New Rideshare Pick Up/Drop Off Area for Universal Orlando

[MrBlonde]

Universal Orlando moving Pick-Up/Drop-Off Location to Parking Garages | Inside Universal

• Beginning Thursday, August 22nd, Team Member Pick-Up/Drop-Off, as well as rideshare programs such as Uber and Lyft, will be moved to the 5th Floor of the Jurassic Park section of the North Parking Garage
• Vehicles can access this lot through a separate, dedicated lane in Universal Orlando’s Parking Garage entrance
• The parking fee will not be required to access the new pick-up/drop-off location
• Taxis, Universal Orlando hotel shuttles, and transportation buses will still use the existing bus loop at CityWalk as their pick-up/drop-off location

Looks like they're preparing for the congestion that HHN will bring.

 

[Nick]

This is gonna piss off Lyft/Uber drivers sooooo much that they need to go up into the garage now

 

[Parkscope Joe]

This is gonna piss off Lyft/Uber drivers sooooo much that they need to go up into the garage now

The Burbank airport does something similar, it works well. Probably won’t piss them off any more than waiting 5-10 minutes on Universal Blvd.

 

[jrn14]

Yeah we tried to utilize Uber last year when leaving at 2am and it was a nightmare.. we ended up cancelling and just hopping in a cab... I'd imagine the garage situation will be much better.

 

[Nick]

Oh I agree the current set up down there is a nightmare. Something had to be done.

 

[RFRees]

Any word on if they're developing a permanent solution, or is this the permanent solution?

 

[Teebin]

Trying to recall how it works getting to the top... is it one straight ramp to the first and second and then you have to turn and loop around to take two more to the top? Just wondering how much garage driving it is up and down... I think I recall exiting three or four straight down in one straight line.

I miss the garages... always, always filled me with anticipation no matter how many times I went. Disney AP parking made me feel like a sheep, but Universal AP made me feel special. Perhaps that is odd.

 

[truejonas]

Trying to recall how it works getting to the top... is it one straight ramp to the first and second and then you have to turn and loop around to take two more to the top? Just wondering how much garage driving it is up and down... I think I recall exiting three or four straight down in one straight line.

I miss the garages... always, always filled me with anticipation no matter how many times I went. Disney AP parking made me feel like a sheep, but Universal AP made me feel special. Perhaps that is odd.

Universal parking makes me feel confused. We somehow managed to get into the prime parking area (we did not pay for prime parking) once. Great parking spot, but everything leading up to that moment was extreme confusion.

 

[JoeCamel]

Trying to recall how it works getting to the top... is it one straight ramp to the first and second and then you have to turn and loop around to take two more to the top? Just wondering how much garage driving it is up and down... I think I recall exiting three or four straight down in one straight line.

I miss the garages... always, always filled me with anticipation no matter how many times I went. Disney AP parking made me feel like a sheep, but Universal AP made me feel special. Perhaps that is odd.

I will be in the park today so I might take a ride up there. They opened the median between the bus loop exit and parking entrance then split the lane for two way traffic a few days ago
Is this change in anticipation of a D23 announcement ya think

Edit to add: they removed part of the median between the exit ramp and the parking entrance then split the exit ramp so it is up and down.
Top has three fenced pickup/dropoff lanes with HHN queue fence between them. Space is tight but it looks miles better than the bus loop. Busloop was very quiet at noon when i got here

 

[anihilnation]

I am glad for this, I take the bus to and from Uni, and especially when coming home from HHN the busloop is crazy, this should help a lot.

 

[BJCool]

How has this new plan for Uber/Lyft been working so far? Really well or miserably? I am wondering if it would be less chaotic on busy nights to take a boat to one of the hotels and call an Uber from the front of a hotel.

 

[JoeCamel]

I am glad for this, I take the bus to and from Uni, and especially when coming home from HHN the busloop is crazy, this should help a lot.

How has this new plan for Uber/Lyft been working so far? Really well or miserably? I am wondering if it would be less chaotic on busy nights to take a boat to one of the hotels and call an Uber from the front of a hotel.

Seems to be working really well. It is a hike to get to the pickup but the bus flow in the loop is much improved.

 

[truejonas]

How has this new plan for Uber/Lyft been working so far? Really well or miserably? I am wondering if it would be less chaotic on busy nights to take a boat to one of the hotels and call an Uber from the front of a hotel.

I did this last time I went by myself. Even the original loop was crazy to try to figure out which Uber was yours - hop on the water taxi to one of the other hotels, and boom, significantly less people to get confused with.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Heads up, $4 Uber surcharge for deparures started. Going to help with building new infrastructure including a lounge. Not a fan.

 

[TommyJK]

Heads up, $4 Uber surcharge for drop offs started. Going to help with building new infrastructure including a lounge. Not a fan.

Just more reason to walk over to HRH or RPR and get your Uber from there.

 

[Aardvark787]

Heads up, $4 Uber surcharge for drop-offs started. Going to help with building new infrastructure including a lounge. Not a fan.

Is this just for uber or all ridesharing services?

 

[MrBlonde]

Is this just for uber or all ridesharing services?

As far as I read, this deal was done directly with Uber and Universal and Uber already paid the cash to UOR and the fee (which isn't expected to go away) is Uber's way of getting the funds back.

Might be as easy as switching to Lyft for pick ups there.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

As far as I read, this deal was done directly with Uber and Universal and Uber already paid the cash to UOR and the fee (which isn't expected to go away) is Uber's way of getting the funds back.

Might be as easy as switching to Lyft for pick ups there.

Yup.

I also misspoke, it's for pick ups not drop offs. So if you use Uber instead of going to the parking garage go to Hard Rock or Royal Pacific to be picked up.

 

[Andysol]

Yup.

I also misspoke, it's for pick ups not drop offs. So if you use Uber instead of going to the parking garage go to Hard Rock or Royal Pacific to be picked up.

The walk wouldn't even be that different vs the parking garage. Especially if you're leaving IoA.

Uber drives me bonkers. Ride sharing was a brilliant technology and a total market disrupter, so I grant it it's genius. But the customer service is atrocious. If I didn't get free credits from my Platinum card, I'd drop them like a bad habit.

I know @IAmFloridaBorn used to drive for them, not sure if he still does. He would be a decent resource from the driver's perspective for those that have questions.

 

[DK745]

Well for pick ups this did seem like a better solution than the cluster that was the old pick up station. Could still be better with more people directing traffic, or directing drivers to keep pulling up when there's space instead of sitting back and blocking traffic, but much smoother than the old system.