1 Day Car Rental - How Easy to Do ?

[Hibernians]

we're thinkng about renting a car for the day we arrive - we can head out of the airport and drive to the Publix or WalMArt to stock up on food and stuff and then check in at the hotel.
We would not want the car for the rest of the vacation until the last day when we leave. we'll rely of Disney buses.
Is this a do-able scenario ?
Has anyone ever done this - will the car rental comany drop off & pick up at your hotel - if so, which company did you use ?

 

[owtrbnks]

It is very "do-able." We have done it several times. Depends on which hotel you're staying at. Budget has a location on HPB at the Doubletree near DTD. Have used it and they will pickup/dropoff at WDW hotels or DTD bus stop. Other hotels on HPB have car rental desks. There is a car rental at the Dolphin and at the CCC. Do a little homework, find the best rate, and have fun!

 

[snowy76]

We did this in June with Alamo. Rented it at Sanford, made a grocery stop at Publix, checked in, then returned the car to the Dolphin. Because we were at BWV, I returned it alone and just walked from the Dolphin back to my resort. I'd recommend this if you're at S/D, BW or YC/BC. If you're staying elsewhere, I would return it to the Car Care Center (Alamo or National); they can shuttle you back directly to your resort if you like.

 

[cranbiz]

Your plan is doable, but may not be practical.

Why not use ME and then take a taxi or use one of the online services like wegoshop?

It sounds like you want to rent a car from the airport to the resort, return it and then rent one from the resort to the airport. If this is the case, the savings is not great, if any, but the convenience may be though.

If you are only looking to get snacks and groceries then a taxi is most likely cheaper than a 1 day rental. You can also look into one of the online grocery delivery services like wegoshop, etc. ME will get you to the resort, taxi to one of the stores of your choice and return.

If you are looking to stop at the outlet malls, then a one way rental would make sense as to taxi to a grocery store and then the malls will be more $$$.

You can still use ME to return to the airport even if you didn't use it on the inbound leg.

 

[huskermouse]

Another option would be to hire a towncar. Many include a stop at a grocery store after they pick you up at the airport, and it sure was nice to just load our stuff in the car and be driven directly to our resort. My kids also thought it was the coolest thing to see a guy in a black suit holding a car with our name on it. You can get discounts for most of them on-line.

 

[Hibernians]

thanks for the suggestions. We used ME last time and it was fine for me but I'm getting a little grief for my wife that she thought the wait at the airport was too long. On the flip side when we left our hotel to return back to the airport the bus picked up up very early and we had 2+ hours to kill at the airport. Factor this in with the preference to stock our fridge ourselves (this will be our first time at SSR), so we may want to rent the car for the days coming and going.
I think the Disney buses are fine to get to the parks; so this is just one of those little things we will need to work through - HA !!!

 

[K P & J's Grandma]

We recently used ME & rented a car for one day -- We took the bus to Pop Century. We rented from National & picked it up at the Dolphin. We took the bus from Pop to MGM & walked over to the boat launch which brought us to the Dolphin. We actually returned the car later the same day - drove it back to the Dolphin & left it with the Valet service. We then took a bus from there to the Magic Kingdom. Worked out great.