Hi! Planning our 1st Universal trip. Need some help!
Transportation: Any suggestions for the best transportation from MCO to Universal? There will be 6 of us. The shuttle option isn’t really appealing as we’ll be arriving around 8-9pm and don’t want to deal with the waiting and dropping other people off at other sites when it’s already late (at least that’s my understanding of what would happen if we booked a shuttle?). Uber/Lyft is a little scary to us as we’ve never done it before. Looking for something that will get us there quickly/safely but won’t break the bank.
Booster Seat: In our state, my 8 yr. old needs to still be in a booster. Florida doesn’t require an 8 yr. old to have booster, correct?
Reservations: Staying at CBBR. We’ll have 1 family suite and 2 standard rooms. Is there a way to make reservations and attempt to get them somewhat close together? Do I just make the reservation by phone along w/ my room request? Or reserve online and then call to see if they can add the “room request”? Or don’t they take room requests?
Room Discount: We’ll be taking advantage of the “Stay More, Save More” discount. If I have an AP, will the AP discount be able to be used in addition to the Stay More, Save More discount or is it “one or the other”?
I can’t answer all of your questions, but here’s what I can tell you.
I have never done the shuttle, as I was led to believe it was only available if you book a package through Universal, which I have never done. Uber/Lyft is not an option for me, either, as I, like you, find it creepy. Cabs are one way to go, but if you want everyone in one car, you could use Mears Transportation. I use them when I go and I like that they are waiting for me by baggage claim, we meet up with them and go right to the car and are on our way. It is the most time-efficient thing I have found and I always want to get my vacation started right away and not have to wait on anyone.
In my experience, you will not need the booster seat.
For CBBR, I’m not really sure, but “room requests” at Universal seem to be sketchy at best.
I do not believe you can combine the AP discount with “stay more, save more”. I believe it is one or the other.
I did Happy Limo with a discount code from Mousesavers. For me it was great to have someone waiting for me at the airport wven when my flight was delayed three hours.
That stay more, save more discount was the only discount (even with an AP) available for my dates and was about $20 more than the AP discount I could find for dates that didn’t work for me.
So here’s what I ended up doing in case this helps anyone else out. I did some more searching and came across rave reviews of a guy named Tony Hinds on the Disboards. His price is great and includes a stop at a grocery store. I emailed him this morning and received a response back within a minute. I can’t speak of the experience yet since we aren’t going until February but I feel way more comfortable going this route than Uber and he’s way cheaper than the other car services I came across for having 6 people (by at least $40!). I like that I can contact him directly by phone or email and he’s been very quick to respond. I’m not sure if I’m allowed to post his info on this forum but if you google his name, you’ll find his contact info. Or check out the reviews people wrote about him on Disboards - that helped me feel comfortable going this route!
For transportation, Tony Hinds FTW. Great reviews. Reasonable price. Grocery stop at no extra charge. No corporate BS. You can talk/text directly to Tony.
My family stayed at Portofino Bay from June 19 - June 23, 2017. For us, the AP discount for these dates was a better savings than the Stay More, Save More room discount. The PB standard room with AP discount was the same price as the RPR standard room with the Stay More, Save More discount. You can keep monitoring the AP discounts and see if anything becomes available. The AP discount wasn’t offered when we originally booked; I found it in May just 1 month before the trip. CBBR was also available at a good discount for APs. RPR and HRH did not have standard rooms available with the AP discount making them actually more expensive than PB standard room.
Regarding room requests: it never hurts to ask. We had good luck. Our room type was supposed to have a view one of the pools which was not ideal for us (we were concerned about noise). We asked if garden or bay view rooms were available and they said they were and we could request one, but no guarantees. We ended up with one.
