Staying offsite- I Ride Trolley?

[-Hope-]

Hi folks! You may (or may not) recognize as a PTR abandoner. No excuses really, I just got excited and started it too early then ran out of things to say...

ANYWAY... ahem, moving on...

We are getting much closer to our trip and have some actual plans including our hotel and plane tickets. We've opted to stay off site for a variety of reasons (I lost my job so money is tight, we need 3 beds in 1 room, we like the flexibility of a kitchenette... you get the picture). I'm happy with our choice to stay offsite because we are going at a sloooow time of year (third week of September) so Express Passes aren't really a must (and we aren't coaster people anyway. We aren't morning people and will be doing well to get there at park opening but early entry would NEVER happen. And we don't care much about theming in our rooms as long as they are clean and comfortable (blasphemous, I know).

That was my long winded way of saying, don't try to talk me into staying onsite- that's not why I'm here!!

I'm sure you're ready for me to get to the point already, "Why ARE you here," you've probably asked yourself by now. Well...remember I said I lost my job? We are looking to squeeze as much fun into this trip as we can BUT we also need to pinch a few pennies. I'm not willing to skimp on some things but others don't seem like a huge deal to me. We don't want to rent a car and our hotel does offer free shuttles to UO so we shouldn't really need it... BUT those hotel shuttles can be sporadic and we don't want to spend so much on cab fare if we miss the shuttle that we may as well have rented a car. Our hotel is very near an I Ride Trolley stop and I'd like to just get a three day pass for each of us. We generally do well with public transit and have traveled without a car multiple times in multiple cities. (Although I must admit that the buses at WDW weren't a great experience for us.) I know it won't take us right to the entrance but the map looks as if the #4 stop on the green line is close enough to walk in.

Anyone done this? If so how did it go? Any info/tips would be appreciated! TIA!

 

[macraven]

yes, there is a bus that you can catch after the I-drive trolley.

it's been so long, i don't remember the schedule.
i'm sure you pulled it up online since you know stop 4.


how many miles away will you be from the darkside parks?


figure out the schedule for I Trolley so you can time it for connections to hit the parks.

if you stay all day and are totally pooped out, you might want to budget a taxi ride back to your hotel.
(i can pull up the taxi estimator chart for you so you can get a price.)


make plan A, B, C.

plan A for the trolley/bus schedule from hotel to parks, both ways.

if that fails,

plan B for the free hotel shuttle to the parks.

plan C check out the taxi costs for one way in case you miss the public transportation back to the hotel in the evening.


if you have time to kill once leaving the parks, wander around city walk in the evening.




i was wondering what happened to your trippie you started last year.
glad to read your trip is still on.


sorry you lost your job.
that really has to hurt.

 

[damo]

Someone did report back a while ago complaining that the I ride didn't stop very close to the parks and they were annoyed. However, when I look at the map, http://www.iridetrolley.com/pdf/service.pdf , that stop - G4 at the Doubletree - is quite close and about a 10 minute walk from the entrance at the front of the parking garages.

Here's the googlemap link...

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=doub...476944,-81.459213&fspn=0.005121,0.010568&z=17

The C on the map is near the Doubletree. Just walk down Major to Universal toward the round hub on the bottom left of the map.

 

[Metro West]

Moving to a more appropriate forum.

 

[RAPstar]

I did this one year I booked a hotel on Hotwire about a mile or 2 from the parks. Damo is correct. It actually takes closer to the Holiday Inn across the street, and then there's about a 10-15 minute walk to the park (I can give you a detailed description on where to go if you want. I stayed at the Doubletree once and could make the walk with my eyes closed.)

 

[spiceycat]

okay where are you staying?

are you going to just US/IOa or wdw too?

 

[-Hope-]

So many responses! Thanks everyone for all the feedback! I really appreciate it.

yes, there is a bus that you can catch after the I-drive trolley.

it's been so long, i don't remember the schedule.
i'm sure you pulled it up online since you know stop 4.


how many miles away will you be from the darkside parks?

Three miles


figure out the schedule for I Trolley so you can time it for connections to hit the parks.

if you stay all day and are totally pooped out, you might want to budget a taxi ride back to your hotel.
(i can pull up the taxi estimator chart for you so you can get a price.)


make plan A, B, C.

plan A for the trolley/bus schedule from hotel to parks, both ways.

if that fails,

plan B for the free hotel shuttle to the parks.

plan C check out the taxi costs for one way in case you miss the public transportation back to the hotel in the evening.

Yep, I'm running plan A, B, C right now as well- I'm still on the fence if it's really worth it or if I should just get a car.


if you have time to kill once leaving the parks, wander around city walk in the evening.




i was wondering what happened to your trippie you started last year.
glad to read your trip is still on.


I actually took on more hours at work and that's when my PTR (and DISing in general) fell to the wayside). I was worried for a bit when I found out about the job but managed to save the trip.


sorry you lost your job.
that really has to hurt.

It does but we're managing. I'm honestly more upset about the community losing the service we were providing. I know I'll find another job eventually but the people who relied on the GED classes I was teaching don't have a lot of options at their disposal.

Someone did report back a while ago complaining that the I ride didn't stop very close to the parks and they were annoyed. However, when I look at the map, http://www.iridetrolley.com/pdf/service.pdf , that stop - G4 at the Doubletree - is quite close and about a 10 minute walk from the entrance at the front of the parking garages.

Here's the googlemap link...

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=doub...476944,-81.459213&fspn=0.005121,0.010568&z=17

The C on the map is near the Doubletree. Just walk down Major to Universal toward the round hub on the bottom left of the map.

Thank you! I'm still undecided. The walk doesn't look terrible but at the end of a long day of touring I wonder if I'll think differently. And if I end up splurging on a cab because I'm tired every night am I really going to be saving much money?

Moving to a more appropriate forum.

Thank you! I really wasn't sure where to put it.

 

[-Hope-]

I did this one year I booked a hotel on Hotwire about a mile or 2 from the parks. Damo is correct. It actually takes closer to the Holiday Inn across the street, and then there's about a 10-15 minute walk to the park (I can give you a detailed description on where to go if you want. I stayed at the Doubletree once and could make the walk with my eyes closed.)

How were the wait times for trolleys? What time of year did you go?

okay where are you staying?

are you going to just US/IOa or wdw too?

No WDW on this trip. Although we will be going to Legoland and utilizing their shuttle that picks up/drops off at the Premium Outlets on Vineland if we don't get a car.

As for where we're staying, that's a good question! I had a room booked through Expedia that I'd gotten a great deal on BUT that was when I hadn't been on the DIS in a while... and didn't know about free dining!

Thankfully I had the foresight to book a refundable room through Expedia so after running the numbers I canceled it and am now trying to decide which partner hotel best suits our needs and budget.

I'm currently leaning toward the Rosen Inn at Point Orlando, which is about 3 miles from the parks.

 

[macraven]

rapstar, Andy aka Robbie was with me one night after hhn and he took a cab.


he will be able to give you the exact amount but i thought he said about $6 for the return to his offsite hotel.

or it could have been $4, the night he didn't have enough money on him and the driver accepted it.

 

[-Hope-]

rapstar, Andy aka Robbie was with me one night after hhn and he took a cab.

he will be able to give you the exact amount but i thought he said about $6 for the return to his offsite hotel.

or it could have been $4, the night he didn't have enough money on him and the driver accepted it.

Thanks! I found a fare calculator website a while back. I prob need to find it again.

 

[macraven]

i have a few.

let me find them.



http://www.taxifarefinder.com/


http://www.taxiautofare.com/us/124/Orlando-Taxi-fare-calculator/loid




http://www.mearstransportation.com/taxi-services/taxi-fare-estimator/



http://www.worldtaximeter.com/orlando

 

[-Hope-]

Thank you, that is extremely helpful!

 

[macraven]