Minnie Van vs. Uber/Lyft for onsite guests

[Stellajack]

I need some clarification here about Minnie Van service. Are people really willing to spend $25/trip for transportation around Disney World rather than use the WDW bus service? If so, why? When posters on other threads are complaining about added costs and increases, adding another transportation charge to one's spending doesn't make much sense to me. What am I missing here? We have no intention of paying extra for this service unless there is something that I am not aware of. Help me with this, please; AND, I'm not trying to be rude about this, just inquisitive.

 

[Lilofan]

Didn't take it but I think 6 can ride in the van. Pay 1 way fare, don't have to deal with being in a crowded bus that stops in multiple places before your destination. Sometimes you can't get a seat and just stand and hang on!

 

[RememberWhen]

I haven’t paid for a Minnie van, but might consider it in the following situation:
Having a dinner at a resort (say, Animal Kingdom Lodge) and just wanting to get back to Boardwalk with two car seat aged kids who need to get to bed. I might be willing to shell out $25+ to avoid taking the bus to DHS and the boat back to the hotel.
Or if we had an early breakfast reservation at the Poly, I might see paying for a Minnie van to avoid the transportation hassles.
But I haven’t yet.

 

[MrMcDuck]

Minnie Vans have car seats, can drop off at the bus area at the MK instead of the TTC like a regular lyft/uber, and have drivers that people know are going to be good.* Yes, they cost more than other options, but they are targeting people who either generally never care about an extra 50 dollars or who are so drained after a long day that they just want to get back to their bed and don't care about a price difference at that moment.

(*I've never had much of a problem with lyft and uber drivers and I've used those services hundreds of times at least, but some people seem to be concerned about this.)

 

[Stellajack]

I haven’t paid for a Minnie van, but might consider it in the following situation:
Having a dinner at a resort (say, Animal Kingdom Lodge) and just wanting to get back to Boardwalk with two car seat aged kids who need to get to bed. I might be willing to shell out $25+ to avoid taking the bus to DHS and the boat back to the hotel.
Or if we had an early breakfast reservation at the Poly, I might see paying for a Minnie van to avoid the transportation hassles.
But I haven’t yet.

Yes, I can very well see this, especially with kids. After 20+ trips to the World, we have never minded standing on a bus. Often when we stay at POR, we take the less traveled bus to POFQ and then walk from there to POR. It's a lovely walk, and enjoyable for us. We have a Boma's reservation on our non-park arrival day and plan to take the bus from AKL to Disney Springs, then the water taxi down the Sassagoula to POR. Thanks to all for the responses.

 

[Weather_Lady]

I do think the people who use Minnie Vans tend to be those who really need car seats (or who have other special needs that can't be accommodated on a bus), or who just aren't familiar enough with rideshare services (Lyft, Uber) to feel comfortable using them.

The only time we've used "paid" transportation on Disney property was when we needed to get from our resort to another resort quickly for an ADR (Disney has no direct hotel-to-hotel transportation). We used rideshares and paid a fraction of what a Minnie Van would cost (in the neighborhood of $6-$8, and our first Uber ride was free thanks to their usual discount for new members).

 

[Stellajack]

The only time we have used any on-site transportation other than the buses was for an ADR on a Sunday a.m. to the Poly. On that occasion, the desk summoned a taxi which was parked in the POR parking lot and we were driven there, free ("a one-time courtesy") For resort to resort we usually follow the guideline of 90 minutes (though, that isn't usually the actual time required), and go to a park or Disney Springs then transfer to the resort bus for our ADR.

 

[PrincessJasmyn]

We used it once to get to Magic Kingdom when we woke up late and needed to get to a 7:30am BOG res. Theres no way we would have made it if we had of used the bus service or even a normal uber from All Star Movies. This got us to the gate with plenty of time to get in and get to our res, even though we only left the hotel after 7am! I was over the moon with the service, but it cost us $51 including tip. We didnt use it again the whole trip, if we needed to get anywhere quicker than the bus, we just caught a normal uber
we also HATE waiting, so the normal uber service was perfect for us. i didnt like mucking around with the busses.

 

[WWWD]

I use the Mini Vans over Lyft and Uber because I know what type of vehicle is showing up and that a trained Disney castmember will be driving it. I prefer to error on the side of caution when my entire family is in the vehicle. When we use the Mini Vans it’s for resort to resort transportation or when we’re exhausted at park close.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

We used it once on a special occasion (and before the price hike.) It was more $ than an Uber, but it was my version of “renting a limo” lol.

We sometimes use Uber or Lyft for a potentially more difficult transport or when the buses are likely to be packed (like at park close.)