No Uber? Town Car to-from parks

[Keels]

Does anyone know if there is an Uber-alternative in Orlando?

I'm looking for a town car/taxi service to pick up offsite and drive us to the parks and vice versa that's not owner or operated by Mears.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Of course there are.
Google Orlando taxis for cabs and Orland town cars for town cars.
This board's sponsor is independent from Mears.

 

[NotUrsula]

Lots of services .. but none that work like Uber.

It's going to be an expensive plan to be driven RT to an offsite accomodation for an entire vacation. If you can drive, I suggest you think about renting a car. It's by far the best way to get around in Orlando outside of Disney property.

 

[Alesia]

Lots of services .. but none that work like Uber.

It's going to be an expensive plan to be driven RT to an offsite accomodation for an entire vacation. If you can drive, I suggest you think about renting a car. It's by far the best way to get around in Orlando outside of Disney property.

I second this.

 

[Keels]

We have a car, and we're staying close to property (my parents' house, right off 435/Apopka-Vineland before Palm Parkway). I mean, we can see the fireworks from MK from their backyard, so we're not terribly far away.

We'll likely drive and park for our DHS day, but I would love to have a car drop us off and pick us up from EPCOT as we plan to Drink Around the World, and possibly for our MK day as we plan to Drink Around the Monorail during the middle of the day. So yeah, we're looking at two roundtrips max - not a huge vacation. This is just a long weekend where couple friends are coming to visit us while we're staying in Florida for the month.

I wish Uber was everywhere. Such a great service.

 

[MaleficentRN]

I wish Uber was everywhere. Such a great service.

I second this! Can't believe they aren't in Orlando yet.

 

[Keels]

I second this! Can't believe they aren't in Orlando yet.

Right? Seriously - Uber is so wonderful. We even used it once during our Ice Storm weekend this weekend!

Anyway. If anyone has a Town Car service or reliable taxi person that they would recommend - I'm taking all recs! I'd like to start calling people and seeing what I can set up.

 

[NotUrsula]

I second this! Can't believe they aren't in Orlando yet.

And I'm amazed that you're amazed. Disney doesn't allow any service other than Mears to roll wheels across a resort entrance gate or enter a theme park lot without paying a parking fee.

The big resort contracts are locked down and worth millions of dollars annually; independent operators are outgunned at WDW and USIOA from the word go, and they know it. About the only tourist business that is left for outliers in the Orlando market is transporting folks to church and shopping centers, and why would they call one service for that trip and a different one to take them to the parks?

 

[Keels]

Um, OK.

Uber is not so much a tourist service. You see it most big cities as a way to take people to-from restaurants/clubs/bars with up-front pricing via a secure dispatch, compared to taxi services - which are all pretty much scams anyway.

Orlando is not just tourists. There are many thriving cultural areas - downtown, Thornton Park, Winter Park, College Park, etc. If you think Orlando is just theme parks, well ...

 

[kaytieeldr]

Well, it's not clear what your objection is to Mears - but there are independent taxi operators. As for town cars, just check the MCO website's transportation link. It's only reasonable that a car company authorized to operate to/from the airport would be reliable.

 

[NotUrsula]

Um, OK.

Uber is not so much a tourist service. You see it most big cities as a way to take people to-from restaurants/clubs/bars with up-front pricing via a secure dispatch, compared to taxi services - which are all pretty much scams anyway.

Orlando is not just tourists. There are many thriving cultural areas - downtown, Thornton Park, Winter Park, College Park, etc. If you think Orlando is just theme parks, well ...

I don't think it's just theme parks, but I DO think -- hell, I KNOW -- that it's central Florida, and just about everyone who lives there who CAN drive, does drive. The percentage of non-drivers who live in Orange County AND have enough income to regularly afford the fees of a service like Uber over the distances normally involved is pretty small. Uber *is* a great service, but it costs more per mile than a regular cab does, so it needs a certain level of affluence in the market.

As with any private livery model, you can only make a profit if you have a critical mass of people moving between a limited number of points that are relatively closely co-located but present some disadvantage in using a personal vehicle. In Orlando, most of those points involve hotel districts and theme parks, and the critical mass is created by tourists who do not have personal vehicles at their disposal. (In NYC, they are created by residents and tourists moving around Manhattan and to and from the airports: any driver who says that he makes his target income doing other runs between boroughs is pulling your leg. With the possible exception of the Bronx, where it hovers at around 50%, the rate of car ownership in the outer boroughs mean that far more households there own a car than do not. Only in Manhattan are the car-less a solid majority of the residents.)

I've been dealing with how to drive home after drinking for over 30 years now. Like everyone else I know in flyover country who doesn't live really close to where they socialize, I just pace myself and don't get behind the wheel until I've had time to sober up, or I make sure that there is a designated driver in my party.

PS: Obviously I'm not the OP, but if I had to guess, I'd say the objection to conventional taxicabs is primarily that they do not quote a flat fare up-front. Lord knows, if you get stuck in the congestion around DTD on a weekend, that meter is going to cost you.

 

[Keels]

PS: Obviously I'm not the OP, but if I had to guess, I'd say the objection to conventional taxicabs is primarily that they do not quote a flat fare up-front. Lord knows, if you get stuck in the congestion around DTD on a weekend, that meter is going to cost you.

Yeah, that's my exact reason for looking for an alternative to the conventional taxi cabs. That said, we're not staying far and sure, we could drive and make one of our group be a DD (at least for the EPCOT day) - but if there's an alternative where we can spend a little extra $$ and allow everyone to have fun, then I'd like to do that. Our of our foursome, I'm the only one that's ever been to EPCOT, so ...

As for my distaste in Mears, I've already done some pricing and would prefer to price-match. My quote was over $45 for a one-way of less than 6 miles and roughly 10 minutes with no tolls. Yikes! (This was with a drop-off at Boardwalk).

Worst case, we'll do cabs and go the back way. Thanks again!