Best Location for Car Rental Pick-up

[gorjus121]

Last year we conveniently picked up and returned our car rental at the Orlando International Airport. We stayed off property, and was pleased with the process, no complaints.

This year we are staying at the Disney Polynesian for the first 2 nights and are considering not getting the rental car till we checkout and leave to our timeshare (off Disney property), with plans on returning it at the airport. My question is are there rental car companies at the Disney Resorts or is the only option to pick it up from the The Orlando Four Points location on International Drive? Im trying to make this easier and utilize the Disney Transportation while travelling with 2 young children. We plan on using the monorail and can't find a need to pay for a rental car for 2 days that we wont use at all. Any tips and info are appreciated.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

There's a "sticky" thread at the top of the DIS Transportation board with a lot of information on this subject.

See "Car rental locations for WDW..." at http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2927109

The short answer is that there's not a single "Best Location for Car Rental Pick-up" at WDW, but there are a lot of options.

 

[gorjus121]

Thank you! This is helpful.

 

[Lewisc]

Easy question. The single best location for you would be Alamo at the Shades of Green. It's a short walk from POLY to SoG.

Most agencies have a location near Disney. Many of them will pick you up if you make arrangements. Horace gave you the link. Price them.

edited to add Also price getting a rental car for your entire trip. Better pricing for pickup and return at MCO may offset the extra 2 days. Disney doesn't charge guests for self-parking.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Afraid his best option is NOT the SOG location which is not a short walk. In fact you can't walk there!

Use the Alamo location at car care center. They have a shuttle bus that will pick you up. Just call the car care location of Alamo and set us a pick up reservation. Its a short 5 minute car ride.

 

[Lewisc]

Afraid his best option is NOT the SOG location which is not a short walk. In fact you can't walk there!

Use the Alamo location at car care center. They have a shuttle bus that will pick you up. Just call the car care location of Alamo and set us a pick up reservation. Its a short 5 minute car ride.

People staying at SoG talk about walking over to POLY and taking Disney transportation.

Google maps shows a sidewalk with a pedestrian crosswalk for Floridan Way. It's about a 1/2 mile walk.

I'll agree walking will take a few minutes longer then the drive. The question is how long you'll be waiting for the shuttle bus. You'll want to be at the correct location a few minutes before your pick up time and the shuttle bus might be delayed a few minutes. Walk and you can leave whenever you want, no waiting.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Afraid his best option is NOT the SOG location which is not a short walk. In fact you can't walk there!

Shelly,

Please explain what you mean by your sentence, "In fact you can't walk there!"

There's a wide sidewalk that begins with a crosswalk across Floridian Way from Disney's Polynesian. The sidewalk parallels Magnolia Palm Drive. The distance, as Lewisc noted, is about a half mile.

With the OP staying at Disney's Polynesian, walking to the Alamo counter at Shades of Green (as Lewisc suggested) would SEEM to be a very good suggestion if the OP can qualify for a good rate from Alamo.

Will pedestrians who are not registered guests at Shades of Green be denied access to the grounds or lobby?

I realize that Shades of Green has restrictions on who can book rooms and dine there. I'm not aware that Alamo is somehow off-limits to non-guests and/or non-military. I didn't see anything on Alamo's website advising potential renters of any such restrictions.

Then again, I've never personally waked from the Polynesian to Shades of Green, so perhaps I'm missing something.

 

[ssawka]

You can also pickup a rental cars at the Dolphin, which you can take Disney transportation directly to.

 

[wdwrich]

Afraid his best option is NOT the SOG location which is not a short walk. In fact you can't walk there!

Really? We've stayed at both SOG and the Poly and have walked between the two dozens of times!

 

[gorjus121]

Thanks for all the tips.

There is a price difference between between SOG and the Car care center. I plan on calling both places to verify along with the resort directly.