First time combining Universal hotel stay with Disney hotel stay - rental car?

[olive]

We have been just staying on Disney property these last few trips, and I haven't even been to Universal in over 20 years. We decided the spend a couple of nights at Universal (at Royal Pacific) before our Disney stay (at the Swan or Dolphin). We were thinking that it would be easiest to rent a car at the airport for those days, because of carting around luggage and also two carseats, which would need to be installed and uninstalled for cabs or a town car service. In the past we have used Tiffany Town Car for RT service to and from Disney hotels, but we didn't want to add in another town car trip. Assuming rental prices adjust (our trip is in January and I am seeing rates around $300 right now for 3 days, which seems silly), how have folks done this? I assumed it would be pretty easy to pick up the rental car a the airport, drive to Universal, stay there - I think parking is free at the hotel - and then drop it off at the Dolphin when we switch hotels a couple of days later. If rental car prices don't drop, we will definitely stick with the town car.

Thanks!

 

[aubriee]

We have been just staying on Disney property these last few trips, and I haven't even been to Universal in over 20 years. We decided the spend a couple of nights at Universal (at Royal Pacific) before our Disney stay (at the Swan or Dolphin). We were thinking that it would be easiest to rent a car at the airport for those days, because of carting around luggage and also two carseats, which would need to be installed and uninstalled for cabs or a town car service. In the past we have used Tiffany Town Car for RT service to and from Disney hotels, but we didn't want to add in another town car trip. Assuming rental prices adjust (our trip is in January and I am seeing rates around $300 right now for 3 days, which seems silly), how have folks done this? I assumed it would be pretty easy to pick up the rental car a the airport, drive to Universal, stay there -I think parking is free at the hotel - and then drop it off at the Dolphin when we switch hotels a couple of days later. If rental car prices don't drop, we will definitely stick with the town car.

Thanks!

We don't rent a car down there, but I can tell you, parking is not free at either Royal Pacific or Swan/Dolphin. In fact self parking at the Universal resorts just went up a few months ago from $15.00/day to $17.00/day, plus taxes. The last time I was checking in at Royal Pacific the lady checking me in didn't even ask if I had a car, (just assumed I did I guess). As she was checking me in, she just told me the parking fee would be $15.00/day. When I told her I didn't have a car, she said, "Oh don't worry about it then".

 

[goofy4tink]

You will find that rental rates will go down as you get closer to your dates..they are almost always high this far in advance.
You will pay for parking each day/night you are there. So, be sure to plan on that.
If you can't get a cheap enough rental rate, double check and see what the 3 way towncar ride would be...MCO to RPR to S/D and back to MCO.

 

[olive]

We knew about parking fees at S/D (don't need the car there, just for drop off), but I thought it was free at RP. Oh well. Yes, if the fees don't drop by a lot we will just do the towncar and do the installation a few times for the carseat.

Thanks for the input!