Car or no car?

[quirty30]

Here's the deal. We have two parties in our group. My kids and I are staying at Beach Club; their dad and his girlfriend at staying at Pop Century. I felt like we would spend too much time using the bus system, etc. trying to meet up, plus we have some ADR's at resorts that we need to get to from whatever parks we are at. I have a full size car on reserve but can't decide if it's worth the extra expense. And I would honestly prefer my ex be the driver so they can drive over to BC from Pop - a lot of times, we would probably leave it parked at BC, then walking over to Epcot, taking the boat to HS or hopping on the monorail. I also thought we would drive to AK the morning we have to be there early for the Wildlife Discovery Excursion (yes, before 10 is early for us - we are not morning people : )

Opinions, please? Do you think we will save enough time to justify the $200 plus the car will cost?

 

[BridgetBordeaux]

It depends.............
How many days will you need the car? How frustrated will you be without it? Is 200 bucks going to blow either your budget for WDW or your budget when it is time to pay the bills? Once you have the car, do you think it might come in handy a few extra times?

 

[beccasmom]

If a car isn't a huge budget-buster it can come in handy. We usually do without a car, but there are situations in which it is a great resource, IMHO. Sometimes it comes down to how patient you (or the rest of your group, especially kids) are. WDW is generally reliable and fine, but certainly not perfect for all circumstances.

- Do you have many ADRs at resorts? Commuting from one resort to another takes a good bit of time. A taxi is an alternative too.

- Do you plan to do a lot of park hopping? Again, it can take up time between some of the parks, especially in the mid-afternoon hours when the buses do not run quite as frequently. Again, there are always taxis.

- Any infants or toddlers in the group? Strollers? Seniors?

- Will you be making any side trips out of WDW - Sea World, Universal? grocery stores?

- Will you be taking mid-day breaks? It is nice to be able to get in your car and head back quickly to recharge. It takes a little more time w/WDW transport, but it is certainly do-able (we do it all the time!).

 

[quirty30]

Thank you both for your replies. I think we would use the car every day, sometimes only for the ex and gf to meet us over at BC before heading to HS or Epcot. And we do want to pick up a few groceries. There are several days we plan to do one park in the morning and another in the evening and would certainly enjoy a little break at our resort. The $200 will not break our budget and it sounds to me like the car will definitely save us some time. And by perusing some of the other posts in this forum, I found a better rate than what I had booked initially. Thanks again for your advice.

 

[jlewisinsyr]

We always rent a car, its a huge timesaver and offers a lot more flexibility for us.

 

[quirty30]

Thanks everyone. I am convinced the car will be a big time saver for us. Kids and I will just use DME to get to BC, and ex/gf will pick up the car and drive to Pop. And thanks to some other posts in this forum, I was able to book a full-size thru National for the week for $188, incl. all taxes - great deal!