Everthing you wanted to know about Uber/Lyft at WDW

[MaBelle]

I know most of you will say this is crazy, but we are arriving at MCO 7:54pm on a Saturday night and I want to grab a ride, drop our luggage at Bell Services at the Swan and head over to DHS for Star Wars Spectacular. Would we have a better chance with a private driver or an Uber/Lyft? We will need an XL as we are a group of 6, probably don't need a car seat as the only child is 7 yrs old. We love to go to a park the first night so we can experience the magic!

 

[FCDub]

I know most of you will say this is crazy, but we are arriving at MCO 7:54pm on a Saturday night and I want to grab a ride, drop our luggage at Bell Services at the Swan and head over to DHS for Star Wars Spectacular. Would we have a better chance with a private driver or an Uber/Lyft? We will need an XL as we are a group of 6, probably don't need a car seat as the only child is 7 yrs old. We love to go to a park the first night so we can experience the magic!

There's a difference between crazy and physically impossible. When does Star Wars Spectacular begin?

 

[JimMIA]

I know most of you will say this is crazy, but we are arriving at MCO 7:54pm on a Saturday night and I want to grab a ride, drop our luggage at Bell Services at the Swan and head over to DHS for Star Wars Spectacular. Would we have a better chance with a private driver or an Uber/Lyft? We will need an XL as we are a group of 6, probably don't need a car seat as the only child is 7 yrs old. We love to go to a park the first night so we can experience the magic!

If you have six people with luggage, you will need more than one XL. You'll need at least two X's, or one XL and one X. In that scenario, you could send one or two people to the Swan with the luggage and everyone else directly to DHS. They turn the luggage in and just boat to DHS, or ask the driver to wait and drive them.

 

[VAfamily1998]

Help! I am trying to explain to someone how to get a Lyft Pick up at Disney springs. I have never done it myself. I have googled and researched on here that there are pickup locations at the Strawberry lot and also in the market place in "the old bus loop" They will be having a meal at T-Rex, and then immediately getting their Lyft ride, so it looks like the Market place location will be much easier...but how can I explain where "the old bus loop" is? Is it pretty evident? Is there a landmark/shop I should direct them to look for? Thanks!

 

[joelkfla]

Help! I am trying to explain to someone how to get a Lyft Pick up at Disney springs. I have never done it myself. I have googled and researched on here that there are pickup locations at the Strawberry lot and also in the market place in "the old bus loop" They will be having a meal at T-Rex, and then immediately getting their Lyft ride, so it looks like the Market place location will be much easier...but how can I explain where "the old bus loop" is? Is it pretty evident? Is there a landmark/shop I should direct them to look for? Thanks!

The entrance is between Disney's Days of Christmas and Disney Design-a-Tee. They'll want to take the Causeway from T-Rex to Rainforest Café for the shortest and least crowded walk.

 

[miTnosnhoJ]

Can you get a regular Lyft at Disney, or will you automatically get one of the MinnieVans?

 

[joelkfla]

Can you get a regular Lyft at Disney, or will you automatically get one of the MinnieVans?

Yes, you can. If you're eligible for MV, it just shows up as another vehicle option on the Lyft app.

 

[MaBelle]

There's a difference between crazy and physically impossible. When does Star Wars Spectacular begin?

It starts at 9:30 and we would be happy just getting into the park, not necessarily into any prime viewing area. But I'm not sure what time they stop letting people enter the park. I have hope because last time we went to WDW (in 2010), our flight arrived at 7:19 and we took a town car to the Swan (with a short grocery stop). I found pictures taken inside our room that show a time stamp of 8:35.

If you have six people with luggage, you will need more than one XL. You'll need at least two X's, or one XL and one X. In that scenario, you could send one or two people to the Swan with the luggage and everyone else directly to DHS. They turn the luggage in and just boat to DHS, or ask the driver to wait and drive them.

That might actually be easier if we have 2 cars. What size would I need for 2 people with 3 suitcases and 3 backpacks? And 4 people with no bags? The 4 people could go straight to DHS and the other 2 could deliver bags to bell services, then continue on to DHS. Would the driver let us do that, and how much extra should we tip?

 

[Best Aunt]

Can you get a regular Lyft at Disney, or will you automatically get one of the MinnieVans?

You never automatically get a Minnie Van.

When you use the Lyft app, you always have to choose the type of vehicle you want for that ride.

If you have stayed at an eligible resort, Minnie Van becomes an option you can choose (Lyft, Plus, Minnie Van, etc.).

Sometimes it will appear as an option after you have checked into an eligible resort, and sometimes you have to go to Bell Services at the resort in order to get it appear. But it is never automatically assigned to you for any particular ride.

 

[goofy4tink]

I know most of you will say this is crazy, but we are arriving at MCO 7:54pm on a Saturday night and I want to grab a ride, drop our luggage at Bell Services at the Swan and head over to DHS for Star Wars Spectacular. Would we have a better chance with a private driver or an Uber/Lyft? We will need an XL as we are a group of 6, probably don't need a car seat as the only child is 7 yrs old. We love to go to a park the first night so we can experience the magic!

Is cost a concern? If not, I would book with a private car service...you can book a van that will accommodate all of you.
BUT....
If your flight lands, on-time, at 7:54, you won't be off the plane until close to 8:15-8:20. Landing is wheels down, not arrival at the gate! Then 5-10 min (could be longer depending on the tram wait times) walk to baggage claim, wait of your bags, about 15 mins. Drive to S/D, 30 mins. Drop off bags, 10 mins. And then get to DHS....about 10-12 mins on foot, at a near run pace. It's going to be really close. I'm not sure I would want to start my vacation that way.

 

[JimMIA]

That might actually be easier if we have 2 cars. What size would I need for 2 people with 3 suitcases and 3 backpacks? And 4 people with no bags? The 4 people could go straight to DHS and the other 2 could deliver bags to bell services, then continue on to DHS. Would the driver let us do that, and how much extra should we tip?

Assuming the 7 year old is one of the 4 going directly to DHS, you should be okay with 2 UberX vehicles.

You'll need two accounts on two different phones to order two cars at the same time. Order simultaneously, and the put the luggage in the larger vehicle. (Just because you order X doesn't mean you will get an X. Sometimes you'll get a large vehicle because XL drivers often accept X rides, particularly at the airport.)

Make sure the driver of the larger vehicle understands the baggage dropoff and eventual destination. I would put the hotel as the destination, and then when you explain things to the driver, add the final destination at DHS on your rider app.

Tipping is a personal choice, but my personal rule of thumb for normal rides is $5 for X and $10 for XL -- but I'm talking about just regular short rides. I've only paid for one long X ride and I tipped $10 on that ride. I would tip the driver making the stop at the hotel more, especially if they are loading and unloading the bags.

For personal travel, I tip in cash. For business, I tip in-app so I'll have a record.

I would also call the hotel and see what the procedure is for dropping bags, and be sure it will be quick. You'll need to call anyway to ensure late checkin.

BUT....
If your flight lands, on-time, at 7:54, you won't be off the plane until close to 8:15-8:20. Landing is wheels down, not arrival at the gate! Then 5-10 min (could be longer depending on the tram wait times) walk to baggage claim, wait of your bags, about 15 mins. Drive to S/D, 30 mins. Drop off bags, 10 mins. And then get to DHS....about 10-12 mins on foot, at a near run pace. It's going to be really close. I'm not sure I would want to start my vacation that way.

I agree with this. When I travel, I usually allot one hour from scheduled arrival to picking up checked baggage. I'm sometimes done quicker than that, but it's a guideline that works for me.

You are really going to be pushed for time.

 

[VAfamily1998]

The entrance is between Disney's Days of Christmas and Disney Design-a-Tee. They'll want to take the Causeway from T-Rex to Rainforest Café for the shortest and least crowded walk.

Thank you so much!

 

[MouseMum]

Please excuse me if this has been answered. I've gone through many posts but not seen an answer. New to Uber and plan to use it in July. Where are the current drop-off/pick-up points for each of the four parks? I just loaded the app and tried putting in POR as our starting location and then each individual park, but I get different park locations pop up. And some more expensive than others. Do I choose the park's main entrance, bus stop, or...? I've also read that you can't get an Uber to MK, but to go to the Contemporary instead and walk to MK. I've never been to the Contemporary, so if this is true, where exactly would I request a drop-off/pick-up if I were planning to walk to/from the Contemporary? So confusing TIA

 

[AngiTN]

Just type in the name of the park, that's it.
So if you want to go to Animal Kingdom, type in Disney Animal Kingdom. The app will know where it needs to take you.
If you want to go to Contemporary, just enter Disney Contemporary Resort. The app will again know where it needs to take you.
If you are trying to figure out where you need to go for a pick up, at the resorts it's the main lobby. Same place you'd go if you were driving yourself and checking in. Or arriving on ME and checking in. If the resort has separate buildings that you can drive to then they can pick you up there too (like at POR) except for at CSR. They can't drive to CSR because of the internal gates. They are also not allowed to drive around at FW
At parks, other than MK, they use the Passenger Drop Off location. It's often easiest if you have them take you from your resort TO the park first, if possible. That makes it really easy for you know for pick ups where to go.
At AK, it's near the tram stop, right at the front gates.
At Epcot, it's near the electric car charging station, near the monorail station (you walk straight out from the gates, past the monorail station)
At HS, it's hard to describe. It's sort of in the middle of the parking lot, at the back of the bus stops, along the walk way between the 2 parking lots.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I think all your questions are answered in post # 1 Everthing you wanted to know about Uber/Lyft at WDW

 

[AngiTN]

I think all your questions are answered in post # 1 Everthing you wanted to know about Uber/Lyft at WDW

Except I'm not sure the HS and Epcot locations are updated, as they have been moving around frequently.
For example, Epcot's is not currently at the Green Umbrella or monitored by a CM. It was but moved a few months ago.
HS may still be near the Taxi's but honestly not sure. Can't recall if I saw taxi's near the drop off or not.

Also, they have completely backed off needing a reservation to get dropped off at a resort. They don't even ask if your driver tells the guard they are dropping off a guest. Even on a busy day like NYE. As soon as our drivers tell the guard "Uber drop off" the guards say "ok, go ahead". This has been at all Deluxe resorts. I guess we haven't tried it at the Mods or Values as we've never had a reason to go to one of them without staying there. But we have been to all Deluxe for one reason or another and never had a single guard have a problem with it. Used to but not any more.

 

[Miffy]

AngiTN: Now, thanks to you, we know where the Uber pickup is at Epcot, but 3 days ago when we were at Epcot--waiting for a bus that took forever to arrive--we called for an Uber but had no idea where to go to be picked up. Unfortunately, the driver was not fluent in English and was unable to describe where we should go to meet him. He told us the electric car charging station (in text messages) but we didn't know where that was. We canceled the ride and ended up taking the bus, which finally showed up.

The monorail was down that day and the buses were delayed. Kinda frustrating, but we did get where we wanted to go and the Uber fee was only about 5 bucks, so no great loss.

From the Uber map on my sister's iPhone, we were unable to tell where the car was. The "map" was basically a white background with two pins on it. Not exactly helpful.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Unfortunately, the driver was not fluent in English and was unable to describe where we should go to meet him. He told us the electric car charging station (in text messages)

i just googled 'Epcot electric charging stations ' and found https://www.wdwmagic.com/attraction...open-in-epcot's-parking-lot-for-guest-use.htm

 

[Miffy]

i just googled 'Epcot electric charging stations ' and found https://www.wdwmagic.com/attraction...open-in-epcot's-parking-lot-for-guest-use.htm

Yes, Epcot does have this station, but 3 days ago I had no idea where it was and the Uber driver was unable to tell us how to find it.

At any rate, the bus finally came and the transportation issue was resolved!

 

[AngiTN]

AngiTN: Now, thanks to you, we know where the Uber pickup is at Epcot, but 3 days ago when we were at Epcot--waiting for a bus that took forever to arrive--we called for an Uber but had no idea where to go to be picked up. Unfortunately, the driver was not fluent in English and was unable to describe where we should go to meet him. He told us the electric car charging station (in text messages) but we didn't know where that was. We canceled the ride and ended up taking the bus, which finally showed up.

The monorail was down that day and the buses were delayed. Kinda frustrating, but we did get where we wanted to go and the Uber fee was only about 5 bucks, so no great loss.

From the Uber map on my sister's iPhone, we were unable to tell where the car was. The "map" was basically a white background with two pins on it. Not exactly helpful.

Glad to help. It is hard to communicate with the drivers sometimes.
And it can be hard to find the pick up points if you've never been dropped off there, that's for sure. Especially at Epcot and HS.
With all the construction for the Gondola's things are moving a lot at HS and they just seem to like to futz with them at Epcot. This current spot seems to work well, and at least has a nice covered area to sit under.
I'm going to try to mark the locations for both Epcot and HS, on maps and post.
Epcot's I'm sure of.
HS's is harder to find on an overview map. I think what I'm marking is right. I hope someone else will recognize and correct me if I've got it wrong. There's been some construction fencing added since the map was done so it's hard to get my bearings

Epcot Pick up location

What I think is the HS location