How oh how was my last trip to Disney the first time that I had used Uber?! IT IS THE BEST! I will for sure be using Uber for future trips! It was just so easy to use.
My husband and I had a date night at Disney World during our last trip. Uber made us very efficient without much out of pocket expense. We started our date night taking a private car from our close but offsite hotel to the Grand Floridian for some drinks and appetizers to start out the night. That fee was either $20 or $25 plus tip. Then we used Uber to travel from the Grand Floridian to the Beach Club Resort (with our ultimate location being Epcot for some Food & Wine snacking.) That trip would have cost about $12. It was free for us because he used my referral code, and he received a free ride. (The travel tip section goes into how that works.) We then used Uber to go to from the Beach Club back to our local offsite hotel which was another $12 no cost to us trip.
Travel tip- This works for everyone- your first Uber ride will be free with a referral code. And you and your spouse/partner/friend can each have your own accounts. So the first person uses a referral code for a free ride, like this one. [https://www.uber.com/invite/christyp325ue] Then once you have an account, you refer the other of you to get an account as well. You will get another free ride each. (The free ride is up to $20, so you may not get a free ride, you may just get $20 off depending on the trip charge.) It is a beautiful thing!
What is Uber? Uber is like a taxi but with drivers driving their private cars. We found that our drivers were actually Disney World employees using Uber to earn a little extra money when they weren’t working. You know when you book the car what the cost will be and it is charged right to your credit card that you have stored with the company. We used the app to indicate where we needed to be picked up from and where we wanted to go and Uber tells you which drivers are available, how far away they are, and how much the fare will be. You then pick a driver and head out to your designated pick up at that time.
Uber is safe. No money exchanges hands. You pay with your free rides, or with the credit card that you have saved in your account. You aren’t even supposed to add money for a tip, it is all taken care of. Could people lie? Yes. But so could your taxi driver, or your magical express driver, etc. Anyone can lie and be a thief. But Uber does have banking information on the driver and does some background checks, which makes it safer. There are also ratings on each driver. So you can see if someone didn’t like a particular driver.
Travel tip – the easiest and most efficient way to get to Epcot from a Disney hotel is taking Uber. So, yes you can take a bus or the monorail, and it will take you somewhere between 20-40 minutes to get to the front of the park. And that does not take into account waiting time for the bus. Or you can take Uber to the Beach Club, and take the 7 minute walk to the back of Epcot and enter at the International Gateway entrance. There are less people here and if you are going out for just a few hours in the evening, it is the perfect place to start your night. The International Gateway entrance is located between the France and Great Britain pavilions.
Updated again July 3, 2017: You currently can now use all forms of Uber to pick you up at the Orlando airport. Uber from a Disney resort will run you about $25! That is a steal. And the best part is you don’t have to sit on the magical express bus for an hour and a half and then trek through the airport to get to your airline. For a quick link with details on where to pick up your Uber at MCO, click here. If you get the Uber X or XL (which are the standard everyday cars, or the standard everyday SUV), then you get picked up in arrivals on level 2. I will be using this service for my upcoming adults only trip in September 2017.
And now you can request a car with a car seat in Orlando. You do this by selecting Uber family on the app. It will cost an additional $10 for this service.
Will I always use Uber instead of Disney transportation? No. But it is great when you don’t want to spend what time you have on getting from one place to another, or if you have dining planned at a different resort than you staying.
Do you have any questions about Uber? Have you tried Uber? Do you love it as well?? If not- sign up, it’s great. You can likely use Uber in whatever city you reside. It is all over now. Friends of mine use Uber when they have had a night out locally but have had too much to drink. Uber is WAY cheaper than a DUI.
Happy Travels!
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