Universal/wdw split stay transportation and hotel question

[monica9]

We are most likely doing 2 nights at universal first then 5 nights at poly OR split stay akl dvc savannah view/poly but still go to universal for two days while staying at AKL.

Option 1- stay at universal two nights/ poly 5 nights

Is it cheaper to rent a car at airport and then drop off once we get to poly?
or is there a cheaper shuttle we can take to universal and then use mears to bring us to poly?

Option 2- 3 nights AKL 4 nights Poly while doing 2 days of universal parks.
Rent car for 2 days once we get to akl
or use mears transportation back and forth twice

Option 3- Akl/poly with trying to do islands of adventure AND universal studios all in one day
Think we can see it all in one day? its me, dh, dd (7)

Thanks for reading this complicated thread!!

 

[Hootch]

spend the two nights at a Universal resort. You will have easier access to the parks, the express pass that comes with the deluxe Universal resorts and you may even save money on the hotel costs given your Disney resort choices.

I would look into the price of a rental car. Be sure to check if there is a frop off fee. I looked at a quick fare estimate between Universal and WDW. The fare looks to be in the $40-$50 range before tip. About double that for MCO-Univ-WDW.

 

[macraven]

if you are staying at the darkside first,
use private car service or taxi from MCO to UO.

save yourself the $20 + tax hotel parking fee per night


you could rent a car at the darkside hotels or nearby to drive to disney.
either keep it with you at disney and drop it off at the airport when you are leaving.

check companies to make sure no extra charges for rental car if using different pick up/drop off locations.


or go with private car service for a 3 leg trip.
$150 + tip


compare car rental, hotel parking fees, gas, road tolls against private car service to see which is financially acceptable for you.

 

[Girlsrus]

I did this same thing last year with my 2dd. Think about doing Disney first and then going to Universal. If you stay onsite at Universal you get free express pass for every day that you are there, as well as early park admission every day. So, say you are doing Disney first, you can check out at 6 am, get a cab and go to Universal and get your passes in the lobby and start enjoying Universal right away. If you stay 2 nights, you can get 3 days in of Universal, as the express pass is still good for the day you leave!
As for the cab from Disney, they are right outside the hotel, which is convenient. They are about $30 plus tip. Also, call Universal and ask them about transportation from Disney to Universal and then Universal to MCO. They had a deal with Mears for round trip transportation for us which was about $20 per person round trip. They were very effiicient and punctual. Hope this helps!

 

[Dream 2015]

We are doing a split stay in June 2015. We looked at several options.
- Rental car - both a rental to and from MCO and MCO to Disney
- Car Service - to Universal then to Disney

In the end we ended up deciding to rent a car from MCO for the three days at Universal $90 total for a full size car and return it to MCO before we take Disney Magical Express to Pop. Even with the parking charge at Universal it was cheaper than the car service for 3 people and grocery store stop as it was over $150 total. Plus this way we can always run off property for dinner if we want or grab anything we forget before we are without vehicle. When we priced the rental car from MCO to Disney it was over $300 definitely not worth it.

Hope this helps.

 

[monica9]

macraven- Too funny! I can't believe I'm even thinking about staying on the darkside!

I'd like to save the best for last so that's why Im thinking we do universal first. You never know, we might enjoy it more than I think!!

Thanks for all of the advice everyone. Im going to continue to calculate everything especially in the next couple of months. Looking to book it all in February. Hoping for some game changing promotions!!

Does universal have good promotions for only two nights in the fall?