Dear DISBoard Friends,
I have just arrived from a dream-amazing-awesome-terrific week at WDW.
Later on I'll post a report, but as I mentally promised myself, this is the first thing I am writing.
I had the most disgusting/terrible/vacation-threatening experience of my life, and unfortunately, it was with Mears. I am the kind of person that usually gives all kinds of services a chance, even when it goes wrong badly. But Mears did so much, on EVERY contact I had with them, that I'll have to describe it to you, my fellow DIS friends.
1 - The Arrival: My flight arrived Aug 27th @ 7:10 PM on MCO. At 7:40 I was in front of Mears check in, where a sleepy gentlemen told me to wait the next van to CBR on the exit righ in front of the desk. So far, so good. Then, 20 minutes later, the van arrived, along with its driver Patrick. This is the beginning of a nightmare. After stopping at all 4 terminals of MCO (expected), Patrick stops the van and starts to look into the map. Looks and looks. Then, he start our way to what we thought were WDW. Nope. One of the passengers was on a off-site Hotel. OK. Turns and turns gone, 30 minutes after our departure from MCO, we discovered that our driver was LOST, and couldn't find this off-site Hotel.
After what we might call a near-revolution inside the van (which was full) where some people started asking our driver if he knew where he was, and etc...he decided to take us to WDW, leaving the off-site guy for last (poor soul). We stopped at the Dolphin and THEN on CBR. My check in @ CBR was at 11:30 PM. My welcome night at WDW ruined.
2 - The shuttle to Universal - Way In: 30 minute delay, two phone calls to Mears with the same excuses.
Way out: The bus driver when we arrived at Universal said: "Mears buses and vans come to pick everybody up every hour, on the half hour". OK, this means that at 1:30, 2:30 and so on, there would be a pick up ride back to WDW, right ? WRONG.
Rain fell, we were at Hard Rock Cafe by 9:30 PM. OK, no biggie, we would take the 10:30 ride. We arrived at the mears identified spot at 10:00. At 10:30, a van arrived, and the driver, which was EXTREMELY UNPOLITE, hold a hand up to me and said "you have to wait the 10:30 bus, this is a special ride for other hotels". OK again. 10:30, 10:45, 11:00....At 11:15 (why, why didi I wait so much !) I decided to call Mears and heard that we should have RESERVED a shuttle back, and now they could send us a Van only at 12:30. Result: I had to freak out on the phone, lose all my grips, for the attendant to send me a prepaid taxi to CBR. Another 15 min wait, and I was at CBR at 12:30 AM.
3 - The Last Day: Called the day before, reserved a sit on the transfer bus to MCO. The bus was only 15 minutes delayed, no problems at this time.
After all those issues, I made a mental note to write here on DIS all my bad experiences regarding MEARS, hoping that I can help everyone on having the perfect Disney vacation.
As far as I'm concerned, Mears is not an option anymore.
I have just arrived from a dream-amazing-awesome-terrific week at WDW.
Later on I'll post a report, but as I mentally promised myself, this is the first thing I am writing.I had the most disgusting/terrible/vacation-threatening experience of my life, and unfortunately, it was with Mears. I am the kind of person that usually gives all kinds of services a chance, even when it goes wrong badly. But Mears did so much, on EVERY contact I had with them, that I'll have to describe it to you, my fellow DIS friends.
1 - The Arrival: My flight arrived Aug 27th @ 7:10 PM on MCO. At 7:40 I was in front of Mears check in, where a sleepy gentlemen told me to wait the next van to CBR on the exit righ in front of the desk. So far, so good. Then, 20 minutes later, the van arrived, along with its driver Patrick. This is the beginning of a nightmare. After stopping at all 4 terminals of MCO (expected), Patrick stops the van and starts to look into the map. Looks and looks. Then, he start our way to what we thought were WDW. Nope. One of the passengers was on a off-site Hotel. OK. Turns and turns gone, 30 minutes after our departure from MCO, we discovered that our driver was LOST, and couldn't find this off-site Hotel.
After what we might call a near-revolution inside the van (which was full) where some people started asking our driver if he knew where he was, and etc...he decided to take us to WDW, leaving the off-site guy for last (poor soul). We stopped at the Dolphin and THEN on CBR. My check in @ CBR was at 11:30 PM. My welcome night at WDW ruined.
2 - The shuttle to Universal - Way In: 30 minute delay, two phone calls to Mears with the same excuses.
Way out: The bus driver when we arrived at Universal said: "Mears buses and vans come to pick everybody up every hour, on the half hour". OK, this means that at 1:30, 2:30 and so on, there would be a pick up ride back to WDW, right ? WRONG.
Rain fell, we were at Hard Rock Cafe by 9:30 PM. OK, no biggie, we would take the 10:30 ride. We arrived at the mears identified spot at 10:00. At 10:30, a van arrived, and the driver, which was EXTREMELY UNPOLITE, hold a hand up to me and said "you have to wait the 10:30 bus, this is a special ride for other hotels". OK again. 10:30, 10:45, 11:00....At 11:15 (why, why didi I wait so much !) I decided to call Mears and heard that we should have RESERVED a shuttle back, and now they could send us a Van only at 12:30. Result: I had to freak out on the phone, lose all my grips, for the attendant to send me a prepaid taxi to CBR. Another 15 min wait, and I was at CBR at 12:30 AM.
3 - The Last Day: Called the day before, reserved a sit on the transfer bus to MCO. The bus was only 15 minutes delayed, no problems at this time.
After all those issues, I made a mental note to write here on DIS all my bad experiences regarding MEARS, hoping that I can help everyone on having the perfect Disney vacation.
As far as I'm concerned, Mears is not an option anymore.
Yes, it might be a little bit cheaper if you only have a few people, but when you consider how much you are already spending on your Disney vacation, why not cough up an extra $25 or whatever so that you can get off to a great start! When we're at Disney, we want to enjoy as much magic as we can. Our vacation time is too valuable to spend time waiting on the shuttle, waiting while people get dropped off all over creation, etc. Even when it's just the two of us we always go with a town car. We did Mears once, on our very first trip, and that was enough to teach us that lesson!
