Guide to Mears Connect Airport Shuttle to Disney World
Mears Connect, the spiritual successor to Disney’s Magical Express, offers ground transportation between Orlando International Airport and Walt Disney World. This post covers pricing, hotels serviced by the shuttle, options, and everything you need to know based on our experiences using the service! (Updated June 21, 2025.)
Let’s start with a quick recap. Walt Disney World’s free shuttle service from MCO to the company’s resorts, Disney’s Magical Express, ended last year. Guests now need to find their own transportation from the airport to their hotel, and we cover the range of options in our Guide to Airport Transportation for Walt Disney World. There is no one-size-fits-all perfect solution; it depends on your party size, budget, and other factors.
Mears Connect is one of the options, and it’s actually a shuttle service by the same company that operated Disney’s Magical Express. In fact, Mears Connect literally uses the exact same drivers and buses, just minus the Disney-branded wraps. Some of the buses look very similar to the old ‘ocean-liner’ DME buses, with only Disney logos and characters removed.
Mears Connect is now operating, promising provide fast and convenient transportation service for visitors in high occupancy vehicles, thereby reducing traffic and lowering environmental impacts. Guests can expect scheduled service, luggage handling, convenient airport terminal staging, and return trips from resorts to the airport.
Mears Connect has two options: Standard and Express. The Standard level of service is a shared ride service on Mears Connect (bus or van) that is economical. The Connection will make a limited number of stops and will have you on your way to your resort. The Premium level is a direct service with limited to no wait time. Both include all tolls and other surcharges.
Note that Express is not private transportation. We mention this because we’ve booked the standard service and been put on small vans with guests who booked Express. The only advantage they received over us was that they were the first stop. (I also question that “limited to no wait time.” We all definitely waited!)
Here’s a look at current pricing as of Summer 2025:
We’ve now used Mears Connect well over a dozen times, and the service is pretty comparable to what we experienced with Disney’s Magical Express.
In Mears Connect Driven by Sunshine Review: Is Disney World’s Airport Shuttle Still Good?, I mention that the number of stops has increased. That review was from last year, and this issue has only worsened during non-peak times in 2025.
If familiarity is of paramount importance, Mears Connect should be your shuttle service of choice when flying into MCO and staying at one of the resorts below near Walt Disney World. This is literally the spiritual successor to Disney’s Magical Express in every regard–right down to its location on Side B.
The check-in process is incredibly simple, with guests arriving at this kiosk and scanning a QR code in their email and then being assigned to one of the lanes behind the podium. From there, guests are assigned to buses based on demand and locations.
Sound familiar?
Here’s one of the Mears Connect buses outside in the loading area.
When were here, everything was being done incredibly efficiently with no line whatsoever for the check-in podium and minimal wait to board a bus. With that said, there were times when Disney’s Magical Express was equally efficient, and other times when the lines stretched through the terminal. It’s impossible to judge this service based on one experience–the true test will be during a peak travel time, and this was not.
One thing to keep in mind is that Mears Connect is the spiritual successor to Disney’s Magical Express by virtue of using the same buses and drivers, but it’s not the only replacement. Launching around the same time as Mears Connect was the Sunshine Flyer, which was themed to old timey trains.
It didn’t last long. Sunshine Flyer and Mears Connect merged a couple of years ago. Although the companies didn’t state as much, the reason was obvious to me: insufficient demand to sustain both. The combined company, Mears Connect Driven by Sunshine, still operates as of 2025.
For some guests, Mears Connect will be perfect. Many guests, especially larger parties, will be better suited to use rideshare services like Uber and Lyft, or even private car services that charge by the vehicle instead of per person, and allow stops for groceries.
For solo travelers or couples, the math works out on Mears Connect. It’s going to be slightly cheaper than Uber or Lyft transportation between the hotel and airport the vast majority of the time.
However, the convenience, efficiency, and private ride offered by Uber or Lyft mean we’d take one of those ridesharing services over Mears Connect every single time. (Then again, we frequently took Uber over using Disney’s Magical Express even before this.)
For families with small children, Mears Connect might be a great option as it avoids hassles with car seats and provides more convenient transportation. For groups with only older kids or adults, the economics of Mears Connect won’t work out. Even if they’re unconcerned about convenience or efficiency, Uber or Lyft will win handily on cost.
For others, a rental car will make more sense. As with anything, there are undoubtedly additional personal considerations we aren’t taking into account in the Uber/Lyft v. Mears Connect v. rental car comparison. Your mileage may vary.
With that said, let’s take a look at hotels at and around Walt Disney World that will be serviced by Mears Connect…
ELIGIBLE DISNEY OWNED HOTELS (SPOILER: IT’S ALL OF THEM)
- Disney’s All-Star Movies Resort
- Disney’s All-Star Music Resort
- Disney’s All-Star Sports Resort
- Disney’s Art of Animation Resort
- Disney’s Pop Century Resort
- Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort
- Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort
- Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort & Gran Destino Tower
- Disney’s Port Orleans Resort — French Quarter
- Disney’s Port Orleans Resort — Riverside
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge
- Disney’s Beach Club Resort
- Disney’s BoardWalk Inn
- Disney’s Contemporary Resort
- Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
- Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
- Disney’s Wilderness Lodge (Listed as Fort Wilderness Lodge on the site)
- Disney’s Yacht Club Resort
- Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas — Kidani Village
- Disney’s Old Key West Resort
- Disney’s Riviera Resort
- Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa
ELIGIBLE ON-SITE THIRD PARTY HOTELS
Signia by Hilton Orlando Bonnet CreekWaldorf Astoria OrlandoJW Marriott Orlando Bonnet Creek ResortWyndham Grand Orlando Resort Bonnet Creek- B Resort & Spa Lake Buena Vista
- Drury Plaza Hotel Disney Springs
- Hilton Orlando Buena Vista Palace
- Hilton Orlando Lake Buena Vista
- Holiday Inn Orlando
- Wyndham Lake Buena Vista
Four Seasons Resort Orlando- Shades of Green
- Walt Disney World Swan Hotel
- Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel
- Walt Disney World Swan Reserve
Eligible Off-Site Hotels
- Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center
- Orlando Marriott World Center
- Renaissance Orlando Resort & Spa
Strikethroughs are hotels that Mears Connect has stopped servicing since launch.
You can view pricing, FAQ, other info, and book reservations for Mears Connect here.
Ultimately, we think it’s great that Mears will continue offering transportation between Walt Disney World and area hotels. Meas Connect serves an important role for many guests; it’s good to see that the service is now operating smoothly and without any major issues.
As we’ve said since Walt Disney World announced the end of Magical Express, we maintain that this is an incredibly shortsighted and guest unfriendly decision that will have unforeseen negative long-term consequences for Disney. No point rehashing all of that here, though. Kudos to Mears for continuing the service in spirit–it’s not their fault that Disney discontinued Magical Express.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think of Mears Connect? Will you use the service, or is it too expensive for shared transportation? Will you opt for Mears Connect over Uber, Lyft, or renting a car? Thoughts on pricing, efficiency, or anything else regarding Mears Connect? What do you think about Walt Disney World ending Disney’s Magical Express? Other thoughts on this? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Has anyone flown into SFB? With Magical Express leaving and having to pay for transportation anyway possibly looking at SFB. Can get a cheaper, direct flight, but just wondering if there is any downside.
Our travel group will have 6 people with large bags (an 11 night stay). We have had problems with Lyft or Uber getting service for the larger group with big bags. Does anyone have perspective on the large party traveling to and from Disney? Tom – you like Uber/Lyft, but how are you traveling? Is it just you and Sara with smaller bags?? That would be optimal for using those services…
I’m still amazed that WDW isn’t launching a different service. Right now WDW is wallowing in an overabundance of arrogance, essentially, “We can do anything and still make money; we built it and they WILL come”. Things like screwing those in the moderates and value on site resorts over the new Extra Evening Hours; the parking fee, refusal to get replacement monorails even when the present batch is 11 years past life expectancy, and no free Magic Express, where they obtained a captive audience.
This year we went to Universal for the first time. Due to COVID uncertainty, and this was before Delta hit its stride, we were late in planning, and couldn’t get a reasonably priced room there, because all of Universal’s Resort guests got their version of FastPass+ as a bonus. As long as the Greed gods are in charge at WDW, that’s not going to happen. WDW is shooting itself in the foot and doesn’t have a clue as to what they’re doing to their future.
@Drew @Tom: Yep! We’re in the same boat… fell in love with Disney on our 1st trip back in 2012, and indulged in 13 trips over the next 7 years. Today, we have several upcoming trips and NONE of them are to Disney.
It’s kinda sad really, and we can afford the higher prices, but there just doesn’t seem to be enough value left anymore. Just because we can afford it, doesn’t mean I’m willing to accept a lesser experience at a higher cost.
If the market will bear higher prices, so be it, but don’t water down the experiences at the same time and then start adding user fees, that just seems so wrong!
Definitely not the Disney we discovered in 2012!
Hopefully, the pendulum starts to swing back again at some point, we have such great memories.
But until it does, there’s a lot of other places to go explore!
@Abby. No changes to the park buses. This is for the airport transportation only.
What about the buses that take you from park to park, or resorts to parks and back are they gone too?
I think that while people are coming to Disney, they continue to cut freebies a to increase price on everything. I am currently in MK and I can’t believe the amount of people here. So pAndemic or not, increase numbers in cases or whatever. People will come to Disney they know that and prices will continue to rise. I guess it’s time for my family to start visiting other places
@Jack @Butch yes, you retrieve your luggage bring it to the bus, bus driver stores it under. When you get to the hotel they take it out, you bring it in to bell service if your room is not ready. In which case, don’t expect it to be ready before 3pm because of Covid cleaning. The bell service will hold your luggage while you go to the parks. Get it when you come back to take up to the room. Just there in December when I was with my 6 year old granddaughter. Good Luck with whatever you decide.
Tiffany Town Car is a limo service that picks up at MCO. Under $200 for a round trip to WDW with a supermarket stop. Used it many times when staying at WDW.
$300 round trip for a family of 6 for my dates. No thank you.
Definitely expect the price to increase over time; Mears was $35 to $40 roundtrip from MCO to Swan & Dolphin and from MCO to Universal Orlando before the end of DME was announced.
im suprised they didnt add any Univseral or other theme park hotels to the list.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m most looking forward to the “arrival souvenir.” Here’s hoping for Alf Pogs!”
This would be amazing. It would actually make the service well worth the fee to me!
Eliminating DME is just one of many reasons why we have no current plans to return to Disney. This will be yet another cost that we will have to absorb with no benefit in return. And soon Disney will charge an additional fee for Fast Passes. The cost of our typical Disney vacation has skyrocketed over the past 5 years and many of the perks have been taken away. Our kids are getting older so we will just transition to Universal and say goodbye to Disney once they are a little older. But we had our fun at Disney. I do feel bad for anyone that didn’t get to visit WDW under better circumstances and with less restrictions.
I guess if u were single or a couple with no kids who believe busses save the environment the $32/person might be OK. For everyone else, Uber or Lyft .. mmhm.
Hi Tom! We’ve never used Magical Express because we usually rent a car but I find it to be perfectly in line with Disney’s plan to ultimately have only rich people frequent the parks. Snuff out the middle class one by one!
@MrNico…this was one of the many nails that went into the coffin of us not booking Disney next year after four years of annual trips (after our first trip we had planned to go every year until our kids stopped asking because we had so much fun- they are still asking)..
Adding resort parking, eliminating the transportation, and continually raising the prices is lame.
Eliminating Magical Express certainly wasn’t the one thing that did it for us, but it was part of our decision calculus to not return. I’d venture I’m not alone, and wouldn’t underestimate the impact of eliminating this perk.
I personally know 3 different people who visit multiple times per year and stopped staying on-site after the resort parking fee. For two of them, that was the last straw. The other won’t stay anywhere that charges for parking (or resort fees) on principle.
Everyone has their tipping point. It’s seldom just the one thing, but the totality or cumulative effect of many with the latest just being the “last straw.” I suspect the end of Disney’s Magical Express will be that for many longtime WDW visitors.
It’s just around $100 + tip for black car service with 2 car seats. The Mears pricing is certainly fair and reasonable but I will probably opt for the dedicated door to door service and luggage help from here on out.
Sure seems like Disney fully understands the saying. Never let a good Crisis go to waste.
The car seat option with Uber is much higher right now if you can find them. Family of 4 is around $200 round trip. On vacation no one wants to haul around a car seat on top of all the luggage that comes with children anyway.