Hi everyone... we were in WDW from May 12-16 and it just occurred to me that some might want to hear about how ME was working then.
We flew to MCO on SW and did NOT have the ME tags shipped to us beforehand, so the only ID on them was a homemade tag saying our name, rez number, the resort, etc.
We decided to put our faith in ME and didn't claim our own luggage and were able to get processed and board the ME bus within 15 minutes of getting downstairs at MCO. The bus did still sit there for a while, so that delayed things a bit but I wasn't too concerned about that. Our resort (POR) was the last of 4 stops, so the ride was a bit long - but we did get there safe and sound. One disappointment was the driver - he was surly, not helpful at all and didn't play the WDW videos for the drive, so the bus was dead quiet and the ride was a bit boring.
We had landed at 4:10, arrived at the resort around 6:00 p.m. and our luggage arrived to our room by 8:30 so overall it went smoothly.
On the way back, we were told to be downstairs by 1:00 (we were at AKL by that time, btw) and that the bus needed to be loaded and gone by 1:15. Unfortunately, the bus didn't even arrive till 1:30, and there were a couple more people there than expected, so it took her longer to load up and we were the first resort on her run. From there, we had 2 other resorts to stop at, so we got to MCO very late.
The driver was a total delight and she was lots of fun to talk to. We discussed ME and the challenges they've faced, and one of the biggest problems is that the drivers don't always have an accurate account of the number of passengers/bags and that makes it hard to keep on schedules. If they are given 10 minutes to load 5 passengers and bags and arrive at a resort to find that there are 10 passengers there, then loading will take more than 10 minutes (for example), and so they are late getting to the next resort. They arrive there to find more bags and people than expected, so the delays increase.
In our case, we had time to get checked in, go through security, and walk quickly to our gate and hubby barely made it back from the bathroom before they were announcing pre-boarding (which we were doing as we had an infant with us). That was cutting it far too close for my taste, but at least we made our flight.
From what she told me, Disney/ME expects to add busses to the service as they learn the traffic patterns and need for the service. She hinted that eventually, there might be a set number of buses per resort, so people wouldn't have to stop at multiple resorts on the way to/from the airport.
So, in a nutshell, I liked ME and I'll like it more when they work out the kinks. It saved us approximately $100 US in not having to pay for an airport transfer, or rent a car, so that was worth it for us. If money hadn't been an issue on this trip, the idea of a towncar would have been appealling - less stress, less time wasted and a more comfortable ride overall.
We flew to MCO on SW and did NOT have the ME tags shipped to us beforehand, so the only ID on them was a homemade tag saying our name, rez number, the resort, etc.
We decided to put our faith in ME and didn't claim our own luggage and were able to get processed and board the ME bus within 15 minutes of getting downstairs at MCO. The bus did still sit there for a while, so that delayed things a bit but I wasn't too concerned about that. Our resort (POR) was the last of 4 stops, so the ride was a bit long - but we did get there safe and sound. One disappointment was the driver - he was surly, not helpful at all and didn't play the WDW videos for the drive, so the bus was dead quiet and the ride was a bit boring.
We had landed at 4:10, arrived at the resort around 6:00 p.m. and our luggage arrived to our room by 8:30 so overall it went smoothly.
On the way back, we were told to be downstairs by 1:00 (we were at AKL by that time, btw) and that the bus needed to be loaded and gone by 1:15. Unfortunately, the bus didn't even arrive till 1:30, and there were a couple more people there than expected, so it took her longer to load up and we were the first resort on her run. From there, we had 2 other resorts to stop at, so we got to MCO very late.
The driver was a total delight and she was lots of fun to talk to. We discussed ME and the challenges they've faced, and one of the biggest problems is that the drivers don't always have an accurate account of the number of passengers/bags and that makes it hard to keep on schedules. If they are given 10 minutes to load 5 passengers and bags and arrive at a resort to find that there are 10 passengers there, then loading will take more than 10 minutes (for example), and so they are late getting to the next resort. They arrive there to find more bags and people than expected, so the delays increase.
In our case, we had time to get checked in, go through security, and walk quickly to our gate and hubby barely made it back from the bathroom before they were announcing pre-boarding (which we were doing as we had an infant with us). That was cutting it far too close for my taste, but at least we made our flight.
From what she told me, Disney/ME expects to add busses to the service as they learn the traffic patterns and need for the service. She hinted that eventually, there might be a set number of buses per resort, so people wouldn't have to stop at multiple resorts on the way to/from the airport.
So, in a nutshell, I liked ME and I'll like it more when they work out the kinks. It saved us approximately $100 US in not having to pay for an airport transfer, or rent a car, so that was worth it for us. If money hadn't been an issue on this trip, the idea of a towncar would have been appealling - less stress, less time wasted and a more comfortable ride overall.
