Is uber/lyft cheaper than a rental car? More convenient?

Joined
Apr 27, 2016
We just returned from a week at Disney last night and rented a car for the first time. We loved having the freedom to eat most of our meals off property and shoot over to the outlets and grocery store for snacks and drinks.

Disney has very few lunch/dinner options for my restrictive diet so it was very liberating to be able to hop in the car and grab something to eat!!

We paid $210 for an SUV which I thought was pretty reasonable. After gas and tolls we spent roughly $275 total. (We don’t pay to park at the resort or parks as we stay on points & have AP’s.)



We have another trip planned for the first week of December and for the same car for 9 days is $470 before gas & tolls. I know that price will go down but it got me thinking what the break even/savings point was vs using rideshare.

I realize that this is a very subjective question depending on how much you use the ride share, if you pay to park, the rental cost, ect.. I’m just curious if there are people here that have done both and what the pros and cons were for each.
 
Disney has very few lunch/dinner options for my restrictive diet so it was very liberating to be able to hop in the car and grab something to eat!!
Given how flexible and cooperative Disney is with special or restrictive dietary needs, I'm actually shocked that it's possible to do better offsite.
but it got me thinking what the break even/savings point was vs using rideshare.
Truly,you would need to determine where you want to go each time, then use the specific company app or www.rideguru.com to determine rates for each leg of each trip, then either hope oh don't ultimately encounter any surge pricing, then compare your calculations to the rental rate.
 
We just returned from a week at Disney last night and rented a car for the first time. We loved having the freedom to eat most of our meals off property and shoot over to the outlets and grocery store for snacks and drinks.
Agree. We drive up to WDW, so we always have a car. Even if we stay in a Disney resort, we invariably eat dinner offsite. There is more variety, the food is better, and it's less expensive. We eat at a variety of places, from McD's to fine dining.

I realize that this is a very subjective question depending on how much you use the ride share, if you pay to park, the rental cost, ect.. I’m just curious if there are people here that have done both and what the pros and cons were for each.
You have to do the math. Expenses one of us had in April two years ago have nothing to do with what your expenses will be in December 2019. Get all the numbers on renting a vehicle, parking, gas, theme park parking fees if you're offsite, and then figure out what rideshare would cost -- including shopping trips, both ways to the airport, etc, etc, etc.

Rideshare is very convenient, but nothing will be as convenient as just jumping in your own car whenever you want to go somewhere.
 
Given how flexible and cooperative Disney is with special or restrictive dietary needs, I'm actually shocked that it's possible to do better offsite.

Truly,you would need to determine where you want to go each time, then use the specific company app or www.rideguru.com to determine rates for each leg of each trip, then either hope oh don't ultimately encounter any surge pricing, then compare your calculations to the rental rate.

Good point on the surge pricing. I am pretty sure it would work out to be similar in price. I’m even ok if is a little more expensive if it is more convenient. I should have worded it differently.
We stayed at the BC so we walked to Epcot and either walked or took the boat to HS. We drove once to animal kingdom and it was a LONG walk from the parking area and took the bus to MK.
We would go grab lunch, drive back to the BC then walk or take the bus to wherever we were going. Looking back on the week, it might have been better to get an uber to lunch then get an uber directly to the contemporary to walk to MK.
Haha. I know, I am in the minority, most people rave about how good Disney’s restaurants are. They absolutely will do their best to accommodate me and make me something off menu but I hate being that person who has to have something specifically made for me. I would much rather look at a menu and pick soothing off of it. I am a strict vegetarian and most table service menus have 1 vegan item that is supposed to double as a vegetarian “option”. It use to be passable but Disney replaced most of the bean & Bocca burgers with plant based items that are meant to replicate a meat taste.
It all worked out for the best, we found some restaurants in the area that were great.
 


We paid $210 for an SUV which I thought was pretty reasonable. After gas and tolls we spent roughly $275 total. (We don’t pay to park at the resort or parks as we stay on points & have AP’s.)

We have another trip planned for the first week of December and for the same car for 9 days is $470 before gas & tolls. I know that price will go down but it got me thinking what the break even/savings point was vs using rideshare.

Don't count on that price going down. December rentals are notoriously high- it's the holidays! Right now I have a reservation for a small (midsize? don't remember) SUV for 12/21-12/27 at $365 for the week, and I had to do a lot of coupon juggling, code hunting, etc., to get it down to that. Small vehicles are renting for $500 for that week. I use carrentalsavers.com when looking for a good deal.
 
Don't count on that price going down. December rentals are notoriously high- it's the holidays! Right now I have a reservation for a small (midsize? don't remember) SUV for 12/21-12/27 at $365 for the week, and I had to do a lot of coupon juggling, code hunting, etc., to get it down to that. Small vehicles are renting for $500 for that week. I use carrentalsavers.com when looking for a good deal.
I didn’t know that. Thank you for the heads up. . I just assumed because the prices went down so dramatically last time that they would again. I guess it makes sense with the holidays. If the past holds true, there will be no decision to be made and we will be able to compare the 2 options side by side. Thanks.
 
You are also not stuck with only the two options of renting a car or taking Uber everywhere.

If you are staying ONsite, I would certainly use the free bus transportation for trips to the parks. Then you can use Uber to go shopping, dining, or to other attractions. Your Uber fares will be partially offset by not having to pay to park your rental car at the resort. That might well work out to be your best option.
 


I didn’t know that. Thank you for the heads up. . I just assumed because the prices went down so dramatically last time that they would again. I guess it makes sense with the holidays. If the past holds true, there will be no decision to be made and we will be able to compare the 2 options side by side. Thanks.

I am stalking car rental prices diligently, hoping they go down. I have never paid this much for a vehicle while at Disney. Like you, I've always found that prices go down, but that's not been the experience around the holidays, from what I have read. Car rental prices change at the drop of a hat, though, so as long as you don't have to pre-pay or put down a deposit, keep looking and rebooking at better rates. I like carrentalsavers.com because you can enter your eligible discount (senior, AAA, AARP, Costco, BJs, etc) and they'll pull up the available rates for that specific discount from all the car vendors at one time. I'm checking at least once a day, sometimes more frequently. Fortunately I found a "free parking" offer from our offsite hotel, so it's easier to consider this expensive vehicle (if only they'd offer a "no resort fee" discount- that'd be even better).
 
We never rent a car. When we were driving down, we would park our car all week and not touch it. Part of vacation for me is not driving.

We recently took an uber from MCO to our resort, then resort to port Canaveral, then port Canaveral to MCO. On the 1st leg of the MCO to disney trip, we hit it off really well with our driver. She gave me her card.

Between work and vacations, I am in orlando 4-6 times a year. Now I just give her a call a few weeks before our arrival. Give her our travel details, and she picks us up. I pay with cash and she charges about 75% of what the official uber rate would be.

pretty cool to now have a friend i can count on to give me rides as needed.
 
We never rent a car. When we were driving down, we would park our car all week and not touch it. Part of vacation for me is not driving.

We recently took an uber from MCO to our resort, then resort to port Canaveral, then port Canaveral to MCO. On the 1st leg of the MCO to disney trip, we hit it off really well with our driver. She gave me her card.

Between work and vacations, I am in orlando 4-6 times a year. Now I just give her a call a few weeks before our arrival. Give her our travel details, and she picks us up. I pay with cash and she charges about 75% of what the official uber rate would be.

pretty cool to now have a friend i can count on to give me rides as needed.
Very cool that you found a driver you can reserve ahead of time!!
I don’t love driving on vacation but I don’t hate it either.
If the prices don’t drop dramatically, We are leaning towards only renting a car for the first 24 hours. Picking up the car 3:00 on Friday and returning it at 3:00 on Saturday. The dolphin has this option for $39 total. This way, we can do a quick grocery run and hit the outlets once before we have to return it. We will then just use the busses for AK & MK and uber to restaurants.
 
I think it depends on how much you travel around. If I am solo and staying on Disney property I usually don't rent a car. I stay offsite more often, preferring a hotel with free parking, so rent a car. If DH is with me we always rent a car at Disney. We will be staying at Universal in November so he can attend the scuba manufacturers convention, and decided to use Lyft exclusively since it will be cheaper for us vs renting and paying for parking at the resort. Between the resort and parking fees at the convention center, I think we will save some $$.

If OP is going offsite a lot for dining and shopping it may be more cost effective to rent a car. I enjoy driving and never have an issue with driving on vacation. I prefer it to Disney parks transportation.
 
The dolphin has this option for $39 total. This way, we can do a quick grocery run and hit the outlets once before we have to return it. We will then just use the busses for AK & MK and uber to restaurants.

I have used the dolphin national place many time.

I go to orlando frequently for work. many times my family will join me for a few days on the back side of my work trip. So i pick up at MCO. Do what I need to do for work for a few days, then the family will Magic Express to our resort. I meet them at the resort. Prior to heading to a park, we drive to the dolphin and drop the car off, then bus to where ever we need to go.

Magic express or uber back to MCO.
 
It also depends how many people are in your party. Ride share becomes a lot less convenient and more expensive with more than two passengers.
 
It also depends how many people are in your party. Ride share becomes a lot less convenient and more expensive with more than two passengers.
Rideshare pricing does not vary with number of passengers like taxi prices often do. The price for a particular ride in a particular category of vehicle is the same whether you are one person or are maxing out the capacity of the vehicle. One ride, one price.

The capacity of UberX and regular Lyft is a maximum of 4 passengers. The capacity of XL (both companies larger category) is 6, although some larger vehicles can safely transport 7}. The key to capacity is the number of seatbelts in the vehicle.

Of course, none of those capacity limits include luggage, so a rider may want to choose a larger vehicle if they have a bunch of luggage. My two girls (DW and DD) do NOT travel light, so I always order XL for airport rides to be sure we are comfortable.
 
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Uber pool is the cheapest ride share option, but only meant for 2 passengers. If more than 2 passengers, you'd have to move up to Uber x. Could you still use uber pool if there were 4 passengers in your party? Never tried it, so not sure.
 
Uber pool is the cheapest ride share option, but only meant for 2 passengers. If more than 2 passengers, you'd have to move up to Uber x. Could you still use uber pool if there were 4 passengers in your party? Never tried it, so not sure.
Two answers:
  1. Fortunately for the Orlando drivers, Uber doesn't offer UberPool in the Orlando market. Neither does Lyft.
  2. The capacity for UberPool (and Lyft Shared) is still the capacity of the vehicle, but they don't allow more than two riders per party. The reason is the companies want to put multiple parties in the ride so they collect multiple fares while paying the driver only one payment for time and distance at a lower rate than X. Pool/Shared are the highest margin rides the companies have, but many experienced drivers will not accept them.
 
Hey everyone.
I just wanted to report back on our experience of using Uber over a rental car this trip.
We loved using Uber vs a rental car. The car would have cost us around $300 with filling it up with gas and our finial bill using Uber for the week was $268 including tips.
Not a huge price difference but it was great that we didn’t have to try and find a parking spot of deal with the crazy traffic.

Most days we ate breakfast on property, hit a park for a little bit, went back to the BC the relax. We then grabbed an Uber to which ever restaurant we picked that day for a late lunch/early dinner then had the Uber drop us at whichever park we wanted to visit that night. This saved us from having to wait for the very slow busses.

This was our last trip on our AP’s and aren’t planning on going back for a couple of years but my perfect scenario for our next trip would be to grab a 1 day rental from mco and drop it off at the dolphin the next day. Then use Uber for our daily restaurant outings.
This would be perfect as we usually arrive in the morning and could get all of our errands done before our room is ready.

Hope this helps someone who is currently debating with which option to choose.

We did the ME to and form the airport
 

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