Why Is ME Back To MCO So Screwed Up?

[WaltD4Me]

I agree! In the past I had to get the ME bus 3 hours before my flight departure. I think that is excessive and I have been thinking of doing a towncar this year instead.

Seriously, a town car service is awesome. It's one of my favorite tips I found here on the DIS. I've been using the same one the last 5 trips and I love it. The driver meets us at baggage, takes our bags to the car and we leave. We don't have to check in, wait in any lines or wait on the bus. We make a quick stop at Publix and then straight to our resort. Once we get our bags, it's about 40 minutes to the resort and that is WITH the grocery stop. We get in and out of Publix really fast though.

On the way back they pick us up 2 to 2 1/2 hours before our flight depending on the time of day.

True it's not free like ME, but sheesh, after reading this thread I'm more sure it's SO worth it.

 

[swald91]

We didn't have any problems with pick up either. We did however have to wait about 10 mins. for a family doing I think last min. shopping. The husband had to call his wife. Then instead of apologizing she just said thanks to the driver. Didn't have any problems with our flight, but wonder if it caused anyone to be late? I think the drivers have to wait for the passengers too.

 

[Bouncing4Tigger]

The only problem I have with ME is that they show up I have not experienced them showing up late. I did have one bus that was full and made it on. I was at one of the All Stars and there were still a few families waiting at the other All Stars that were not going to be picked up by this bus.

Hopefully there was another bus coming for them.

 

[swald91]

Yeah...it is pretty sad to see them show up! I don't even look at them during our trip. It just makes me think oh, someone else is going home today. You wait for a bus/monorail to arrive-but I swear you can see that ME bus on the day you leave a mile away!!!

 

[Bouncing4Tigger]

The only problem I have with ME is that they show up I have not experienced them showing up late. I did have one bus that was full and made it on. I was at one of the All Stars and there were still a few families waiting at the other All Stars that were not going to be picked up by this bus.

Hopefully there was another bus coming for them.

 

[Iggipolka]

We always use ME and have been thrilled with the service. We've never had to wait long for the bus to leave the airport and our luggage arrives in our room within a couple hours of when we check in. Last trip, our luggage arrived at the same time as we entered our room for the first time!

Going back to MCO, we've only had a problem once. Again, it was this last trip in June. The entire ME computer system crashed, so they were unable to check people in for flights, or deal with getting luggage to the flights. Everyone had to board the bus with their luggage and check-in at the airport. It was a huge mess, resulting in tremendously long lines at the airport. This was one time that I was grateful for ME having a 3 hour pre-flight pickup time. I was also really happy that we are Clear members and could skip through security with our own personal assistant. We would not have made our flight if we hadn't been Clear members.


This upcoming trip, we're flying Southwest for the first time to MCO. My understanding is that they do not participate in ME. Does this mean that we'll have to pick up our bags and take them to the ME bus, or is that only for departure?

Thanks!

 

[Launchpad11B]

Seriously, a town car service is awesome. It's one of my favorite tips I found here on the DIS. I've been using the same one the last 5 trips and I love it. The driver meets us at baggage, takes our bags to the car and we leave. We don't have to check in, wait in any lines or wait on the bus. We make a quick stop at Publix and then straight to our resort. Once we get our bags, it's about 40 minutes to the resort and that is WITH the grocery stop. We get in and out of Publix really fast though.

On the way back they pick us up 2 to 2 1/2 hours before our flight depending on the time of day.

True it's not free like ME, but sheesh, after reading this thread I'm more sure it's SO worth it.

Just curious....how much is the town car service? Is it round trip to and from the airport or one way?

 

[WaltD4Me]

Just curious....how much is the town car service? Is it round trip to and from the airport or one way?

You can get either round trip or one way. It's $105 round trip or $60 for one way. And you can get a grocery stop at Publix.

 

[cocowum]

We always rent a car. We use ME to transport our luggage to WDW. (Love that part of it) DH and DD ride ME to our resort with our luggage. I go right to National's Emerald Isle (membership is free) pick out the car I want and I drive to the resort. I'm usually there within 30 mins. This past trip I arrived at POP before ME had even left the terminal. I checked in and and was in our room by the time DD and DH arrived(about 60 mins from the time we landed).

We drove ourselves and our luggage back to MCO.

I do not like the buses. I'm hot, crabby, tired and impatient.

We rented a RAV 4 for 9 days for the total cost of $112. Money well spent. We went offsite for groceries, we went to the outlets, checked out the Gaylord Palms and toured Celebration this trip.

Having a rental car is essential to our WDW vacation. We also brought our GPS with us this trip which was awesome for me (But DH's man gene prevented him from using it... )

 

[parrotheadlois]

oh my be so ready to get flamed!

So, I'm guessing you don't think it's a good idea Sounded like a plan to me. We actually like ME, we just wanted to try renting a car this time. We're plannning on a dinner in Celebration (we've never been to Celebration). We rented one of those purple Owners Lockers and need a trip to Walmart to buy some products to put in the locker cause we're going on the Podcast Cruise and can use it again then. But, that being said, I guess we should be responsible Dissers and (sigh) and wait and get our luggage ourselves.

 

[cocowum]

So, I'm guessing you don't think it's a good idea Sounded like a plan to me. We actually like ME, we just wanted to try renting a car this time. We're plannning on a dinner in Celebration (we've never been to Celebration). We rented one of those purple Owners Lockers and need a trip to Walmart to buy some products to put in the locker cause we're going on the Podcast Cruise and can use it again then. But, that being said, I guess we should be responsible Dissers and (sigh) and wait and get our luggage ourselves.

I think she posted that because it's a "hot topic" over on the transportation board.


It's technically not allowed but people have posted that it works.

We usually split our party to avoid worrying about our luggage.

 

[randomdisney101]

Well if your like me They look at the wrong flight time and make us arrive at the airport 7 HOURS EARLY so i Had to miss the Dis meet

STUIPED M.E.

 

[bellazachmom]

That experience made me a bit nervous. I felt lucky that we were able to check our bags at the luggage check in service at the Beach Club, because we didn't know how much time we would have to spare to check our bags and make it past Security. I don't think we can check luggage at the resort anymore due to the airline fees, but that was a great little perk.
I'm going to give DME another chance in October. I'm feeling a little better about my chances, since I'm checking out on a Tuesday, not a weekend this time around.

Actually, you CAN still do this if using a participating airline, we did it on Tuesday!
Once at your resort, anytime during your vacation as long as at least 4 hours prior to your ME pick-up, you call (407) 284 - 1231 which is the number for Baggage Airline Guest Service (seems to me it should be AIRLINE Baggage Guest Service, but oh well!) and they will help you take care of it.

The will get info from you like Resort, room#, outgoing flight and airline, etc. and then you can pay by credit card for the number of bags you have. A little bit later an envelope will be delivered to your room with your baggage tags!! The ME people handle the rest when you take your bags to them. It was really easy! If you have any questions I'll be happy to try and answer them.

 

[parrotheadlois]

I think she posted that because it's a "hot topic" over on the transportation board.


It's technically not allowed but people have posted that it works.

We usually split our party to avoid worrying about our luggage.

Thanks Cocowum! Maybe I'll go lurk at the transportation board.

 

[Kimberle]

Well if your like me They look at the wrong flight time and make us arrive at the airport 7 HOURS EARLY so i Had to miss the Dis meet

STUIPED M.E.

Then why didn't you call them and reschedule?

 

[randomdisney101]

Then why didn't you call them and reschedule?

Can you do that???

 

[cocowum]

Thanks Cocowum! Maybe I'll go lurk at the transportation board.

Be careful...it's rough over there!

 

[BriarRosie]

Can you do that???

Yes, you can reschedule if you are scheduled more than 3 hours before your departure time. They don't want to claim responsibility if you miss your flight, so they tend to keep to a "3 hours prior" schedule.

If I was scheduled 7 hours prior, I would have called them to confirm the correct flights with them and get a new pickup time.

 

[mommyoftwinfants]

I guess I am just super lucky, in June our ME bus arrived right on time at AK and we were the only ones on it. We picked up one other person at POP and headed to the airport. The 1st time we used ME back to MCO it was a little over half full and on time with guest from OKW and SSR.

We have used ME twice and both times only waited about 5 minutes for our bus to arrive at MCO took about 10 mins to load the bus and we were on our way to Disney.

 

[kim929]

I used me for the first time in Aug. I had no problems at all. The ride to the resort was smooth. The return trip to the airport was also very smooth. The bus arrived at all star movies 10 min early. then we went to music, then sports, I thought that was weird, why they didn't just do it in reverse order. I will be using it again in Nov. this time I won't forget to put the tags on my luggage.