Uber or car?

[novocastrian]

Originally Posted by macdonald

No one in Orlando really walks anywhere so from a safety point of view alone you will need a car or use taxis,of course people will tell you otherwise but i have been going to Orlando for yrs and to be safe "Dont walk"..I understand yr question wasnt really about walking it was whether "a car or a taxi", i would say a car if you drive,that way you wont be tempted into thinking "maybe i will bus & walk"...If not deciding to hire a car,dont be tempted "call a cab...

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im sorry but i cant agree with that whilst Orlando isnt really geared up for (ie no paths half the time) walking its 'safe' to walk about the main touristy areas

we always walk in the LBV area and have never once felt unsafe even aftre dark

as with anywhere keep your wits about you and dont head off the main roads/paths

[WDocW]

Originally Posted by sha9

It's a totally individual thing. You can get about without a car but for me it's about the flexibility and freedom of having a car. We stay onsite at Disney so parking costs are irrelevant but if I stayed offsite I'd want a car even more. I like the security of knowing exactly how I'm getting somewhere.

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^ what she said!

It's really completely individual - I think going to the Orlando and not having a car is a bit daft *BUT* I understand that some people would prefer not to drive (and might think it's daft to hire a car!) and so if that's the right way for you to do it that's great and I respect that even if I think it's the wrong decision because everyone is individual.

It depends a lot on (a) where you stay and (b) what you want from the holiday.
(a) If you like to stay in a villa you have to have a car. If staying in a hotel that is relatively central there is a bit more choice as long as you don't mind waiting around for shuttles or taxis. If staying in the Disney Bubble this applies, but I often note the sweaty queues for resort buses and thank my stars I have a car to go to. With Uber as long as you are going in in the morning and leaving in the evening I guess it would be OK but I like to come and go so reckon that would get a bit expensive with Uber.
(b) Many people I know who have gone for the first time and not had a car have not understood the distances involved and the difference between a holiday in Florida and a Spain/Greece beach holiday. Yes if you don't drive you can have a drink in the restaurants with your evening meal but the holiday in itself is not really a "lounging around drinking" type of holiday and if you go planning to have alcohol during the day (or even in the evening when it's hot) it is easy to get dehydrated and lose the energy to do what you want to do in the parks.

[archibald]

Until this year I would've said car every time. We travel around a bit while in Florida - usually around 2500 miles - and at home live quite remotely so always drive. However, we stayed near the top of International Drive for a few days this year and fell in love with uber. It cost only $5 each way to Universal, and they are VERY efficient - one of them literally arrived one minute after we booked it. At kicking out time we waited 5 minutes - it would've taken longer than that to walk back to the car park!
Staying in the thick of things on I drive, it will probably cost less to travel there with Uber than the cost of parking at the parks, which leaves an awful lot of money that would've been spent on car hire to pay for the occasional trip to the shops/eating further than you feel like walking.
You can always hire a car for the day to pop to the beach - this can be done on the day depending on the weather/how you feel.

So to sum up, in my opinion a car isn't needed for your holiday to Orlando, in reality most people don't travel far at all, maybe a mile or two each side of a 10 mile stretch of the I4, and then spend most of their time in the parks - you don't need a car to do that.

[Forkbeard]

Originally Posted by archibald

Until this year I would've said car every time. We travel around a bit while in Florida - usually around 2500 miles - and at home live quite remotely so always drive. However, we stayed near the top of International Drive for a few days this year and fell in love with uber. It cost only $5 each way to Universal, and they are VERY efficient - one of them literally arrived one minute after we booked it. At kicking out time we waited 5 minutes - it would've taken longer than that to walk back to the car park!
Staying in the thick of things on I drive, it will probably cost less to travel there with Uber than the cost of parking at the parks, which leaves an awful lot of money that would've been spent on car hire to pay for the occasional trip to the shops/eating further than you feel like walking.
You can always hire a car for the day to pop to the beach - this can be done on the day depending on the weather/how you feel.

So to sum up, in my opinion a car isn't needed for your holiday to Orlando, in reality most people don't travel far at all, maybe a mile or two each side of a 10 mile stretch of the I4, and then spend most of their time in the parks - you don't need a car to do that.

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No one is arguing it's necessary/needed, but if someone has never been before then it's prudent to point out the differences of opinion and experience.

At the end of the day, having a car in that part of the world is a different holiday from not having one. The distances between attractions can be vast, and the volumes of tourists very high. That's actually true of most US holidays to be honest. Obviously New York is very different from Yosemite, but you get my point

[HEMANCLOFTY]

For most of our 5 trips we've always pondered hiring a car when staying on IDrive, but never ended up doing it.

This year, by the time we worked everything out: upgrade to Rav 4 (so not too fancy), extra driver, fuel and parking costs, it was the equivalent of $1000, so instead we used this money to book 5 nights onsite with QSDP for £600, and spend a total of about $350 on Ubers (about 21 trips, including 5 to Disney), an airport transfer, a couple of ITrolley rides and 2 reluctant taxis (when we couldn't get a WIFI signal for Uber).

Yes, this is more than $1000 but we saved at least $100 a day on our food budget, plus we had the free $100 gift card, so the Disney part was probably only £250 ($400 ish) in reality

Based on this, I'd have thought that, even if you Uber to everywhere you go for a full 2 weeks, you could be better off financially than hiring a car. Then add to this...

- No hassle of negotiating unfamiliar roads / traffic rules
- No worry in case anything goes wrong with the car / extra charges etc
- You get dropped off at the park gates (except Magic Kingdom), so no need for walking / trams in the heat
- You get to go straight into an air conditioned car (no waiting for it to cool down)
- A lot of drivers offer you water / sweets etc (one of our even had all the different types of phone / tablet chargers)
- No need to drive when you are tired after a long day in the parks
- As its a cashless system, it doesn't feel like it's eating up a big chunk of your spending money budget

We found there was lots of Uber availability - generally less than a 5 min wait (our longest was 15 at Florida Mall on a Monday evening at closing time). Works well with just WIFI, but would be even better with Mobile Data (we are doing that next year).

We originally thought we'd use the ITrolley quite a bit, but at $2 each and with 3 of us, it was actually cheaper or only around 50c- $1 more to Uber to Universal / Seaworld / Aquatica / the Outlets.

We aren't staying on IDrive next time and will be in the Disney bubble for most of our trip, but as long as Uber is about, I don't think we'd even consider driving next time we are staying on IDrive.

Hope this helps 😀🚙😀

ETA - we also did a lot of multiple trip days (eg Seaworld and back in the. Morning / Universal and back at night) so using 4, sometimes 5, Ubers in a day and it was still great value IMO)

[DIBBadmin]

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