if you do not plan on wondering off site - I would get uber or hire another car - I highly recommend DestinationMCO - we used them. Loved them. For 9 days a $200 difference - $22 a day - do you want to worry about $22 a day? Do what is most convenient. You can always hire a driver and then get a car for part of your time.
Please keep in mind the âbusy period taxâ for UberâŚ
This is something that we didnât take into consideration when booking the WL -> Lowes Pacific trip. If I had I would have booked earlier in the day.
If I recall you are staying offsite arenât you? Iâve not read all the threads for a while and Iâm just starting to get back into reading here.
Yes, weâre staying in a house in Davenport.
For the sake of knowing my exact times and having the fluidity to do what I wanted and at what time I wanted I would grab the car.
As I said, Uber has the price increases at busy times and if you leave the parks when every single other human is leaving you are going to have a tough time of it.
When staying at Wilderness, we would see and talk to heaps and heaps of people that would drive to the park at Wilderness and catch the small boat out of Disney and back to their car at the hotel to avoid the main carpark for the park. Iâm not sure if thatâs an option for you at all either?
Thatâs just how I would think about things, I wouldnât want to be horribly tired and stuck waiting for Uber availability at midnight after 17 hours worth of touring.
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Fair point. But what about being horribly tired and having a 30 minute drive home?
I probably agree that the hire car is the way to go. And that I have a plan and I should stick to it.
Are you allowed to leave your car in the main car parks overnight? So if we were really tired (or had had a drink) we could leave the car and Uber home.
I would think that you really canât leave a car in the park parking lots overnight - you can probably move them to a hotel if needed. However i would just drive home
How strict are hotels about parking being for guests only? For example, say we wanted to go to the Chef Mickeyâs breakfast, made an ADR for that, then hoofed it to MK. Would anyone say anything if you saved $20 on parking by leaving your car at Contemporary all day?
I agree with you there about the driving when tired. I may not have explained everything in my head then sorry 
When we waited on an Uber one night, the wait was craaaazy long and it cost us a fortune. We ended up more tired from trying to stand on sore feet while carrying everything.
Iâm not sure about the carpark stuff either, Iâve had zero experience with it, just something that I heard a LOT of people talk about on the boats back
People get their knickers in a twist about this. Personally I believe that if I am paying to go to Chef Mickeyâs I can park my car there and then head to the parks - DONE. Some people get up in arms about this. I have no problem - if you are going to the hotel to use its services (and pay) - its all good in my book. I donât think they can / will ticket etc you. Once you are there it is ok
I drive Uber myself as a supplementary income (not at WDW). I shake my head when I see how much people pay and how long they wait to pay it anytime my city has a major event where thousands of customers depart simultaneously. I would never utilize Uber as a customer at the close of a Disney night. If I were coming or going at non-peak, maybe
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Yeah, we did that once and that was it. Iâm not an Uber person back in AUS so it was only my second experience. Didnât quite understand it with the âbusy period taxâ but certainly do now.
Capitalism at its finest. When thereâs a finite number of cars and thousands of customers, demand trounces supply and Uber can do whatever it wants. The same logic that allows Disney to go into gouge mode during the busiest times a year or charge $10 for a crappy poncho to take advantage of the unprepared when a storm hits
I never get Uber from a park. From EP/HS I uber from one of the boardwalk resorts, form MK I would take my preferred escape route- boat to WL 
. I have never gone from AK.
What is this uber premium time thing and how do I found out what times and how much it costs? Donât see anything on the website to include in calcluations
Youâve found the right guy! Iâve driven for nearly three years and know the system well.
Premium pricing is never scheduled in advance. Itâs essentially a supply and demand mathematical algorithm. Once requests for rides outpace the number of drivers on the road in a specific area, the price ticks up and is listed in terms of multipliers of standard fare. For example, a small surge will show you paying 1.5x the normal rate. The highest Iâve personally witnessed is 8, and Iâve heard legend of 15.
So take Magic Kingdom for example. During the middle of the day, less comings and goings means enough drivers, and youâre not likely to see surge. After fireworks, when 20,000 people are flooding the TTC, the balance shifts to more passengers than available cars.
Knowing Uber as I do, I would expect it to be painful on the budget if you leave a park at closing time, particularly on the heavier crowd days. I always tell my customers up here that they should consider going to a bar, spending the extra money on a drink or two, and waiting out the surge. But thatâs not possible at the TTC or traveling with kids. For my.own trip, I will use the busses and not bother with Uber
I LOVE Uber and have used it a lot. Like anything it has its place and then there are times that it really isnât the best solution. On vacation - I really like to have as few âwildcardsâ as possible. There seems to be a âI donât want to drive while in WDWâ mentality. Driving in Orlando area is just like any other. I guess as I live in a metro area on the east coast - traffic and the sort doesnât really mess me up. The last time we were there it was much cheaper to hire a driver car on specific instances and just do without a car the balance of the time. However if I needed to have âmy ownâ transportation on a day to day basis - renting a car is the only way to go. Even if it costs $20 a day to park - it is just the price of doing business and then I have the freedom I need / want.
I agree. I donât want to come across like Iâm disparaging Uber. Itâs perfect for those times you either donât want to deal with parking or want to be able to drink without worrying about getting home. Itâs just that for mega crowded events, itâs best to go eyes wide open that peak usage of the system also means peak fares
Will you have small children with you, that require a special child car seat? If so, consider that in your decision. You have to pay extra for an uber to have one (or more) seats. Or you have to lug your own around. If you rent, you can just leave the seat(s) in the car.
Thanks @js. Iâm just curious how the âestimated costâ will be different from the actual/surge cost for Uber from HRH to AK for RD (I donât actually expect you to know that). I hope that this isnât a surge time since most peoplel (except savvy liners!) will not to be up that early. BUT, there are a lot more people RD right now at AK than before Pandora. I can see closing time as a big issue if you chose Uber for all your tranportation. Would really affect your uber vs rental calculations if you plan to travel at surge times.
Agree. You have the right idea. Morning incoming traffic is less likely to surge because guests are coming from many disparate locales. The problems happen when everyone wants to get picked up from the same spot.
As far as estimates, Uber will warn you of surge pricing in effect before you request the ride, and the cost estimates will be based on that surge.