Arrival scenario question - getting food

[Lora]

We may be flying instead of driving which would put our arrival day on Sat. instead of Sun. as originally planned. I was able to get a studio for the Sat., but didn't have enough points to just add another day (weekend) onto our 1BR reservation at BWV.

If we are not planning to get a rental, we were thinking we could do the town car w/ the 1/2 hour stop for food. But, the problem is that we'll have only a studio w/ the small refrigerator and then a change of rooms the next day. We like to cook quite a lot in the room, so I'm sure that I wouldn't be able to fit everythinginto the small frig...and even if I could, where do I put it between check out and check in time? I'm not sure how to arrange this....any suggestions?

The only things I've thought of are:

Buy a disposable cooler and keep things on ice for the day.

Rent a car for the day of arrival and departure instead of doing the town car. We would be returning the car on Sun. after our grocery trip.

Buy the perishable items at the Boardwalk store....not sure what's available there.

Order stuff through Netgrocer...not sure how that works and how expensive it is.



I would certainly appreciate any advice here. The fare's for us have just dropped to $130 (including taxes) and I'd really like to take advantage of that.

Thanks.

 

[lampy]

An easier option is to have the Boardwalk store it in their refrigerated coolers. They are in the baggage storage area and I am sure they will keep them overnight for you. - less anything you need for your studio.

 

[Dancind]

Just make sure you ask that your items be refrigerated as soon as you get there. Make it clear that you won't be getting them until the next day, but you will need your luggage if that needs to to be checked! We had a problem with availability when we arrived in May, and our groceries sat out for a while. We wound up doing exactly what you have planned. Nothing like soggy frozen biscuits. Diana

 

[Lora]

I did not realize they would do this. Thank you so much for the info. My husband was prepared to drive to avoid the hassle of the food situation. Now I have some good news for him!!

 

[Peggy Sue]

There are always taxi's out front. You could consider taking a taxi over to crossroads, do your shopping and then take one back to the resort. The screen door general store at the Boardwalk does have milk, bread etc., but not a large variety and the prices are quite high.

If you want to reduce the cost of the cab, take the bus to down town disney and grab a cab from there to cross roads.

 

[Ralph&Pam]

The suggestions above are good, if you want to keep your towncar reservation. You might also evaluate the possibility of doing a car rental for just the one day at each end of the trip. Not knowing your precise dates, I use mid-October, with a Saturday arrival (Oct. 19) and depature (Oct. 26). National quotes $52 all taxes and fees included for each of these two days. Pick-up at the airport on the Sat. with drop-off at the Dolphin or the Car Care Center the following day. Return trip requires pick-up at the Car Care Center the day prior to return and drop off at the airport. Gas use would be minimal, so the total for the two rentals would be less than the town car and you would have 24 hours use for each of the two overnight rentals. These quotes were for a Disney Club member with the Emerald Club card (which is free for DC members). Of course rates will vary by dates, so YMMV.

Ralph

 

[lampy]

Ralph has a great suggestion. We do this all the time, reserve National 1 day each time. You get a "car for the day" at a cheaper price than towncar service, as long as you don't mind driving. Drop off at the Dolphin is a breeze and you skip back across the canal. We like driving to Downtown Disney the first night for dinner anyway and hate waiting for the bus.

 

[Lora]

Yes - thanks. The one day rental both ways is what we've done in the past. We'll probably do that, now that I've thought about it for a while. I'm going to be joining DC soon, so I should be able to get a good rate.

 

[dwbakerjr]

The Dolphin? We often do the National 1-day-rent thing, but generally call the car center at the MK. Didnt know there was a desk at the Dolphin (which isnt all that far from our resort - BWV).

thanx...

 

[SCDizneyDawn]

Hi, we found a great rate from the airport with drop off at the Dolphin, but found that pick up at the Dolphin for the return trip to the airport was over 80$ so we booked a one way ride with YourRide for 45$. Our rental car is thru National as mentioned above, be sure to call and ask the hours the Dolphin counter is open, they were not open normal hours!

 

[dwbakerjr]

Thats odd. The last few times we did 2 one-way rentals at the WDW/MK National desk, it was essentially the same price both days (i.e. both ways). I dunno if things have changed, as we have driven down to Orlando the last two trips...

 

[invalid_char]

Wow! This is such a great idea. We were so ignorant on our last trip. We rented a car for one day but my husband returned it to the airport and took that expensive shuttle back to WDW. (Yikes!) To think he could have just dropped the car off at the Dolphin.

This one day rent thing will both enable us to stock up at the grocery store as well as visit a restaurant at a non-Epcot resort, something that can be a real pain to do without a car. Does anyone know what time of day the car needs to be returned to the Dolphin? Also, does anyone know how much it costs to take the shuttle to and from the airport? I don't remember.

Thanks!

 

[invalid_char]

Oh, I forgot to ask... can someone suggest a good grocery store on the way home from the airport?

 

[Ralph&Pam]

Car rental rates for MCO to Dolphin or Car Care Center and the return trip from Dolphin or Car Care Center to MCO can sometimes be the same in either direction and sometimes different. Note that you are booking two reservations for different times, about a week apart in the example I used. Rental rates can change from minute to minute as reservations get processed, much like the cost of airfare, since the car rental agencies use similar capacity control software. Given this, I'm actually somewhat surprised when the rates are the same in both directions. It is even possible for the rate for Car Care Center pick-up/MCO drop-off to be different than Dolphin pick-up/MCO drop-off. That was actually the case when I checked in my sample yesterday, with the CCC being about $10 less than the Dolphin pick-up. I would check both unless I wanted to avoid a trip to the CCC. Actually, when at the BWV, I would even consider paying an extra $5 or so to have the convenience of walking over to the Dolphin to pick-up the car. I don't think the National desk at the Dolphin attempts to provide the same level of service as the CCC, so an advance reservation for pick-up is essentially mandatory. One might be able to call the CCC and book a car on short notice, although those rates can be a lot higher than advance booking.

Ralph

 

[nuthut]

Why not try for a one bedroom on cash for the weekend (saturday) and stay in the same room for the entire stay.

 

[Lora]

How much would that room be w/ cash?

 

[DebbieB]

Discounts are rarely available at BWV, for a 1 bedroom on cash you would be looking at around $400, if you could even get it.

I have a similiar situation - we are arriving a day early for our BWV reservation in December because of FF airline tickets. I had booked CBR but moved to BW Inn for $169 AP rate. It's a Friday night, so renting points would not make sense. We have a rental car for the entire time, so we'll just get our groceries on the second day when we check into BWV.

 

[Lora]

W/ member discount (which was available for the date I wanted), the 1BR at BW would have been $318. I have a res. for standard studio which is only 21 points. Not a good trade off in my opinion. Also, the CM told me that since my 1BR res. starting the next day is standard view, and all cash 1BR's are preferred, I would have had to change rooms anyway.

Hope that helps someone else.


We got the DC discount for a rental (very reasonable) from National and plan to get the car from the airport and drop off at the Dolphin the next day after our check in time and after a grocery trip.

Thanks everyone for your advice and suggestions!