To rent a car or not?

[fredms]

I am going to be in WDW the end of May. I am currently in the rent a car/rely on Disney transportation debate and trying to determine which is more cost and time efficient.

When I was there last I was a bit disappointed waiting for busses and doing transfers.

What do you think? Also does anyone know the rates to park at the theme parks? I'm staying at the Boardwalk villas and I know its complimentary there - but what about elsewhere around WDW?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Belle1962]

Parking is free at all Disney parks if you are staying onsite (be sure to have your parking permit displayed in the window/on dash).

 

[eeyore0062]

We have found that even when we do rent a car, unless we are going off of Disney property, it sits in the parking lot, wasting money. We have no problems with the Disney transporation!

 

[buzz2400]

We hate the WDW transportation. At peak times you usually don't get a seat on the bus and then you also have to stand there and wait for the bus (when your feet are miserably aching). We prefer to have our own car and come and go as we please.

 

[Golter]

Here's another vote for renting a car. It allows us more dining options, and convience. The amount we save on meals will offset most of the cost of the rental. You can come and go when you want.

 

[beattyfamily]

We've done both. We now prefer renting a car. Between the cost to get from the airport to WDW (and wdw to Universal for us) and then back to the airport, the convenience to go to a store if necessary, the ability to go offsite for any reasons, the easy of getting to DTD, and the easy of getting to other resorts, it's well worth it to us.

When we do rent a car, depending on where we're staying and where we're heading, we mix between the car and disney transportation.

I don't think we could live without it now but, of course, if you want to save money, you can live without it.

 

[grinningghost]

When we fly, we rent a car. The main reason is for off-site meals. We like to do the buffets at the chain restaurants on Rte. 192. Saves a bunch of money. It's also nice if you need to run out and buy something. Last trip DD forgot her UNDERWEAR. Try buying that at WDW. Pretty expensive I imagine. But it was nothing to run over to the Super Wal-Mart and buy a package. For things like that, a car is great. Otherwise, I thought the Disney buses were fine transportation around the World.

 

[manchurianbrownbear]

We've also agonized over this decision, but, like others have said, after figuring the cost of getting to WDW from the airport and eating a couple cheaper meals (we're a family of six) I believe it makes sense to rent a car. Also, we found some great deals on souvenirs at an official WDW (not Disney Store) Store at an outlet mall just east of Orlando. We 've probably saved $50 -$100 just visiting that store! A lot of things we told the kids we couldn't afford in the parks were MUCH less expensive there.

 

[RideMax Mark]

Originally posted by grinningghost
<snip> But it was nothing to run over to the Super Wal-Mart and buy a package. For things like that, a car is great.

Where is Wal-Mart, may I ask?

 

[atigeg]

We normally take Happy Limo from the airport and then rely on the WDW transportation to get around. That is my definite preference because I hate driving, having to find a parking spot, etc. when I'm on vacation. Personally, I'd rather deal with a crowded bus, and the wait times have never been too ridiculous (with a couple of notable exceptions).
We've done a car a few times...once when I was at a conference and a couple of times so we could drive over to Celebration and explore the Kissimmee area. The one good thing about the Orlando area, and Disney property in particular, is that the signage is excellent. I never got lost even once! But even when we had the car, we typically ditched it when going to the parks and took the Disney bus. The only time we used it was going off-site. I much prefer to be chauffered!
Barb
Visit the Platinum Castaway Club at: www.castawayclub.com

 

[tjkraz]

Here's another vote for renting a car. We've also gone without, but probably never will again. If you have young children, it's particularly a must.

Financially, there are a few considerations. Depending upon the size of your party, airport transportation can cost you quite a bit in and of itself.

With a car, you can make grocery store trips other small errands as needed. Think of how much you can save just by getting a cheap styrofoam cooler in your room, along with store-bought bottled water and soda pop.

And, if you've never been to the off-site outlet stores, they really are worth a trip. During our last stay we got $50 golf shirts for $20, and childrens tee shirts for as little as $2.50. This is stuff right from the World, but at a fraction of the price.

Dollar has been running great weekly specials on their vehicles, including $199 / week on a minivan. Their lot is right outside the terminal, so you don't even have to take one of those annoying rental car shuttles.

 

[disneefamily]

Disnee Dad Says..................................The bottom line is, no matter what you choose you will be wrong! It's a murphy's law kind of thing. Get one and it sits in the parking lot, don't and suddenly you'll need a car every day! lol
We've done two trips with car. One trip no car. One trip with a car for part of the trip. I guess we tend toward a car, although the trip without one was for ten days on site and we had no problems, paid a little extra to grab stuff at Gourmet Pantry at DD, but did the limo with a stop at Publix to stock up on most of our items at the beginning.
Personally I love Disney Transportation. They say they run every twenty minutes, but we time them, and one trip the average was only 6.5 minutes and the highest was 10.1 partly because we waited for 25 minutes at the boardwalk! I have never waited over 24 minutes for a bus, and those two times were when like dummies we left when everyone else left! We come out of MK and there are maybe 400 people waiting to go to All Stars!!! A bus pulls up, so what, three minutes later another bus pulls up, five minutes later two more buses pull up in less than ten more minutes three more busses pull up and we are gone in 23 minutes!

 

[Uncleromulus]

We always rent a car. WDW Transportation does a fine job with "resort to Park" trips. But if you like to dine out, catch a movie, go shopping at the different resorts, play miniature golf, etc etc. a car cannot be beat.

 

[manchurianbrownbear]

tjkraz,

Thanks for the tip on the mini-van rental! That's a great deal.

Even though we prefer to rent a vehicle, we use the WDW transportation to get to the parks. We also found it very convenient and probably never waited more than 10 minutes for a bus. And, the kids think it's cool to ride the bus!

 

[Hagred]

I'm a solo traveler and I ALWAYS rent a car. When I'm going to any of the parks, I'll take the bus over a rental car hands down. You can't beat the convenience even if you have to stand on a bus at 10:00 at night coming back from Epcot.

However, I'm not a huge Coke drinker, so I have to get my Pepsi jones from the local Goodings (although this year I'm going to try out the Winn Dixie located down there somewhere). I also like something light to eat in the morning so bagels are the course of my morning breakfast.

I'm going to be going to US/IOA for two days this trip and I don't really mind the walk from the parking lot to the parks when I drive myself. The beauty of having a rental is that I can leave when I WANT to and not have to wait for a shuttle bus back to my WDW resort. It also helps if I want to make a stop on the way back from US to pick up something quick at the store that I might have forgotten.