Car Hire vs Uber & Lyft in Orlando – Which Is Better for a Florida Holiday?
For years, hiring a car in Florida felt almost automatic. If you were travelling from the UK to Orlando, the traditional approach was simple: land, collect your luggage, pick up the hire car and use it for everything until the day you flew home. Our own Florida trips have shown us that it does not need to work that way.
We have travelled around Orlando very successfully without a hire car, relying on Disney and Universal transport alongside Uber, Lyft and the occasional Minnie Van. More recently, we hired a car for 17 days and used it to explore much more of Florida, including Kennedy Space Center, Wild Florida, shopping malls, supermarkets and the parts of the trip outside the Disney and Universal bubbles.
Having now done both, our view is much clearer. A hire car can add a huge amount of freedom to a Florida holiday, but that does not mean every family needs one for the entire trip. The right answer depends far more on where you are staying and what you actually plan to do.
When Uber and Lyft Worked Perfectly Well for Us
On trips where we have stayed mainly on-site at Walt Disney World or Universal Orlando, we have never felt that a hire car was essential.
That is because both resorts already have transport systems designed to move guests between their hotels, parks and entertainment areas. Once those journeys are covered, Uber and Lyft can fill most of the remaining gaps without you paying for a car that may spend much of the holiday parked outside the hotel.
We have used ride shares for airport transfers, moving between Disney and Universal, supermarket trips, shopping malls and off-site meals. For those occasional journeys, being able to open an app and request a car has generally worked extremely well.
That also removes some of the jobs that come with driving yourself. There is no need to think about parking, tolls, navigation or who is driving back after an evening meal, and after a long park day it can be quite nice to let someone else deal with the road.
If you are staying on-site and most of your holiday revolves around Disney or Universal, we would still question whether paying for a hire car every day represents good value.
COMING SOON - SHOULD YOU STAY IN A VILLA OR ON-SITE IN ORLANDO?
What Changed When We Finally Hired a Car
Our latest Florida trip was different. We were travelling beyond Orlando and wanted considerably more freedom than we had needed on previous stays. We collected a hire car after our cruise and kept it for 17 days, using it for the wider Florida portion of the holiday before eventually moving into Disney.
Ironically, our first journey was still an Uber. We disembarked the cruise and took an Uber to the Miami Airport rental-car centre before collecting the car. That sums up our view of Florida transport quite well. It does not have to be car hire versus Uber as if you must choose one system for the entire holiday. Different options can make sense at different stages of the same trip.
We paid £687 for the 17-day rental. That is simply what our booking cost rather than a figure we would use as a guide for everyone, because hire-car prices can vary enormously depending on dates, vehicle size, insurance and the deal available.
We had booked an SUV equivalent to a Ford Edge. The first vehicle offered to us was too small once we looked at the amount of luggage we had, which is an important consideration for families. A car may technically have enough seats for everybody but still not have enough boot space for several large suitcases.
We asked whether there was anything else available and ended up with a Toyota Highlander after another family decided not to take it. It had seven seats, but with the rear seats folded we could use it as a comfortable five-seater with plenty of luggage space.
For a family trip, we would pay just as much attention to luggage capacity as the advertised number of seats.
Driving in Florida Was Easier Than We Expected
Driving in Florida felt big initially. The cars are bigger, the roads are bigger and everything looks slightly different when you are used to driving in the UK. After a day or two, though, it felt completely normal.
We found the roads generally straightforward to navigate, and having the car gave us a freedom we had not really experienced on previous Florida trips. If we wanted groceries, we could simply go and get them. If we wanted to visit a mall or change plans during the day, we did not need to check ride-share prices or wait for somebody to arrive.
That freedom became particularly valuable for places such as Kennedy Space Center and Wild Florida, where having your own car makes much more sense as part of a wider itinerary.
COMING SOON - KENNEDY SPACE CENTER VISITOR COMPLEX: IS IT WORTH A DAY FROM ORLANDO?
COMING SOON - WILD FLORIDA GUIDE
The same applied to shopping. Target and Walmart were straightforward, and the malls and outlets were easy enough to reach, although the outlet car parks could become much busier.
Fuel was another cost to consider, but it did not become a major issue for us. We spent around $130 on fuel across the rental period, and being able to pay at the pump made filling up simple. One small detail for UK drivers is that the pump colours are not necessarily what you expect from home, so check the fuel type rather than relying on colour alone.
What About Florida Tolls and SunPass?
Tolls are something worth understanding before you collect a hire car because rental companies can have their own toll programmes and associated charges.
We chose to use SunPass rather than simply relying on the hire company’s toll option, and it worked well for us throughout the trip.
We picked the pass up in Miami from a supermarket only a couple of minutes’ walk from Novotel Miami Brickell, where we had stayed before our cruise.
COMING SOON - NOVOTEL MIAMI BRICKELL REVIEW]
One thing we discovered was that checking retailer stock online was not necessarily a reliable indication of what was actually available in the shop. Some of the retailers that were showing little or no stock online had plenty when we went in.
We show exactly where we found ours and talk through that tip in the travel-day video, so if you are considering using SunPass with a hire car, that is the better place to see the practical detail rather than us repeating the whole process here.
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Whichever approach you choose, we would compare the hire company’s toll arrangement with the alternatives before automatically accepting the first option offered. The best choice can depend on the rental company, how much driving you expect to do and where the trip is taking you.
Having a Car Did Not Make Us Want to Drive Around Disney
This was probably one of the most useful things we learned. We had a hire car available during the Disney portion of the trip, but that did not suddenly make us want to drive to the parks every day. We used it when arriving for check-in, but once we were staying on-site we were happy to go back to Disney transport. The fact that the car was sitting there did not make driving, parking and getting back to the car after a long park day suddenly feel more attractive.
In fact, having experienced the freedom of a car elsewhere in Florida probably reinforced the distinction for us. A car is brilliant when it gives you access to places you could not easily reach otherwise. Once you are inside Walt Disney World, much of the transport problem has already been solved for you.
The same principle applies at Universal. If we are staying on-site and concentrating heavily on those parks, we would rather make use of the transport system provided than add driving and parking to both ends of an already long day.
The only time we deliberately chose something different during the Disney stay was after a late meal, when we used a Minnie Van. That was a convenience choice rather than something we needed because the normal transport had failed.
Uber or Lyft – Which Is Better in Orlando?
We recommend having both apps installed. We have had trips where Uber gave us the better experience and others where Lyft worked better. Neither has consistently been so much better that we would recommend ignoring the other.
Our usual approach is to compare availability, waiting time and price, then use whichever makes the most sense at that moment. Sometimes Uber will be cheaper. Sometimes Lyft will arrive sooner. Sometimes you simply end up preferring one because you have had a particularly good run of drivers with it during that trip.
If you want to use Disney’s Minnie Van service, you will also need Lyft because that is where the service is booked.
For families arriving with a lot of luggage, vehicle size matters here too. A standard ride-share vehicle may not comfortably take four people plus several large suitcases, so Uber XL or the Lyft equivalent can be the safer option.
We would set both apps up before leaving the UK, including payment methods and account details, rather than trying to do it while standing outside an airport after a long-haul flight.
Would We Collect a Hire Car Straight From the Airport?
Possibly, but not automatically. If we were landing and heading directly into a wider Florida road trip, villa stay or itinerary involving places well beyond Disney and Universal, collecting the car at the airport could make complete sense.
If we were flying in for an on-site Disney or Universal stay and had little planned outside those resort areas, we would compare the cost of the car with simply using ride shares and on-site transport. There is also the question of how you feel after the flight.
One of the things we have always liked about Uber and Lyft after long-haul travel is being able to put the luggage in the car and let someone else drive. For some families, immediately navigating unfamiliar roads after a long journey will be no issue at all. Others may prefer to start the holiday without that extra job.
Which airport you are using can also affect the decision. A trip flying into Miami and travelling around Florida is very different from flying into Orlando, checking into a Disney Resort and barely leaving the area for the next week. Again, the itinerary should decide.
So, When Would We Hire a Car?
If we were staying on-site at Disney or Universal for most of the trip and doing very little elsewhere, we would review the numbers rather than automatically hire one. The car would provide extra freedom for supermarkets, shopping or an unexpected day outside the parks, but we would need to decide whether that flexibility justified paying for it when the resort transport already covered most of our journeys.
For a villa stay, we would be far more inclined to hire one. The whole point of that type of Florida stay for us is having the flexibility to explore more widely, and having your own vehicle makes that considerably easier.
For a trip including Kennedy Space Center, Wild Florida, malls, supermarkets and other attractions spread around Central Florida, we would hire again without hesitation.
And for the kind of mixed trip we have just done — cruise, Miami, wider Florida, villa and then Disney — we would absolutely use a hire car for the portion where it added genuine value, rather than necessarily keeping it for every single day. That is the difference in our thinking now. We no longer see car hire as something you either do for the whole Florida holiday or avoid completely. It is simply another tool.
Car Hire vs Uber & Lyft: Which Would We Choose?
Having now travelled extensively with Uber and Lyft and completed a longer Florida trip with a hire car, we would not declare either option the overall winner.
For on-site Disney or Universal stays, ride shares combined with resort transport can work extremely well. You avoid the cost and responsibility of a car, and for many journeys you do not need one anyway. For wider Florida, the hire car changed the experience.
Being able to leave when we wanted, stop for groceries, visit Kennedy Space Center, explore Wild Florida and head to malls without organising every journey individually gave us a freedom we genuinely appreciated. We would hire a car again for that type of trip.
What we would not do is hire one simply because “you need a car in Florida”. We know from experience that you do not. The better question is what the car will actually add to your particular holiday.
If it is going to sit outside a Disney hotel while you use buses, boats, the Skyliner and monorail all week, Uber and Lyft may be enough. If your itinerary regularly takes you beyond those resort bubbles, having your own car can become one of the most useful things you pay for.
For us, the answer is now simple: use on-site transport where Disney and Universal already make life easy, use Uber and Lyft when they are the most convenient option, and hire a car when the trip itself genuinely benefits from the freedom. That combination worked extremely well for us.
For more of our Florida planning guides, including accommodation, transport and the places we visit beyond the parks, head to our Florida Planning Hub.
Planning Your Own Florida Trip?
How you get around Florida affects far more than transport costs. It can influence where you stay, how easily you explore beyond the theme parks and how much of your holiday is spent dealing with logistics rather than enjoying the trip.
If you would like help putting together a Florida, Disney or cruise holiday around the way you actually want to travel, visit our travel agency page - Team Five Holidays.