So you’ve got a holiday booked in Orlando and you don’t wanna drive. Well that’s fine! You are lucky that this fine place of dreams has the infrastructure you’ve always wanted at home…
If you are staying “on property” at either a WDW or Universal Studios hotel you really cannot go wrong. The hotels at both quite near to the theme parks, some within walking distance, and some a mere short bus ride away. So we are are going to break this blog up into 3 parts. WDW, Universal Studios and “off property”
So…let’s begin with staying at a Walt DIsney World Resort, and why not? We have and they are bloody good fun! The benefits of staying “on property” are many – you get in the parks early, lots of fun things to do and see while staying at a resort and its handy for just about anything you would want to do. WDW have a few options regarding transportation to and from resorts, you can even get the coach from the airport that drops you right at the entrance of where you are staying. So lets begin… first of you have the official WDW coaches that travel from each resort to the theme parks. These are pretty regular and they save you quite a lot in parking costs at the parks. So if your hotel offers a free shuttle bus, use it! The buses normally drop you at the park entrance as well so its less faffing about when you get there.
The new kid on the block is The Disney Skyliner. We watched this being built the last time we were there, and we’ve gotta say it’s pretty impressive. This gondola system has linked a lot of the resorts to some, but not all, of the parks, yet.. … It starts at Disney’s Art of Animation Hotel and Pop Century Resort and finally ends up at Epcot – you change at the Caribbean Beach Resort for Hollywood Studios or stay on towards the Riviera Resort to get to Epcot. The gondolas are all brightly wrapped for the most part in different characters from the films, or there are a few “plain” ones. We are not going to lie we don’t care which one we ride on! We just can’t wait to go up up and away! The cars keep moving in the station and you simply hop on, or if you are a wheelchair user the cars pop into a side loop where it stops and you can board it without any problems. Every vlog, video and chat we’ve seen about this has been raving about it. So if you have it by you, use it! Also worth noting that some resorts that have Skyliner access have had a cut in the bus services that are offered to entice more people to use it. So if you have an ADR (advance dining reservation) or are on a time schedule for another booking of some sort it’s worth making sure there will be a bus to get you there on time.
This brings us to the next mode of WDW transportation, the ‘Mini’ van. These vans are operated by Lyft, the ride service, they are driven by WDW cast members who will ensure you have a second to none service. Each van seats 6 passengers and costs vary on the amount of people and distance. You simply use the Lyft app and away you go! Also you cannot miss these vans, they are bright red with black spots..just like Minnie Mouse! So if you have a dining reservation or simply wanna pop out to explore just log in to the app.
Talking of Lyft, we’ve spoken to a few people who have used this service and they all say its pretty much spot on, so much so we’ve already loaded the app onto our iPhones and set it all up ready. In the past we’ve used normal yellow cabs for getting to and from a meal if we both fancy a drink, but we always found these a little on the expensive side, now with the likes of Lyft and Uber you have much much more flexibility. We are staying in Disney Springs for our next adventure and have done a little investigating into how much a Lyft will cost us, so we put in the app “Holiday Inn, Disney Springs to Epcot, right away there are about 7 cars waiting in the area, and the price is $10.46, but with a promo code it’s coming up at $5.23!!!! A steal!!! Especially when parking at the parks costs around $27. We can use Disney buses from where we are but if the schedule doesn’t work out and we have an early start planned we have a fantastic cheap alternative option. So we would highly recommend using this service because we definitely will be!!
If you’re staying off property and want to be able to get around with ease a hire care is the way to go. Now, car rentals are a costly thing if you decide to book one at the airport, so we always make sure we shop around and book in the UK way WAY before we go. This time the folks at Dial a Flight sorted out our flights and car rental for us, or I should say Mr Glen Blackburn did. Top top fella. We always go for the “compact” if it’s just the two of us travelling as this is the smallest you can get, (and lets face it neither of us needs the leg room….) but when you get to the garage at MCO (Orlando international airport) what the U.S. class as a compact is totally different to what we would. When we last booked a “compact car” we were looking down this row of 4 door, 2 Ltr saloon cars and asked the guy from Dollar car rental “where are the compacts please” he replied “ you are standing next to them”… ha! So we had a Toyota Corolla as our ‘small’ car. Happy days. Just a quick word about fuel. It’s dirt cheap. That is all. We are talking $3 a gallon. Yes a GALLON… ok, its a pint less than the U.K. Gallon but who cares!! Just be aware you have to pre-pay for the fuel before pumping at most gas stations, so don’t stand there looking at the attendant in the window giving him or her the stink eye for not activating the pump… We love driving in Florida – the roads are good, drivers are generally courteous and make allowances for us Brits trying to figure out where the heck we are going.
Ok, lets take a wander to the new Universal group of hotels that have sprung up in the last couple of years. And there are a few… (takes a deep breath) Cabana Bay, Aventura, Portofino Bay Hotel, Royal Pacific, Sapphire Falls and the Hard Rock Hotel….phew. So how do you get to Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure or City Walk, well you are in luck! You can get a water taxi from certain hotels (Loews Portofino, Royal Pacific and Sapphire Falls and it drops you at City Walk or you can get a shuttle bus, these run roughly every 30 mins to City Walk until 2 am. So if you are out having it large you can still get back to your hotel no problem. There are also walking trails to City Walk and both parks. Just be careful crossing the roads.
If you are staying on I-Drive there are many many places to visit and lots of hotels and restaurants. Most of them are accessible by car but if you fancy a change of pace use the I-Drive trolley. This quaint little trolley style car has been running for absolutely years and is a bargain. You can even buy day passes and zip up and down the ‘drive popping in a out of places at your whim. At only $2.00 per adult or $1 for kids aged between 3 and 9 it’s not even worth getting the car out the garage. And if you are going for a drink or meal its a no brainier, because the U.S. drink drive laws are VERY strict. So don’t be that person just having one or two. Because sometimes one is too many!! Don’t take the chance and ruin your holiday.
We hope this blog has been, and will be, useful to you. See y’all real soon!
Glen Blackburn-Dial a Flight 01732 592920.
theohorlando.blog 