Am I the only one

[crisi]

So I'm planning transportation with my husband. And we are looking at the options.

We can take ME for free.....but, a towncar will be faster.

We can rent a car for a little over $200....but driving is a hassle.

Well, that means a lot of buses......not if we take a lot of taxis.

We figure that its less than $100 more to not bother with a rental car and use towncars/Disney transportation/ and ample taxi's where Disney transportation is weak. And that $100 is well spent not having to mess with a car.

 

[jctwizzer]

$100 is well spent not having to mess with a car.

We don't consider a rental car a hassle...and the driving at WDW isn't particularly bad. And using Disney transport puts you at their mercy. You have little control over where or when. Personally, I wouldn't do WDW unless I had a car

 

[CleveRocks]

And personally I would never do WDW WITH a car. Part of the magic of a WDW for me is what I call being in the Disney cocoon. I don't need to drive, don't need to cook, don't need to handle cash, I can just totally relax and let others do for me. That's just me. Others need to be in control, and for them the rental car probably lowers their stress level; for me it would raise it. To each's own!

I truly wonder if a towncar saves time over DME. With DME, you don't have to wait for your luggage at baggage claim, and you don't have a (optional) grocery stop -- I had groceries delivered, and it was very convenient.

So I wonder if not waiting for baggage and not doing a grocery stop equals out with waiting at the welcome center, waiting for a bus, and waiting for your stop. My resort was the first stop; it took me exactly 53 minutes from the time I got in the DME counter line until I was dropped off at CBR. Do towncars (including grocery stops) get you there that fast?

-- Eric

 

[crisi]

Our experience with towncars is that by the time we make it to the luggage carrosel (with two children to get through the bathrooms and down the terminal), our luggage is arriving. So we don't wait for it. The driver is there, we don't wait for the bus to fill up. We don't stop at any other resort first. We will have groceries delivered as well, so no grocery stop. We can arrive at be at the resort about an hour from the scheduled landing time.

We could still have ME take our luggage, but I'm not thrilled about my luggage showing up hours after me.

And that is us too. WDW WITH a car is such a pain in the rear end. When we have one, we leave it parked most of the time. And getting to WDW from the airport is not an enjoyable drive for us. Neither of us likes to drive. Or at least, my husband said "I might feel differently if you'd rent a BMW and not a mid-sized Dodge."

 

[cocowum]

I love having a car at WDW. I hate waiting on Disney transportation (not that it's a long wait). We love to Resort/Park hop. I also like knowing that at the end of a long day I'll have a seat on the way home. The buses are fine but we really like having a car.

 

[spotowner]

Who did yo use for a grocery delivery? Is it delivered to your Hotel?
TIA

Our experience with towncars is that by the time we make it to the luggage carrosel (with two children to get through the bathrooms and down the terminal), our luggage is arriving. So we don't wait for it. The driver is there, we don't wait for the bus to fill up. We don't stop at any other resort first. We will have groceries delivered as well, so no grocery stop. We can arrive at be at the resort about an hour from the scheduled landing time.

We could still have ME take our luggage, but I'm not thrilled about my luggage showing up hours after me.

And that is us too. WDW WITH a car is such a pain in the rear end. When we have one, we leave it parked most of the time. And getting to WDW from the airport is not an enjoyable drive for us. Neither of us likes to drive. Or at least, my husband said "I might feel differently if you'd rent a BMW and not a mid-sized Dodge."

 

[DebbieB]

I love having a car at WDW, I don't find it a hassle at all. The busses are more of a hassle. I can't imagine being stuck without a car to go where we want (we like to go offsite to the outlets, shopping, dining).

What size car do you need and how many days? Last month I had a full size with National for 6 days for $97 incl tax (priceless contract code, $20 entertainment coupon).

 

[pdchris]

Well, since I love to drive (been doing for an awfully long time, too1), we always rent a car. However, we also like to use Disney Transportation, too.

 

[crisi]

But part of the point is, we don't take buses when we don't want to. We take a LOT of cabs.

Although I'd rather take buses than drive, taking a taxi is more convienient and faster than either. By a lot.

And DebbieB, thanks for your nice offer, but the point is, we don't want a car. We don't want it when it will save us $100 over our preferred method of travel.....unless that's a $97 a week BMW (ok, I could probably talk him into an Audi or a Mercedes).

www.wegoshop.com does grocery delivery. Haven't used them, but others have.

 

[CleveRocks]

Who did yo use for a grocery delivery? Is it delivered to your Hotel?

I posted the following somewhere else, as well, but since it answers your question I guess it bears repeating ....

On this board or another I learned about Gooding's (www.goodings.com), which is reportedly a smallish upscale (more expensive than most) grocery store not far from Downtown Disney. There is a $50 minimum order and a flat $10 delivery fee. You order via their website at least a few days in advance, then they call you to take your credit card information live on the telephone rather than doing it online. Your card does not get charged until the day of delivery, just in case an item is out of stock, or if the exact cost isn't known in advance (if, for example, you order produce by the pound, they can't know exactly how much it will weigh, etc.). On the day of your delivery, a Gooding's employee actually uses your list and physically shops for your groceries, then uses your credit card information to make the purchase at the cash register, then it gets delivered to you. I live in a resort area and there's a similar-type small grocery around me, and I see this done all the time during high season.

Anyway, their website lists a "greatest hits" of what's available; you can e-mail special requests, and as long as the items are in stock they'll deliver them to you -- about half of my order was stuff they had on their actual store shelves but were not listed on the website.

I got all kinds of stuff to help save money but more importantly to keep my 2 kids happy. We got things like bagels (you can pick from all different kinds), cream cheese, fresh-sliced deli cheese, bologna, cheese sticks, yogurt, milk, bananas, grapes, bread, peanut butter, jelly, orange juice, bottled water, some junk food snacks, you get the idea. For 6 people I had no trouble breaking the $50 minimum. Along with the delivery comes your credit card receipt, your computer-generated shopping list, and the actual store cash register receipt.

The best part was the delivery process. It was about 2 days before my trip when I started stressing about when to schedule the delivery. Do I risk scheduling it before check-in time, which would allow me to get to a park early but if my room's not ready I'm screwed because of all the perishables? Or do I schedule it after check-in time but then feel very frustrated that I can't get to a park and I'm wasting my time waiting inside my hotel room for my groceries? NEITHER!!! Gooding's delivers to your WDW resort's Bell Services, and then Bell Services delivers it to your room. They call your room, and if you're not in they store your grocery order. But what about the perishables? Gooding's separately bags AND labels items that need to be in the fridge and items that need to be in the freezer, and your resort's Bell Services takes care of that, too! WHAT A GREAT SYSTEM!

Also: Gooding's messed up my order and left out one vital item, an 18 oz. jar of peanut butter. I called at the end of the day, and the next day they delivered two 12 oz. jars.

-- Eric

 

[melanie18]

I'm the opposite, I think $100 spent on a rental car is money well spent.

 

[kona-kraft]

We we originally were going to opt for the ME, but with all the horror stories from the begining, we opted for using Tiffany Towncar. I'd heard many good things about them, especially the FREE 30min grocery stop, and the total RT service is only $95. With the coupon I have, it knocks it down to $88 RT, which we really can't argue with.

I've been pricing shuttle service to get us to and from Philadelphia International Airport, and everyone around the Philly metro area wants to charge about $100 EACH WAY... OUCH !!!!

 

[Hopefully]

We really prefer not having a rental car. To us it is relaxing to not have to drive, park, remember where we left the car, etc. etc. This trip we will try DME (I hope it goes well!) I am in the process of convincing DH that taxis are an option for us. If we take a taxi for the more "difficult" commutes, and use the Disney buses for the straight forward trips, we will still be saving money over either a Town Car service (which we have done on our last 2 trips) or a rental. Just our preference!

 

[headoflife]

I was debating between a car and ME with WDW transportation, but couldn't decide. ME sounded fine, but I have never stayed on site (we are at POP) and was worried about the busses to and from the parks. Any idea what a cab from POP to MK or Epcot would cost? If it isn't outrageous, that would ease my mind, and then if we got sick of waiting, or were just tired and didn't feel like standing we could call for a ride. Thanks for any info!

 

[DVCLiz]

Another "always has a car" person here!! I like being able to make my own schedule of coming and going without waiting on a bus, and I hate the feeling of packing into an already crowded bus late at night. I like to know that I can put shopping bags in my trunk if I choose to shop in the parks, instead of waiting an extra day to have them delivered to my room. And I love to splurge and rent an SUV on vacation, so we have plenty of room. It's the one time I can drive something other than a minivan, so I really look forward to it!!!!

 

[crisi]

I've never stayed at Pop, one of the reasons cabs work so well for us is that we stay at BWVs - giving us walking access to two parks and a lot of restaurants.

From BWVs most cab fares were about $15 - including tip. That included AKL and MK resort trips.

 

[spotowner]

Thanks for the info!! We are staying for the majority of the visit at US. On Goodings webpage they don't deliver to US. Will definitely use them next time at WDW. It sure sounds like it will beat the grocery stop.

I posted the following somewhere else, as well, but since it answers your question I guess it bears repeating ....

On this board or another I learned about Gooding's (www.goodings.com), which is reportedly a smallish upscale (more expensive than most) grocery store not far from Downtown Disney. There is a $50 minimum order and a flat $10 delivery fee. You order via their website at least a few days in advance, then they call you to take your credit card information live on the telephone rather than doing it online. Your card does not get charged until the day of delivery, just in case an item is out of stock, or if the exact cost isn't known in advance (if, for example, you order produce by the pound, they can't know exactly how much it will weigh, etc.). On the day of your delivery, a Gooding's employee actually uses your list and physically shops for your groceries, then uses your credit card information to make the purchase at the cash register, then it gets delivered to you. I live in a resort area and there's a similar-type small grocery around me, and I see this done all the time during high season.

Anyway, their website lists a "greatest hits" of what's available; you can e-mail special requests, and as long as the items are in stock they'll deliver them to you -- about half of my order was stuff they had on their actual store shelves but were not listed on the website.

I got all kinds of stuff to help save money but more importantly to keep my 2 kids happy. We got things like bagels (you can pick from all different kinds), cream cheese, fresh-sliced deli cheese, bologna, cheese sticks, yogurt, milk, bananas, grapes, bread, peanut butter, jelly, orange juice, bottled water, some junk food snacks, you get the idea. For 6 people I had no trouble breaking the $50 minimum. Along with the delivery comes your credit card receipt, your computer-generated shopping list, and the actual store cash register receipt.

The best part was the delivery process. It was about 2 days before my trip when I started stressing about when to schedule the delivery. Do I risk scheduling it before check-in time, which would allow me to get to a park early but if my room's not ready I'm screwed because of all the perishables? Or do I schedule it after check-in time but then feel very frustrated that I can't get to a park and I'm wasting my time waiting inside my hotel room for my groceries? NEITHER!!! Gooding's delivers to your WDW resort's Bell Services, and then Bell Services delivers it to your room. They call your room, and if you're not in they store your grocery order. But what about the perishables? Gooding's separately bags AND labels items that need to be in the fridge and items that need to be in the freezer, and your resort's Bell Services takes care of that, too! WHAT A GREAT SYSTEM!

Also: Gooding's messed up my order and left out one vital item, an 18 oz. jar of peanut butter. I called at the end of the day, and the next day they delivered two 12 oz. jars.

-- Eric

 

[LoveWDW]

We we originally were going to opt for the ME, but with all the horror stories from the begining, we opted for using Tiffany I'd heard many good things about them, especially the FREE 30min grocery stop, and the total RT service is only $95. With the coupon I have, it knocks it down to $88 RT, which we really can't argue with.

!!!!

I'm curious about the coupon, is it online?

 

[kona-kraft]

I'm curious about the coupon, is it online?

It's actually in the Disney PASSPORTER guide. It's for $8.00 off. The one on the Tiffany Towncar website is for $5.00.

On a related note.......we may be back to using DME. My parents just came back last Sunday from a 4nightWDW/3nightDCL trip and they used DME from the airport to the resort. They seem to think that us paying $88 just for the bonus of a grocery stop is outrageous. Maybe we could just do the GOODING delivery thing ??


NOW I AM CONFUSED

 

[msr709]

Thanks for the info!! We are staying for the majority of the visit at US. On Goodings webpage they don't deliver to US. Will definitely use them next time at WDW. It sure sounds like it will beat the grocery stop.

You can try www.wegoshop.com, I just booked them for my upcoming trip and it was very easy. They actually shop anywhere you want them to so I would imagine that they would deliver to US. They've gotten rave reviews here on these boards. HTH