If you plan to use Uber, Lyft or Minnie Van service as airport transportation to/form your resort, or to get from place to place In-World, here is some info you can use and some promotion codes to save money if you are a new rider with either company.
TIP If you have kids that need a car seat it’s best if you are able to provide them. However if you don’t have them, make sure to select the service that has a Car Seat included! (ie. “UberX + Car Seat”) You will pay extra for this. So if you have your own seats with you, use them with a regular Uber/Lyft. Also, they typically will only have one car seat, so if you have more than one kid that needs it, you’ll certainly have to bring your own. (Info on Florida Car Seat Laws) Lyft does not offer a car seat service at this time. You can also choose the Minnie Van service which has up to 3 car seats available (see below).
TIP If you have 4 people and a lot of bags, you’ll likely need a UberXL/LyftXL car so you and your stuff will fit. If you have more than 4 people and a lot of bags, you may need two cars to get everyone and everything to fit, so keep that in mind when you summon the ride. You also might consider using the Minnie Van service which touts “Each vehicle accommodates up to 6 Guests & 8 medium-sized suitcases”
Uber
You can get cost estimates in the app or by going here.
Hi! What do you know about getting a free first ride for inviting a friend? I saw this on their website and I am new to Uber so I am not really clear on this. Any suggestions on how to reduce cost of trip to airport? Thanks. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.
They say “free” but the fine print is “up to a certain dollar amount.” Usually $5 to $25. As a rider, you’d have a referral code that you could find in the app that you’d give to your friends. They are only good for first-time riders, like the codes listed above.
If you are an international visitor, with Uber, make sure to set up the App and account prior to leaving your country of origin.
I was over there and wanted to set up an account for Uber, however I didn’t have mobile roaming on. It forces you to get a code via an SMS to register in. Without access to my mobile # I was unable to to get the code. It landed me in a bit of a pickle.
Be very careful which promo code you use for Uber and Lyft. You get one shot each as a new user. Lots of people post codes online that will give you a small bonus — and they get a bonus, too.
But if you go direct or shop around you can get a big bonus. This year I got $10 off my first five rides from Uber. Last year I got $5 off my first ride from Uber because I’m an idiot and used a promo code that someone posted in a forum and they were basically just harvesting new users so they’d get massive kickbacks from Uber for themselves.
@profmatt, a lot of it has to do with the city in which the new rider signs up. A single code may be worth $20 in one city but $5 in another. And neither Uber or Lyft are very up front about that. They also change the value all the time, probably based on where they are trying to get more riders. You really won’t know for sure what your discount is until you try to sign up. The code I posted above for Lyft used to give $10 off each of the first 5 rides (total $50) in Philly. Now it’s worth only $5. And you’re right, as I mentioned above this is a one-time thing for New Riders only. But as my tip states above, if there are two people in a family with different cell phones, and one hasn’t created an account yet, you can use that phone to create a new account and get the discount.