ME--who shares a bus with FW?

[IMGONNABE40!]

I'll be staying at FW next month. My nephew is flying in as an unaccompanied minor about 6 hours after I arrive. When he did this last year I just called ME to make a separate reservation for my return to the airport to get my nephew.

The procedure is different this year. I can't make the reservation at this point, they said to make the reservation when I arrive at FW. But, I am thinking, we will probably be at MK when I have to think about heading back to the airport. And, getting back to the Settlement Post at FW would take a lot more time then, say...heading over to the Contemp, or GF or Poly to take ME back to the airport. I can't imagine that they would care where I take ME from. But, thought it would be helpful to know which resorts share a bus with FW since I'd likely be on the same bus, just a different stop.

 

[goofy4tink]

Unfortunately, your ME ride is tied to your resort reservation. At this point in time, you are not allowed to take a bus from another resort back to the airport. Are you using DME to get to the resort earlier in the day?? If so, how are you going to get back to WDW after picking up your nephew??? Each guest gets a ride from the airport to the resort, and a ride back to the airport. You don't get multiple rides.

 

[clkelley]

DME is tied to your resort reservation. Are you flying in?? Will you use DME to get to the Fort in the first place.

Will you use DME to get back to the airport at the end of your trip?

DME only allows ONE free roundtrip per resort reservation per person.

Will he be arriving only 6 hours after you land at MCO?? Or is it 6 hours after you expect to arrive at Ft. Wilderness (meaning at least 7 hours after you land at MCO?)

If the timeframe is really that short, quite honestly, I would just stay at the airport. If your flight is delayed at all, that would cut that time even shorter.

It will take a minimum of 60-70 minutes to get from the airport to Fort Wilderness, then you need to check in.

To claim an unacompanied minor you MUST be at the airport when his flight lands.

You would really need to turn right around and be back at the airport soon after you check in.

If you do have time to go to Magic Kingdom as you say, then your options are as follows, a taxi from the Contemporary, or a Mears shuttle from Shades of Green. (However, Mears likes you to make your return shuttle reservation the night before and you are only arriving earlier that day).

Then to return to Disney, you would both need to ride Mears back to Disney or take a taxi cause your nephew can't ride DME by himself, and you won't be eligible for another free ride on DME if you want to use it for your trip back to the airport at the end of your stay.

 

[IMGONNABE40!]

Unfortunately, your ME ride is tied to your resort reservation. At this point in time, you are not allowed to take a bus from another resort back to the airport. Are you using DME to get to the resort earlier in the day?? If so, how are you going to get back to WDW after picking up your nephew??? Each guest gets a ride from the airport to the resort, and a ride back to the airport. You don't get multiple rides.

Actually...you do!! Last year I recieved my packet with ME vouchers for both me and my nephew. I called ME and explained to them that I would need to go back to the airport the same day to pick up my nephew who was an unaccompanied minor. They could see from the reservation that he was only 9 years old. They could also see that he arriving at a later time from a different city. So, they made a second reservation for me to return to the airport the same day I arrived in order to go to the gate, get my nephew and then return on ME with said nephew in tow.

When my flight arrived I called my sister to let her know that I had arrived and she could put my nephew on the plane. I then headed off to ME for the ride to my resort. I had time to check in, check out the resort, then go back to ME--where they had my reservation for the return trip to the airport and were definately expecting me! and head back to the airport.

When I called ME this year, they said the procedure for this had changed--not been eliminated-- that I was now to notify ME at the resort when I arrived that I would need to return to the airport to pick up an unaccompanied minor later that same day, and also return to the resort with my nephew.

That is where I got to wondering whether I might be able to do it from a different resort. I think the best thing to do is just to call ME back and ask them.

 

[goofy4tink]

Actually...you do!! Last year I recieved my packet with ME vouchers for both me and my nephew. I called ME and explained to them that I would need to go back to the airport the same day to pick up my nephew who was an unaccompanied minor. They could see from the reservation that he was only 9 years old. They could also see that he arriving at a later time from a different city. So, they made a second reservation for me to return to the airport the same day I arrived in order to go to the gate, get my nephew and then return on ME with said nephew in tow.

When my flight arrived I called my sister to let her know that I had arrived and she could put my nephew on the plane. I then headed off to ME for the ride to my resort. I had time to check in, check out the resort, then go back to ME--where they had my reservation for the return trip to the airport and were definately expecting me! and head back to the airport.

When I called ME this year, they said the procedure for this had changed--not been eliminated-- that I was now to notify ME at the resort when I arrived that I would need to return to the airport to pick up an unaccompanied minor later that same day, and also return to the resort with my nephew.

That is where I got to wondering whether I might be able to do it from a different resort. I think the best thing to do is just to call ME back and ask them.

Good to know. I hadn't heard of DME doing that. My only issue is this.....when too many people start 'customizing' their DME experience, DME will change. And I'm not sure it will be a good change. Perhaps they could charge for any deviations from the norm. As soon as they allow one person to use DME from an area that is not their resort, everyone is going to want to do it...and that will lead to chaos, unless DME institutes a new system. I'm not saying you can't do it....just curious as to what will happen once they make allowances for one person and the word gets out.

 

[Telcogirl]

To answer your original question, I believe that the ME FW bus shares it route with Saratoga Springs, Old Key West and Port Orleans. My past experiences taking the ME and staying at both SSR and OKW always included those stops.

Of course things change.......but that is how I remember it.

Good luck!

 

[IMGONNABE40!]

Oh, I have not been told I can take ME from another resort...only that I can take a trip back to the airport to get my nephew. It is probably only wishful thinking that I can get ME from the Contemp. to head back to the airport. I will call them later and find out. I agree, as nice as it would be to take ME from the resort closest to the park you are visiting, that would be difficult to manage.

Now, making a second trip to the airport...I can't see that being "abused". With theme parks, water parks, DTD, lovely resort pools, I can't see many--ANY! people deciding to take a joy ride on ME out to the airport and back if they did not have to!! And, I have never been on an ME bus that was anywhere near full that they could not offer this service to people who need to get back to the airport to pick up kids.

 

[IMGONNABE40!]

To answer your original question, I believe that the ME FW bus shares it route with Saratoga Springs, Old Key West and Port Orleans. My past experiences taking the ME and staying at both SSR and OKW always included those stops.

Of course things change.......but that is how I remember it.

Good luck!

Thanks!!

 

[CleveRocks]

To answer your original question, I believe that the ME FW bus shares it route with Saratoga Springs, Old Key West and Port Orleans. My past experiences taking the ME and staying at both SSR and OKW always included those stops.

Of course things change.......but that is how I remember it.

Good luck!

Yes, those resorts are all included in DME's Downtown Disney (DD) zone, but resorts aren't consistently grouped by zone on the buses. Each bus run can be different, based upon the DME reservation data ... they know about how many people are going to which resorts at what times, so they customize things for the sake of efficiency.

When it's busy, and there is a constant march of people going to every resort, I imagine they stick with the zones. But if, for example, the only DD zone passengers for the next hour are a family of 4 going to POFQ, that family won't have their own bus and they won't have to wait an hour for more passengers ... it would be planned that they'll be on another bus going to resorts outside of the DD zone.

There is a maximum of 4 resorts per bus. But when a bus goes to 2 or more zones, there is a maximum of 3 resorts per bus, to make up for the increased travel time.

Of my 3 DME rides, one time we crossed zones and the other 2 times we stayed within one zone. The one crossover went to Caribbean Beach Resort (Epcot [EC] zone), Animal Kingdom Lodge (AK zone) and one of the All Stars. The two times we stayed within a single zone: Port Orleans French Quarter, Port Orleans Riverside, Fort Wilderness Campgroup (all in the DD zone); Polynesian, Grand Floridian, Contemporary (all in the MK zone).