Transportation dilemma

[cabloom]

Ok, thanks to everyone's enthusiastic advice, we're now booked for a "Stay 4, Play Free" package for 5/4-8 at the RPR. We're considering flying into MCO the evening of 5/3 and finding a cheaper hotel for the night, then making our way to the resort the next morning to check in (not expecting a room to be ready, of course) and get started with the fun asap! We are not planning to rent a car.

What I need is advice or suggestions on the best way to do this. Should we take an airport shuttle to a hotel nearby, and have a towncar or taxi pick us up there the next morning? Would it be better to take the shuttle back to the airport and use transportation from there? Would we be better off finding a hotel closer to the park? I think I'd prefer to stay away from using Mears - we did that once and it seemed like we lost a LOT of time, especially the last day.

What does everyone think?

 

[robvia]

Why not rent the car? Unless you are kids under the age of 26.
You have total freedom if you do, can drive to Publix and stock up on a cooler and groceries. Rental cars go for about $40 a day, so that would be close to $200 for 5 days after taxes. Less if you get a small car.

I'm looking at www.happylimo.com and it's $100 (plus tip) round trip from MCO to a resort and back for 4. Now you have to add your little trip in the middle, and that's close to $140. So for $60 more, you have a rental car the entire time, can explore, and drive when you want.

If you don't rent the car, I'd stay in an offsite hotel directly across the street. Then in the morning, ask the front desk if someone can drive you over for a tip of $20.
You can see the offsite hotels here.
http://www.nogodforme.com/offsite.htm

 

[Immelman]

rental car is the way to go, but budget the UO parking fees in if you do. if you're opposed to a rental car, I agree with robvia, stay as close to on-site that you can.

 

[JessicaR]

We have done this a few times we are 4 people though not 2. This is what we did. We arrived mid afternoon and took a town car to Crowne Plaza Universal. The next morning we grabbed a cab (early) and checked in to RPR, cab ride was $7.00. On the return we were picked up at RPR and taken back to AP for a roundtrip fare of $85.00. Thats the norm for us, we never rent a car when traveling to Orlando. Take a look over at the Transportation board for some more advice. If you rent a car you now have parking fee's at the resort as well as the parks plus the rental fee and if you are only doing Universal/IOA why bother with a car that wont be used! Have Fun!!

Oh! Dont be surprised if your room is ready early! If its not very busy we have checked in and found our room ready in the AM on more than a couple occasions!

 

[themepark]

This is what we did for our Christmas trip. I booked a 3* room on Priceline for $32 for our arrival night. We stayed at the Wyndham I-Drive. We arrived late afternoon and took Tiffany Town Car to the Wyndham. We called a cab the next morning to take us to RPR. The cab arrived in 2 minutes and 5 minutes later we were at RPR. Tiffany Towncar picked us up at RPR for our return to MCO. Cost - $85 for towncar, $7 for cab.