Mears Connect Experience

[LovesTimone]

I am only taking the bus from the resort to the airport this weekend. I put in my flight time (domestic) and was given a receipt that showed a pick up time of 4 hours prior to my flight. (The receipt states I will be given an exact time 24 hours prior to pickup) This was actually a flight change and my pick up time for the original flight was 3 hours prior to flight time.

I wrote to them yesterday because I could not find a phone number. I didn't get a response so I wrote again this morning. The website says 3 hours prior to domestic flight and 4 hours for international flight. I am not leaving 4 hours prior to my flight so if they do not respond or say it will be 4 hours early I will be cancelling.

Anyone returning to the airport that had a 4 hour pick up prior to a domestic flight?

While this comment has nothing to do with the Mears service... We travel quite a bit, and 4 hours seem the norm for pick up when booking most transportation...either for domestic or international travel... We are going to Disneyland... our return flight leaves LAX at 12:45ish, and our pick-up is 8:30am...

We have friends that have had some bad experiences... missing flights due to long long lines at the airport, going through security, and checking bags... Our friends came back from Italy and had a 4 hour layover in Boston, and almost missed their connector to Orlando... between going through immigration, getting their bags, rechecking their bags and going back through security, they ended up running to the plane... our other friends missed their flight last week, coming home from Colorado... They got to the airport 2 hours ahead of time, it took 2 hours just to check their bags, and go through security... the flight had left before they ever made it air-side... In both cases, not enough people willing to work were to blame for long lines and delays...

 

[Lee Matthews]

About to book Mears connect for our flight arrival in August.

we are arriving about 5:30pm but where we are staying at Jambo House I really didn’t want to be stuck on the coach for like 6-8 stops before they get to AKL

Any other AKL drop off feedbacks?

 

[maryj11]

One good thing here is our flight was delayed an hour and twenty minutes and I called Mears to see if that was a problem and the person answering the phone was great. She said the QR code is good for 48 hours after your scheduled arrival and they needed no notification. She said buses run 24/7 too, so whenever we got there they would have a bus for us.

But keep flight times in mind. Mears does not update flight times automatically like DME used to when they handled luggage at the resort. Our return flight was moved up 45 minutes from when I booked with Mears and I forget to tell them. We scrambled on return trip to get to our flight and just got to our gate as they started boarding.

Thank you! So really the only worry would be on making sure the return flight is updated.

 

[NickBCV]

Thank you! So really the only worry would be on making sure the return flight is updated.

Yes exactly.

 

[BillFromCT]

Had a good experience today. Get in line for The Dolphin at 5:42 pm. Sent us out to a Mears van at 5:52. 3 parties on the van - CBR, BWI, and The Dolphin. There were 7 people total. Dropped off in that order. Dropped off at The Dolphin at 6:29. My final ride on the ME in December was 2 hours from getting in line. I’ll take 45 minutes.

 

[brockash]

We had an awful experience when arriving just after midnight on the morning of 2/19. We were booked at the Swan and there was a dedicated check in line for Swan and Dolphin guests at MCO. We got on the bus almost immediately, but that is when the crazy part starts. Bus by the way was packed.

First stop Old Key West. Next stop Saratoga Springs, next stop Port Orleans Riverside. Next stop Shades of Green. Next stop Riviera. Next stop Widerness Lodge at which point I jump out of the bus as the driver is taking luggage out and ask how many more stops. He says where are you staying and I reply The Swan and he replies you are the last stop. I say fine but how many more stops. He says one more. Next stop Boardwalk. Finally Swan as the 8th stop. We get there at 3AM.

I can deal with 1, 2, 3 maybe 4 stops but 8??? At that time in the morning. Disappointing! If you are going to make that many stops, why segment everyone into lines by location at MCO. Just put us all in the same bus as we arrive until it’s full.

My best guess is Disney paid Mears for trips made from the airport, so if there were 2 people on the bus or 20, Mears got paid. Now they wait to fill the bus and make multiple stops to maximize profits.

Painful.

This is what it's like at Disneyland with the "Disneyland Express" and why we no longer will use the service. That experience is also what scared us away from using Mears Connect at WDW last week. It's just not worth the risk to us of possibly making tons of stops before ours.

 

[Ross Kratter]

This is what it's like at Disneyland with the "Disneyland Express" and why we no longer will use the service. That experience is also what scared us away from using Mears Connect at WDW last week. It's just not worth the risk to us of possibly making tons of stops before ours.

Luckily the Disneyland Express was discontinued pre-Covid. It was not a great service.

 

[bakerworld]

About to book Mears connect for our flight arrival in August.

we are arriving about 5:30pm but where we are staying at Jambo House I really didn’t want to be stuck on the coach for like 6-8 stops before they get to AKL

Any other AKL drop off feedbacks?

We used Mears Connect for our February family trip. It was much better than the ME. We arrived at check in, received complementary Mears sunglasses (they had kids one for the 2 yo = cute), were directed to our line. We waited less than 5 minutes. We went to the bus and waited about 5 minutes for it to depart. AK-J was the second stop - the bus was to make a total of 4 stops. We landed at MCO around noon, picked up a checked bag and was in our room by 3p.

 

[Llama mama]

Any Beach Club travelers? What order and how many stops for that route? We are deciding bet Mears and Sunshine. Might just book one way from airport and Lyft on return date.

 

[brockash]

Luckily the Disneyland Express was discontinued pre-Covid. It was not a great service.

Oh, interesting I didn't realize it ended. Looks like it ended in Jan. of 2020. Definitely was not a great service, however it seemed to last a decent amount of time. Do you happen to know when they started/opened? I'm not sure when it started, but I know the first time we used it was in 2007, so lasted a decent amount of time.

 

[Ross Kratter]

Oh, interesting I didn't realize it ended. Looks like it ended in Jan. of 2020. Definitely was not a great service, however it seemed to last a decent amount of time. Do you happen to know when they started/opened? I'm not sure when it started, but I know the first time we used it was in 2007, so lasted a decent amount of time.

That I’m not sure about.

 

[Llama mama]

Trying to book Mears only one way and it keeps giving me an error. Has anyone only booked one way ?

 

[maryj11]

We want to do a split stay. Has anyone used Mears Connect for a split stay and how did it go?

 

[MMSM]

That I’m not sure about.

We want to do a split stay. Has anyone used Mears Connect for a split stay and how did it go?

We just booked for April. Drop off boardwalk and pick up SSR.

 

[Ross Kratter]

We want to do a split stay. Has anyone used Mears Connect for a split stay and how did it go?

You would just book it as two one-way reservations.

 

[MMSM]

You would just book it as two one-way reservations.

I did not. I booked pickup and drop off on same reservation. It asks which resort for each way (similar is what magical express did).

 

[Ross Kratter]

I did not. I booked pickup and drop off on same reservation. It asks which resort for each way (similar is what magical express did).

I wasn't aware that they offered that option. That's very helpful.

 

[MMSM]

I wasn't aware that they offered that option. That's very helpful.

It was a pretty easy form and I had a question about bags the other day and wrote to them and they wrote me back within 10 minutes. I was debating Mears or Sunshine but had heard you can’t get a live person or quick response from Sunshine. There have been mixed reviews for Mears but I feel overall pretty fair. We actually have a car rental at airport still reserved but last time we experienced the ME and then we just got our car from car care center. My husband couldn’t believe how much he loved the car car center and not having to deal w getting and returning rental car. So we may be without a car for the first day but the stress off my husband is what vacation is all about!!

 

[MMSM]

It was a pretty easy form and I had a question about bags the other day and wrote to them and they wrote me back within 10 minutes. I was debating Mears or Sunshine but had heard you can’t get a live person or quick response from Sunshine. There have been mixed reviews for Mears but I feel overall pretty fair. We actually have a car rental at airport still reserved but last time we experienced the ME and then we just got our car from car care center. My husband couldn’t believe how much he loved the car car center and not having to deal w getting and returning rental car. So we may be without a car for the first day but the stress off my husband is what vacation is all about!!

I wasn't aware that they offered that option. That's very helpful.

I did get two different confirmation emails with one QR code for drop off and one qR for pick up.

 

[JayBaileys]

We just used Mears round trip from the airport to GF. Made 2 stops on the way to Disney in a van we boarded pretty much immediately upon arriving. Had a bus on the way back to the airport, and made 1 stop before heading to the airport. Left at 5pm for an 8:20 flight. No complaints from us it worked out great.