How long did it take you to get from MCO to Disney on Mears Connect?

[Louie7080]

Please let me know how long did you have to wait for a MCO shuttle, either Mears or Sunshine Flyers, to take off from the airport and then how long did it take them to drop you off at your Disney hotel? How many hotel stops they make before dropping you off at yours? I have heard some people saying the whole thing took 90 minutes but am hoping to get a feel for the usual experience. I think when I used magical express the time from getting to the shuttle in the airport to my hotel was about an hour.

 

[kanerf]

Departure was perhaps 5 minutes after I got on the bus. It was only lightly populated. Maybe 40 minutes to WDW. There were two stops before mine at BLT.

 

[Tink9721]

Mears - got on a bus right away, departed within 5-10 minutes. It was about 45 minutes to WL, with one stop at Poly on the way.

 

[Jacksonian]

I took Mears beginning of Nov. Boarded van as soon as we arrived at loading area. Van took about 30 min to get to Boardwalk resort, then stopped at Yacht Club where we were staying. So maybe 40 min total.

 

[DizneyLizzy]

Landed at 11:40 last week. Didn't check bags, so walked right from the plane to the Mears area. Arrived at Pop at 1:00. We were the second stop after AoA.

 

[Debbie Jean]

Last July. Well over two hours. Waited to board. Sat forever on the bus before it left. 4 stops before BLT. Horrible.

Return trip to MCO at 5:30 AM was completely problem free.

Go figure.

 

[seashoreCM]

"" Well over two hours. ... Go figure. ""

On what date? What hour of the day?

Was the interior waiting area really crowded with waiting people?

How long was it from the time you arrived at the waiting area until the time you boarded the bus?

 

[AnnaS]

We took it last month. We waited about 5 minutes at the airport. Got on bus - half full. We left a minute or two after that. Driver said there would be 5 stops. We were third. Got to our resort in about 40 minutes.

Scheduled time for pick up at resort to airport was almost 4 hours. We thought it was a bit early. Driver picked us up about 30 minutes later than scheduled time (you can track the bus even though it never seemed to be moving from the map). No complains from us with early pick up. TSA lines were outrageous when we got there. Rather get there a bit earlier than take a chance.

 

[Debbie Jean]

"" Well over two hours. ... Go figure. ""

On what date? What hour of the day?

Was the interior waiting area really crowded with waiting people?

How long was it from the time you arrived at the waiting area until the time you boarded the bus?

Tuesday July 26 flight arrived on time and I collected my luggage easily… I was at Mears gate at 10:30 AM. Waited a 1/2 hour before getting on the bus and another 1/2 hour sitting on the bus. None of the personnel seemed the least bit bothered by this… happily chatting away as though this was the normal acceptable level of service. No indication there was any problem.

Four stops before BLT had arrival after 1PM.

Only thing I planned was a meet up with Gold Mobility to get my scooter and they are aces when it comes to communication so I was able to text them as Mears trip unfolded.

So midday, midweek with bright sunny weather. Go figure.

 

[seashoreCM]

"" ... another 1/2 hour sitting on the bus. ... ""

from this I estimate that your bus departed MCO airport around 11:30. And I would estimate you should have gotten to your resort (5th stop) around an hour and a quarter later i.e. around 12:45. this leaves a half hour discrepancy from your arrival well after 1. Must have been bad traffic on the way too. Time to think coming close to perfect storm (no pun intended, you said it was sunny). Sorry.

Now project a return to airport with the same 1-3/4 hour to pick up the first resort to pulling into the platform at MCO. With a 3 hour pickup before your flight that would not work well. Hmmm... Someone mentioned a 4 hour in advance of their flight an superficially thought that was too early a pickup!

 

[Debbie Jean]

"" ... another 1/2 hour sitting on the bus. ... ""

from this I estimate that your bus departed MCO airport around 11:30. And I would estimate you should have gotten to your resort (5th stop) around an hour and a quarter later i.e. around 12:45. this leaves a half hour discrepancy from your arrival well after 1. Must have been bad traffic on the way too. Time to think coming close to perfect storm (no pun intended, you said it was sunny). Sorry.

Now project a return to airport with the same 1-3/4 hour to pick up the first resort to pulling into the platform at MCO. With a 3 hour pickup before your flight that would not work well. Hmmm... Someone mentioned a 4 hour in advance of their flight an superficially thought that was too early a pickup!

It was definitely one of the worst airport trips I’ve had… right up there with some horrible ME experiences! But I’d done Mears in the winter and had no issues… so didn’t anticipate problems on arrival.

Funnily my return to the airport… which was what I was more worried about…went without a hitch even though the pickup was 5:30 AM. It was a full van but loaded efficiently and made great time. In fact, since I was traveling alone and the only Jet Blue traveler, the driver had me stay on and drove me up to the JB checkin entrance!

I’m traveling to WDW again next month and am considering giving Mears another try… arriving new Terminal C, though, makes me a bit nervous!

 

[miksicnarf]

Mears Connect has been the same as DME for me: 0-10 minutes wait for bus, 30 minutes to resort (OKW or SSR), 0-1 prior stop.

 

[maryj11]

I seen some mention Mears connect was a van. I thought they were pretty much the same as the Magic Express and was a bus? I need to book this for December. How soon should I book it?

 

[Debbie Jean]

I had a large passenger van from AKL back to MCO pick up at 5:30 am this summer. With the price of gas, I assume they use the smaller vehicle if they fewer passengers.

 

[seashoreCM]

Mears Connect can be a bus or a van or even an ordinary car (from one of their subsidiary taxi fleets incl. Checker and Yellow) depending on the passenger load for that half hour time slot and/or resort pickups coming back to MCO thereafter.

"" ... another 1/2 hour sitting on the bus ... ""

Idle speculation. Your bus may have been held up for a tardy guest of honor. That is, "Mears Connect Express" guests are commingled with regular guests but are first dropoffs and last pickups. The Express fare advertised suggests to me that an express party pays for the whole bus and all the additional fares from regular guests tagging along are pure profit for Mears.