Arriving at MCO after midnight - Rental Car / Uber Dilemma.

[Disneyliscious]

Out flight lands at 12:35am at MCO. On our return, we will depart at 6am. The rental car agencies that are open 24 hours are all $700+ per week.

The rental car agencies that are not open 24 hours are around $350 for the week. Significant savings. Due to this, we have decided to stay at a cheap hotel close by the airport for the night and then rent a car off terminal the next morning (same scenario the evening before we depart).

The dilemma is that when I try to see what Uber prices will be, it says "Pickup location not available".

I also am not having any luck finding a car rental agency (prefer Enterprise, Alamo, Fox) within walking distance of any hotel near the airport.

I did check Mears and its $48 one way which I may have to use but was trying to find something more cost efficient as we are already paying to stay at a hotel for 2 nights in addition to the other lodging for the week we are there.

Traveling October 19-26th (will be landing on the 20th, just after midnight).

Any ideas on how to make this work?

 

[FCDub]

Where exactly is your hotel? If you have an actual address, try looking up Uber or Lyft again. There is either a glitch with the app temporary, or the address is not being entered in correctly.

 

[Capt_BJ]

UBER works different inside the MCO area ...... This may be the reason you get a weird reply.

UBER is 'blocked' in the MCO geographic area and requests are handled in the same way taxi requests are handled. An UBER goes to the holding area and the holding area gets the requests and hands them out first in first out ....... This is to stop UBER (LYFT taxi) from looping and trolling the area looking for a ride . . .

MCO regulations for driver-partners
Per MCO regulations, driver-partners must adhere to the terms below. Failure to do so may result in the receipt of a citation or even restriction of access to airport trips. Please note that Uber will not pay for any citations that driver-partners may incur.

• When on airport property, the Uber driver app must be open at all times (driver-partners must not go Offline until exiting the airport area)
• We’ve instituted a special "first vehicle in is the first one out (FIFO)" system at Orlando International Airport. The FIFO system only works within the designated, geofenced area and driver-partners waiting elsewhere will not receive trip requests through the Uber driver app.
• The Uber sticker (trade dress) must always be displayed on the vehicle’s windshield. Driver-partners can obtain this Uber sticker at their local Greenlight Hub.

 

[Disneyliscious]

Where exactly is your hotel? If you have an actual address, try looking up Uber or Lyft again. There is either a glitch with the app temporary, or the address is not being entered in correctly.

We havent chosen a hotel yet because I don't know how this is going to work. I did use the address of a Comfort Inn to check on Uber when I got that message.

UBER works different inside the MCO area ...... This may be the reason you get a weird reply.

UBER is 'blocked' in the MCO geographic area and requests are handled in the same way taxi requests are handled. An UBER goes to the holding area and the holding area gets the requests and hands them out first in first out ....... This is to stop UBER (LYFT taxi) from looping and trolling the area looking for a ride . . .

MCO regulations for driver-partners
Per MCO regulations, driver-partners must adhere to the terms below. Failure to do so may result in the receipt of a citation or even restriction of access to airport trips. Please note that Uber will not pay for any citations that driver-partners may incur.

• When on airport property, the Uber driver app must be open at all times (driver-partners must not go Offline until exiting the airport area)
• We’ve instituted a special "first vehicle in is the first one out (FIFO)" system at Orlando International Airport. The FIFO system only works within the designated, geofenced area and driver-partners waiting elsewhere will not receive trip requests through the Uber driver app.
• The Uber sticker (trade dress) must always be displayed on the vehicle’s windshield. Driver-partners can obtain this Uber sticker at their local Greenlight Hub.

Thank you for this info. I was hoping to be able to check a price estimate so I'd know what to plan on. I have never used Uber or Lyft at all and am price comparing with mears, taxi, etc

 

[Lewisc]

Out flight lands at 12:35am at MCO. On our return, we will depart at 6am. The rental car agencies that are open 24 hours are all $700+ per week.

The rental car agencies that are not open 24 hours are around $350 for the week. Significant savings. Due to this, we have decided to stay at a cheap hotel close by the airport for the night and then rent a car off terminal the next morning (same scenario the evening before we depart).

The dilemma is that when I try to see what Uber prices will be, it says "Pickup location not available".

I also am not having any luck finding a car rental agency (prefer Enterprise, Alamo, Fox) within walking distance of any hotel near the airport.

I did check Mears and its $48 one way which I may have to use but was trying to find something more cost efficient as we are already paying to stay at a hotel for 2 nights in addition to the other lodging for the week we are there.

Traveling October 19-26th (will be landing on the 20th, just after midnight).

Any ideas on how to make this work?

Hotels in the airport zone generally offer complimentary shuttle service to and from MCO. The service is frequently 24/7 but some lower rated hotels might have limited hours. Don't rely on the website. Call the hotel.

You're going to lose almost half your savings once you pay for 2 nights hotel. possible transportation and a few meals.

Check reviews. Some of the cheap rental agencies are sketchy

 

[FCDub]

I think you must be doing something wrong. I just opened the Uber app, typed in MCO as the origination point, and Comfort Inn as the destination. And it worked for me.

 

[Lewisc]

Are you renting from an agency which offers an airport shuttle? You could take hotel shuttle back to MCO.

Some airport hotels offer a courtesy shuttle any place within a few miles. I don't remember if it was 2 or 5 miles. That might work.

 

[Lynne G]

Not always true, as last October my 6:40 am flight was changed to an 11:30am one. Then my 8pm one was changed to a 3:30pm one. Lost two days of an almost full day of park fun.

But as more people willing to travel now, I assume we will see less changes due to not as full a flight as they wanted. My morning flight down was almost full, flight back was every seat full. Way down, space between, way back, nope, every seat filled.Both were the only direct flight. Yeah, I could have changed to other times, but a 2 hour direct flight would change to a minimum of a one stop, at 4 and 1/2 hours or more.

I too am crossing my fingers my flight times don’t change on my August flights. Again, early one and later evening one. I too like the crack of dawn flights.

 

[Disneyliscious]

Hotels in the airport zone generally offer complimentary shuttle service to and from MCO. The service is frequently 24/7 but some lower rated hotels might have limited hours. Don't rely on the website. Call the hotel.

Are you renting from an agency which offers an airport shuttle? You could take hotel shuttle back to MCO.

I have called the local hotels that offer shuttle service. Shuttle service is currently suspended at all hotels per the CDC is what I'm being told by hotel staff. I actually called the Comfort Inn I mentioned above to inquire and also a Marriott. This could change by October but I can't plan for that.

Ultimately we just bit the bullet and rented one of the ridiculous priced cars at the 24 hour rental agencies. Maybe I'll catch a rate drop before our trip but unlikely. $580 for a economy car for a week is the most I have ever paid in my life for a rental car and I've rented a minivan from MCO for 10 days before. Just means we'll cut corners elsewhere.

 

[leebee]

I have called the local hotels that offer shuttle service. Shuttle service is currently suspended at all hotels per the CDC is what I'm being told by hotel staff. I actually called the Comfort Inn I mentioned above to inquire and also a Marriott. This could change by October but I can't plan for that.

Ultimately we just bit the bullet and rented one of the ridiculous priced cars at the 24 hour rental agencies. Maybe I'll catch a rate drop before our trip but unlikely. $580 for a economy car for a week is the most I have ever paid in my life for a rental car and I've rented a minivan from MCO for 10 days before. Just means we'll cut corners elsewhere.

Cars are stupidly expensive these days. If you make a reservation through autoslash.com they will "shop" the reservation, tracking it and if they find a better rate for the same size vehicle for your dates, they'll send you an email. Ended up saving me several hundred dollars on our last trip.

 

[EACarlson]

I have called the local hotels that offer shuttle service. Shuttle service is currently suspended at all hotels per the CDC is what I'm being told by hotel staff. I actually called the Comfort Inn I mentioned above to inquire and also a Marriott. This could change by October but I can't plan for that.

Ultimately we just bit the bullet and rented one of the ridiculous priced cars at the 24 hour rental agencies. Maybe I'll catch a rate drop before our trip but unlikely. $580 for a economy car for a week is the most I have ever paid in my life for a rental car and I've rented a minivan from MCO for 10 days before. Just means we'll cut corners elsewhere.

Per the CDC is a load of BS. I was at a hotel in Chicago in April and they had no problems. The hotel just doesn't want to pay for it.

Cars are stupidly expensive these days. If you make a reservation through autoslash.com they will "shop" the reservation, tracking it and if they find a better rate for the same size vehicle for your dates, they'll send you an email. Ended up saving me several hundred dollars on our last trip.

You can do this with any reservation, not just ones booked through Autoslash. They've saved me over $1,000 in the last couple years.

 

[Spunky946]

Have you looked at staying at the Hyatt in the airport? Then you don’t have to shuttle and can get a car when you want in the morning.

 

[mickeynut1]

Ultimately we just bit the bullet and rented one of the ridiculous priced cars at the 24 hour rental agencies. Maybe I'll catch a rate drop before our trip but unlikely. $580 for a economy car for a week is the most I have ever paid in my life for a rental car and I've rented a minivan from MCO for 10 days before. Just means we'll cut corners elsewhere.

Rental cars are pretty pricey now, but keep checking it daily if you can. We rented a full size car (Alamo) at MCO on Memorial Day (3 day rental) for $169. I rebooked 5 times as the price kept dropping from my original booking of $215, with the final cost getting down to $169. It's no guarantee your rate will come down, but a lot can happen between now and Oct.

Have you looked at staying at the Hyatt in the airport? Then you don’t have to shuttle and can get a car when you want in the morning.

We just did this for the first time Memorial Day weekend. Our flight didn't get in until late Sunday night, so I booked the Hyatt for our arrival night and scheduled the car pick up for 8am the next morning. I'm glad we stayed right there at the airport because our flight was delayed, so instead of landing at 11:25pm, we didn't land until almost midnight. It was so nice being right there as we got off the plane quickly and we were in our room by about 12:15am (no checked bags, just carry-ons).

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Have you looked at staying at the Hyatt in the airport? Then you don’t have to shuttle and can get a car when you want in the morning.

This is my suggestion as well. It is literally above the security area at MCO. If your flight is delayed, it will be appreciated even more. We once had a flight with an 11:30 pm arrival. It was so delayed by thunderstorms along the east coast that we didn't even take off until after midnight. We arrived at MCO at 2:30am. I was sooo glad we could just stagger to our room and wait until morning to do anything that required waiting and/or thinking.