Offsite WDW-area hotels w/free airport Shuttle?

[DaisyDuckMom]

Does anyone know if there are any offsite hotels that offer free airport shuttle service AND have regular shuttles to WDW? We arrive @ 11pm at night and don't want to pay $$$$ for 1/2night for onsite property so will spend the 1st night offsite.

In Houston, most of our hotels provide free shuttle to/from the airport, so what is up with Orlando? Please help... the $90 + $9gate fee + tip = ????? Thanks for replies.

 

[prncess674]

Most airport hotels in Houston offer free shuttles to the airport. You would be hard pressed to name a downtown Houston hotel that offers FREE shuttle service to either Houston airport. One-way from IAH to downtown Houston is almost 30 miles, they don't offer free shuttle service in downtown Houston.

 

[NotUrsula]

There are airport hotels in Orlando that have free airport shuttles, and there is a Marriott that is actually IN the Orlando airport; if you get in really late you can just go checkin and sleep upstairs.

If you stay that first night at or near the airport, you could presumably order a car to take you from that hotel to your Disney resort first thing in the morning. You will still have to pay your way to WDW from the airport area, it's a fairly long drive.
If you shop around, you might find a good deal on a rental car for just the first 24 hrs, with a company with a presence on WDW property. Then you can drive to both hotels, unload, and return the car at WDW. This plan is especially useful if you want to spend a day at another park or shopping, just do that first.

PS: There are some hotels that are rather close to the airport, mostly in the Florida Mall area, that advertise free day shuttles to WDW for guests. DON'T FALL FOR IT! The service is extremely restrictive in terms of times, and is usually on a beat-up old school bus that goes to several hotels before dropping you in the TTC bus lot. These shuttles generally do NOT allow luggage on board, so even if you wanted to suffer the hour-plus it would take you to ride one to WDW, you could not use it as cheap transport from one hotel to another.

 

[ducklite]

The airport hotel is a Hyatt, not a Marriott.

I agree, any hotel offering both airport and WDW shuttle service is probably NOT going to be one worth dealing with.

There are a lot of MCO area hotels with free shuttle service to and from the airport, I would use one of these for the first night, then take a car service to your WDW resort hotel for the remainder of the trip.

Anne

 

[DebbieB]

I stayed at the Sheraton near the airport for 1 night because of a late arrival. It's a mile or two away and has a free shuttle to/from the airport. Most of the airport hotels have free shuttles to the airport. We had a car rented for the next day with a great rate and we didn't want to change it when we decided to fly down the night before. In the morning we took the shuttle back to the airport and got the car. You could do the same thing and catch Mears. I saw a towncar picking people up outside our hotel when we were leaving, so that's another option.

 

[DaisyDuckMom]

Thank you guys so much for the info. I hadn't even thought about renting the car for 24hrs. It would sure come in handy getting us to the early am check-in and 10am PS. Thanks to all for the suggestions!