No rental car--is US/IOS realistic?

[Clotho]

So hubby and I are returning to WDW for the first time since our first trip in 2004. Since we don't get down there often, we want to consider seeing some other local attractions on this trip. On the top of our list is Universal/Islands! That said, we don't want to rent a car, since the rest of our entire trip will be on WDW property.

Is there any realistic way to get from WDW to US and back again, without breaking the bank or taking up a big chunk of cash?

 

[gschmerl]

Check out http://www.mearstransportation.com They have shuttles between WDW and Universal.

 

[kenban]

I know you said you don't want to rent a car but Alamo has a rental location onsite at Disney. Its very easy to just rent a car for only a few days. When your at the hotel just contact the front desk and ask for a shuttle to visit the car care center. Most people recommend you schedule the shuttle the night before. Overall it will be a little more expensive then using Mears but you will be able to get away for just a few days (or even a single day) and see everything else that you want to.

 

[Clotho]

Check out http://www.mearstransportation.com They have shuttles between WDW and Universal.

I went to the MEARS website and looked at the PDF rate sheet, and it looks like it is $16 R/T between Disney and Univeral, which is very reasonable. But it doesn't say anything about where they are willing to pick you up, what kind of pick up times they can do (or if there are somehow multiple trips you can hop throughout the day), how long the trip takes, or anything.

Can anyone who has taken this shuttle comment on their experiences?

Thanks!

 

[CJN]

We used a taxi between Portofino and DTD one night to get to La Nouba. I don't know how much your distance may vary but for us it was $27 plus tip one way and $25 plus tip the other. We didn't think that was bad at all since there were three of us and, by comparison, Mears charges per person plus you share the ride and it can be much, much slower.

 

[kenban]

I went to the MEARS website and looked at the PDF rate sheet, and it looks like it is $16 R/T between Disney and Univeral, which is very reasonable. But it doesn't say anything about where they are willing to pick you up, what kind of pick up times they can do (or if there are somehow multiple trips you can hop throughout the day), how long the trip takes, or anything.

Can anyone who has taken this shuttle comment on their experiences?

Thanks!

Just want to point out the $16 is per a person.

Heres a quick run down on how it works. The night before you call and schedule a pickup they have a set schedule for what times they will be at each hotel so they tell you what time you will be picked up. The driver will give you a return ticket with a phone number. 90 minutes to 2 hours before you want to be picked up at Universal you call the number to schedule the return trip. Make sure you are early for both pickup times.

They will pickup at any of the hotels listed in the PDF. Its about half way through I believe Disney is under Zone 4 but if the hotel is listed they will pickup there. There are several trips in the morning to take people to the local attractions and you can normally pick from several times but you will have to call Mears to get exact times for a hotel pickup and it is subject to change so it might be different when you get there. You cannot hop back and forth between the attraction and your hotel you get one ride from the hotel to the attraction and one trip back and thats it. If you take Mears you have to be willing to let the trip take time because on the ride to Universal you will be one of several hotels being picked up there is a chance you will be first or there is a chance you will be the last people picked up. The same holds true for the return trip since the people on your shuttle will be going to several hotels.

If you just do a search for Mears you will find hundreds of comments both good and bad. I do want to point out Mears is huge they run many of the taxis, they are the contractor for both Disney's Magical Express and the Disney Cruise line buses, and provide many of the local (non Disney) hotels transportation to the parks. For me there are just a couple of key points to keep in mind. Make sure you call at least the night before for the pickup to Universal and no matter what the driver says make the call for the return trip as well 2 hours before you want to leave Universal. You are on Mears schedule and they are normally on time or close to it they will leave you if you are late. Make sure you leave plenty of time for the trips as well since they do take time your not the only people who will be picked up or dropped off.

 

[Clotho]

Yes, I understand that it is $16 per person roundtrip. So $32 total. Someone else mentioned a cab ride to DTD, and that was nearly $50 roundtrip, and I believe that US/IOA is quite a bit further. Am I right?

 

[macraven]

i have used all possible ways to travel between the two parks, wdw and UO.

i prefer using town service.

on my trips, i always spend time at disney and time at universal.
when i first started doing both parks, my universal trips were day trips and i stayed at disney the entire 2 weeks. since 1996, i switch hotels. stay first at disney then move to universal.

when it was 4 of us and we were doing day trips, i preferred either renting a car or using town service. we would do 2 different days at UO in those earlier trips.
if we rented a car, it would run us the rental of about $20 -22 a day, the gas and the parking at UO. the total cost would be under $30 then. the rental cost of a one day or two day for the car would determine now if i would go that way.

when i used car service, i would get a round trip charge of $45. what i liked about that was no cost for our parking and we would determine the time we wanted to be picked up. we could even change return pick up time an hour in advance. this was great when it was the four of us. if i rented a car, we would be exhausted and i hated having to drive back to disney with 3 boys under the age of 11.

in past years, i would take one or two of my sons. we used mears and then it was a $14 rt cost for the three of us. we had to go with mears schedule. that made the trip come to $36 plus tip. we did not have the option of staying longer at universal that we wanted.

cabs/taxis. when we used this way, we would always travel when it was not rush hour. the longer amount of time in the cab, added to the expense.
think the cheapest rides were about $55 rt.

now i go solo and only use town service. for a 3 leg trip, i pay $112 total

i think it depends on how much down time you want to deal with and the number of people going on the side trips while you are at disney.

since i have used mears, taxis, car rental, and town service with 4,2,1 kids including myself, i prefer town cars. it is quick, i determine when i go and don't feel rushed.

if you want to economize and don't want full days on side trips, rent a car.

 

[Clotho]

Yeah, we looked at towncars, but it looks like roundtrip is typically $80-$90! We don't want to pay that much for the one day trip (in addition to tickets).

While renting a car for one day sounds convenient, the hassle of actually getting and returning the car seems like a waste of time. We'd have to take a monorail to MK, take a bus to the Dolphin, check in and get the car, drive ourselves, park and walk, then drive ourselves back (so no drinking), and then the next day drive back to the Dolphin to return the car, and bus back to wherever we are going from there.

can that really be worth it just for one day at US? I am wondering if our dream of trying to fit it into our trip is just too much to wish for...

 

[macraven]

Yeah, we looked at towncars, but it looks like roundtrip is typically $80-$90! We don't want to pay that much for the one day trip (in addition to tickets).

While renting a car for one day sounds convenient, the hassle of actually getting and returning the car seems like a waste of time. We'd have to take a monorail to MK, take a bus to the Dolphin, check in and get the car, drive ourselves, park and walk, then drive ourselves back (so no drinking), and then the next day drive back to the Dolphin to return the car, and bus back to wherever we are going from there.

can that really be worth it just for one day at US? I am wondering if our dream of trying to fit it into our trip is just too much to wish for...

i used a code that is still valid now for the town car last october.
if you use this company, you can get a round trip with them for $50 plus tip. i don't know if i am allowed to list their name on the dis though.
if you are interested, send me a pm for the name.

at the car center at disney, they will come pick you up and take you to the center. after you return the car, they will do the same. i have done that before. and, i have rented a car at mco and kept it for only 2 days. i drove it to the hotel and the next day to UO. that was a cheaper way for us. did use the rental service of the car that disney center uses for me to drop it off at the center.

i hear you about the hassle. that is why i stopped using the car rentals for side trips. i would get overwhelmed driving in an unfamiliar road. also, the full day at universal would wipe me out. hated having to drive back to disney in the night.

yes, i think it would be fun to spend the day at universal. depending on the number of people that would be doing this side trip, take mears.
you can get picked up at your disney resort. when i did mears, it was limited to a small group so you would need to reserve in advance.

so scratch the car rental, try the numbers for using mears or town service.
i guess it depends on your budget for your vacation. if you set a certain price to spend the day at another place and it exceeds it, then make that side trip for another time.

you can take the bus but it took me about 1.5 hours
the I trolley system can work but you have to transfer from seaworld to get over to the universal area. it is cheap. when i took it i think we paid $3.50 a person.
you get the bus from dtd, go to sea world, switch to another bus there.
if you miss the connection, you have a wait.