UBER! Use it! You'll love it!

[gretchenohar@hotmail]

Sorry to go a little off-topic here, but I'm going to NYC next month & I plan on using Uber. Staying at the Intercontinental near Times Square. Can anyone who has used it in the area, please tell me of your experiences? Wondering if it will be a difficult stop/pick-up due to traffic? (Not used to NYC at all...) Will use the subway too, but we have a restaurant reservation at 53rd St near 2nd Ave, and think I'd like to try Uber for that one. About how much transit time should I allow? Any other advice/suggestions? Thank you so much!

 

[rKrispyt]

I'm curious if anyone can offer any insight from their own experience: has anyone here used Uber to get from Disney to Universal, wanting to get there before the park opens? I'm wondering if we would have any trouble getting a ride that early (assuming it'll be 8ish in the morning) and if rates were effected at all by the traffic or anything. I thought about asking to be dropped off at the Hard Rock Hotel to avoid the crowd into the park/parking. Last time we went we had friends staying there while we were at Disney and we had walked over to the park so I figured since we know the way that could be a little helpful.

 

[nkereina]

Sorry to go a little off-topic here, but I'm going to NYC next month & I plan on using Uber. Staying at the Intercontinental near Times Square. Can anyone who has used it in the area, please tell me of your experiences? Wondering if it will be a difficult stop/pick-up due to traffic? (Not used to NYC at all...) Will use the subway too, but we have a restaurant reservation at 53rd St near 2nd Ave, and think I'd like to try Uber for that one. About how much transit time should I allow? Any other advice/suggestions? Thank you so much!

Can't speak from personal experience, but I do know that Uber imposes a fare spike (which they warn you of at booking) during times when there's fewer cars available - typically busy times like rush hour, etc. Keep that in mind. As far as pick up or drop off, shouldn't be any easier or harder than any other city. John and Kevin from the Dis Unplugged podcast talked about using Uber in NYC a while back and they loved it. They used it exiting a Broadway show and said they had a car within minutes while everyone else fought to hail a taxi.

I'm curious if anyone can offer any insight from their own experience: has anyone here used Uber to get from Disney to Universal, wanting to get there before the park opens? I'm wondering if we would have any trouble getting a ride that early (assuming it'll be 8ish in the morning) and if rates were effected at all by the traffic or anything. I thought about asking to be dropped off at the Hard Rock Hotel to avoid the crowd into the park/parking. Last time we went we had friends staying there while we were at Disney and we had walked over to the park so I figured since we know the way that could be a little helpful.

I doubt you'd have trouble getting a car at that time. Uber drivers know prime times, and I'd imagine they'd be loitering around WDW at that time due to park openings. If there are fewer cars available than usual, you may see the fare increase put into effect but it's still likely cheaper than a cab. One thing you can do before your trip is check the app a couple of days around that time of day and see what car availability and fares are like. If you do it for a week and it's about the same, I don't suspect you'd have a problem.

 

[BrerNashville]

Anyone relied on using Uber to/from epcot Food & Wine? We're staying at the Four Seasons, and don't want to be tied to only an hourly pick up.

 

[Lewisc]

Uber earned an F rating from the BBB. The major issue is with surge pricing. It isn't clear if the, sometimes substantial, surcharge is properly disclosed in advance.

Lyft has the earned the same BBB rating.

In fairness some taxi companies also have low ratings.

JMO..Uber (and Uber drivers) will wind up being subject to the same requirements, and fees, as livery companies. The cost advantage will shrink but the service will still be popular.

 

[Alesia]

Uber earned an F rating from the BBB. The major issue is with surge pricing. It isn't clear if the, sometimes substantial, surcharge is properly disclosed in advance.

To be fair, that could very well be because they aren't interested in dealing with the BBB at all. Or because they aren't willing to pay the BBB for a better rating.

If you look into the business practices of the BBB, I think you'll find it hard to take their ratings seriously.

 

[BrerNashville]

Whenever I've used either Lyft or Uber, it's been very clear if surge pricing is in effect. I've got plenty of opportunity to turn it down and make other arrangements.

I'm sure the bad ratings from the BBB has nothing to do with the financially entrenched cab industry arranging for negative reports.

 

[MillauFr]

Uber earned an F rating from the BBB. The major issue is with surge pricing. It isn't clear if the, sometimes substantial, surcharge is properly disclosed in advance.

Lyft has the earned the same BBB rating.

In fairness some taxi companies also have low ratings.

JMO..Uber (and Uber drivers) will wind up being subject to the same requirements, and fees, as livery companies. The cost advantage will shrink but the service will still be popular.

Not sure how anyone could claim that Uber does not disclose how much they will charge. That is one of the huge advantages of Uber. You know exactly how much they will charge in comparison to traditional cab companies where you have no idea how much you will pay. You don't have to read too many threads on the Las Vegas Trip Advisor site to see some of the horror stories of long hauling and adding $10-$20 to people's bill.

 

[MaryKatesMom]

I used UBER in NYC over the Columbus day weekend. Of the 6 or so times at least 2 used surge pricing. In order to accept the surge I had to type in the multiplier which was 2.25 which I don't remember doing in the past.

Considering both times were peak times and I would have had trouble hailing a cab I was fine with it. We stood on the corner and watched for available cabs while we waited.

The Sat. night of Columbus day upon leaving our hotel room I decided NOT to use Uber as I expected the usual line of cabs in front of the hotel. Mistake. The bell man could not hail a cab and he finally got a gypsy cab to take me the $7 cab ride for $15. I never use those but by then we were running late so no choice.

 

[nkereina]

Agree that the surge pricing is very clear with Uber. When you enter your destination, you can select fare quote which will give you a small range of what you can expect your fare to be in (and its always within that range). If surge pricing is in effect, it will be shown in your fare quote and the fare they are quoting will be the fare with the surge in effect. If people are booking Uber without looking at the fare quote and then are shocked by the fare surge, that is their own problem for not understanding the app.

 

[JanaDee]

To be fair, that could very well be because they aren't interested in dealing with the BBB at all. Or because they aren't willing to pay the BBB for a better rating.

If you look into the business practices of the BBB, I think you'll find it hard to take their ratings seriously.

 

[Lewisc]

I'm sure the bad ratings from the BBB has nothing to do with the financially entrenched cab industry arranging for negative reports.

Absolutely nothing to do with the cab industry.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ellenhu...-for-surge-pricing-just-for-unresponsiveness/

Some companies think there is no such thing as bad publicity.

 

[Alesia]

Absolutely nothing to do with the cab industry.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ellenhu...-for-surge-pricing-just-for-unresponsiveness/

Some companies think there is no such thing as bad publicity.

Here's the thing with the BBB: "unresponsiveness" doesn't exactly mean that they aren't responding to their customers, only that they aren't going through the BBB to do so. If they contact the customer directly, the BBB still considers them to be unresponsive.

 

[BrerNashville]

Absolutely nothing to do with the cab industry.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ellenhu...-for-surge-pricing-just-for-unresponsiveness/

Some companies think there is no such thing as bad publicity.

My point was that it was as likely that it was the cab industry filing "complaints" against uber and lyft as it was genuine customers. The link you provide is even worse for your point: "But the fact that Uber is hardly the only one to land an F — and only because it ignored the BBB — means a failing grade rarely means what consumers think it does."

Maybe they just don't care what the BBB rates them -- hardly a reason not to use them.

 

[ClanHarrison]

 

[TinyTim2]

Todays NY POST reports that ubers drivers went on strike in nyc. The story is on the website nypost.com

 

[disneyanonymous]

This is an older topic i found via google. Wanted to see if anyone here had any updated experiences using Uber at WDW? I live in Chicago and use UberX several times a week. (Almost every day in the winter...) I've had many many issues with cabs before but have never had any issues with Uber or UberX. The customer service is always prompt and fair and swift. I made a snide remark on twitter one time (not even tagging them or expecting any sort of contact with them.. mostly me just being in a bad mood, lol) about my UberX smelling weird and they contacted me and gave me a credit. Just overall pretty good service.

They have bad press regarding their upper level management practices when they started the company and from the cab companies in a lot of cities but my personal experience with over a year of VERY frequent use has always been very, very positive so I will be utilizing it for the first time later this year at Disney World since I'll be there during a holiday and the rental car prices during that time is astronomical.

 

[Jamie297]

We used both uber and lyft to get to and from the parks and Disney resorts from our off site hotel in March and had positive experiences every time.

 

[paigemitchell859]

I'm interested in hearing more about your Uber experience. Did you simply use the app from the park exit (say...Epcot) and they were waiting on you out front? Was the fare cheaper than Mears taxi?

 

[Jamie297]

The fare was cheaper than mears. The uber website or app will give you an estimate, i think you have to go to the lyft website to get an estimate for them. Mears has a fare calculator on their website. We were dropped off and picked up from the Beach Club when we went to Epcot and walked in and out the international gateway.
If you want to try it when you are there you can use my Uber code jamesa2123 and get $20 off your first ride. My lyft code is james285545 i belive that is also $20 off the first ride.