Anyone rent a van in Canada to drive to Disney?

[cam&chris]

Is there any way to get a deal? I have been looking online for a 11 day van rental so we can drive to Disney but the prices are almost the same as flying. We are 5 going - 3 adults and 2 kids and we don't all fit comfortably in any of our vehicles for a 2 day drive. We thought that renting a van here for the drive, even with kms driven added to the charge, would still be cheaper than flying but it doesn't seem to be at all.

 

[mbb]

You could investigate renting it from the nearest US location to you.

A few years ago, there used to be a thread about a car rental franchise in Ontario that would rent to CDNs driving to WDW....with reasonable rates.
...or maybe it was a car dealership...sorry, I forget

But I do recall that folks have done this.

We've rented cars several times in the past for weekend business conferences in VA, NC...renting from NB on Thursday, and returning the vehicle on Monday.
With 4 drivers, we drove straight through, and split 4 ways, the rental, gas, add'l drivers, and tolls was waaaaayyy cheaper than flying.

Let us know what you find out!
HTH!

 

[Alderbrook]

My GF flew out of BUF this summer to California & on their flight back their luggage got lost & the girl who drove stupidly left her car keys in the lost luggage. They tried renting a car to drive home but the car rental place said that they weren't allowed to drive across the border with US plates since it was a rental? The rental place ended up finding them a car they had with Canadian plates on it so they could drive home so you may want to check into that.

I had never heard of this before, but it happened to them/

 

[DisFan2]

My advice is to keep checking the rental codes (Google "car rental discount codes"). Last year, we rented a minivan from National with unlimited kilometres for $330/week. The total for our 16 day trip was $981.29 Canadian - it's unlikely that the four of us could fly and then rent a car in Orlando for that amount.

Oddly enough, the a/c didn't work (didn't find this out till we got to Jacksonville, the first time we needed it). I called National and they told me to take it to any of their locations in Orlando and they would look after it. We switched to a Toyota Sienna at the airport and they simply switched it for the Grand Caravan we'd brought down. I had thought they would repair it and let me know so I could bring it back (as it had Ontario plates). Nope - just drive this one back, I was told. I had concerns about bringing a vehicle wih Fla. plates back across the border, but didn't think about it again till we got to Canadian customs in Gananoque. The customs officer asked where I had rented the van from. I explained what had happened and produced the two contracts (i.e. the original and the new one from Orlando). No problem.

From what I know now, I think that it could have been a HUGE problem - I read an article recently about the bizarre Canadian law prohibiting Canadians from bringing rented US vehicles into Canada.

Having said that, in the eight or nine times we've rented, this was the first time we ever had a mechanical issue (and if I'd checked the a/c before we left, it would never have been an issue at all).

 

[iluveeyore]

If you could drive to the Buffalo airport and leave your car there and rent one, Alamo is having a deal for $33 per day for a one-way full-size car if you drive it to the Orlando airport - then you could take the Magical Express for free from there to WDW, and maybe get a cheap flight home. If you're splitting the drive into two days, you should be fine to drive with 5 of you - that's how many we have, and we have gone down in a VW golf with 5 of us - a full-size would give you lots of storage and leg room. I would even look at last minute deals about a month out and rent in the US if you can. We rent at the Buffalo airport all the time - very easy and we get great deals.

 

[webworm]

If you could drive to the Buffalo airport and leave your car there and rent one, Alamo is having a deal for $33 per day for a one-way full-size car if you drive it to the Orlando airport - then you could take the Magical Express for free from there to WDW, and maybe get a cheap flight home. If you're splitting the drive into two days, you should be fine to drive with 5 of you - that's how many we have, and we have gone down in a VW golf with 5 of us - a full-size would give you lots of storage and leg room. I would even look at last minute deals about a month out and rent in the US if you can. We rent at the Buffalo airport all the time - very easy and we get great deals.

You can even rent a minivan for the driv down from Buffalo airport for 2 days and it is only $34/day = taxes = $86.69. This might be a great option and then find a cheap flight back to Buffalo.

 

[irisesareblue]

Is there any way to get a deal? I have been looking online for a 11 day van rental so we can drive to Disney but the prices are almost the same as flying. We are 5 going - 3 adults and 2 kids and we don't all fit comfortably in any of our vehicles for a 2 day drive. We thought that renting a van here for the drive, even with kms driven added to the charge, would still be cheaper than flying but it doesn't seem to be at all.

What about renting a vehicle from Niagara Falls NY ? You can get an Enterprise mini-van for about $350.00/week with unlimited miles - drive it to Florida and back. Ask Enterprise if you'll be able to park your Canadian vehicle(s) in their lot or leave them in a local lot. It has been our experience that if you spend a night at a hotel, they will allow you to leave your car there (if you ask.)

My figuring is that $700.00 for 2 weeks of rentals is worth about 2 return airfares so you should be able to save a bit of money.

 

[DisneyRookie2007]

then you could take the Magical Express for free from there to WDW, and maybe get a cheap flight home.

Doesn't Disney ask for your "flight info" to secure your spot on the ME buses? And I guess it goes without saying, but not mentioned in the posting, but you need to be staying on-site to use ME.

 

[sauterelledesiles]

You can ride the ME if you arrive at the airport, even if you have not made the reservation and given WDW your flight information. You just have to take care of your own luggage, you cannot leave them on the carrousel since you don't have a tag on it that says which ones are yours and which resort you are staying at.

 

[iluveeyore]

You can ride the ME if you arrive at the airport, even if you have not made the reservation and given WDW your flight information. You just have to take care of your own luggage, you cannot leave them on the carrousel since you don't have a tag on it that says which ones are yours and which resort you are staying at.

We never get our ME tags before we leave, have always just checked in at the ME desk, they take our luggage claim tags, ask us to describe the bags, and they still deliver them no problem to our resort.

As for taking the ME without a flight, I'm pretty sure that as long as you have a WDW resort reservation, you can take ME - but that would have to be verified with ME or WDW reservations before you arrive.

 

[danall]

Make sure that you can do that. Many rental companies impose restrictions on wher you can go with the rental vehicle (i.e. provinces)