Rental Car/Magical Express Question

[Tink6666]

Newbie here: If you are only staying 4 nights do you rent a car (we live in MN) or do you use Magical Express? How long of an advanced notice do you need for Magical Express? If you take a car, do you still use Disney transportation services to get around the "World"?

Thanks for your responses!

 

[tx2tn]

I would definately use Magical Express unless you are planning on going somewhere Non-Disney. Once you get to your resort, you can use the other forms of Disney transportation like buses or monorail.

 

[TosaTrio]

If you are not planning on going outside of WDW, I would not rent a car for that lenght of stay. When we do rent a car we find it sits most of the time. We actually prefer Disney Transportation because you part so far away at the parks anyway.

 

[Buckeye Fan]

We've driven to WDW, flown and rented a car, and flown and used Disney transportation.

For us, it's not worth the cost of a rental car, and we love the convenience of Disney's transportation. We've been down all times of the year, and have heard the horror stories of an hour wait, but we've just never experienced that. I'd say our longest wait ever has been no more than 20 - 30 minutes. Generally, it's not more than 15.

Depending on where you are staying, the biggest challenge is that you can't go from resort to resort without going to a park or the central station, and hopping another bus to the other resort. When you have a car, you can just jump in and go. For us, we encounter this often, as we love Pepper Market at Coronado, Whispering Canyon at VWL and ESPN Zone at the Boardwalk. We found it very convenient staying at SSR, because you can take a bus to any park from the resort, or cross over to DTD and get to any hotel.

 

[Mouse511]

We just got back from a 6 night stay and we rented a car for the first time...and boy - it was great having our own car. We didnt plan anything for this trip so having the car provided us 'freedom' to explore anything we wanted.

We found some really great resturants and loved the convenience of being able to leave the parks - get right in our own car and be home in under 10 minutes....no waiting for busses..having your 'own' seat - no grumpy adults or children......loved it.

The only park that is a pain is MK - you have to park at TTC and take the Mono or the Ferry - it actually takes longer then you would expect...so in the future - we will be using the busses when going there.

Without knowing how you planned your trip - if you are having dinner in the parks and dont plan on going anywhere else but Disney property - then ME and internal transportion is fine - we have used that route for every other trip we have been on and have little problems - not perfect - but fine.

 

[anonymousegirl]

For four nights I wouldn't bother with a rental car, but when I was down this summer I had one for 8 days. Normally we'd drive to a park in the morning so as not to missed rope down (very necessary in July) and then drove back to the hotel at noon for lunch, swims, and naps. Then we'd go by bus to another park for the evening.

Driving in the early am is a snap and it's great to park in the first row at Epcot or DHS and then be able to spot your car when you walk out at noon. Also, no traffic heading back to hotel at noon. Driving at night is another story and that is one of the reasons we'd take the bus.

The only time we did not do this was the EMH morning at MK. It is just better to take the bus.

 

[JonJ]

We take Magic Express to and from the airport to the resort. For short trips (4 to 5 days) we tend to not rent a car - it is just not economical. We tried it once and found that the Disney transportation worked well enough. For the longer trips, we'll rent a car for a day or two to get groceries, hit the Disney outlet, and go to Animal Kingdom Lodge for dinner (we find it a very long to trip to AKL from other resorts). We often stay at BWV and the National/Alamo rental in the Dolphin is very handy for the "one day" rentals.

 

[mgriff75]

We normally rent a car, but have disney take care of our luggage. But only if we can get a really good deal on the car. If you look on hotwire.com you should be able to come up with a rate around $20.00 per day. The last time we paid $12.00 per day. It really depends on what your plans are & how patient you are. We like using the transportation system if you can use one bus or boat. But when you are trying to go to another resort for dinner its really a pain to have to go to DTD, or a park, to switch buses, and then the reverse after dinner. Especially if you get near closing times for the parks or DTD. If you do decide to skip the rental car, plan accordingly. Either don't make any meal reservations at the other resorts, or make them early in the evening so you don't hit park closing on your trip back to your resort.

Matthew

 

[jekjones1558]

I guess the answer depends on how tight your budget is. We always get a car. I just like the freedom it provides. We have had too many trips where trips to the doctor and drug store were needed. We like non-Disney dining options. We like buying our own groceries. We like visiting other resorts. If you need to really keep the expenses down, going without a rental car is absolutely a good choice. Otherwise, I would get a car and maximize my vacation choices.

 

[CaptHomer]

We always rent a car. I like to be able to go where I want, when I want. I don't leave Disney property usually although the last couple of trips we went to the outlet mall.
We can usually get a minivan for a week for around $300. Our next trip the cost for 7 days is actually $300.

 

[jimmacmn]

We normally do not rent a car. We find Disney transportation good for the most part, however, getting from the DVC resorts to one of the other resorts for a dinner can be a bit of a pain. However, we've found that a taxi to just about anywhere on property is less than $20 so if we are in a hurry and need to go from OKW to dinner at the GF we just get a taxi and knock two bus rides and two waits. One can take a lot of taxi rides for the price of a rental car.