Convince me

[friendoffigment]

use to rent a car. for many years i never relied on disney transportation. but with the exorbitant prices today is renting still worth it. talking about $600 a week to rent now. why is renting still a good option with the current prices. why are guests still renting. deciding if tghere are good reasons to still rent.

 

[easyas123]

Got little kids that need a car seat? If not, we have found grabbing a Uber when we want one to be the most convenient and easiest - not to mention quickest - method of getting from one place to another around WDW /Universal & MCO. And cheaper than a car rental, if as in our case, you use it to and from the airport and a few times during your trip.

 

[SteveH]

We've never had a rental car when staying on-property. Our last couple of trips POFQ & Swan/Dolphin and never feel we've needed it or wanted it. Between Disney transportation and Ride Shares (uber/lyft) we can get around just fine. In the past with kids we've used a town car service so we could have a grocery stop and fully relied on Disney transport those times. The big downside of Ride Share services is if you need a car seat, but if you don't and the price isn't crazy its a good option.

 

[loves to dive]

Can't convince you. We always have our own car and park it at the resort the day we arrive and never get in it again. The only reason I could see needing a car would be if you were doing a split between Disney and another park like Universal. We rely totally on Disney transportation and have no problems with it. We have taken Uber twice. Once when we had a late dinner at V&A's and didn't really feel like using a bus all dressed up and the buses were stopped running by the time we were done. Another time was a late dinner at CG. We did use Disney transportation to get there but the buses had stopped running by the time we were done. They may have been running but it was very late, we had an adult beverage or two and just thought it was better than walking over to MK and risking the buses not running.

 

[FCDub]

Start by making your own pros and cons list based on your party’s general habits and vacation preferences. That will be a helpful way to get closer to a decision.

 

[georgina]

We often rent. We don't like Disney buses. We happily drive to the parks. When are you going? Rates often start out high and then drop closer to the rental date. I paid about $325 for 9 nights in Sept. But I reserve through Costco and rebook every time rates drop. Some of our nights were offsite with free parking, some were onsite and we paid. Next trip is DVC rental so free parking. I don't get a car for the Universal parts of my stay because everything is so close there. After Jan you will have to pay to get to/from the airport one way or another. We paid $31/$35 to/from Universal last weekend on Lyft.

 

[RogueX]

I'm in the don't do it just because the rental car companies have been playing dirty lately. You may think that's what you'll pay, you'll drop off your car, do everything right and spend weeks fighting to prove that you did return the car, no, you will not be paying their late fees, etc. Like what happened to us.

 

[georgina]

I'm in the don't do it just because the rental car companies have been playing dirty lately. You may think that's what you'll pay, you'll drop off your car, do everything right and spend weeks fighting to prove that you did return the car, no, you will not be paying their late fees, etc. Like what happened to us.

Which company? I have never had this problem with Alamo.

 

[PixieT78]

We used to rent a car. Was mostly so we could get back to the hotel quickly and easily at the end of long days. But when they brought in charging for parking at the hotels, it was the catalyst we needed to try without and we won't go back.

Reasons it works well for us:
1) no kids so no car seats to worry about
2) stay on site and don't leave the Disney bubble until we are moving on to the US bubble
3) have no issues calling an Uber if the bus lines are too long/will take too long/running late/anywhere near fireworks at MK lol.

This has most definitely worked out in our favour financially. I'd say we typically took Disney transportation to the parks/Disney Springs almost 100% and Ubers back about 50% of the time. If we wanted to go to another hotel, we'd also Uber.

 

[RogueX]

Which company? I have never had this problem with Alamo.

This was Avis.

 

[EACarlson]

use to rent a car. for many years i never relied on disney transportation. but with the exorbitant prices today is renting still worth it. talking about $600 a week to rent now. why is renting still a good option with the current prices. why are guests still renting. deciding if tghere are good reasons to still rent.

Go to www.autoslash.com, put in your information and I will pretty much guarantee they come up with a number much less than $600/week for one of the 10 major car rental companies that have cars on site at MCO. I payed $280/week with National in August and have a rental with Hertz for $380 for a week in January. Those are both for larger vehicles, if something smaller would work you can save from those numbers. How many in your party? And how were you getting from MCO to the resort?
Do you need car seats? All of those are going to figure into how much is costs to get from MCO to the resort. Are you going to do anything besides WDW? Are you going to want to eat anywhere offsite? Outlet shopping?

If I were planning a trip to WDW I would plan on renting a car, but not staying on-site at current prices. For the hotel price difference I can get a vacation rental off site, rent a car and pay for parking easily.

 

[AnnaS]

We used to rent a car when we flew down. Not anymore. I think it was 9/10 years ago when we rented last.

Most of the time now we drive since we do split stays (add Vero, HH, etc.). We don't drive our car much while there. We don't mind using Disney transportation. We can count the times we use our car there.
We will go to Publix, sometimes
We will drive to another resort for dinner, sometimes
We will meet a local friend, sometimes

Reasons to have a car on-site.....(wether you traveled 5 years ago or yesterday )

If you have small children, you might need diapers, formula, etc and really need to go shopping (but can always have items delivered)
Family of 3, 4 or more - might not pay to take Mears (maybe car service/Uber/rental?)
Most of your meals are offsite
You like the convenience of having your car and drive to all the parks, DS, Etc.
Like having the kids in the car seat
Meeting family/friends that are local or visiting Orlando and staying offsite

Our March trip - driving - WDW and Vero
October trip - flying - will most likely book Mears Shuttle/bus

I agree with a previous poster to write down what your plans are and see what might work best for you.

 

[_19disnA]

Renting or not is a matter of personal preference and budget. If you never plan to leave the property and only use Disney on-site transportation also makes a difference in your decision.

We like to rent a car since it gives us more flexibility to go shopping or eat off-site rather then only have Disney restaurants to choose from. Cost of rentals will likely return to normal once more of covid is behind us and the rental companies are able to balance supply with demand, so how far into the future your planned trip will be also matters. We don't care to use any of the online taxi services so it isn't just the cost to factor into your decision.

The free DME service to/from the airport is ending as of 1/1/22, so you will need to factor in that added cost as well.

 

[Lewisc]

Today car rental are $$$. Hotels charge for parking. Ride share is generally available and is reasonable.

Car rental makes sense if you need car seats or are planning long trips to places like KSC and BG.
.

 

[JimMIA]

We always drive, so we always have a car -- but unlike @loves to dive above, we drive everywhere.

But you have to factor in ALL of the costs. If you have to pay for parking, that's an expense. If you are offsite with free parking, you may have theme park parking to pay for. OTOH, Uber/Lyft fares may have increased from someone's experience a few years ago, so I'd use your app to get an idea of TODAY's fares.

This site is a great resource, but occasionally you'll see a post that starts, "Well, when we visited in 2005...!" Be sure the info you are getting is current.

To me, one of the biggest benefits of having a car is offsite dining. Dining offsite has much more variety, the quality is better, and it's less expensive. We have several restaurants offsite that we really look forward to, and very much prefer to WDW dining. For many folks, the same is true for shopping.

And lastly, having a car opens up many non-Disney experiences -- Universal, Sea World, Kennedy Space Center, maybe a beach day. There are dozens of options within 2 hours of WDW.

 

[MrKnight]

IMHO it is NOT worth it to rent a car.. One of the biggest perks (and frankly the whole point) of staying on-site at a WDW resort is having access to WDW transportation and the direct access to the parks, only WDW transportation can get you to the very front of the park entrances (especially at MK) without having to deal with huge walks from parking lots and remote drop-off locations.. Let alone, the cost of savings of using WDW transportation is SUBSTANTIAL compared to renting a car, Uber/Lyft, etc..

 

[Cheburashka]

I'm in the don't do it just because the rental car companies have been playing dirty lately. You may think that's what you'll pay, you'll drop off your car, do everything right and spend weeks fighting to prove that you did return the car, no, you will not be paying their late fees, etc. Like what happened to us.

Maybe try Enterprise. I've always had a good experience with them.

 

[Donna M]

We almost always rent, but I am having a hard time justifying it for our Feb trip. We needed a minivan for our last trip with little grandkids and all the stuff we had, but this time it is only us. We like a rental for the ease of getting to the resort on our schedule, going to the grocery store when we need to, going to church, going off grounds for a meal and getting to the theme parks, DS, and other resorts when we want. The convenience of having a car at our disposal is important to us.

For this upcoming trip we might get a car service since we can do a grocery stop and we will have friends/family joining us at certain times who will have vehicles. I have a reservation at $500 now; that´s a lot of money I could spend elsewhere.

 

[Cheburashka]

use to rent a car. for many years i never relied on disney transportation. but with the exorbitant prices today is renting still worth it. talking about $600 a week to rent now. why is renting still a good option with the current prices. why are guests still renting. deciding if tghere are good reasons to still rent.

With no Magical Express, I would rent a car. Maybe spend a few nights offsite? WIthout ME to shackle you to the Disney resorts, there is no reason not to do that except for not wanting to change hotels. Maybe the first and last nights be somewhere else, to cut costs (or else get more luxury than Disney offers)?

 

[DVC-Don]

There's always someone at the airport going to WDW. Just walk up and down the arrivals pickup and ask if you can tag along.