Alamo mini-vans

[Castillo Mom]

Just wanted to know whether Alamo minivans have luggage racks. If so, do they provide bungee ties to secure your bags or do you buy your own? We've never had to use a rack before, but this time we may need to due to all of the luggage we'll have. I'm a little worried about the amount of room available in Alamo vans. We're a family of five and we'll have two 29" inch bags, three 26" bags, two rolling carry ons, and three carry on size duffles. I'm trying to minimize the amount of clothes we're taking as much as possible, but this a 2 1/2 week trip, so it's difficult. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

I have never seen one with a luggage rack. They are all smooth tops, no ridges or racks.
If they did have them, I am certain they would not supply bungee cords. Too expensive to replace.

 

[sgtdisney]

I have seen some rental vans with luggage racks and others without them. Probably depends on the car and how it is equiped. I do know for sure that they do not supply you with bungee cords and I would guess that they may possibly frown on people loading luggage on the roof of the van. I know Dollar has chains on the seats in their minivans and will not allow you to remove the seats from the vehicle.

We have a Montana at home and while it has a luggage rack (and was standard on the car) it doesn't have the roof rails which would protect the painted roof from marks if something were put on the roof. The rental agencies will hit you up big time if luggage (or anything else) damages the finish. Just something else to consider.

When in doubt though, call the rental location and ask them if they have minivans with roof racks, if you can use the roof rack on the vans, and if they would have something you could use to tie down luggage. They would be best able to tell you what their policy is.

 

[Castillo Mom]

See, that's why I posted the question here. I didn't even think of possible damage to the van from the luggage. I definitely don't want to take that risk. Any of you have experience with fitting large amounts of luggage in a van? I'm thinking my youngest son will need to sit in the third row and share part of the seat with whatever luggage doesn't fit in the back.

 

[bjakmom]

We had the same problem in January - there were 4 of us and an infant (with a car seat, of course, and a stroller). We didn't have huge suitcases because we had a villa with washer/dryer, but we each had a medium size suitcase and a carry on. The problem for us was finding a mini-van on EA that had a 'full' back. Don't remember the kind of vans they had, but only one of them had the back 'well' instead of a back section that came even with the bottom of the seat - we had to open the back of every minivan on the aisle to find one !!! My Odyssey has the well and my Astro went all the way to the floor, so I'd assumed that all mini vans did - I really needed that extra space!!

We ended up doing what you considered - DS sat in the very back surrounded by luggage and everyone had to hold their carry ons!! When DH and my friend arrived several days later we ended up renting a 2nd car at The Dolphin for our move over to HRH and then back to the airport - I was thinking the minivan would seat all 7 of us for the return, but I had forgotten about all the luggage (did I mention the car seat and the stroller ??!! )- oh yeah, and the groceries from the shopping trip !! - we looked like one of those clown cars when we pulled up to BWV !!!

 

[Castillo Mom]

I just got a mental picture of what we'll probably look like! Poor DS, I hope he isn't too cramped. You see, we don't need to van while we're at WDW or Universal. The day we leave Universal, I have to pick up the van for our jaunt to Miami. I believe it's about a 2 hour drive from Orlando. My youngest is 10 and not gargantuan yet like his brothers, so hopefully he won't be too uncomfortable.

 

[anabelle]

We just got back and used National(they share cars with Alamo) . We chose a Grand Caravan. We had 5 large suitcases and lots of carry on bags. We did place one suitcase under my DD's feet. She is in a carseat and her feet don't reach the floor anyway. There were several. Remember GRAND not regular. They had both. The Grand has the extra space in the back.

 

[pumpkinboy]

I thinkI recall the Chevy Venture we rented from Alamo had a split back seat, so you could fold down just half of it. That would give you some luggage room. But man oh man, that's a lot of luggage! Any chance you could make do with less? Good luck to you.

As for your Miami jaunt, I think you're looking at more like 3 hours at a minimum. We're talking >230 miles, so assuming you're going 75 mph the whole way, that might get you there in 3 hrs, unless you run into some traffic. Best strategy here is to take the toll road, Florida's Turnpike, which is both more direct and less travelled than 95. Good luck!

 

[sgtdisney]

We have packed people in the van before with the luggage. As long as you don't have far to go, it shouldn't be all that bad. I didn't read that you only had 5 people in your first note. When we were in Orlando last summer and used Emerald Reserve we picked a Pontiac Montana with the 8 passenger seating. With this, you have the 2 front seats and then 3 seats in the center and 3 in back row. If you can find one of these you could fold the back seats down and load up the whole back of the van with the luggage and sit your three children in the back seat in the middle row. It is just one more thing to keep in mind. When you get to Alamo if you can pick your own van, just kind of look around for one that looks like it will work for you, or ask them if they have an Astro van (those also sit 8) or an 8 passenger Montana or Venture. Good luck

 

[Castillo Mom]

Thanks so much to all of you, you've given me some great ideas to work with!