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Staying at Pop in Dec with our 1 and 3 year olds, would you rent a car?

Melct

Mouseketeer
Joined
Nov 4, 2006
I am trying to decide if I need to rent a car for our stay at POP. We will be staying for 8 nights in mid December. Our daughters are three and one. I plan on going back to the room mid afternoon for a nap and then heading to either a park or another resort for dinner. Do you think it would be much more convienant to rent a car then to take the bus everywhere? Thanks for your advice!!!

mel
 
I am trying to decide if I need to rent a car for our stay at POP. We will be staying for 8 nights in mid December. Our daughters are three and one. I plan on going back to the room mid afternoon for a nap and then heading to either a park or another resort for dinner. Do you think it would be much more convienant to rent a car then to take the bus everywhere? Thanks for your advice!!!

mel


One of the things we love about Disney is NOT having to rent a car and thus, not having to lug carseats along for our kids! I wouldn't! We've taken our kids back to the room on the bus midday and not felt it was a problem.
 
Last year we took our boys ages 3 and 8 months at the time. We did not have a car, and we had no trouble getting a bus back to All Star Movies for naps. I would suggest taking your stroller from home, but do not rent a car.

Dawn
 


We have 4 kids and have traveled with 1 and 3 year olds for numerous trips. I also would not rent a car. Part of the fun of the trip for our family is not worrying about driving. In fact, often the bus ride was one of the favorite parts for our kids when they were little. When we came back from our last trip in the fall, our then 3 year old daughter was forever asking if we could take a bus places rather than the family mini van :goodvibes

Additionally, rental prices are not as good a deal in FL as they use to be and the convenience of ME is just super...I love not dealing with luggage in the airport upon arrival in FL! And we always take mid afternoon breaks back to the resort via the buses and never have a problem.

Personally (just my opinion) if I had extra in my budget, rather than a rental car I would upgrade from Pop to a mod for probably about the same price as a rental car and gas, but again that is just me.
 
It would depend. If I was bringing two strollers of my own, then I would probably rent a car. The strollers have to be folded completely before they are allowed on the bus, and it would be hard juggling two strollers and two small children. If I had only one stroller, or was renting them in parks, I would just use the Disney busses.

If you do decide to use the Disney busses, keep in mind that you may end up standing. Either that or you can step aside and wait for another bus that has seating available. If that doesn't sound too bad, then stick with using the Disney busses.
 
We almost always drive our own car to the parks, but the parking trams to the parking lot can be just as much of a hassle as using the bus.
 


Personally we prefer having a car, but if we flew we probably wouldn't rent one. We've been taking our kids since they were little, but our kids are 5 years
 
I am not a big fan of buses, whether they are Disney buses or otherwise, so I always rent a car. I'm also one of those people who gets to the park at rope drop, so I usually avoid the parking lot trams because I park so close to park entrances (or the monorail stop in the case of the MK). If you don't enjoy driving, then I can totally see the appeal of the buses. However, I don't mind and actually prefer knowing I will not have to wait in any lines when I want to leave, but rather just walk straight to my car and drive directly to my room (there are parking lots all over Pop, so you will be able to park near your room).

One thing to keep in mind is that it is really hard to travel from resort to resort on the buses. You mentioned you may be going to other resorts for dinner. If that is the case, rent a car. Otherwise you will have to take a bus to Downtown Disney or a park and then transfer to get to another resort. If you only plan to do it once, you could always take a cab I guess (not sure how expensive they are).

If you do rent a car, consider a company like National that lets you walk right out to choose a car and avoid lines at the counter. I learned that the hard way my first time and ended up waiting for more than an hour just to rent a car!!! Ughhh!
 
Another vote for the car. We usually go for between 8-11 days and can rent a car for no more then about $250.

For $250 we like having the flexibility of a car. With little kids we always felt when we wanted to leave the park, we did not want to run the risk of missing a bus and having to wait 10-15 mins for another one with a cranky kid. :scared1: Knowing our luck that would happen EVERY time. :rotfl:

We also tend to stay in the parks until closing. Usually by the end of the night DD would fall asleep in the stroller (would bring our own). Was nice not having to get her out and wake her up to take the bus. We could normally transfer her to the car without waking her but would not be the case if we had to take her on bus.

Also we tend to go to other resorts for dinner and with the bus there is no resort to resort routes. Would have to go to a park then transfer.

Lastly, while on our last trip DW came down with a sinus infection and we needed to go to the local Medical center. While in all our trips this was the only time this has happened, looking back at it we are SO glad we had the car. Wouldn't have wanted to try and coordinate cab rides back and forth.

For us the extra $250 is well worth it. Maybe when the kids are older and we don't have to worry so much about meltdowns, kids being tired, etc we will try the bus.
 
The last trip we had 2 strollers (a double and a single) and it's fine. Is it somewhat of a hassle? Sure, but it's definitely doable. It's also somewhat of a hassle to lug 3 big car seats on a plane. Naptime will be fine. If you stay until park closing, then it gets a little more hectic. If we are left with standing room only, then we'll wait for the next bus. It depends what is more important to you. The extra money or the convenience. It's also somewhat inconvenient on the trams, too. A lot of people will just walk. We take the lightest possible strollers, too. We did a split stay between ASsp and the Poly. I would probably spend the car money and upgrade to a monorail resort for a few days. Now that was heavenly with the strollers :cloud9:
 
We rarely rent a car. Now our kids are older, but after many trips to WDW without a car I would have to say you'll be fine without one. Midday breaks are a must for us and you'll find that more often than not, the bus will be deserted when you return for your naps! At night the busses are crowded but then again, so are the trams. And getting to a broiling hot car that's been sitting in a parking lot in Flordia for hours is not much fun either!

My best advice is don't rent a car and take smaller strollers. I can understand the beauty of a large stroller (I loved mine) but they are a pain to fold up and get on the bus, whereas a small one, not so much.

I also dine at the resorts and can say that while you do have an extra step, its not as bad as it sounds. Just get on the first bus that comes along to any park, exit that bus and then simply walk over to the resort bus you need. Very easy, just allow the time you need to do this. If you dine at an MK resort, that's even easier as you just hop the MK bus then walk over to catch the monorail. For sure renting a car is nice for resort dining, but bear in mind parking lots can be a hike to the main area you want to be in for your meal. Once you leave your meal to go to a park, you then have to repark the car at the park, then get on a tram to get inside the park, vs. hopping on the bus.

There's inconvenience attached to any mode of transporation at WDW. Having a car is great for grocery stops, side trips and resort to resort transporatation. But it has its down sides too! You just have to weigh the pros and cons to both sides!
 
I am trying to decide if I need to rent a car for our stay at POP. We will be staying for 8 nights in mid December. Our daughters are three and one. I plan on going back to the room mid afternoon for a nap and then heading to either a park or another resort for dinner. Do you think it would be much more convienant to rent a car then to take the bus everywhere? Thanks for your advice!!!

mel

Instead of renting a car, I would take that extra money and move to the French Quarter for my vacation. Just a thought.:santa:
 
My girls are the exact same age as yours. We just used the Disney Bus and were fine. My younger dd took a nap daily.
 
i stayed at POP with my kids, DD3 and DS2 at the time and the buses were great. never a wait and plenty of room for strollers. I would never rent a car staying on property
 
Thanks for all the responses. I am leaning towards not renting a car based on the responses.

thanks!
melissa
 
We've taken our kids (now 4 and 2) 5 times since they were born. We've had a car once. It wasn't really less of a hassle.

Also, remember, you'll probably need more than a compact to haul your stuff from the airport to the hotel so that increases the cost.

My kids LOVE the busses. Generally, if you have to stand, someone will let you sit down and you can hold the kids. Once we had to all stand (and I glared at the high schoolers who wouldn't get up). It wasn't that bad. Also, pack your stroller wisely. The stuff under teh stroller...make sure it's in a bag so you can yank it out when it's folding time.

Also, we don't head back for naps. They are so tired by naptime that they just sleep in the stroller...we toss a blanket over the canopy to block out visual input and they nap for quite a while (and we enjoy a nice adult beverage if we're at Epcot!)
 

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