Let me tell you about Mears............

[wannabeBelle]

Hi there all I flew into Orlando to spend St Patricks day with two of my friends who were down there already. As always I used Mears to get from teh airport to the resort. The pick up at the airport was fine and I was checking in at Riverside within a pretty reasonable amount of time. It was just about 1 hour all told, which was fine. On the way back was a completely different story however. Mears had said I could get a 4:45 pm shuttle at Riverside. I was there at baggage by about 20 minutes to 5 pm. I almost fell over when the bus showed up at 4:50pm, as they havent been that on time in a while, only to have the driver announce that he was the 4:15 bus that was running late!!!!! He also couldnt take any of the 4:45 passengers as his van was completely full with the 4:15 people!!! Today I called Mears and asked why I was forced to wait 45 minutes after a pickup time given to me by their representative. I spoke to a rep, Theresa, who connected me to a manager, Jose. Jose wasnt able to give me an immediate response but said he would be getting back to me. I explained to him that as both shuttles were late I didnt think it was an isolated incident, and also that this isnt the first time that I have had to wait an extended period of time for the shuttle. In addition I wasnt the only person waiting and some of them were distinctly not happy campers. The only reason that this has me concerned is that the new up and coming Disney's Magical Express is via a partnership with Mears!! Are we going to have the same inept handling of passengers or will Disney be doing this a whole differnt way? Any thoughts, comments etc?? Belle

 

[Invero]

This is my thoughts on the matter.

When I worked at Pop Century, late buses happened all the time. Mears customer service got to know me very well. From my dealings with them, I gathered that they had a lot of dispatching problems. Also, guests would get on an earlier bus, thus filling it up prematurly, and then other guests had to wait for the next bus, etc. Not a very good system.


DME on the other hand will be a Disney run operation. Mears will steer the bus, but Disney will tell it where to go and when. Therefore, it is my best guess that DME will be FAR superior to the current Mears shuttle.

 

[wannabeBelle]

This is my thoughts on the matter.

When I worked at Pop Century, late buses happened all the time. Mears customer service got to know me very well. From my dealings with them, I gathered that they had a lot of dispatching problems. Also, guests would get on an earlier bus, thus filling it up prematurly, and then other guests had to wait for the next bus, etc. Not a very good system.


DME on the other hand will be a Disney run operation. Mears will steer the bus, but Disney will tell it where to go and when. Therefore, it is my best guess that DME will be FAR superior to the current Mears shuttle.

Here is to hoping!!!!!!!!! Belle

 

[lownalo]

Try QuickSilver, had a great experience. Picked us up on time, we actually wanted to change our pickup time at the last minute and they did it no problem. The drivers are very nice and it's fun to ride in comfort.

 

[wannabeBelle]

Try QuickSilver, had a great experience. Picked us up on time, we actually wanted to change our pickup time at the last minute and they did it no problem. The drivers are very nice and it's fun to ride in comfort.

Pam of Kingdom Konsultant has used them and raves about them but I cant see spending almost $100.00 when it is just me!!!! As I said I have very high hopes for DME, and I just dont want Disney to catch flak because Mears cant get its act together. As I said I have no problem with being somewhere at a set time for a pick up. is it too much to expect the same from the shuttle company who told me the time to expect them to be somewhere around that given pick up time?? That is really the only issue I had was waiting by Baggage claim for almost 1 hour before they got around to picking me up!!!!!! What's up with that?? Belle

 

[westie]

We've always used Mears and haven't had a problem. THAT was until our last trip. Get to Orlando and there was a big crowd arround the Mears desk and some girl was shooting at all the customers,"I already told you its gonna be at least an hour!" Which, translated means shut up, sit down and, wait. Being on a 4 day scramble I wasn't going to let Mears eat up our precious time. We caught a cab. $50. All throughout our trip we overheard guests huffing and puffing to concierges and on phones about Mears but, I aint gonna let them get me down. They've wronged me once and they won't get my business again. Now, if I can stop fretting about the next trip and how they're going to get my luggage from the airport to the hotel? Just doesn't seem right?! The Westie's are right behind you Belle. Maybe Uncle Tony from Albany could say, pay them a little visit?

 

[AEfx]

Sorry to hear about the hassle, Belle!

I always keep a book with me so I wouldn't have been too put out in terms of keeping myself occupied, BUT I would have been mad that I left the parks an hour earlier than I needed to because Mears makes you get picked up so darn early.

I rarely travel when it's busy, so the Mears vans/busses have been right on time for me. I guess it's just the luck of the draw.

I anticipate that ME will surpass Mears, and that it's likely Mears won't be giving their %100 until then. What incentive do they have?

I'll be using ME in early May, and I'm pretty excited. It's hard to say what it's going to be like until then, but I have a feeling it will become very useful - at which time, after the celebration, I'm sure they'll start charging for it.

AEfx

 

[Disney_Belle]

Last April we had to wait over an hour for our Mears bus to come get us to bring us to the airport. We were supposed to be picked up at 3:30 but didnt get picked up until 4:40. I was so stressed out that we would miss our flight that left at 6:30. And not to mention the bus squeaked the whole time bouncing up and down. It was awful. This July I will be traveling by myself and I am so glad to be trying DME. :sohappy:

 

[Simba One]

The Mears snafus worked out in our favor the last time we were there (October 2004). We were waiting and waiting for the shuttle, then a taxi pulled up and asked if we were waiting for Mears. I told him we were and he said, "Well, that's me." They apparently couldn't get to us, so we got a private taxi ride to the airport. I felt kind of sorry for the driver...he had to deadhead one way because of the zones that they get dispatched from/to.

 

[Kingdom Konsultant]

I really do hope that the Magical Express is a better run operation than the Mears shuttle is. I hear complaints constantly about it. I will refer my clients to use Quick Silver and not mears, but like Belle said it is a bit expensive when it is only 1 person.

Pam

 

[LadyDarling]

This is one of the reasons we rent our own car every time. In the same visit to Disneyworld I got stranded (via disney transportation) at the Magic Kingdom after Mickey's Very Merry Christmas party on the last day of our trip. We were probably some of the last people out of the park, but still!! Add to that that our Mears wait was over an hour at the airport, and it left earlier than they told us and we missed it at the hotel on the way back... ugh.
I prefer to feel like master of my own destiny after that one.

 

[speck76]

I really like the paint job on the DME busses.......they look pretty cool, kinda retro.

 

[wannabeBelle]

well as of today I still havent heard anything back from Mears. Should I be surprised?? Belle