Used Mears Wheelchair Vans - Reviews

[clkelley]

On my recent trip, I used the Mears wheelchair vans for my transportation to and from Ft. Wilderness.

I had made my reservation online and it was prepaid. I had forgotten my $3 Disney coupon, so I still don't know if they refund that coupon if you reserve and prepay online.

When I arrived at the counter I gave them my reservation slip and they printed me my ticket. It wasn't a very long line, but there were a lot of very confused people who obviously were there for the first time and made for a long wait.

Once I got my ticket, I proceeded to the outside checkpoint and checked in with the dispatcher. I was given a pager, and the wheelchair van showed up within 5 minutes and I was on my way. I didn't have to share with anyone, so got a quick, direct ride to Ft. Wilderness.

For my return, I called Mears the night before to confirm that I had a wheelchair van at 3pm for Ft. Wilderness, and they confirmed no problem.

When I was finished with packing up and doing one last attraction at Magic Kingdom on my departure day, I was a bit late getting back to the Outpost at Ft. Wilderness. (3:05 pm) The van was not there. At 3:10 pm, I called Mears and she said that they were sending their taxi service over and they should have been there. She put me on hold for about 15 minutes and finally came back and said the driver went over to Wilderness Lodge instead of Ft. Wilderness and would be there in 15-20 minutes. Well finally, at 4pm, the Mears wheelchair van shows up and I get loaded up and off we go. (FYI, the driver said he was at Downtown Disney when he was dispatched to my location at 3:30pm and came straight to Ft. Wilderness, so they did not forward the driver that mistakenly went to Wilderness Lodge) He checked with dispatch and the traffic radio and took an alternate route to avoid an accident on the BeeLine. I made it to the airport and curbside checked my luggage at 4:35 pm. My flight was at 5:35pm, so I figure I was OK. WRONG!!! Security was insane!! As a matter of fact, if I hadn't had the ECV, I wouldn't have made it. I was in the security line for 40 minutes, and was pulled out of the main line and sent to the accessible line and barely made my flight at last call. If I was in the regular security line, it would have been at least another 30 minutes in security. Although, then again, if I hadn't had the ECV, I would have been in a regular Mears van with a 2pm pickup, instead of a 3pm pickup.

I have learned my lesson on checkout day at the campground for next year's trip. I do believe I am still going to check out on Wednesday, but then schedule my flight home for first thing Thursday morning. I can have all afternoon and evening in the parks on Wednesday, then shut down Pleasure Island, then take a 3am Mears to the airport and an uncrowded security line, and not feel as rushed.

Carol

 

[SueM in MN]

What an adventure!
I hate it when things get cut so tight. Sorry to hear you had such a tense return trip.

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

I had a simmilar but different situation at Pop... another carrier was supposed to pick up some british guests who were flying out of Sanford. Thier receipt had them down for a pickup at "All-Star Pop Century", so of course, the driver went to the All-Stars. OOPS! I called the company for the guest, and tried to get them to understand we weren't an All-Star. They kept trying to tell ME that yes, Pop was at the All-Star complex. *bangs head*

At any rate, glad you made the flight, although it's a shame you had to rush. Had the van been there in time, you wouldn't have had to.

Thank you for posting the wait time for the TSA checkpoint... Disney and OIA always advises guests to plan to arrive at the airport 2hrs prior to departure time for domestic, and 3hrs for international. When I was at Pop (and even now that I'm back in buses) I heard it all the time... guests would always try and cut things way too tight, and would try to leave for the airport 60-90 minutes prior to departure time... ON PURPOSE.