ME question

[DeadHead]

Hi! I know this has been discussed before but - my DW and I have ressies for an 8:10 flt out of MCO, I know ME picks up 3 hours in advance of flt time, but do they actually do the pickup? I've read accounts of folks that were put into cabs, paid by Disney, at early hours of the morning. Does anyone have any info on this or just the pickup by ME in the A.M.. Thanks

 

[Edd]

When passengers are put into cabs, they are referred to as APL's, it is because there is not a bus available to do the pick up. Mears, they own the busses, has cabs on the property all night, under contract to Disney, and when this happens just notifies the cab by through their wireless paging system of the passengers name, how many in the group and what resort to go to. The cab receives the information and follows directions in picking up the passenger. The bus reservation is cancelled when the wireless notifies Mears that the passenger has been picked up. The driver is than paid by Mears as Mears has already established an amount the driver is to receive. Passengers do not have to pay the cab driver a dime unless they want to tip him because of his service.

No other cabs but Mears, they are from the Checker Fleet and state Mears on the front quarter panel, will be sent to pick up the passenger.

 

[goofy4tink]

I think you'll find that those that have been put into cabs have arrived in the wee hours of the morning or those who have experienced some kind of glitch in the system when leaving the resort. I've used DME for early morning flights and had no issues whatsoever. In fact, I've returned to the resort around 1-2 am, after a park EMH to see the DME buses dropping off or picking up.

 

[Edd]

The key to the whole story is that Mears has no busses to dispatch to pick you up where ever you are scheduled to be picked up, so they have the cab system backing them up.