Everthing you wanted to know about Uber/Lyft at WDW

[leebee]

DD24 and I are going to Jellyrolls on our next WDW trip. I'm concerned about getting back to AllStars Music at 1am or later. Is it possible to Uber/Lyft at that time of morning?

 

[kaytieeldr]

Yes.

 

[psac]

Just a quick thanks to all the folks on this board for all the tips and answering my questions before last week. We used Uber about 5 times on this trip (including from MCO midnight and then back on departure day), and had good experiences every time. We also used the Minie Van once from AKL to CR, which was a lot of fun for about the same cost, but for the ride back around ML closing (peak load time I’m sure), it just hung trying to find one, and Uber found a driver real quick. All good stuff. Thanks again!

 

[AngiTN]

Just back from a quick (for us) trip, 3/9-13.
Had a pretty mixed bag of results using car services, a first for us. All other trips have been 100% positive. Doesn't change my opinion but does change my procedures, unless the providers make changes.
First to this staging business. It is a huge thumbs down from me. Having been using Uber and Lyft for a couple years now this is nothing but an inconvenience to the user. It made the times showing on the vehicles on the app useless since it will show you cars on the road but will not pair you with them. So yeah, I see cars that are 2, 3 min away but if it only pairs me with the vehicles in the staging area which is 10 min away what good does it do to show me cars that are 2 min away? It only annoys me when my ride ends up being triple wait time. This happened every single time we requested a car. Since the staging of vehicles is new I have to assume this is related to that. When they were not using this staging area business I was being paired with rides that were 2, 3 min waits on avg. I never had a wait less than 10 min on this past trip. Ridiculous for as many cars as there were on the road. I realize 10 min is not long and yeah, it's not. But it is annoying when the app shows you cars closer than that.

Twice I was paired a black Suburban, 2 different days, different drivers. We didn't request a big vehicle either. I know it's a popular vehicle and all that but these were almost like fleet vehicles or something so I did wonder, is there someone out there putting out vehicles with drivers for use as Lyft or Uber vehicles? Doesn't matter to me if there are, but I was curious

Coming back from GF on Sunday night we had a huge mess. It was about an hour after MK closed, which was about 3 hours after fireworks and about 3 hours after the other parks closed. Not a peak time I'd think but we sure had issues. DH and I took the boat from MK to GF to pick up DGDs cake that we'd left with bell services and wanted to take a car back to AoA (the girls took the bus back to AoA from MK). I was using Lyft because I had 10% off preferred user credit. Paired with at least 5 drivers who accepted and then cancelled the ride. It's our first time staying at AoA, so I'm guessing maybe they didn't want to drive there? Though with the staging area business does where they drive to matter now? Finally paired with 1 driver and he was 20 min away! Ridiculous, I cancelled that one as that was simply too far. I noticed just as I cancelled that ride that Lyft sent me an email apologizing for all the cancelled rides and indicating they were pairing us with a new driver so we would not have the next ride cancelled (I guess a new driver can't cancel rides the same way?), which I assumed is why he was so far away. We could just take the monorail back to MK and take the bus faster than that. I decided to try one more time and we got paired with a driver and got picked up in about 10 min. This trip was a nightmare though. It's a 6 mile drive from GF to AoA. Our drive ended up being 14 miles. I don't know if the driver got lost or if he was intentionally trying to run up his fare. Honest opinion, I got the feeling he was intentionally trying to run up the fare. He has his GPS route on and he didn't seem to be confused about where he was going. He seemed to be going past roads, turning around and taking the long way. I did rate him 3 stars with the route being the reason for lower rating. I then reported a problem with the ride (a first for me in all the rides we've taken with both services) and gave them the reason showing how far it should have been and how far he went. They notified me that he did indeed take an excessive route and refunded the extra charge (I'd paid the initial amount at the time of the request and then it doubled based on the final route he took).

This same night I was having trouble with rides I tried Minnie Vans and I could not pair with one of them either. We'd tried to use Minnie Van earlier that morning to go to MK and were never able to pair with one. I tried again to use one Tuesday (yesterday) about 11:00, nothing, never paired. Also tried Monday night about 8:00. I think the adding of additional resorts and not adding additional vans has overextended it too much. I would really hesitate to rely on the vans. Luckily for us, it was going to be a treat, not a requirement. I wanted DGD to be able to use one for her Birthday.

 

[Best Aunt]

Regarding the Staging - I understand the concept, but I don't know when it applies. Getting picked up at Airport, I assume. But also for getting picked up at Disney parks? At Disney resorts?

 

[AngiTN]

Regarding the Staging - I understand the concept, but I don't know when it applies. Getting picked up at Airport, I assume. But also for getting picked up at Disney parks? At Disney resorts?

Yes, it's been posted in this thread by the drivers that they are using staging at Disney now. I'll find the post and update

Where there's a designated FIFO staging area at WDW (all 4 parks, DS, and possibly the Bonnet Creek resorts), the request is supposed to go to the driver who's been waiting longest in the staging area. After dropping someone off, drivers are expected to go to staging area to wait for a request. However, at least one time I got a request in Lyft at DS when I wasn't in the staging area, and the drivers' app was showing vehicles in the staging area, so I don't know what the story was there. Of course, if no drivers are in the queue (which happens sometimes at DHS & AK), the request goes to the nearest driver.

The airport queue is a little bit looser. Uber has said there are times when a driver dropping off a rider at the airport will get a return rider without going into the queue; I really don't understand how that works. Also at the airport, at busy times Uber (and possibly Lyft as well) will send drivers from the staging area towards the terminal, hoping that a request comes in before they get there. If one doesn't, I think the driver is supposed to head back to the staging area, and they stay at the top of the queue.

 

[joelkfla]

Wow, you had some bad luck.

I don't know why it took so long for the cars to arrive. The only staging area that's really far out there is at AK, and maybe the Marketplace side at DS. Unless traffic is really bad, it shouldn't take more than 5 minutes. At TTC, staging is around the corner at the STOLport; sometimes traffic gets backed up at the traffic light at World & 7 Seas. And the new pickup area at Epcot gets real bad at park exit, because cars have to cross a crosswalk that carries a lot of exiting Guests.

I don't know about the black cars, but maybe some independent limo drivers are using Uber/Lyft to keep busy when they don't have a scheduled drive. But it seems it would be hard for it to be worthwhile on UberX payouts. Maybe they're counting on riders being impressed by the cars and leaving big tips.

Some drivers don't like "short" rides, but 5 in a row cancelling does seem excessive.

Just back from a quick (for us) trip, 3/9-13.
Had a pretty mixed bag of results using car services, a first for us. All other trips have been 100% positive. Doesn't change my opinion but does change my procedures, unless the providers make changes.
First to this staging business. It is a huge thumbs down from me. Having been using Uber and Lyft for a couple years now this is nothing but an inconvenience to the user. It made the times showing on the vehicles on the app useless since it will show you cars on the road but will not pair you with them. So yeah, I see cars that are 2, 3 min away but if it only pairs me with the vehicles in the staging area which is 10 min away what good does it do to show me cars that are 2 min away? It only annoys me when my ride ends up being triple wait time. This happened every single time we requested a car. Since the staging of vehicles is new I have to assume this is related to that. When they were not using this staging area business I was being paired with rides that were 2, 3 min waits on avg. I never had a wait less than 10 min on this past trip. Ridiculous for as many cars as there were on the road. I realize 10 min is not long and yeah, it's not. But it is annoying when the app shows you cars closer than that.

Twice I was paired a black Suburban, 2 different days, different drivers. We didn't request a big vehicle either. I know it's a popular vehicle and all that but these were almost like fleet vehicles or something so I did wonder, is there someone out there putting out vehicles with drivers for use as Lyft or Uber vehicles? Doesn't matter to me if there are, but I was curious

Coming back from GF on Sunday night we had a huge mess. It was about an hour after MK closed, which was about 3 hours after fireworks and about 3 hours after the other parks closed. Not a peak time I'd think but we sure had issues. DH and I took the boat from MK to GF to pick up DGDs cake that we'd left with bell services and wanted to take a car back to AoA (the girls took the bus back to AoA from MK). I was using Lyft because I had 10% off preferred user credit. Paired with at least 5 drivers who accepted and then cancelled the ride. It's our first time staying at AoA, so I'm guessing maybe they didn't want to drive there? Though with the staging area business does where they drive to matter now? Finally paired with 1 driver and he was 20 min away! Ridiculous, I cancelled that one as that was simply too far. I noticed just as I cancelled that ride that Lyft sent me an email apologizing for all the cancelled rides and indicating they were pairing us with a new driver so we would not have the next ride cancelled (I guess a new driver can't cancel rides the same way?), which I assumed is why he was so far away. We could just take the monorail back to MK and take the bus faster than that. I decided to try one more time and we got paired with a driver and got picked up in about 10 min. This trip was a nightmare though. It's a 6 mile drive from GF to AoA. Our drive ended up being 14 miles. I don't know if the driver got lost or if he was intentionally trying to run up his fare. Honest opinion, I got the feeling he was intentionally trying to run up the fare. He has his GPS route on and he didn't seem to be confused about where he was going. He seemed to be going past roads, turning around and taking the long way. I did rate him 3 stars with the route being the reason for lower rating. I then reporting a problem with the ride and gave them the reason showing how far it should have been and how far he went. The notified me that he did indeed take an excessive route and refunded the extra charge (I'd paid the initial amount at the time of the request and then it doubled based on the final route he took).

This same night I was having trouble with rides I tried Minnie Vans and I could not pair with one of them either. We'd tried to use Minnie Van earlier that morning to go to MK and were never able to pair with one. I tried again to use one Tuesday (yesterday) about 11:00, nothing, never paired. Also tried Monday night about 8:00. I think the adding of additional resorts and not adding additional vans has overextended it too much. I would really hesitate to rely on the vans. Luckily for us, it was going to be a treat, not a requirement. I wanted DGD to be able to use one for her Birthday.

 

[AngiTN]

Wow, you had some bad luck.

I don't know why it took so long for the cars to arrive. The only staging area that's really far out there is at AK, and maybe the Marketplace side at DS. Unless traffic is really bad, it shouldn't take more than 5 minutes. At TTC, staging is around the corner at the STOLport; sometimes traffic gets backed up at the traffic light at World & 7 Seas. And the new pickup area at Epcot gets real bad at park exit, because cars have to cross a crosswalk that carries a lot of exiting Guests.

I don't know about the black cars, but maybe some independent limo drivers are using Uber/Lyft to keep busy when they don't have a scheduled drive. But it seems it would be hard for it to be worthwhile on UberX payouts. Maybe they're counting on riders being impressed by the cars and leaving big tips.

Some drivers don't like "short" rides, but 5 in a row cancelling does seem excessive.

And we had great luck with Epcot last night. We called for our car to pick us up to go to the airport at 7:00 and got one in about 5 min. We love the new pick up spot (I know drivers don't but I love having a covered spot if it's raining, and having a bench to sit on. Got a great driver last night and everything went flawlessly. Exactly as I have had on prior trips.

I do chalk our other luck up to just a run of bad luck, not so much as a turn in bad things with the services in general.

I was wondering how the staging area impacted drivers accepting rides and all that if they are expected to return to the staging area before taking their next ride. Does that alter what you want to accept or even alter what you are sent as an option, since it's a FIFO thing. Seems like it changes the entire process completely, but maybe not?

 

[joelkfla]

And we had great luck with Epcot last night. We called for our car to pick us up to go to the airport at 7:00 and got one in about 5 min. We love the new pick up spot (I know drivers don't but I love having a covered spot if it's raining, and having a bench to sit on. Got a great driver last night and everything went flawlessly. Exactly as I have had on prior trips.

I do chalk our other luck up to just a run of bad luck, not so much as a turn in bad things with the services in general.

I was wondering how the staging area impacted drivers accepting rides and all that if they are expected to return to the staging area before taking their next ride. Does that alter what you want to accept or even alter what you are sent as an option, since it's a FIFO thing. Seems like it changes the entire process completely, but maybe not?

The staging areas have been in effect at the parks for at least a year, though they occasionally move them around without bothering to tell drivers. Lyft shows them on the map on the drivers' app, but the only way to find them on Uber is to go onto the web site, and even there the page is hard to find. Communication from Uber to drivers is notoriously bad.

Different drivers have different philosophies. Some like short rides, others like long rides. Some aim to squeeze out every cent they can, others are more into enjoying the experience. Lyft shows how many drivers are in the queue when you're within a few miles of it, so drivers can make a decision whether they want to wait or not. Uber used to show it only after you entered the staging area, but then it stopped working; I haven't driven at WDW in a few months, so I don't know whether it's working again.

When I am driving at WDW, I'll usually head for a queue if it's not too full (in Lyft) and if I don't get something on the way. If the ride ends somewhere on WDW property, I may hang out in the area for 15 minutes, and then head to a nearby queue if nothing comes in. If I drop off at a park, I'll usually go straight to staging area. It helps to be flexible.

 

[JimMIA]

First to this staging business. It is a huge thumbs down from me. Having been using Uber and Lyft for a couple years now this is nothing but an inconvenience to the user. It made the times showing on the vehicles on the app useless since it will show you cars on the road but will not pair you with them. So yeah, I see cars that are 2, 3 min away but if it only pairs me with the vehicles in the staging area which is 10 min away what good does it do to show me cars that are 2 min away? It only annoys me when my ride ends up being triple wait time. This happened every single time we requested a car. Since the staging of vehicles is new I have to assume this is related to that. When they were not using this staging area business I was being paired with rides that were 2, 3 min waits on avg. I never had a wait less than 10 min on this past trip. Ridiculous for as many cars as there were on the road. I realize 10 min is not long and yeah, it's not. But it is annoying when the app shows you cars closer than that.

Were you using Lyft, Uber, or both?

If both companies are using a queue, it's probably been mandated by Disney, not the companies. Queues are usually used to prevent excessive traffic congestion caused by drivers trolling for rides. They are also used to enhance security at busy venues.

Twice I was paired a black Suburban, 2 different days, different drivers. We didn't request a big vehicle either. I know it's a popular vehicle and all that but these were almost like fleet vehicles or something so I did wonder, is there someone out there putting out vehicles with drivers for use as Lyft or Uber vehicles? Doesn't matter to me if there are, but I was curious

Suburbans are UberXL or Lyft Plus vehicles. However, in some markets there is not enough XL/Plus business to keep them busy, so many drivers will accept any class of ride.

I was using Lyft because I had 10% off preferred user credit. Paired with at least 5 drivers who accepted and then cancelled the ride. It's our first time staying at AoA, so I'm guessing maybe they didn't want to drive there? Though with the staging area business does where they drive to matter now?

Key question: Did the drivers CALL you and ask where you were going...and then cancel?

If so, the drivers were cherry-picking rides...which is a major no-no with both companies. Any time a driver does that to you, you should report them.

If not, it might well have been LYFT canceling the rides -- either on purpose or because of a software glitch...or both! Lyft does a stupid thing for a good reason, and its name is "re-dispatch." Theoretically, this system cancels one driver and assigns a closer driver if they become available. Or sometimes it kicks in if the driver is "not making sufficient progress toward the pickup." Like they caught a red light. Re-dispatch can result in multiple cancellations like you experienced.

 

[joelkfla]

Regarding the Staging - I understand the concept, but I don't know when it applies. Getting picked up at Airport, I assume. But also for getting picked up at Disney parks? At Disney resorts?

OIA (or MCO) is the mother of all queues; there may be over a hundred drivers waiting for each of Uber and Lyft. At Disney, the 4 major parks have queues (MK's is for TTC, of course), and there are 2 separate queues for DS West Side & Marketplace. There was also a queue shared by all of the Bonnet Creek Resorts (Hilton, Waldorf, etc.); I'm not sure whether that's still in effect. Requests from the water parks and the Disney resorts go to the nearest car.

 

[JimMIA]

OIA (or MCO) is the mother of all queues; there may be over a hundred drivers waiting for each of Uber and Lyft.

I've seen MIA as high as 310 for Uber. But the number really doesn't matter. What matters is how fast it's moving. I've seen the Uber MIA queue move at 1-2 per minute, and 8-10+ per minute. I've gone into the queue at 130-something and had a ride in 15 minutes.

 

[JimMIA]

I was wondering how the staging area impacted drivers accepting rides and all that if they are expected to return to the staging area before taking their next ride. Does that alter what you want to accept or even alter what you are sent as an option, since it's a FIFO thing. Seems like it changes the entire process completely, but maybe not?

Drivers don't know the destination before accepting the ride. With Lyft, you can see the destination (if you know where to look) once you arrive at the pickup point and confirm your arrival. With Uber, you can't see the destination until you actually start the ride.

The only reasons a driver should decline a ride from a queue are either class of service (e.g. XL driver getting an X request but wanting to wait for XL), or low rider rating (and I'm sure your rating is NOT low!). Those two items are really the only info we have on the ride request. Generally with queues, there is some point where refusals will cause you to go to the bottom of the queue, but I've never had that happen.

 

[AngiTN]

No, no one contacted me about my ride.
Here's the email I got from Lyft during that evenings issues with trying to get a ride (I was switching back and forth checking on wait times with both services, but using Lyft mostly because I had the credit) And I assume my rating is high because the credit I got says it is for being a 5 star customer
It sounds like to me the drivers were doing the cancelling, but this is really all I know
It was just DH and I so all I was requesting was X

Hi Angela,

We noticed a few drivers canceled on your recent ride request, so we paired you with a new driver to make sure you were picked up.

We know your time is valuable. We want to take care of our riders, so we’re working hard to reduce cancellations on Lyft.

Thanks for hanging in there!

Your friends at Lyft

 

[JimMIA]

No, no one contacted me about my ride.
Here's the email I got from Lyft during that evenings issues with trying to get a ride (I was switching back and forth checking on wait times with both services, but using Lyft mostly because I had the credit) And I assume my rating is high because the credit I got says it is for being a 5 star customer
It sounds like to me the drivers were doing the cancelling, but this is really all I know
It was just DH and I so all I was requesting was X

Hi Angela,

We noticed a few drivers canceled on your recent ride request, so we paired you with a new driver to make sure you were picked up.

We know your time is valuable. We want to take care of our riders, so we’re working hard to reduce cancellations on Lyft.

Thanks for hanging in there!

Your friends at Lyft

That sounds to me like they were having app problems -- either re-dispatch, the queue itself, or something else. If the drivers didn't call you, they would have no reason to just cancel...especially if they are in a queue where cancellations could mean going back to the end of the queue.

The two companies are constantly updating their drivers' apps, and it seems like whenever they do, they fix one thing and cause a problem somewhere else! Fortunately the problems are usually minor aggravations, not something major.

 

[AngiTN]

That sounds to me like they were having app problems -- either re-dispatch, the queue itself, or something else. If the drivers didn't call you, they would have no reason to just cancel...especially if they are in a queue where cancellations could mean going back to the end of the queue.

The two companies are constantly updating their drivers' apps, and it seems like whenever they do, they fix one thing and cause a problem somewhere else! Fortunately the problems are usually minor aggravations, not something major.

Well I wish they'd not blame the drivers then. The email says "the drivers canceled" not "the app canceled". I'd forgive them if their app screwed up so if that's the case, they need to fess up

 

[JimMIA]

Well I wish they'd not blame the drivers then. The email says "the drivers canceled" not "the app canceled". I'd forgive them if their app screwed up so if that's the case, they need to fess up

I agree, but they're not big on fessing up, lol. Lyft is never wrong... When a rider cancels a request, they tell us, "Angi has canceled her ride." But when they cancel us with the re-dispatch, they just say, "Your ride has canceled."

And like anything techie, you can have issues. Last week I was in an area of Miami Beach where Lyft's app coverage is apparently a little spotty. I got a ride request, telling me that my acceptance rate was low (It was 100%, but Lyft does that a lot for some reason.). I accepted the ride, but the acceptance wouldn't go through. I got a nasty-gram saying I had missed a ride. I tried to go offline, but couldn't. Same ride request, same "you missed a ride" nasty-gram THREE MORE TIMES in about two minutes. In the meantime, I got an Uber request, accepted it and started driving to pickup. As I drove out of that area, the Lyft app calmed down and I was able to turn it off. I checked later and sure enough, my acceptance rate was still at 100%.

Just an app glitch. Fortunately those are pretty rare.

 

[Gus V.]

Just back from a quick (for us) trip, 3/9-13.
Had a pretty mixed bag of results using car services, a first for us. All other trips have been 100% positive. Doesn't change my opinion but does change my procedures, unless the providers make changes.
First to this staging business. It is a huge thumbs down from me. Having been using Uber and Lyft for a couple years now this is nothing but an inconvenience to the user. It made the times showing on the vehicles on the app useless since it will show you cars on the road but will not pair you with them. So yeah, I see cars that are 2, 3 min away but if it only pairs me with the vehicles in the staging area which is 10 min away what good does it do to show me cars that are 2 min away? It only annoys me when my ride ends up being triple wait time. This happened every single time we requested a car. Since the staging of vehicles is new I have to assume this is related to that. When they were not using this staging area business I was being paired with rides that were 2, 3 min waits on avg. I never had a wait less than 10 min on this past trip. Ridiculous for as many cars as there were on the road. I realize 10 min is not long and yeah, it's not. But it is annoying when the app shows you cars closer than that.

Twice I was paired a black Suburban, 2 different days, different drivers. We didn't request a big vehicle either. I know it's a popular vehicle and all that but these were almost like fleet vehicles or something so I did wonder, is there someone out there putting out vehicles with drivers for use as Lyft or Uber vehicles? Doesn't matter to me if there are, but I was curious

Coming back from GF on Sunday night we had a huge mess. It was about an hour after MK closed, which was about 3 hours after fireworks and about 3 hours after the other parks closed. Not a peak time I'd think but we sure had issues. DH and I took the boat from MK to GF to pick up DGDs cake that we'd left with bell services and wanted to take a car back to AoA (the girls took the bus back to AoA from MK). I was using Lyft because I had 10% off preferred user credit. Paired with at least 5 drivers who accepted and then cancelled the ride. It's our first time staying at AoA, so I'm guessing maybe they didn't want to drive there? Though with the staging area business does where they drive to matter now? Finally paired with 1 driver and he was 20 min away! Ridiculous, I cancelled that one as that was simply too far. I noticed just as I cancelled that ride that Lyft sent me an email apologizing for all the cancelled rides and indicating they were pairing us with a new driver so we would not have the next ride cancelled (I guess a new driver can't cancel rides the same way?), which I assumed is why he was so far away. We could just take the monorail back to MK and take the bus faster than that. I decided to try one more time and we got paired with a driver and got picked up in about 10 min. This trip was a nightmare though. It's a 6 mile drive from GF to AoA. Our drive ended up being 14 miles. I don't know if the driver got lost or if he was intentionally trying to run up his fare. Honest opinion, I got the feeling he was intentionally trying to run up the fare. He has his GPS route on and he didn't seem to be confused about where he was going. He seemed to be going past roads, turning around and taking the long way. I did rate him 3 stars with the route being the reason for lower rating. I then reported a problem with the ride (a first for me in all the rides we've taken with both services) and gave them the reason showing how far it should have been and how far he went. They notified me that he did indeed take an excessive route and refunded the extra charge (I'd paid the initial amount at the time of the request and then it doubled based on the final route he took).

This same night I was having trouble with rides I tried Minnie Vans and I could not pair with one of them either. We'd tried to use Minnie Van earlier that morning to go to MK and were never able to pair with one. I tried again to use one Tuesday (yesterday) about 11:00, nothing, never paired. Also tried Monday night about 8:00. I think the adding of additional resorts and not adding additional vans has overextended it too much. I would really hesitate to rely on the vans. Luckily for us, it was going to be a treat, not a requirement. I wanted DGD to be able to use one for her Birthday.

Sorry you had bad luck with the Minnie Vans, we used this service during our trip two weeks ago and thought it was fantastic. We used it a total of 8-10 times, we kind of went nuts with it! Lol.

We stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge for 8 nights, family of 4 with kids, 3 and 1. While we thought the service was great and convenient, having used it multiple times we did find some flaws in the app and hopefully things will improve as they expand. We noticed we couldn’t request a ride from our room, I did find that a bit annoying, you always had to be within range of the pick up point. That said, we never waited longer than 7-8 mins for a ride. Mid way through our trip there was an issue with my credit card in the app, not really sure why since my wife used the same credit card on her phone, no big deal though, switched to Apple Pay.

We got to ride in a couple brand new Minnies, that was nice! Cast members were always friendly and knowledgeable and they all provided fantastic service!

One day we left Animal Kingdom for our Chef Mickeys dinner reservation and that took us a few minutes to find the pick up point. We asked a cast member about it and he had no idea what Minnie Vans were! Lol. That was shocking! Overall, we enjoyed the service since it was convenient with two tired kids after the parks and a double stroller. Also used it for early ADRs. We will definitely be using it again in October. Hope you have better luck next time

 

[AngiTN]

Sorry you had bad luck with the Minnie Vans, we used this service during our trip two weeks ago and thought it was fantastic. We used it a total of 8-10 times, we kind of went nuts with it! Lol.

We stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge for 8 nights, family of 4 with kids, 3 and 1. While we thought the service was great and convenient, having used it multiple times we did find some flaws in the app and hopefully things will improve as they expand. We noticed we couldn’t request a ride from our room, I did find that a bit annoying, you always had to be within range of the pick up point. That said, we never waited longer than 7-8 mins for a ride. Mid way through our trip there was an issue with my credit card in the app, not really sure why since my wife used the same credit card on her phone, no big deal though, switched to Apple Pay.

We got to ride in a couple brand new Minnies, that was nice! Cast members were always friendly and knowledgeable and they all provided fantastic service!

One day we left Animal Kingdom for our Chef Mickeys dinner reservation and that took us a few minutes to find the pick up point. We asked a cast member about it and he had no idea what Minnie Vans were! Lol. That was shocking! Overall, we enjoyed the service since it was convenient with two tired kids after the parks and a double stroller. Also used it for early ADRs. We will definitely be using it again in October. Hope you have better luck next time

We've used it plenty of times in the past. I never request a vehicle until I'm at a pick up point. I won't ever make a ride wait for me. So I won't request till I'm there.
That said, after what I went through this weekend I will no longer recommend someone rely on them, I will suggest they have a back up plan. Clearly there was not enough to meet demand. What would you have done had you never gotten paired with a vehicle? Needing 2 car seats?

 

[Best Aunt]

Yes, it's been posted in this thread by the drivers that they are using staging at Disney now. I'll find the post and update

Thank you