towncar, grocery stop, resort

[mkhc67]

Anyone out there use a towncar to pick you up, then stop at a grocery store, then go to your resort? Were they good, how much was it, etc.
We want to get some snacks, breakfast food, soda and probably some adult beverages...wasn't sure they sold that stuff at the resorts so thought a grocery stop would be best. Thanks for any input.

 

[hoosiergirl7]

It's pretty expensive to get a town car. It's in the neighborhood of $100 roundtrip. Personally, I think that's a lot of money. Granted things will be more expensive at the resorts for purchase, but I've heard a lot of people packing things in their luggage. I know we will. The benefit of this is that the space originally occupied by snacks will be occupied by souvenirs. Luckily I have a friend who works at Disney and can probably bring us drinks from the grocery if I ask her to. If she can't, I'll just suck it up and buy stuff at the resort food court. That's also one reason I will purchase the refillable mug and possibly even get my self one of those big gulp type cups to pour soda in from the cup and refill it a few times.

 

[Eeyore's Pal]

We have done this a few years ago. I don't remember which service, but I think it was Florida town cars. It was about $95 round trip plus tip. It worked great. The driver meets you at the bottom of the escalator by the baggage claim and helps with everything. We stopped at Publix. But if your flight is late after 10 PM the only thing open is Goodings. (very expensive)
On the return, they pick you up about two hours before your flight.

These days people seem to use ME, but there are times when the town car may be worth the money. It is certainly faster on both ends and you have your luggage with you. And if you want a grocery stop, this is one way to go.

Other folks use ME plus one of the grocery delivery services.

And other people drive 900 miles with half their household in a roof rack.

 

[Hopefully]

We have done Rental Car and grocery store, Town Car and grocery stop and ME and grocery delivery service. We far prefer ME and grocery delivery service.
A Town Car is expensive. Your grocery stop is scheduled for 30 minutes, - not a long time in a strange store. You need to shop, stand in line and pay, lug your groceries to the car, and lug them along with all your luggage to your room.
With ME and a grocery delivery service you save the money on the Town Car (that can be used for other things at WDW ) and someone else does all the work. The groceries are delivered directly to your room.
We have used wegoshop.com 5 times and I highly recommend them. The cost is the cost of the groceries plus $17 delivery fee, as of October. We schedule delivery to our room the afternoon we arrive. Marge has always been right on time and everything was exactly as we ordered. We generally order breakfast foods, juice, soda, water, beer and wine, cheese and crackers, and snacks.
HTH

 

[souper]

I've been happy with Tiffany Town Car.
They took us to a small Publix grocery store. Not sure if the store sold adult beverages. I ran in mainly for water and a few snacks.

(The grocery stop request must be put in your reservation.)

 

[uva185]

If you are considering getting a town car just to get a grocery stop you are wasting your money. If you prefer the convenience of a towncar and happen to want the grocery stop then Southern Elegance and Mears have been good to me.

I tried Southern Elegance on my last trip, and while everything was fine, I got the vibe they were less professional than Mears. For the return portion of the trip my veichle was "upgraded" but IMO it was a less desirable veichle. Its also comforting knowing Mears is such a large company if something goes wrong with your car or driver there are plenty of backups available. However Mears charges a tad more than all the smaller companies. Both companies give a slight discount if you book roundtrip transportation.

 

[tmatthews]

using sunray for one way since we are coming in by train. We also scheduled a grocery stop.....originally it was 82 round trip but like I said we are doing one way and ME back to MCO.

 

[heartbeeps]

the thought of ME being a hassle has me shying away from that possibility! I'm thinking Town Car service RT because, after being on planes for 6 hours, I don't want to be in 3 different lines just to get ME bus! and being able to stop for groceries makes it a bonus! Not sure yet but that's my thinking. Talk me out of it & I save about $100 RT!

 

[ADisneyQueen]

Everyone please keep in mind that with many car services you are not guaranteed a grocery stop if your plane is late. That is what happened to us in 03. Our flight was about 45 min. late and the driver said she could not make the stop b/c she had to come back and pick up someone else. With two small children this really messed up our plans.

 

[Hopefully]

heartbeeps
We haven't found ME to be a hassle. Buying my own groceries, standing in line to pay for them, lugging them to the Towncar, lugging them to our room -- THAT was a hassle. Waiting for and claiming my own luggage in baggage claim before meeting my Town Car driver - THAT was a hassle.
ME is 2 lines, not 3. One to check in, one for the bus. On our trip in October I went ahead and got in line. It was a long line, but it only took about 10 minutes to get through. I met up with DH and DS and we went to the indicated bus line. It was empty so I thought, Oh Darn - We just missed the bus. Wrong, it had just loaded and was still there. We walked on and were off - no waiting at all - perfect. We have also waited 20 minutes in line for the bus, a long time when you are ready for vacation. If waiting in a line after your flight truly makes your skin crawl, the ME will not be for you. All in all, it is not a long time for a great service IMHOL.
Only you can decide what is best for your family. A TownCar driver will meet you outside of baggage claim and you are off immediately. That is cool!. You will go directly to your own resort, That is cool.
There have been many posts on the Transportation Board that seem to document that the total time to pick up your luggage yourself at baggage claim and meet your driver vs. checking in and taking ME are about the exact same length of time.
We will continue to use ME and a grocery delivery service. It is the best of both worlds for us.
Good Luck

 

[uva185]

I agree with the poster above. The last thing I want to do after my flight is wait in lines checking in for a bus that hops around to different resorts. I get impatient.

If you use Magical Express you would also have to leave Disney earlier to get back to the airport. I tend to take shorter trips and maximize my time each day. The last day I take the last flight out and I sure don’t want to spend extra time on ME. But then again, that comes with the $100 cost. To me it is worth it, to others it is not.

Personally I would prefer to pick up my own luggage, with all the baggage problems the airlines have if my bag is lost I want to know who to blame!!

Bad Scenario: You tag your luggage for ME and the airline sends it somewhere else. You board the ME assuming your luggage made it. When your luggage is not delivered to your room you call ME to find out the problem. They look it up and don’t have a record of your luggage. (Did they misplace it? Did they even pick it up?) You decide they did not pick it up and call the airline. Many times the airline requires you to file a missing baggage report in person at the airport! For the heck of it lets say they let you file over the phone. The airline then will locate the bag and send it to the correct location. This is usually only done after a claim has been filed. So then the airline sends the bag to MCO. Will the ME tag still be displayed on your bag after the airline retagged it? Finally I am sure one way or another ME will deliver the luggage but it will take some time.

In comparison if you knew your bag was missing at the airport you could file the report immediately and the airline would bear the responsibility of delivering your bag to the hotel. Less stress IMO -- should a problem arise.

Just my 2 cents -- to each their own

 

[IMGONNABE40!]

the thought of ME being a hassle has me shying away from that possibility! I'm thinking Town Car service RT because, after being on planes for 6 hours, I don't want to be in 3 different lines just to get ME bus! and being able to stop for groceries makes it a bonus! Not sure yet but that's my thinking. Talk me out of it & I save about $100 RT!

I'd be hard pressed to talk you out of it since that is exactly what I do--for many of the same reasons. Though, I will say that I have never been able to do ME for R/T because we always either start or end our vacation at Universal and would need transportation for that leg of the trip anyway. Since a one way is about $55-60 and I can get R/T for $82 with a grocery stop, going the extra $$ for the R/T seems like a no brainer.

We love Bob with SunRay! www.sunraytransportation.com

 

[tjmw2727]

I have done both and like both :0 My prefence for town cars is Tiffany Town car but my overall preference is ME with a grocery delivery from wegoshop.

Town car will run you between $90 and $100, you will have to wait for your luggage from the carosel, transport it to the town car parking while the driver pulls the car around and then do your shopping on the way to the resort. This can take upwards of 2 hours depending on how quickly your luggage comes off the carosel. You do get personal service and no additional stops and I know that's worth the $$ for many.

ME is free and the grocery delivery involves a small fee - IIRC a percentage of your total order. My last two experiences with ME had me at my resort much quicker than previous experiences with a town car service.

I have used ME 7x over the past 3 years and plan to use it again in March. My most recent trip to POFQ via ME;

Arrive at MCO at 9:15 am, long line for ME but moved very quickly. DH checked us all in while I took my dd's to the restroom and to grab a couple waters. There was no line for the bus, we boarded right away and left soon after. We were the second of three stops and by 10:30 I was checked into POFQ and we headed for the pool. I had our suits and necessities for the day in my carryon so we spent the morning at the pool, had lunch and then called to see about our room at 2ish. By 2:15 our room was ready and our checked luggage and my grocery delivery were waiting in the room.

To address some prior concerns,
As far as the early departure time - the ME pick up time is really only about 1/2 hour sooner than the town cars will pick you up. MCO is known for very slow security lines - in November it took me 50 minutes to clear security and then just the end of December it was 55 minutes. If you read the transportation board you will see that this is not an exception but rather normal for that airport. No matter your mode of transportation I highly recommend gettting to the airport at least 2 hours early in Orlando (as does the airport website!).

Lost luggage - If you use the yellow luggage tags and the airline misdirects your luggage ME will do all the work of filling out the forms, locating it and delivering it. They will use the claim tags given to you by the airline when you check your luggage and a description of your bags just as you would if doing it yourself. Personally I would rather be at the pool or parks than at the airport tracking my luggage. ME transports thousands of guests a day and if lost luggage were an issue you can bet it would be heard about. Either way, regardless of how you send your luggage its a good idea to have 24 hours of necessities in your carryon in case the airline does misdirect your checked bags.

TJ