Mears - A Review

[annagirl]

Since I was staying at the Swan, Magical Express was not an option for me. I did not want to rent a car, so I booked with Mears.

After getting my luggage I checked in at the Mears counter. FYI - you have to check in INSIDE the airport and then go outside to the Mears stand to get a pager for the bus. So many people just skipped the counter and had to go back in when the person at the stand told them.

You are assigned a bus stand - there are several Mears stands and each have different routes - so be sure to go to the correct stand.

Then you wait for your bus. We waited almost 30 minutes - the longest wait we had for any bus the whole trip.


Our driver must have been new. He made several mistakes. First mistake - he took luggage and boarded people who were not on our route. Once he realized this, he had to unload the luggage and get them off the bus. This added another 15 minutes! Ugh!

Then, he actually stopped at 2 resorts that were also not on our route. Not sure how much extra time this took - but it was more than any of us wanted, I can assure you.

Finally, we got to our hotel - 2 hours after we had checked in at the airport! It was terrible. DD and I were exasperated at the whole thing.


However - the return Mears shuttle was a breeze. We had a small van for the return and he arrived promptly and we headed right to the airport - so fast that we were in the airport 2 hours ahead of our flight!

So I just think we got unlucky with our first driver. The bus itself was very nice, clean with wide seats and comfortable. The van was also nice and clean and comfy.

Our total price, 1 adult 1 child was $60.00 for round trip.

 

[goofy4tink]

Thanks for the review. I used the Mears shuttle a year ago, when I was at the Swan. I hadn't used it since '99 so wanted to see how it had changed.
I had made a reservation ahead of time, but couldn't get the kiosk to work for me, so the woman at the counter had to print out my ticket. I got outside, and was given a pager....did not bode well I figured. But, after about 2 mins, my pager went off and I was added to a van that had been boarding in front of me...evidently they had room for one more. Terrific. We made about 3 stops...resorts I had heard about but had never seen. That was pretty interesting. Then, we headed over to Old Town...a section of Orlando that I never knew existed. It was very interesting to hear what our driver had to say about the area, and points of interest. It took about 75 mins, from arriving at the Mears counter, to the Swan. I only needed it one-way, so it was only about $18 for me. But I wouldn't hesitate to use it again. I thought it worked very well.

I know that some WDW guests have gotten DME drivers who were very off-putting...so it's not just Mears drivers I guess.