to discovery cove cost? my understanding was that tiffiany cost like $80 round trip from the airport to the resorts and that mears was only like $15 round trip from the resorts to sea world. obviously, if the prices are actually comparable, towncar is the way to go!

 

[Ms. WDW]

I'd like to know also cause we leave in 12 days.

I was planning on taking Mears from the Boardwalk Villas over to Universal. You can't beat the price.

Unfortunately, I don't think you're going to get a price like that from Tiffany. I hope I'm wrong....

 

[singitalto]

Is that $15 per person (Mears-resorts to Seaworld)???
I also would like to know how the rates of the 2 companies compare.

 

[BethC]

I thought Mears was around $12 per person.

For Tiffany we paid $55 last summer to go to Universal. So, the value really depends on how many people are in your party. I can say the service far exceeds Mears, though.

Good luck!

 

[NoodlesTheRabbit]

We used Mears last May to go from CBR to Universal...they were horrendous. we left the resort @ 545AM because we wanted to get there for their Express Pass type thing. Our driver picked us up at Old Port Royale. He was so rude!! he seemed bothered that we got him up to take us to Universal.
He didn't speak the whole ride which made it really uncomfortable with just my boyfriend and I.
We asked to be picked up @ 330PM...we went to the stop at around 315 and were again treated rudely!! We asked a Mears driver that we saw if our van was here yet...he said "No the 330 shuttle doesn't get here at 315!" It was SO HOT, we were dying to get back to the room.
It was 330...still no shuttle. We got so fed up that we took a cab back for $20.
I think the price was $10 RT for one, but I would never use them again.
This year we will save the extra $ and use TTC for transportation to Sea World.

 

[Geri]

About 2 yrs ago my DD & I used Mears to go to Universal. We were picked up @ Fort Wilderness about 8am with a bus. There were other people boarding at the same spot, but we did have to stop other places to pick up more people. When I paid, the driver told me to keep my receipt. I'm very glad I did.

My DD was 8 at the time & I knew she would not like most of the rides & attractions so we just went to the Suess part (which she loved). I made arrangements to be picked up @ noon. We got there a little early & we found a cab waiting for us. He asked me to pay for the ride, but I had my receipt & everything was fine. If you do use Mears - KEEP YOUR RECEIPT!

No one was rude, but always very helpful.

Geri

 

[Alice in Lawyerland]

I have a Mears story....but, this was about 7 years ago, so read it with that in mind.

We were staying at the Contemporary and decided to have Mears take us to Universal Studios. Everything was fine on the way there.

We were going to stay until closing so the driver told us to go back to the stop after closing to meet our bus. Well, we get there and we don't see anything that looks like the shuttle that dropped us off. We wait for about half an hour. Now, it's pouring rain. We go over to a BIG Mears bus and ask them if they can find out where our shuttle is. Turns out that you have to board this huge bus with people from every single hotel in the Orlando area.....not just Disney hotels!! We were told that from the time the bus leaves, we would have about a 1.5 hour trip back to the hotel!!! We ended up taking a cab. So, if you decide to stay until closing, find out exactly what kind of bus you will be taking and how many stops it makes!!

 

[Ms. WDW]

Now I'm not sure what to do.

Mears or a taxi. If I request an early pickup say at 7 AM I expect to be there before Universal opens. And when I called Mears to get info., they told me that I call them about 90 minutes before I want to leave Universal and they'd have someone pick us up! Now I wondering from reading these notes if they have regulary scheduled runs back.

I leave in 9 days and I guess I have time to make up my mind.

Did someone say it was around $20 from WDW to US/IOA by taxi??

 

[Lesley]

The rates for Tiffany Town Car are listed on their website...

I did a comparison for getting 4 people (2 adults and 2 kids) from the airport to WDW....the price is about the same for tiffany and mears as tiffany is one price for the car and mears is per person. With the airport run there's also the issue of a grocery stop and our toddler's car seat. I sort of assume that car seats cannot be accomodated by Mears. So for this instance we're pretty sure we'll use the towncar service. Unless we decide to rent a car.

I don't know how it would compare for trips between the different Orlando parks, but I think with more than 2 people you're probably better off with the car service or a taxi.

I do also know that when it was just me and my dh, we used Mears and had no problem. On our honeymoon they actually gave us a complimentary town car ride to our hotel...we had vouchers for the regular shuttle and the dispatcher pulled us aside and said "I have a town car for you....wait here" and within a few minutes the driver was escorting us (and taking our bags) to a private car. It was a nice way to start our honeymoon!

I do think that if I were on a specific time schedule I'd spend the money for a taxi or town car even with only one or two people. Mears does make a lot of stops on their regular shuttles.

 

[NoodlesTheRabbit]

Yes, our trip from Universal back to CBR was $20...this was last May. I don't know how the taxis charge, but we would have been better off doing it that way from the beginning.

 

[Ms. WDW]

NoodlesTheRabbit: Thanks! I was discussing the possibilities of taking a cab versus Mears with my DH and now I think that's what I'm going to do.

We leave in 4 days!!

 

[cheshirekitty]

I've used mears twice going to universal and got there before the park opened and didn't have to wait long to return to wdw. It wasn't that expensive either.