Well whatever the problem is it is no longer as efficient to me as it used to be. Something changed between my first five DME experiences in 2005 - 2009 and my last two in 2012 and 2013. Everything went much faster in those earlier years. Now it is apparent that they want those buses full and they are including more resort stops on the return trip to the airport. Whether they send one twice an hour or once an hour or not at all, I don't know. They are scrunching something somewhere. And now scrunching people into small spaces, too.
I know "individual pickup times are about - not exactly - three hours in advance". The problem lies in the about now being closer to a norm of 2 hours and 45 minutes and then sometimes running late along with making three more stops after that. It's one thing to schedule three hours prior and arrive 5 or 10 minutes late. It's quite another to schedule 2 hours and 45 minutes prior and arrive 5 or 10 minutes late. This happened not once - but twice. That begins to feel like the "norm" to me and it's not okay.
No one is expecting DME to be perfect. And I'm not expecting anyone to change their DME love. I'm very disappointed that I can no longer rely on a wonderful service that I used to love, too. Yes, I can ask to be picked up earlier, but should it really be necessary to do that? It wasn't before.
I'm happy for anyone who has never arrived at MCO less than two hours before their flight. That was me pre-2012. Plenty of time to wait an hour in a security line and get to my flight. I think everyone needs to be aware though that it appears a growing number of us are having an opposite experience not just with the return ride, but with other issues of arrival and bus seat space as well.
