Disney to Universal (Mears shuttle, towncar, or cab?)

[Corwin]

Hi!

We're travelling from WL to Universal for a day. We have evening reservations at the California Grille, so we don't want to be delayed getting back.

What's the best way to get back and forth for three people? I don't want to rent a car or take the bus.

I've heard you can take the Mears shuttle, take a towncar, or a cab. How much are each of these for the roundtrip?

How do you arrange for a towncar and/or cab? Does Mears have the towncars, too, or only the shuttle?

Thanks!

 

[kaytieeldr]

Mears has everything - taxis (Yellow Cab, which is the only company authorized to pick up onsite unless prearranged by the passenger), shuttle vans, buses, town cars, probably limos.

You arrange for a town car by contacting a company that provides this service. There are many; I can PM you the contact information for one my very picky brother used happily. Another good source is the airport website - see the list of car services authorized to do business there. Or you can try DISBoards sponsor Florida Tours.

You 'arrange' for a taxi by exiting the main door of your resort; there'll likely be cabs waiting. If not, Bell Services can get you one in a matter of minutes. Similarly, when you're ready to leave USF, go back to the Hub (center of the two parking structures) and down the stairs/escalator. There should be a bunch of taxis there; if not, wait a few minutes.

Taxis charge by the mile ($3.35 or $3.85 for the first mile, $2.20 for every mile after that) plus 'wait time' at traffic lights, in traffic, etc. Car services charge by the trip. They should be relatively competitive with each other.

 

[Corwin]

Thanks!

 

[Corwin]

If anyone is curious, we used the Mears transportation to go from WDW to Universal on two different days during our vacation.

On the first trip, we used a taxi. We arranged a pickup at our hotel by calling the taxi dispatcher at (407) 422-2222. We got a ride back by just going down to the hub at Universal. There were many cabs waiting. The taxi cost about $45 each way, plus tip. The total, then, was about $105.

For our second day to Universal, I called a day in advance at (407) 423-5566 to reserve a shuttle. The shuttle did pickups at 15 minutes past the hour (i.e. 8:15 a.m., 9:15 a.m., etc.) The shuttle cost $18 per person round-trip, not including tip. For the trip out to Universal, the shuttle consisted of a van that picked us up and took us directly to Universal. For the return trip back, though, we were on a bus that stopped at just about every resort the WDW property. We stopped first at POP, all three All-Stars, CBR, CSR, etc. before we finally got back to WL. While it had only taken about 30 minutes to get there each way by taxi, the return shuttle took over an hour-and-a-half. However, it only cost $54 plus $10 in tips.