if you take late flight into MCO & go to dis resort next morning...

[MumTo2Princesses]

hi all. need advice and this may sound strange but hoping others have had this experience:

flying in to MCO on thurs night and not checking into to disney resort until friday.

we know we want to hire a driver or taxi. we are not interested in doing ME or mears or any mass transportation from airport to disney..

my plan is to book an airport hotel for thurs eve, take the hotel shuttle to hotel from airport on thursday night then book driver roundtrip for friday's journey from hotel to disney resort then back to airport again upon departure.

am i missing anything? is there any advantage to booking a hotel closer to disney and taking taxi from airport on thurs night then take another taxi from hotel to disney resort on friday? costwise it seems my first plan is most cost effective but want to be sure i am not missing anything.

hope this was not too confusing and i look forward to hearing what others have done in this situation!

 

[SB in KY]

Your first plan seems to be the best....any car service that does airport pickups will be more than happy to pick you up at a hotel near the airport (saves them the airport pick up fee)...just tell them when and where and they will get you. You will get a nicer quality hotel for less$$ near the airport than you would near Disney property, and it will save you the extra cab/car fare. It is nice to be able to call the shuttle to your hotel from baggage claim, they arrive quickly and will have you to your hotel in 5 minutes or so...vs a 30 minute ride out to WDW late at night.

We always bid through Priceline for a 3* property in the MCO area when we arrive late....all the hotels Priceline uses in that zone (Marriott, Renaissance, Sheraton Suites, HI Select and the Hyatt inside the airport) have complimentary shuttle service 24/7 and are quite nice. Usually a bid of $40 to 50 will get a nice hotel in that zone. The 2.5* properties in that zone are nice enough but not all of them offer shuttle service after 10PM, so if you arrive late you could get stuck paying for a cab (some have 24 hr shuttle, others do not and with Priceline you don't have any control over which one you get...so I always opt for a 3* property to be safe)

 

[MumTo2Princesses]

thanks for your advice, sb. I have never used priceline-- but sounds like you have had good experiences with it? Do you make a specific bid on the type of room you need -- for example can you bid on a NS room with 2 queen/doubles or do you get any room that is available?? also, when you do find out what type of room and which hotel? thanks so much!!

 

[kaytieeldr]

See www.biddingfortravel.com for a great deal of advice and information regarding bidding on Priceline hotels.

 

[MumTo2Princesses]

See www.biddingfortravel.com for a great deal of advice and information regarding bidding on Priceline hotels.

thanks so much! i will check it out...

just checked out biddingfortravel.com and it is VERY helpful. i don't think priceline is my best choice for this trip b/c i must have non-smoking, 2 beds, airport shuttle service and breakfast would be nice so i guess i will find an airport hotel some other way. thanks for sharing this info!!

 

[gramjulie3]

My family (eight of us) did exactly the same thing on our first trip in June of this year. We stayed at the Ramada Orlando Airport. I had made reservations with FL Tours to be picked up at 10 am. He was right on time, pointed out sights, stopped at a Publix store near OKW. The bell services stored our luggage and groceries until our room was ready at 2pm. On our return trip to the airport we had the same driver and again we had excellent service. Will be doing the same thing on our next trip.