The two bus services that tried to fill the void after Disney's Magical Express shut down now are combining.
Mears Connect and the Sunshine Flyer announced Friday that they will combine operations under the Mears Connect Driven by Sunshine name, starting August 1. The service will continue to shuttle guests between the Orlando International Airport (MCO) and hotels at the Walt Disney World Resort.
Mears Transportation started Mears Connect in January 2022 after Disney ended its 15-year contract to have Mears run its Disney's Magical Express bus service. Transportation Management Services' Sunshine Flyer also started its service in 2022.
"While we have been competitors in the past, we have always shared the same goals to provide guests with safe, reliable, cost-effective, stress-free travel between the airport and Walt Disney World Resorts," Mears Transportation COO Rebecca K. Horton said in the companies' press release. "By merging operations, sharing ideas, expanding services, collaborating on what's best for the guest, we believe we can provide an even better guest experience given the challenges and opportunities in today’s travel market."
The Mears Connect Driven by Sunshine service can be found via the current Sunshine Flyer website at sunshineflyer.com.
Disney's Magical Express was a free service to consumers, with the cost picked up by Disney. That made DME a wildly popular choice for Disney fans staying on-site at the resort. But now that those visitors have to pay for the bus ride, many have opted instead for alternatives such as Lyft and Uber, or just renting a car.
For those Theme Park Insider readers who have visited the Walt Disney World Resort recently, how did you get there? If you flew into Orlando, did you use either the Mears Connect or Sunshine Flyer bus services? Or did you just call for an Uber or Lyft? Did you rent or car, or do you have friends or relatives in the Orlando area who could give you a ride?
Tell us your experience in our vote:
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I typically jump from various locations throughout the day, often times outside of the Disney and Universal resorts. Out a 4 day trip, I prefer a $200 standard rental.
We usually drive down to Orlando from the DC area, but we have used local shuttles (DME and Universal Resort shuttles), rental cars, and rideshare before. I definitely prefer to have my own car or a rental car (though renting has become a bigger chore recently with increased prices and tolls getting to and from MCO), because we almost always split our visit across multiple resorts. On our last trip to Orlando, we stayed at 4 different hotels (for a 10-day trip), so trying to make those jumps using rideshare or public transportation would have been tedious. Our trip in January 2020 was just to WDW, so we used DME, which worked well (especially given that we were at Pop Century, which is on the Skyliner), but we never left WDW. We also took Universal-only trip in 2018, and used a resort shuttle to and from MCO, but never left UO, so didn't need transport off property. I think those are the only situations where we wouldn't want to have a rental car or our personal car while visiting Orlando.
Given that we've been to the area so many times (and almost always want to go to Sea World and/or BGT while in the region with our Platinum Passes), the odds of us staying at one resort during an entire trip and relying on local transportation are pretty low.
Rentals are far superior. The true beauty of ME was the luggage delivery.
I would rent a car or use a rideshare - they last thing I would ever want to do is take a bus around WDW.
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Renting a car might have its benefit if one has a larger party or is planning on driving further out to a beach or a park like Legoland/Busch Gardens. Other than that, it's just cheaper (and easier) to go with a rideshare.