Sunshine flyers vs Mears

[Stacey Faria]

We havent been back to Disney since ME days (cry) , looking to book one of the two services - would love to hear and experiences on both and if one seems to be preferred over the other! Thanks in advance.

 

[CarolynFH]

Two threads you might want to follow, or at least read the last page or two:
Mears Connect Experience
Sunshine Flyer Experiences
I'd also skim the subject lines on the first page of this forum - several posts deal with recent experiences.

 

[Goldelpack]

After using both services this year- Mears Connect (April) & Sunshine Flyer (May) I thought both were equally good with neither one particularly standing out. The service was as expected. (I posted my experiences in each companies thread as well)
Surprisingly my choice for whom I will use next trip came down to the website and my ability to see my reservations (Mears Connect) Their site is extremely more functional and that ended up being my deciding factor.

 

[MinnieMSue]

After using both services this year- Mears Connect (April) & Sunshine Flyer (May) I thought both were equally good with neither one particularly standing out. The service was as expected. (I posted my experiences in each companies thread as well)
Surprisingly my choice for whom I will use next trip came down to the website and my ability to see my reservations (Mears Connect) Their site is extremely more functional and that ended up being my deciding factor.

I have been going back and forth between the two and wanted to give my money to the smaller sunshine flyer company but I think the superior website mears has might tip me toward them too.

 

[Ross Kratter]

I have been going back and forth between the two and wanted to give my money to the smaller sunshine flyer company but I think the superior website mears has might tip me toward them too.

Sunshine Flyer is not a smaller company by any means. The parent company, TMS, is enormous. Academy Bus, who provides a good chunk of the buses, is enormous.

 

[Goldelpack]

Sunshine Flyer is not a smaller company by any means. The parent company, TMS, is enormous. Academy Bus, who provides a good chunk of the buses, is enormous.

Very good point. I was thinking of SF as a smaller start up compared to Mears.. but you're right... and perhaps they'll look into advancing their website. It's weird to me thinking about how many times I respond to surveys that ask about a companies' website and think how ridiculous it is to do so.. but now I'm realizing it does make a difference. With price & service on par with each other overall.. the usability and functionality of the site becomes key.

 

[PatMcDuck]

I had no problems with the Flyer website. Booked both ways in April on Sunshine Flyer, because of the feeling that competition is a good thing, monoplies bad. So, my flight was delayed a ridiculous 5 hours coming to MCO and we landed at 3:30 am (!) and sat on tarmac until 5 am (!!) so Flyer is closed at that time. We used Lyft and got a refund from Sundshine Flyer. (Meanwhile I called them so many times, First I was on Jet Blue, cancelled, Southwest, cancelled, and finally Frontier05 hour delay. This was that crazy Saturday in early April 2022). They were swamped with calls from hundreds of cancelled flights but handled it well I thought.

We took Flyer back to MCO with no problems (from Beach Club). I never used ME, I used to rent a car every trip. I may just use Lyft next time, especially on arrival, so nice to go straight to resort.

 

[Chuck S]

I would assume that Mears is basically the same as Magical Express was. I did try Sunshine Flyer last trip, as the person I travel with was a big railroad fan, and the service was exce;;ent. But I've booked mears for my May/June trip to compare the two. I'm doubting there is a lot of difference.