Best way to get from WDW to Universal

[crassmonkey]

We have decided to add two days at Universal to next years WDW trip. We don't want to rent a car as we will be spending the rest of our vacation solely on Disney property. So what's the best/cheapest way to get from our resort (Pop Century) to Universal and back on those two days?

 

[mrerk]

I believe Mears runs a shuttle (by appointment) between the two. Otherwise you are looking at a taxi ride. Mears' online taxi calculator show it being about $28 one way.

 

[MichWolv]

The best and cheapest way is probably to rent a car just for your couple days at Universal. Alamo will pick you up at your resort and take you to their facility on property. Or several of the hotels on property (Swan/Dolphin, DtD hotels) have rental car facilities in the lobby. I've rented on property several times for one or two-day excursions off-site. It always seems to work cheaper than a Mears shuttle (for which you pay person, 'natch) and cheaper then taxis as well. Plus, with a rental car, you have flexibility to stop at a store or two off-site, pick up some groceries, etc.

 

[disney4life2008]

I 2nd a rental car. By the time you pay for the cab - you could easily spend up to $100 if your going for 2 days

 

[AEfx]

Rent a car. You can pick one up/drop off right at Swan/Dolphin. It's the cheapest, easiest way. Plus on the days you have it you can go to real stores to stock up on stuff (drinks, snacks, etc.) you don't have to pay Disney prices for.

 

[Sassagoula-Rvr]

I second rental car...I won't go to Disney anymore without renting one....I love to make trips out into orlando some evenings for dinner....or run to get some groceries/snacks.etc...much more freedom.

 

[JillC LI]

I believe that there is a two day ticket option that includes transportation from Disney to Universal. You might want to ask one of the Kingdom Konsultants about it.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

I believe that there is a two day ticket option that includes transportation from Disney to Universal. You might want to ask one of the Kingdom Konsultants about it.

There is a one day two park ticket option that includes free transportation from Disney to Universal.

 

[AEfx]

Haha, too funny. I saw this on Mouse For Less today and thought of this thread so I thought I'd post it (glad to see others have already given the idea):

• Universal Studios offers Advance Purchase Admission Tickets that Include Roundtrip Transportation from Walt Disney World resorts to Universal using Mears Transportation. These tickets are only vailable through a travel agent. A 1-Day / 2-Park Universal Studios ticket with round trip transfers cost $112 (plus tax & fee) for ages 10 and up and $104 for ages 3 - 9. That's the same price as tickets bought online thru Universal's web site with advance purchase saving. To learn more or purchase tickets, visit our Universal Studios Discount Page.


I would want to know the schedule for Mears, though. It's a very smart thing of Universal to do - I'm surprised they don't promote it more (I go to the website all the time and this is the first I heard of it - very interesting as well it's only through a travel agent - I bet they don't wanna ruffle feathers).

 

[Mukta]

I would want to know the schedule for Mears, though. It's a very smart thing of Universal to do - I'm surprised they don't promote it more (I go to the website all the time and this is the first I heard of it - very interesting as well it's only through a travel agent - I bet they don't wanna ruffle feathers).

I have mentioned it a few times on this board because I used it last year. (with the help of Tammy).
When I called Mears to schedule it, they asked me which hotel I was staying in and gave me a choice of pick up times. They had pick up at my hotel every hour. I picked the 8:25 pick up. They were there on time, they picked up at another hotel, dropped people off at Sea World and I arrived at Universal at 9:15 am.

 

[GeoDonJac34]

If you never were at Universal, could you get both parks done in one day?

 

[JillC LI]

If you never were at Universal, could you get both parks done in one day?

We did most of both parks on a day with moderate crowd levels in October 2009 but that was pre-Potter. I think it would be hard to do all of the WWOHP plus the rest of both parks nowadays. Maybe if you bought the express pass and stayed on property so you could get in an hour earlier than the other guests. But it would be tight.

 

[Mukta]

If you never were at Universal, could you get both parks done in one day?

If you are going on a weekday in the off season, yes. Even with Potter, I think you can see both parks in one day. If you are going during summer, definitely not.

 

[ArtieJim]

My girlfriend and I took a taxi from All-Star Movies to Universal back in October, and we did the calculator and it did say it would be less than $30, which it was. One way. Before tip. We had a great cab driver would made the ride well worth it, so we ended up tipping a bit more, so the way there came out to about $45 after tip. The way back, before tip ended up being about $40, somehow, so it probably isn't worth doing that twice, unless you're OK with dropping almost $200 on transportation. In which case, rent a nice car.

 

[CarlFredricksen]

Meats is $19 r/t. As somone else had stated, they give you a few pickup times to choose from and you can plan to arrive around an hour after you are picked up.

Taxi is about $80 r/t not including tip.

Bottom line, rent a car if you will be going more than once or plan to voyage off wow property. Do the shuttle if you have less than 5 people in your group, and if you have 5+ then take a taxi.

 

[Zummi Gummi]

Haha, too funny. I saw this on Mouse For Less today and thought of this thread so I thought I'd post it (glad to see others have already given the idea):

• Universal Studios offers Advance Purchase Admission Tickets that Include Roundtrip Transportation from Walt Disney World resorts to Universal using Mears Transportation. These tickets are only vailable through a travel agent. A 1-Day / 2-Park Universal Studios ticket with round trip transfers cost $112 (plus tax & fee) for ages 10 and up and $104 for ages 3 - 9. That's the same price as tickets bought online thru Universal's web site with advance purchase saving. To learn more or purchase tickets, visit our Universal Studios Discount Page.


I would want to know the schedule for Mears, though. It's a very smart thing of Universal to do - I'm surprised they don't promote it more (I go to the website all the time and this is the first I heard of it - very interesting as well it's only through a travel agent - I bet they don't wanna ruffle feathers).

I used this in February and it was wonderful. We got the 7:25 pickup from Pop Century and were at Universal by 8:30 (made a stop at Caribbean Beach after we got picked up). The driver was on-time and told us exactly where to go to get picked up that evening (all you have to do is call them an hour before you want to leave).

Very, very efficient.

And we had no trouble doing what we wanted in both parks in one day, even with spending a lot of time in WWHP.

 

[Rach&Eric]

We just got back from the World and used Mears on May 10th from Port Orleans to Universal. Called the day before and was given a few choices for pick up time the next morning. We were told to call 2 hours prior we wanted to go back to POFQ which we did. The cost was $38 return for 2 people.

 

[unkadug]

We have decided to add two days at Universal to next years WDW trip. We don't want to rent a car as we will be spending the rest of our vacation solely on Disney property. So what's the best/cheapest way to get from our resort (Pop Century) to Universal and back on those two days?

I vote for hot air balloon :wave:

 

[todpatcam]

We're going to WDW from Nov 10-19, 2011 and thought a 1-day trip to Universal in the middle of our stay would be great fun.

Questionss:
Where can we find the hours for Universal for those dates?
During these dates do you think we could do both parks in 1 day?
Can you get to the parks by opening time and stay until close by using the provided transportation?

As always thanks for any help you can provide!!!! :wave:

 

[Rach&Eric]

We're going to WDW from Nov 10-19, 2011 and thought a 1-day trip to Universal in the middle of our stay would be great fun.

Questionss:
Where can we find the hours for Universal for those dates?
During these dates do you think we could do both parks in 1 day?
Can you get to the parks by opening time and stay until close by using the provided transportation?

As always thanks for any help you can provide!!!! :wave:

www.universalorlando.com and you can get the park hours...not sure how far in advance though. You can get there for opening, we were given a few choices for pick up times and the earliest was 7:25 am. We did both parks...we didn't do everything but we did quite a bit in both. I would, however, head straight to Harry Potter and do that first, then the rest. During our stay both parks closed at 7 pm but City Walk closes much later so you have no problems staying at the parks until close, give Mears a call and they pick you up 2 hours later