I used both Uber and Lyft for my Orlando trip a couple weeks ago so here's a bit of a long rundown of my experiences for those wondering about Uber and Lyft and Orlando from a first time rider sharer's point of view...
We were 2 young adults who didn't want to pay shuttle prices to get from MCO to Cabana Bay so we grabbed a local bus ($2/person) and got off at the first stop and called an Uber. It was hot waiting out in the sun but we only waited about 10 mins and it was such a nice trip to Cabana Bay vs shuttle. Far better, worth the work around to get picked up just outside the airport. If you're travelling with more than just a couple adults though I'd just eat the taxi or towncar fare. That night we used Lyft to get from Cabana Bay to Disney Springs. The driver drove around in circles on the CB property until he finally found the front entrance but he made it and got us to Disney springs just fine. I gave him 5 stars, I saw no reason to whack his rating as he was new to the area and ratings are very important to drivers and passengers. I've previously detailed that return trip on this thread, suffice it to say it was an oddity as others here suspected, never again did Disney security deny our drivers entry to properties for pickups. We used Lyft to and from Sea World and Cabana Bay, it was great, forget the free shuttle just use a ride share! We used rider sharing again from RPR (changed hotels, boy was that an upset taxi driver when we needed to get from CB to RPR, we still tipped generously but... ugh, hate taxis!) to AKL, loved it.
An odd one- around midnight trying to get from Poly to AKL called for a Lyft, driver drove onto the property and then started driving randomly around the parking lot. He stopped and my app said driver had arrived, he was nowhere we could see him. He called me asking where I was and I said we were at the front entry way where everyone is picked up and dropped off. The app then said the ride had STARTED! We couldn't even see the car! I cancelled the trip via app, never saw the driver and called an Uber. 2.4x surge pricing was happening and the only close car was an Uber XL and we took it. Didn't care that late at night. No regrets, best driver we had and the price was what a taxi would have been. My friend and I split the fare on the app, worked like a charm.
Took a Lyft AKL to TTC for
MVMCP, was fine, cast member driver knew his way around. We took the bus back that night and it is the biggest regret of my trip. 25 solid minutes of misery, I will never use Disney bus transport between AKL and MK again. It was fine to Epcot but no further! At the end of my trip I called a Lyft from Poly to MCO, said 15 mins, the driver's car disappeared from the app, reappeared 20 mins later and was driving away from me?! I cancelled it and called an Uber and was on my way to the airport within 5 mins. (I cancelled my DME that morning as I wasn't about to get on another bus after MK to AKL bus ride the night before and I have no regrets.)
Notes: my friend and I were both new to these services, it started out "look its free for the first time" at the beginning and turned into "it's so much nicer than wdw transport" by the end. We both always sat in back. I tipped my Uber driver who had trouble getting through Disney security because that wasn't his fault and he did everything he could to get us and I tipped when the driver took me to the airport because I know they can't pick up there. I tipped the Lyft drivers that managed to pick me up via the app a buck or two. Always rated the drivers immediately, 5s across the board, received 5s myself on both services when I inquired after returning home. Half of the drivers were brand new to Orlando, thank goodness for GPS! Half of the drivers barely spoke English, but it didn't matter because they spoke enough to figure out where we were going and that's all that mattered! All of the drivers drove safely and had clean cars.
Conclusions: Uber much more reliable than Lyft. I kept trying to use Lyft because I had a number of Lyft credits because they screwed up my introductory promo, should have stuck with Uber. Lyft charged me $5 for the driver who started the fare before we even saw his car but refunded me after I contacted them and explained what happened. When contacting Lyft for problems use Twitter, much faster than email. You can direct message them @asklyft. It's sad that I remember that because I used it so often.
When I return to Orlando someday I will be all over Uber again, that was excellent every time!