Transportation to Universal

Looking for suggestions on what the best method of transportation is between Universal Orlando Resort hotels and Orlando International airport. Tips? Advice?

Mears runs shuttle service. I've taken a cab as well. If you have two or more people, the savings over a rental car start to diminish if you're there for only a couple of days. I've done both. Alamo is always so ridiculously cheap out of MCO (and it's on-site) that it has been worth a little more to just get the car.

I'm doing a quickie down and back trip for Haunt this fall and was wondering the same thing. I still might settle on a rental, because it might be my bed for a couple of hours. I'm taking a 6 AM flight out, so with the park closing at 1, it doesn't make sense to get a room for the night. Plus I can't imagine the shuttle would operate that late.

Mears will run any time you want it to. You tell them what time your flight is and they tell you what time they will be there to pick you up. They picked us up at 3am from Disney a few weeks ago. They aren't perfect but we've been happy with them. How much was the cab Jeff?

We will face this issue this summer as well. We are going to Universal for 4-5 days and had planned on bumming around Orlando for a couple of days. So we planned on renting a car. But now my daughter is lobbying to go to Disney for a couple of days (she wants to go back to the castle and see the Hall of Presidents which was closed when we were there). We can take the Disney bus to the airport when we leave. But we need to get to the Universal resort from the airport when we get there and then over to the Disney resort. Really would need a car for a few hours over the entire trip.

How often do the Mears shuttles run? Does it make more sense for 4 people to take a cab? Seems to me that even if you rent a cheap car, the parking fees at the resorts will at least approach the cost of two cab rides. Disney makes it easier with the bus to/from the airport. Though I wouldn't expect either to be too interested in transporting you to the other's hotels.

You make appointments with Mears. I've never waited more than 15 minutes at the airport. The more people you have, the more sense it starts to make to take a cab.

You can the public transportation if you don't mind it taking an hour or so. It's the cheapest option available, but not necessarily the most convenient.

If you have 4 or more people in your group, it can pay to use a car service that has vans. You can get the cost down below $30 per person round trip under the right circumstances.

Yeah, the shuttles are terrible for larger groups. I did a cab (in late 2006) that was about $30 at 5 a.m. from Royal Pacific. I mention the time because it was years ago, and traffic at that time was negligible. But for two people, it was about the same as Mears, which I've also done.

Cheapest rentals, with taxes and fees, tend to range from $35 to $60 a day depending on the time of year. I'd look into it, but if you're going in July, don't expect any deals.

Thanks for the advice. We're thinking about staying at Royal Pacific for four nights and they give you the option to reserve Mears shuttle for $30 round trip per person or Quick Transportation for $35 I believe. I read some really crappy reviews about both services but I think those were all going to other hotels in the area.

So I should get a minivan and offer rides from Orlando International to the universal area?

Call 1-800-GoGator ;)