I Took The Bus To Epic Universe – And Why Doing Something Like This Is Important

One of the things I enjoy doing when visiting another city is taking public transit from the airport. Even more enjoyable to me is taking public transit from an airport in a city where public transit isn’t typically thought of as an option. Last winter, for example, I went on a trip to Las Vegas and took the bus from the airport to my hotel on the Las Vegas Strip. The vast majority of people opt for an Uber in this situation, but I found the bus to work out very well for what I thought was a very enjoyable experience at a fraction of the cost (admittedly, I’m really not a fan of being in an Uber, since I find them awkward and uncomfortable).

Which brings me to a trip I took a few months ago, where my family (2 adults, 2 little kids) went to Epic Universe in Orlando over President’s Day Weekend. One of the limitations when traveling with little kids is that you can’t rely on Uber or Lyft to get around unless you’re bringing car seats with you. In a place like Orlando, getting to the resorts from the airport typically means signing up for a shuttle bus or renting a car.

On our last visit to Orlando to go to Disney World, we used the Mears Express Shuttle, which is a shuttle service that Disney contracts out. This shuttle service cost us $16 per adult each way and $13 per kid each way. For a family of four, that meant a round trip from the airport was $116 – not a small sum to pay for transportation. To make matters worse, the shuttle was also very slow. First, we had to get in a long line at the airport and wait to get on the bus (this took about 30-45 minutes). Then the shuttle bus had to drop off guests at all of the different resorts. We got unlucky because our resort was the last one on the route, so the bus ride itself ended up taking about an hour. Couple that with the long wait time to get on the bus, and it wasn’t the most pleasant experience.

For our trip to Universal, we once again had to figure out how to get to our resort from the airport. Universal does offer a shuttle service for $39 per person round-trip, which is what I initially considered doing and what was recommended by a lot of people online. Some online reviews had the same issues as I had with the Disney resort buses, where it took a long time with all the stops it had to make, along with the wait time to get on the bus itself.

But then I noticed that there was a regular city bus from the airport that had a bus stop right outside the hotel we were staying at. I couldn’t find any information about taking a regular bus to the hotel, so I was on my own to figure out if this would work. At just $2 per person (and free for kids), this was clearly the most affordable way to get to where I needed to go.

Preparing For The Bus Ride

Figuring out how to get around via bus is a bit of an art form, with three main challenges to consider (especially when it comes to taking a bus in a new city). These include the following:

1. How do you pay for the bus?
2. When does the bus arrive?
3. Where does the bus go?

Fortunately, with phones and apps, this is all very easy to address. Before I arrived in Orlando, I had already figured out which bus would get me from the airport to the resort and how I would pay for the bus. When it comes to figuring out how to get somewhere via mass transit, I typically start with Google Maps, which does a good job of providing general directions on how to get where you need to go via transit. Google Maps won’t always give you the best directions when it comes to taking buses and trains, but it will give you a good idea of what your transit options are and approximately how long it’ll take you to get to your destination.

In this case, after searching Google Maps for directions, I discovered that the 311 bus would get us to the resort, although it told me to get off at a stop that wasn’t quite as close to the hotel as I had hoped. This is when I turned to my favorite transit app, aptly named Transit. Transit app allows you to look at each individual transit line and see all the stops along the way, as well as the exact route, timetable, and, if the city has it, GPS locations of each bus on the route. Looking through Transit app, I saw that the 311 bus arrives every 30 minutes and that there was a closer stop to the resort that Google Maps seemed to miss.

Once I had the bus route planned out, the next step was to figure out how to pay for my ride. A major issue with many bus systems is that there often isn’t a simple way to pay for the fare unless you carry physical cash and have exact change, which is something I (and most people) never have. Fortunately, most transit systems these days have apps that let you pay for fares using your phone. In this case, the Orlando bus system – called Lynx – has an app that lets you pay for your fare with your phone. You then scan the ticket from your phone at the fare reader when you board the bus. And at just $2 per person (and free for kids), it’s a cheap ride.

Taking The Bus From The Airport To The Resort

I’ve been to the Orlando Airport before, so when I arrived, I knew exactly where to catch the bus. However, Lynx buses, I’ve discovered, aren’t always the most reliable. When I arrived at the stop, I found the 311 bus waiting with a scheduled departure time in 10 minutes – perfect timing! However, the bus doors were closed, and there was no driver around. I figured the driver was probably taking a bathroom break, but the scheduled departure time came and went, and there was still no bus driver around. Finally, about 15 minutes after the bus was scheduled to depart, I saw the bus driver come out of the airport terminal with a Starbucks in hand – and not particularly in a hurry either.

Finally, about 15 minutes after our scheduled departure time, we were off on our 40-50 minute journey to the resort. Interestingly enough, I didn’t see any other people on the bus who seemed to be tourists heading to their hotel. Everyone else appeared to be locals going home from their jobs at the airport.

The bus ride itself was smooth enough. I used the Transit app to follow the bus route and make sure that I wouldn’t miss my stop. As we neared our stop, I hit the stop request button, and we ended up getting off at a bus stop on the side of what was essentially a highway. I think I might have been the first person to get off at this stop because the bus driver had to make a fairly hard stop, as if they’d never stopped at this bus stop before. The bus stop was as bare bones as you could get – literally a pole in the grass.

Getting to the resort itself from this location was also interesting. The bus stop is across the street from the resort that we were staying at, but the nearest crosswalk required us to cross the street three times to get to the other side. Our other option was to scurry across a very large road. We opted to take the long way around since we had bags and little kids with us.

Once we did get to the other side, we then had to figure out how to get to the lobby from the street. These resorts clearly do not expect anyone to arrive by bus or on foot, so we ended up walking around looking for a way to get inside since the entire property was fenced off. Fortunately, we found someone walking out who let us in, and from there, we were able to make our way inside to the lobby. I did discover later that there was a little sidewalk path going around the side of the building near the loading docks that also led to the front, although this was not easy to find.

All in all, the trip to the resort from the hotel was a success. I found it enjoyable and fast, and the bus ride was pleasant. It was probably as fast a trip as if we’d taken the Universal shuttle service. And at just $4 total for all of us, it was a definite bargain.

Returning To The Airport At The End Of Our Trip

Returning to the airport was a trickier matter because, unlike our bus ride to our hotel, we had to be at the airport by a specific time so as not to miss our flight. With the bus on 30-minute headways, missing a bus meant we ran the risk of getting to the airport late and possibly missing our flight.

The evening before, I scouted out the bus stop location to make sure I knew how to get to it. I found the path that went around the side of the hotel near the loading docks, and then it was a quick walk over to the bus stop. Below is what this bus stop looked like:

I’m absolutely convinced that I’m the first person ever to use this bus stop. As you can see, the bus stop consisted of a pole in the ground, behind a bunch of landscaping, requiring you to walk through the landscaping to get to the bus stop. If you were in a wheelchair, you wouldn’t even be able to use this stop.

The bus itself arrived in a weird way. I could see where it was via the GPS, so I knew it was coming, but then, as it got near our stop, the bus made a sudden turn off the designated route and went down a different road. This was alarming to me, as it looked like the bus was going to skip our stop and continue onwards to a different part of the route. Following a bus via GPS also doesn’t always provide the most accurate real-time location because it’s usually about 30-60 seconds behind, so I wasn’t sure where it went for a little while, but fortunately, the bus did suddenly appear, albeit turning to our bus stop from the wrong street. I’m still not sure why it made that detour.

The trip back to the airport was easy enough. I paid for the fare using the app ($4 total for the four of us). And the bus made it back to the airport on time, giving us plenty of time before our flight. As I expected, there wasn’t a single tourist on the bus other than us – everyone else we saw on the bus looked to be people who worked at the airport.

In the end, we got to the airport and back, for a family of four, for just $8 total, and probably faster than if we’d used the shuttle service.

Why All This Matters

Other than explaining how we were able to use the bus to get to our Universal resort hotel from the airport, I think it’s worth considering why doing something like this matters. One of the things I’ve always thought differentiated the financial independence community – or really anyone looking to make dramatic changes to their lives – is being willing to do things differently from others. It’s why I ride a bike as my primary mode of transportation, for example. The financial independence community is special because most of the people in it are willing to do things differently from the norm.

When I initially did my research on how we’d get to the resort, I searched the Facebook and Reddit groups to see how others tackled this transportation problem. Every post I found said the same thing – that the only way to get to the resorts from the airport was to either book the Universal shuttle service or rent a car and pay for parking at the hotel. Not a single person mentioned taking the bus.

Taking the bus to get to the Universal resorts should be a normal thing. Unfortunately, it isn’t because of the way Orlando is designed. But the option is there, and I was willing to put in the legwork to figure out how to do it

Saving the money is nice, but I think doing something like this is about more than that. It’s about being able to think outside the box and figure things out in a way that most people don’t think is possible. And I’m setting an example too – my kids see us do this and think this is normal. Maybe they’ll carry that way of thinking into their own lives in the future.

It’s a silly story – and not that big a deal in the grand scheme of things. But I think it’s worth sharing. And maybe someone in the future might run into this post and copy what I did.