1st trip - staying onsite without a car - mistake?

[orlandonewstarts]

Hi everyone. We are planning our 1st trip to Orlando the last week of January 2014. So very excited but feeling a little stressed out right about now. I will be traveling with my son (15) and we are flying direct from Illinois into Orlando. Arriving on a Monday and leaving Friday night.

So I am thinking it would be easiest to just stay onsite at 1 of the 3 hotels. I don't want to rent a car if possible so I would book a shuttle from the airport. Do any of the hotels offer shuttles from the airport? I hate driving in towns I am not famaliar with and just want to relax on this vacation.

Is it better to stay offsite? It looks like most of the hotels offer shuttle service to the parks. Planning on spending Tue - Thur in the park and Friday just relaxing by the pool before flying home. So I would only need a 3 day ticket.

Budget for the trip is a bit flexible but I would like to keep the cost of park tickets and hotel around $900(4 night stay). Can anyone offer advice on food budgets? Do they normally offer the dining package in January? I have already booked my airfair and got a great price $230 total for both tickets round trip with all the fees.

Please have patience I am trying so hard not to forget something major when planning all of this. I know this sounds silly but being so far away from home I just don't want to get there and go....Crud I Never thought of that.

 

[saskdw]

We always stay onsite and have never rented a car. The resorts don't have their own shuttle, but you can easily book one online. Last trip I paid $60 including tip from the airport to Royal Pacific Resort.

Both theme parks and Citywalk are all a 5-10 min walk from the resorts. You get the Express pass perk and the relaxing feeling of not driving anywhere in a strange city while having everything at your fingertips. I love this about Universal and WDW. The extra money to stay onsite is well worth it.

 

[damo]

First off, I would go to www.universaorlando.com and sign up. They often send out pin codes for 30%-40% off. I would stay onsite with just you and your son. That way everything is right there and you don't have to worry about transportation at all once you get there.

I don't think you'll need a car. Just take a cab to and from the airport. It will cost you about $100 total including tip.

Check undercovertourist.com for your tickets.

I wouldn't bother with a food package. You can eat quite reasonably if you watch your choices. Check out the food sticky on the other main universal board.

 

[SAHMKC]

I agree with Damo! Make sure you sign up at Universal Orlando. My husband and I both did. He went the extra step and filled out his profile. I guess there is some sort of survey you can take and he indicated that price was a major factor in determining whether or not to stay on-site. Three days later we got a 40% off code sent to his email.

Also check out the transportation sticky on this forum. Tony Hinds is recommended by several people. He will pick you up at the airport, stop by the Publix grocery store and then take you to your hotel. The round trip was $100. We booked him for our upcoming November trip. We have two teens and having snacks available is a must plus it will save a lot of money too!

 

[orlandonewstarts]

Thanks I just signed up at the link provided with both work and personal emails. Fingers crossed they offer a code for January.

Great idea on a grocery store stop! I never thought about that. 15 year old boy is bottomeless pit. I will go look for his info to see about booking early. So the grocery store is on the way to the parks and he really doesn't mind a quick stop?

Do any of the onsite rooms have a fridge in the room?

Oh another quick question can I take a bottle of water into the park?

 

[orlandonewstarts]

Sorry for all of the questions I printed a few of the sticky post to read through tonight after work. Thanks everyone.

 

[SAHMKC]

I have not used Tony yet, but the other post indicate that he will give you 30minutes at the store and it is not out of the way.

I'm not sure if there is a fridge - I'm sure someone can answer that

We will be going to Universal for the first time in November. We have been to Disney twice and I rely on the these boards to plan all my Orlando trips!

 

[bumbershoot]

You have to request and pay for the fridges with a nightly fee unless there's a medical need.

You can bring water and food into the parks!


We generally have a car, but, weirdly, it's at Universal that we use it the least. We generally have had one Whole Foods stop the first night but that's because it's at night and we need to stock up on fruits and then hit their hot foods bar. (most expensive meal of the trip, quite often!) Other than that it just seems like we rarely NEED to go elsewhere. We do go elsewhere, but it's not needed.

If you are fully budgeted and have no dietary issues or wishes to go other places, there's really no need for a car at all.

 

[macraven]

Budget for the trip is a bit flexible but I would like to keep the cost of park tickets and hotel around $900(4 night stay). Can anyone offer advice on food budgets? Do they normally offer the dining package in January? I have already booked my airfair and got a great price $230 total for both tickets round trip with all the fees.

i just looked at the cheapest onsite room cost for the last 4 days of january.
looks like $183.40 plus tax is the cheapest rack rate.
if you have AAA, or a general code comes out, that rate will be lower.

you might have to budget more than $900 for the 4 night stay once you throw in park tickets, food and room costs.