Any guess what the cost of Mears will be to get from airport to resort?

[Canadian Girl]

We are Canadian and won’t be travelling back until at least 2022, By then DME will be gone. I don’t Uber. Also, how would we book the Mears service?

 

[Ben E N]

Mears Connect is going to replace the current model. More details are to come in the next month or so. In the meantime, you can price out what you anticipate trips costs will be here.

https://reserve.mearstransportation.com/#/
My bet is it will end up being cheaper per person for trips direct to Disney World. Probably in the $20-30 per person range.

 

[Sandisw]

My original guess was $40 to $50/round trip per person. But now I do wonder if it will be in the $30 to $40 range.

 

[crisi]

It will have to be competitive. Two people in a taxi is $40 each way total. So $40 round trip - unless they add value (like being able to continue the luggage service) won't be competitive - you walk out and get into your own taxi which takes you straight to your resort....or you get on a bus, wait until the bus is 60% full and your resort is the third stop. And with each stop luggage needs to be removed from beneath the bus. You could get lucky, you could get on the bus as its last passenger as it leaves, and be the first stop....it happens - but there is more unpredictability in cycle time.

Its about 30 minutes from MCO to WDW by taxi. Bags take about twenty minutes now to arrive. A cab will have you putting your Mickey Band against your door, luggage in hand in an hour (plan on a little more, but an hour is reasonable).

It never took us less than 90 minutes - deplane to door - with ME.

 

[Bobb_o]

I've been thinking about this but it's weird because the more people you have going the more expensive it gets compared to something like an Uber/Lyft. That makes me think there has to be discounts for more people (they're going to want full buses) and it doesn't make sense for there to be many small parties.

If ride sharing is ~$80-$100 RT then I think it needs to be closer to $30 pp. It seems like it won't be a great deal for less than parties of 4 unless you have a lot of extra stuff you're packing like strollers and whatnot.

 

[Raven01]

What are people with no car seats supposed to do? Any ideas?

I travel to Disney by plane and do not bring a car seat for DD4.

 

[Sandisw]

What are people with no car seats supposed to do? Any ideas?

I travel to Disney by plane and do not bring a car seat for DD4.

Mears Connect will basically be DME without Mickey or Magical Express on the bus.

So, that will continue to be the same option as before other than having to pay.

I have heard that several companies offer car seats as part of the private car service.

Never had to rent a car with the need for car seats so not sure if that is an option or not.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

What are people with no car seats supposed to do? Any ideas?

I travel to Disney by plane and do not bring a car seat for DD4.

What would you do traveling elsewhere?

 

[houseofduck]

What are people with no car seats supposed to do? Any ideas?

I travel to Disney by plane and do not bring a car seat for DD4.

We bought Safe Rider Travel Vests for our kids when they needed car seats. There may be other options now. We bought ours a few years ago.

https://www.amazon.com/Safe-Traffic-System-Safer-Travel/dp/B07WMTQHCL/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1

 

[Boardwalkin]

Prior to ME it was $27-$30 round trip per person. This many years later I would say $40-$50.

 

[Dano1182]

Many Uber's and taxis have child seats in trunk.

 

[Evita_W]

It will have to be competitive. Two people in a taxi is $40 each way total. So $40 round trip - unless they add value (like being able to continue the luggage service) won't be competitive - you walk out and get into your own taxi which takes you straight to your resort....or you get on a bus, wait until the bus is 60% full and your resort is the third stop. And with each stop luggage needs to be removed from beneath the bus. You could get lucky, you could get on the bus as its last passenger as it leaves, and be the first stop....it happens - but there is more unpredictability in cycle time.

Its about 30 minutes from MCO to WDW by taxi. Bags take about twenty minutes now to arrive. A cab will have you putting your Mickey Band against your door, luggage in hand in an hour (plan on a little more, but an hour is reasonable).

It never took us less than 90 minutes - deplane to door - with ME.

Where have you found the trip is $40 in a Taxi?

Also, I could see MEARS being more expensive because you wouldn't need to bring your own car seats for multiple kids, more accessible options, the list goes on where Taxis may fall short.

 

[ITGirl50]

Before ME we would hire a private car service. We even did it after ME started, but then we had a couple of terrible car services that we paid a lot of money for, so we started taking the free service. It was also great if my daughter or other family arrived on different flights. If Mears is $40-$50 a person, then we may go the private car route again and pay a little more for direct service to the hotel and return to the airport when we choose instead of 3-4 hours ahead of our flight.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

the more I think about this, the more it seems like Mears is not going to be successful with this business and it will die quickly. The world has changed in the last 15 years. This is going to be a very difficult product for Mears to run economically. People keep tossing around costs like $40-$50 per person. But an Uber or Lyft can tale up to 4 people for $40 and they can do it faster and with better service. Without DME, Mears has a very limited service it can offer. I would not want to be in Mears marketing for this service.. "Take our new service - we can deliver you to Disney resorts slower than other services for more money and less personalized service! We don't work with Mickey Bands anymore either. And we no longer can even play Mickey video's!" .Economically it's a loss for most consumers or at best a break even,.

To make this make sense, Mears would have to find a way to transport 3 people both directions for under $80. That's the MAXIMUM they can change ang break even with Uber - under $30 per person BOTH WAYS. If they can't do that, they can't stay attractive for a large enough customer base to keep the service alive.

It will stick around for a while because of inertia. Disney is a surprising beast in that so many people who pay thousands of dollars otherwise do not do any research<boggle>. So there will always be a percentage of people that show up expecting everything will already be done for them - and I anticipate mears will take walk-ins - so a number of people will just wander up to them and hand over their credit card for transport to Disney assuming that's how it's done. But that group will continue to shrink as time goes on.

15 years ago, MANY people balked at Uber and Lyft and similar services. It was either yellow cab or Mears. But the world has changed and Mears is going to find itself in a complex and difficult market being squeezed from both ends economically.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

The DCL bus transfers at $35 per head pack 'em in and are a Mears service.

So that is about what I would expect here.

 

[CarolMN]

The DCL bus transfers at $35 per head pack 'em in and are a Mears service.

So that is about what I would expect here.

I would think it would be less - the port is father away from MCO than WDW, and takes quite a bit longer. Probably more luggage, too.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

The DCL bus transfers at $35 per head pack 'em in and are a Mears service.

So that is about what I would expect here.

DCL is a slightly different animal though. The buses can run packed and more predictable. Fewer buses at higher capacity because all passengers will arrive and have to be transported by a certain time. They can leave you waiting until the bus is ready to go.

WDW has lower people at a time and more frequent trips. You either slow down the buses meaning it will take longer and people will get frustrated and go toward Uber and yellow cab or you run at lower capacity which raises your cost.

 

[Mickey of the Villages]

If I were Mears I would call Universal and say "hey, you wanna wrap our buses with a huge advertisement for your parks? 'Cause we are going to be driving around all your future customers in our buses all over Disney property." And then I would say, "hey Universal, for a little bit more we'll allow you to run a cool advertisement for your resort during the bus ride with a captive audience."

That's how they will make money in the bus business.

 

[han22735]

What are people with no car seats supposed to do? Any ideas?

I travel to Disney by plane and do not bring a car seat for DD4.

We bought one of these when our DD was that age. Very easy to use and shrinks up nice and small to pack.

https://www.amazon.com/BubbleBum-Ba...1618413491&sprefix=bubble+butt,aps,247&sr=8-1

 

[_auroraborealis_]

DCL is a slightly different animal though. The buses can run packed and more predictable. Fewer buses at higher capacity because all passengers will arrive and have to be transported by a certain time. They can leave you waiting until the bus is ready to go.

WDW has lower people at a time and more frequent trips. You either slow down the buses meaning it will take longer and people will get frustrated and go toward Uber and yellow cab or you run at lower capacity which raises your cost.

But they can also probably use smaller buses at differing times, and roll more resorts into a single trip.

My point is mostly that it has been proven people won't blink at $35 per head. Heck, when they were doing Minnie Vans at whatever ridic cost from resort to MCO they were booked solid.