Mears Cars - good or bad?

[Jez]

Hi all,

we're coming over from the Uk in November, and thought we'd treat ourselves to a flight upgrade. This means we'll be off the plane first and our luggage with us quicklly, so, we thought we'd get a car to take us to our hotel, instead of having to wait for evryone else to get off the plane and onto the transfer coach! (we're not hiring a car as we're staying on property so don't need one)

so...
At Mears I can get a "Luxury Sedan" (not sure what that is, but sounds nicer than just a "taxi" or "shuttle bus") to take us to the hotel.

but...
I've read VERY mixed reviews of mears on the internet. http://travel.ciao.co.uk/Mears_Transportation_Orlando__94835
cars not turning up, rude/unhelpful drivers? - but these might be OLD reviews?

so...
Have you generally found Mears to be good or bad?

let me know, many thanks,
Jez.

 

[Laura]

I've only used it once (when I stayed at the Dolphin) and it was fine. The van arrived at the exact scheduled time and the process was very simple.

All we needed was a quick ride to the airport and that's what we got.

 

[disneychic71]

Before the days of Magical Express, we often used Sunshine Limos in Orlando (orlandoluxurylimo.com). They were excellent! My experience with Mears has been not so great, although they run Magical Express well. Good luck!

 

[WDW 3]

Sunray Transportation

We use the lesser known Sunray Transportation and are very happy and will use them again in October. Our flights were delayed in Minneapolis and Altanta due to weather so we arrived about two hours late and the driver was waiting at the bottom of the escalator. Comfy big SUV.
We took Mears from our hotel to Seaworld and at the end of the day there were about 20 of us waiting for one 10 passager van. Mears did make it right by putting us is a cab and sending us back to our Disney World Resort.

 

[jjgoo]

I've only ever used Mears once and it was a coach shuttle back in 1996, far before magical express.

The experience was bad and overpriced enough that I swore that I would never use Mears anything ever again. Now you are talking about using a luxury sedan (a lot of times that means a Lincoln Town Car or similar large car) and that may be fine. I still would not use it because it is Mears. Also I just looked up their price and they are still over priced.

Can you use Magical Express coming from the UK? That may be an option.

My family uses Quicksilver Tours and we have been very happy. They are resonably priced and always very accomodating. http://www.quicksilver-tours.com

Good luck in deciding.

 

[shoppingnut]

A sedan is very nice, it's a private towncar where just you will be in it. The company I used to work for had their partners meeting in Orlando and used Mears sedans for the chairman and vice-chairman. It is not a taxi or shuttle bus, very different, a shuttle bus you'd be picking up other people and dropping them other places and a taxi is like gambling you can get a good one or bad one.

 

[celticdog]

Quicksilver is much better and a whole lot more accomodating. They will work with your schedule. We've used them for the past three trips. Our party sizes varied from 2 to 9. The grocery stop makes it all worthwhile.

http://www.quicksilver-tours.com/

 

[kstella]

I find the trip on ME to be kind of like my slide into the Disney experience. The video and the music make me feel like YES!!!I'm back again! Plus, it's free!!! If you do decide to do the private car, I've used Quicksilver to get to Universal and they were very good. Driver got us around traffic and gave us helpful tips, plus pointed out points of interest.

 

[Susan Savia]

We've used the Mears shuttle service many times and found it to be convenient, on time and reasonably priced.

___________________

Next trip - January 2009

 

[Eeyore]

Quicksilver is much better and a whole lot more accomodating. They will work with your schedule. We've used them for the past three trips. Our party sizes varied from 2 to 9. The grocery stop makes it all worthwhile.

http://www.quicksilver-tours.com/

Quicksilver are great. Steve and I have used them many times and they always provide excellent service!! We won't use any other company, we know we can trust them and rely on them for high quality service. :wave:

 

[Ajleone]

We've used the Mears "luxury sedan" service, and found it to be very nice. The driver was waiting at baggage claim he helped us with our luggage and loaded the car and he got us right to our hotel. I would highly recommend it!

 

[SCG Designer]

Most appalling customer service EVER. I ordered a cab 5 hours in advance for pickup near Universal Studios. After waiting 30 minutes past the stated arrival time I phoned their “customer service” number and after waiting on hold for 15 minutes was told that no cabs were available in my area (seriously? Near one of the top tourist destinations in the world?) and that they would call IF a cab became available. The direct quote from a “customer service supervisor” was “ordering a cab for a certain time isn’t guaranteed. We’re not like Uber or Lyft…you just can’t call and expect that we’ll be able to help you.” All I could do was laugh. Seriously, I have NEVER had a service experience as pathetic in my life. It was so laughably bad that I’m not completely sure I wasn’t being linked. BTW, she was right about them not being Uber. In less than 10 minutes I was able to register an Uber account, set up payment on their app and have a friendly driver at my door. That’s what a transportation service should be. Mears must have missed that memo. It’s not the first problem I’ve ever had with Mears but it is most definitely the last.

 

[NelleBelle]

I would hire a town car service now that DME is no longer running. We did this last year and it was worth it (and we didn't pay that much much as I recall).

 

[We love Edna Mode]

Never had a problem with Quicksilver and they were always professional and nice!

 

[Distant]

Family and I flew down last January (3 months ago.)
Our plane left at 9.15am Sunday, and it was marathon weekend.
So we scheduled a Mears pickup for 6am from the Grand Floridian.
I was worried about the marathon, but was told by CM- no worries. Mears does this all the time.

We got to the front of the GF at 6am on the nose. No Mears!
I went to look and was told by another driver that they were here, but left about 10 minutes prior!
And the driver marked us as a no-show!

They never called us or contacted us in any way. They just left.
Thankfully we were able to book an Uber, who made it through the marathon chaos.
We made our flight by about 10 minutes.

What kind of company is this? We made an appointment for 6, we show up at 6, and they had left!
Shame on Disney for be partners with a company like this.

 

[NelleBelle]

Family and I flew down last January (3 months ago.)
Our plane left at 9.15am Sunday, and it was marathon weekend.
So we scheduled a Mears pickup for 6am from the Grand Floridian.
I was worried about the marathon, but was told by CM- no worries. Mears does this all the time.

We got to the front of the GF at 6am on the nose. No Mears!
I went to look and was told by another driver that they were here, but left about 10 minutes prior!
And the driver marked us as a no-show!

They never called us or contacted us in any way. They just left.
Thankfully we were able to book an Uber, who made it through the marathon chaos.
We made our flight by about 10 minutes.

What kind of company is this? We made an appointment for 6, we show up at 6, and they had left!
Shame on Disney for be partners with a company like this.

But is Disney still partners with Mears? It was my understanding when DME stopped service it was because the contract between Disney and Mears was up and Disney did not want to renew?

 

[Distant]

But is Disney still partners with Mears? It was my understanding when DME stopped service it was because the contract between Disney and Mears was up and Disney did not want to renew?

That's what we were told back in December/ January. They discontinued the Magical Express (I'm sure due to covid- lol) but had partnered w/ Mears. That was my understanding at least- though to be clear I did not book. My wife did.
I have no idea about today.