Need Advice - for travel back to Saratoga Springs Hotel (Disney hotel) from Universal

[ehg71]

Hi folks,

I need some advice. I set up my trip to Disney and Universal months ago. I am using the Disney Vacation Club which will allow me to stay at Saratoga Springs, a Walt Disney Resort Hotel. Included, I will receive free Magical Express transfers to and from the airport.

When I set up my trip, we decided to stay at the Disney resorts for 4 days and Universal for 1 day in order to see the new Harry Potter World, which is the main reason for going down. We even set up the food plan which required us to make reservations over 6 months in advance for the restaurants we wanted to go to at the times that were convenient.

Just yesterday, I found out that our airline, Continental, changed the time of our departure from Orlando. It was supposed to be 7:30 pm. Now, it has been moved up to 6:25 pm.

If you are using Magical Express for your transportation to and from the airport, you are required to leave your hotel 3 hours beforehand. Now, we also had planned to take Mears Transportation from Universal to get back to our hotel, with enough time to make the 3 hour minimum for the airport transportation.

Mears does not operate transportation from Universal to your hotel anytime between 10 am and 3:15 pm. So, now, I have a problem.

I will have to leave Universal way before 3:15 pm in order to make the 3 hour time period since Continental changed times.

So should I take a taxi back? What do you think the cost will be for a trip between Universal and Saratoga Springs?

Are there any other options? The Continental flight is the last flight of the day for that airline going directly back home. So, there's my little problem. I hope some of you can come up with some good solutions. Thank you.

 

[goofy4tink]

I'm assuming that you are heading over to US/IoA first thing in the morning of your last day...not actually paying for a room there. If it were me, I would change my US/IoA day to the day before departure, if you are heading over for just the day. That way, you don't have the headache of worrying about getting back to SSR.
I never, ever make 'set in concrete' plans for my departure day. Airlines are notorious for making changes....you are lucky that it's only an hour earlier. What would you do if they made the flight time mid-afternoon??
If at all possible, go to US/IoA the day before. You'll be happier that way...much less stress. That's what we did earlier this month. Did US/IoA on Wednesday, left WDW the next day.

 

[skelooch]

I'm a little confused are you spending a night at US/IOA or is it just a day trip on your check out day?
If you're spending the night at Universal, I'm not sure you're allowed to come back to Disney just to use ME but someone here will know for sure.
So the following would apply if it is just a day trip on your check out day.

You don't say exactly when your trip is, so for the sake you discussion let's say your check out day is Oct 1.
I would arrange a rental car from Dollar with pick it up at the Regal Sun Resort (across street from DTD), and return it at the airport.

Check your bags at SSR and get your boarding passes at the RAC station.
(depending on your building location you can have bell services assist you)
Have someone walk to the Regal Sun to pick up the car, return to SSR to get the rest of the family and your carry ons and head off to US/IOA,( I'm sure bell services will be happy to provide you with driving directions) you should be able to get there by close to 9am barring any unforeseen things like traffic.
The Dollar office opens at 8:00am daily.
The current cost of the rental (Mid Size) for 1 day (based on Oct 1) is approx $30 (you'll spend a great deal more than that getting to and from US/IOA), and it will allow you to spend several extra hours at US/IOA stress free.


If the above does not work for you for whatever reason, then I would have to agree with goofy4tink, and would schedule the trip to US/IOA on another day, it wouldn't be worth the aggravation and cost of getting there and stress of getting back on time for ME and only be able to spent a short amount of time there.

Even if you do spend the night at Universal it might still be better to rent the car at Disney and return it to the airport, maybe double the cost but still no stress of getting back to Disney for ME.

Good luck with your plans.