My Wife Calls Me 'Cheap': Has Anyone Taken Public Busses From MCO To A WDW Resort???

[Captain Blue Sky]

OK, I admit, I might be pinching a few too many pennies with this idea, but after all, why not save some money?

Rather than renting a car for our Mid-June trek to WDW, and opting not to arrange for something like a towncar (because of cost) or Mears (because it might take longer than expected for the cost), has anyone taken The Lynx, Central Florida's Regional Transportation to/from MCO and WDW?

I was on their website and saw dozens of Disney stops! It would only involve 1 transfer. I'm sure the price can't be beat...

What do you think?? Is it worth a try, or definitely something we should avoid even thinking about??

Here's the picture: Me, DW, DD - 10, and DD - 5. My youngsters have no problems with public transportation, but from MCO to WDW is the question...

Am I suffering from Chapter 11 fever???

 

[goofy4tink]

Well, I'm not a public transportation kind of person. I'm always afraid I'll end up about 20 miles from my destination!!! So, the only time we used Lynx was to get from TTC to SeaWorld and that worked wonderfully. But, I know that I would never even attempt taking the bus to just Universal. I think there are a lot of stops and you do have to transfer. I would think it would be a real pain to lug around your stuff on the bus. I would either take a towncar service for around $100 r/t or, dare I say, Mears. Mears will run you about $28 pp r/t. But with the number of you going I would think the towncar would be your best bet.

I figure that I'm on vacation....what's another $100 in the big scheme of things. No way would I attempt the Lynx system from MCO, but someone else may have done it successfully/easily!!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

uugghh, sorry that's about the last thing I'd want to do after finally arriving in Orlando...

 

[Pea-n-Me]

P.S. We always rent a car because, in my way of figuring anyway, I can get one for the same as what it would cost our family of four to take the shuttles round trip. Then we have lots of other options for saving some $ - like grocery shopping or eating offsite, etc... I really look forward to getting comfortably settled in our rental post flight and taking our simple ride to our resort.

 

[RobinMarie]

I have gone so far as to CONSIDER this mode of transportation when I did a solo trip. I never considered it when I had others.

In the end, I sprung for the 25 dollars for Mears transportation.

 

[Andrew Bichard]

I believe that the only stop at WDW that will be useful to you will be the one at TTC. I have seen all the others on the Lynx route maps, but I suspect these might be drop offs for housekeeping staff going in to work, so you need to check the timetable, they might not be serving theses stops at the time of day you need them.

I believe that to get from MCO to TTC will involve one Lynx MCO to Seaword, change to second Lynx to TTC, take monorail to MK, take Disney bus to Disney Resort Hotel.

Absolutely the cheapest way to go.

But do you really want to spend the best part of two days valuable Disney vacation time schlepping luggage on and off buses?

Andrew

 

[safetymom]

I think you should find a cheap rental car. That's a lot of work lugging your stuff on the bus. No place to store it properly, up and down stairs. I am sure your kids wouldn't enjoy it either.

You could always rent a car at National for your day of arrival and return it to the Car Care center on property.

I can understand your reasoning but I would want to start my trip off without any problems.

 

[inkkognito]

I say go for a cheap rental car too. The previous poster is probably correct about most of the stops being for housekeeping. Take a look at Thrifty or L & M, and look for the car rental codes at www.mousesavers.com. You may be surprised at the good rate you can get! I am a major penny pincher, but on this one you have to put a cost on your time vs. the savings.
Barb

 

[powellrj]

we have used public transportation when we stayed on International Drive, but have never used it to get from the airport to a hotel. I may be tempted if I were by myself, but I would never try it with kids. We have always rented a car ( but we use public busses when we split up one will take the car and one kid, the other will take the other kid and the bus). I would try mousesavers codes or you might even try priceline for your car rental.

 

[inkkognito]

Good point about priceline...I use them all the time and have been very happy. They deal with all onsite locations, with the exception of Hertz, and the Hertz shuttle is fast, prompt, and painless.
Barb

 

[CarolA]

I agree with your wife!

Sorry, at leasts go for Mears.

Also, in my city at least the bus takes the senic tour through parts of town I really don't want to see LOL!

 

[CarolMN]

The bus trip will take longer than Mears.

Have you really though about what it will be like traveling with 2 kids and 4 people's luggage on a bus? What if you don't get a seat? How will you feel about moving luggage to the resort once you get to the TTC - unless you are staying at a monorail resort, you're going to have to transfer at least one more time. There are no buses to the resorts from the TTC.

Some things are worth paying for - especially if it saves precious vacation time or avoids an upset spouse! Do you really want to put yourself in the position of having to listen to your DW (rightfully so, I might add, LOL) being able to say "I told you so!"

Best wishes -

P.S. If you still think this is a good idea, read this thread and pay special attention to the posts by Chip 'n Dale Express. As you may already know he is a Disney bus driver.

 

[NotUrsula]

Also, the discussion that CarolMN posted is primarily in regard to taking Lynx from I-Drive, not WDW. The time to WDW is the 3 hrs. mentioned by Tyler.

Note that a direct towncar or a rental car will get you to WDW in 20 minutes using 417 (it is $2.50 in tolls, too, but trust me, you do NOT want to go out of your way to avoid toll roads; it takes WAY too much time if you don't know the area.) Mears will normally take close to an hour, because it will stop at more than one hotel, and probably several.

You might also want to figure in the cost of shipping your luggage down ahead, as Lynx won't let you take full-sized luggage onto their busses.

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

Originally posted by Captain Blue Sky
I was on their website and saw dozens of Disney stops! It would only involve 1 transfer. I'm sure the price can't be beat...

Actually, it would involve several transfers.

You would take the #11 bus from the Airport to Downtown Orlando (45 mins), and then switch to the #50 (45 mins). Of course, the 50 leaves 5 minutes before the 11 arrives, so unless the bus is running early, you'll have to then wait 25 minutes for the next bus.

2 hours, just to get to Disney.

Then, you'd take that to the Transportation & Ticket Center. From there, depending on what resort you choose (I'm guessing based on frugality, a Value), you'd have to then take a monorail to the Magic Kingdom, and then a bus to your resort. This can take another 45 minutes.

So, assuming you wait for 15 minutes to get onto the first Lynx bus, that's a total of 3 hours, and 3 transfers. Never mind the fact that Lynx really doesn't allow bulky luggage.

 

[jordanyosh]

Time is money.

 

[kadaten]

Originally posted by safetymom
I think you should find a cheap rental car. That's a lot of work lugging your stuff on the bus. No place to store it properly, up and down stairs. I am sure your kids wouldn't enjoy it either.

You could always rent a car at National for your day of arrival and return it to the Car Care center on property.

I can understand your reasoning but I would want to start my trip off without any problems.

With a combination of coupons, I got a rental from Alamo (also located at Disney's Car Care Center) for $36 total for one day. Pickup at airport, return to WDW Car Care Center. The center is open until 6pm. Since we had a car, we were able to make our own grocery stop and stop at the Disney Outlet on the way to the hotel. After we unloaded our luggage, I simply drove the car to the WDWCCC. They shuttled me back to the hotel. Quick, painless, CHEAP!!! This is DEFINITELY the way to go!!!

My rate was using a combination of codes from Mousesavers.com. Give it a try and see what you can come up with!

I would NEVER do public transportation from the airport to hotel, for time and convenience reasons. 1-Time involved as pointed out above. 2-It's not easy to schlep 4 people's luggage around, especially on/off buses at the transfers....and have to sit on the side of the road with it all while you wait for your next bus. UGH. No. NEVER. If I can't afford decent transportation (Mears, rental, towncar, whatever) then I obviously need to save for a few more weeks before I can leave!!!

Sorry, but I agree with your wife.

 

[Deb & Bill]

If you are really considering this as a big cost, how do you plan to eat at WDW? Also what about souveniers? If you can't afford the transportation to the resort from the airport, you really should save your money and stay home until you can afford the cost.

 

[Minybear]

Thanks Chip n' Dale Express for your response. Its good to see a detailed description of what would happen if you or anyone staying at WDW used public transportation.

Captain Blue Sky
I know you want to save $$ for your family. WDW is expensive in itself. Everyone here on the DIS knows that. Please consider what everybody here is suggesting for you and your family's vacation. I hope everything goes smoothly for your vacation.

 

[Minybear]

Captain Blue Sky

I just realized your are a pilot on ATA (saw the other post). Sorry about the chapter 11. Now I understand why you are saving the $$.

 

[Captain Blue Sky]

WOW!

What great information!

Yes, my wife gave me the deer-in-headlights, eyebrows raised, lean-back-and-take-it-all-in-here-he-goes-again-look...

Hey, I might not have a job by September, so I was thinking with economy in mind!

I truly appreciate the insights you all have given me. Although, I have to say that the www.golynx.com website DOES list dozens of Disney stops at many of the big hotel complexes... And the route that their online trip planning service provided from MCO to WDW really only showed 1 transfer!

Since we will be staying at POR, however, I surmised that we would end at DTD and take the water launch to POR, since the bus definitely stopped at DTD.

I hear you about luggage. Because we non-rev travel so much (fly for free) we only bring carryons when we travel. We have gotten REALLY GOOD at packing for a week in a 22-inch rollaboard for each person. We have never checked luggage, wait I lied, when we went to Hawaii in June we checked a huge bag containing snorkel equipment. That was the only time luggage was checked since we have had children...

About meals at WDW: yes, they are pricey, but we have to eat and we do have our favorites! What I was trying to do, by thinking of taking the bus, is to avoid renting a car and having it sit in the parking lot for the entire time, since we really do not venture off-property while at WDW.

Again, thanks to everyone! I think we will rent the car for the arrival and drop it off at the CCC. That way, we would not be paying for the car to sit for days on end in the parking lot...

Very appreciative of the information!