Transportation around Orlando - Including to Port Canaveral - My experience

[flyawayca]

*I have also posted this on TripAdvisor*

 

My husband and I spent a week in Orlando in May 2016 prior to our cruise out of Cape Canaveral. We used pretty much every transportation option available to us. I am hoping that my review of transportation will be helpful to you. I will attempt to leave opinions out of this review and just state facts. I will however answer any questions you may have and make recommendations if asked. This will be long...

 

We arrived into Orlando International Airport after a much delayed flight on United Airlines. After picking up our baggage it was around midnight on a Sunday. Uber/Lyft are unable to pick up passengers from baggage claim with the exception of UberBlack. I did not want to pay the UberBlack price so I opted for us to take a taxi. The first taxi pickup line was very long. I would say over 50 people in line. I left my husband there to see if there was another line. Walking further down the airport I found a second taxi line with only 6 people. I called my husband to meet me there. The employee running the taxi line informed us he had to have taxis skip pickup at our line so they could try to get the other line down. All taxis entering the garage area were attempting to stop at our pickup first but he would wave them on. Then a person came by and asked the employee a question and since he stopped telling the taxi drivers to continue to the next stand quickly there were enough taxis parked so that all of us got one. We ended up in a Mears Taxi. The man driving the taxi assisted us with our luggage into the back and then we got in. The man proceeded to tell us he wanted to go home and had been driving since 5am that morning and was really tired but he kept being told he had to do more pickups. We told him we were staying at the DoubleTree at SeaWorld on International. On the trip there he was all over the road. Driving into other lanes causing people to swerve or brake. He drove off the road almost hitting construction equipment. He also almost hit pedestrians crossing in a marked crosswalk causing them to jump out of the way and yell at him. He didn’t seem to care and never commented on his driving. We made it to our hotel a little before 1AM on Monday morning. This ride cost $38.05.

 

Monday morning at 8:10AM we went to our hotel concierge to ask about getting on the hotel shuttle to WDW. He informed us we just missed it because it leaves at 8:10AM but we could catch the one at 10:10AM. Not wanting to wait that long we opted to use Lyft. Being new to Lyft we had a discount code so we would get $5 off our first 10 rides. We used the Lyft app and less than 5 minutes later our driver showed up in front of our hotel lobby. We hopped in and asked him to take us to Magic Kingdom. Our Lyft driver had to drop us off at the Ticket and Transportation Center (TTC) for Magic Kingdom. The Lyft driver drove a clean, but older Toyota Corolla. The driver was friendly and chit chatted with us on the drive. He made a few recommendations to us as well. This ride cost $12.26, but we paid $9.26 after leaving a $2 tip and receiving the $5 discount. The ride took 17 minutes for 11.18 miles.

 

From the TTC we hopped on the free Disney ferry to get to the Magic Kingdom. The park opened at 9AM that day and we arrived at 8:55AM.

 

Monday night we opted to take the free Disney monorail to get back to the TTC. Once at the TTC we decided to try out the city bus called Lynx. The 50 bus is the one I had learned would take us closest to our hotel. The bus cost $2 per person exact change only. When I looked at the schedule it looked to me like the bus only had one stop prior to the one we wanted at SeaWorld. That stop was Disney Springs. Well, after Disney Springs the bus kept stopping, stop after stop, people were getting on the bus. Then, looking at the bus map it looked like the SeaWorld stop was on International, but our bus turned onto Sea Harbor Drive. When all the tourists hopped off we got concerned and hopped off too. Not quite sure where we were I looked on my phone for maps and saw our hotel wasn’t too far away and we decided to walk. It took the bus about 40 minutes to get us here. While walking to the hotel a taxi tried to pick us up but we declined. We walked by a marked cop car on the way. I didn’t feel unsafe, just uncomfortable. The walk to the hotel took about 12 minutes. Later we determined this was the closest bus stop to our hotel with direct transportation to/from WDW. You could get a closer bus if you were willing to transfer.

 

Tuesday morning we took the free hotel shuttle to the TTC. From the TTC we attempted to get on the free Disney monorail to Epcot. We were informed they did not know when the monorail would run and were sent to the free Disney bus to Epcot. There were 4 of us together who were directed to the free DIsney bus which took us. We arrived at Epcot at 9AM exactly at opening.

 

Tuesday night we took the free Disney monorail back to the TTC. From the TTC we got on our free hotel shuttle back to our hotel.

 

Wednesday morning we took our free hotel shuttle to the TTC. From the TTC we were told in order to get to Disney’s Animal Kingdom we would have to take the ferry or monorail to the Magic Kingdom and get on a bus there. We jumped on the ferry since the monorail lines were long. Once at Magic Kingdom we found the bus waiting area for Animal Kingdom. We had about a 20 minute wait for a bus to arrive. We got on the free Disney bus to Animal Kingdom arriving about 35 minutes after park opening.

 

Wednesday evening we decided to go from Animal Kingdom to Disney Springs since the park closed at 6PM. We were told we could get on any Disney hotel shuttle and from the hotel take the free DIsney bus to Disney Springs. We hopped on the first DIsney hotel bus we saw, the one to Disney’s Old Key West. Once at Old Key West we had about a 5 minute wait to get on the Disney Springs bus. It took about 40 minutes for the trip.

 

Once at Disney Springs it was packed. We decided to just walk around to see what was there but to leave at 8PM so that we could make it back for our free hotel shuttle at 9PM. We took the free Disney Springs ferry to the Saratoga Springs ferry dock. From there we walked through the Saratoga Springs lobby, past the pool, to the bus pickup area (thanks for the help from one of the people staying at the hotel for directions). We then got on the free Disney bus to the Magic Kingdom. At Magic Kingdom we had to go through security in order to board the free Disney monorail to get back to the TTC. Once at the TTC we got on our free hotel shuttle.

 

Thursday morning we opted to take Lyft to Universal Studios due to the poor hotel shuttle schedule for this day. After about 5 minutes our Lyft driver arrived. He spoke poor English but tried to be helpful and explain our weather expectations for the day. He drove a clean, but older Toyota Corolla. This ride cost $8.71, but we paid $5.71 after leaving a $2 tip and receiving the $5 discount. The ride took 14 minutes for 6.35 miles.

 

Thursday night we again used Lyft to get back to our hotel. After about an 8 minute wait our driver arrived. He drove a somewhat newer, clean, Kia Spectra. This driver was very friendly telling us about Orlando, good restaurants in the area, and other things we could see and do. This ride cost $8.92, but we paid $5.92 after leaving a $2 tip and receiving the $5 discount. The ride took 15 minutes for 6.53 miles.

 

Friday morning we took the free hotel shuttle to Universal Studios.

 

Friday evening we opted to take Lyft again due to the poor hotel shuttle schedule. The passenger pickup/drop off area was packed with people and buses. It took over 15 minutes for our driver to be able to arrive to pick us up because of traffic. Not his fault. He drove an old Honda Civic. The driver spoke poor English but we were able to communicate. The driver was not able to figure out how to get to our hotel main entrance so we gave him directions on how to turn around and get on the proper street to drop us off. He did apologize. This ride cost $9.33, but we paid $5.33 after leaving a $1 tip and receiving the $5 discount.

 

Saturday morning we had to get from our hotel to the Carnival cruise ship terminal in Cape Canaveral. We opted to use Uber because we had a $15 discount code for one ride. The Uber driver showed up driving an older Ford Escape which easily fit our luggage. He opened the doors for us and, with the hotel valet, loaded our luggage. After getting in the Uber car the driver told us that he was not allowed to pick up anyone at Cape Canaveral for a return trip so we had to give him the money to cover his tolls back to Orlando. We asked how much tolls would cost to get back to Orlando and he told us $9. Not sure of toll prices in the area I wasn’t sure if it was true but we were running late and didn't want to deal with it. I knew Uber was cashless and he shouldn’t be asking for money but we did not have time and figured we had the discount anyway and we planned on leaving him a tip and just would not tip him making things closer to even. On the drive to the cruise terminal I did my research on Uber, return tolls, and cash. I learned that if a driver was unable to pickup persons for return trips, like in the New Jersey/New York area Uber would automatically charge the tolls. There was no such rule in place in Cape Canaveral because he would be able to pickup a return trip. Once at the cruise terminals the driver had no idea where he was going. Neither did I, but by reading the signs could figure it out and direct him where to go. He dropped us off and unloaded our luggage and we gave him the $9. After much thought I decided to report him to Uber. He definitely broke Uber’s rules and I was concerned he was taking advantage of people as well as me. I sent Uber a notice that my driver asked for cash and I gave him $9 because he said he needed them for return tolls. Uber responded stating a driver should never ask for cash for any reason but tipping was allowed. However this was not a tip, and was cash payment, so they would investigate. The ride cost $54.86. I paid $39.86 for the ride after using my $15 discount. I also then paid the $9 cash for a total of $48.86 out of pocket. The trip took 1 hour and 6 minutes. The ride cost paid included all tolls (tolls totaled $4.25).

 

Thursday morning to get from our cruise to the Kennedy Space Center and back to the Orlando Airport we decided to rent a car. We decided this mainly because we needed somewhere to store our luggage while we were at the Space Center. Prior to our trip I did research on different rental companies and decided to go with Avis. I paid for the rental online and reserved a Chevrolet Cruze or equivalent sized car. After getting off of our cruise ship around 8:15AM we went to the Avis shuttle directly outside the terminal. We were the only ones on the shuttle and went straight to Avis. At Avis nobody was there and we went straight to the counter. The man asked for my ID and my credit card. After providing them we were handed the keys to a Toyota Prius. No high pressure sales to buy insurance or the toll passes. We loaded our luggage into the Prius and off we went. On our way to the Kennedy Space Center there were no tolls. From the Space Center to the Orlando Airport we paid $2 in tolls. The drive from the Space Center to the airport only took 40 minutes and we had no traffic on a Thursday at 3:20PM. We stopped and got gas and put in a whopping $1. Dropping off the rental was breeze, the airport had great signage and Avis was easy to find. After just a few quick minutes Avis printed us a receipt and into the airport we went. We were charged $80.05 for the rental car for the day including all fees and taxes. We drove the car 69 miles total.

[zdcatc12]

If you use Google Maps, it would have told you where to get off on the Lynx bus and exactly how far that you would have needed to walk.

Edited May 28, 2016 by zdcatc12