Do we need a car ?

[cantwait!!!!!!!!!!!!]

We are going to Disney in August 2010, not booked yet,waiting for all the packages to come out so we can compare prices.Will either do a package or hotel/tickets with disney and book our own flights.

Thinking of staying at POFQ for 2 weeks with 14 day passes and free dining.We are wondering if its worth having a car or not ? I know we will be ok to get the bus to the disney parks and the boat to downtown disney but what about the water parks, Universal and Sea world ? Can you get a bus/taxi easily ? Would probably do 1 day each at Universal/sea world and a couple of days at water parks.

Dh isnt worried about the driving or anything, he did it when we last went (12 years ago lol ) but just thinking if most of the time we are going to be at a disney park/eating at disney restaurants is it worth it ?

Thanks !

 

[madmumof2]

I go in October and am still debating whether to get a car or not. We won't need one being in a Disney resort, but it gives you a lot more freedom.

If I don't get a car, I will get the free Disney buses to the parks and water parks, and get a Mears Taxi/shuttle to Universal and Seaworld. They are very good value (think it's $18 round trip from POP to Universal?

 

[Goofyish]

We don't have a car if staying on-site. Disney transport is more than good enough to get you around the parks as long as you are not in a rush (you shouldn't be on vacation ); we just sit back and enjoy the ride
If you do need to get to a park or resort quickly for a meal reservation then it's easy to get cab from your resort.

If you only plan to have a few trips off-site to Universal, Seaworld and shopping malls then there are plenty of ways to do this without a car.

Taxis are easy to book from your resort Bell Services and although not the cheapest way to get off-site they are convenient, especially for shopping trips.

The cabs on site are operated by Mears. They have a taxi fare calculator on their website to give you an idea of the costs (remember to add 10% tip):

http://www.mearstransportation.com/TaxiFareEstimator.asp

Mears also do a bookable shuttle service to Universal and Seaworld for around $18 per person.

http://www.mearstransportation.com/AttractionTrans.htm

The cheapest option is to use the Lynx buses. You can get the number 50 bus from either the Transportation and Ticket Centre or Downtown Disney direct to Seaworld for $2 each way.
From Seaworld you can catch the I-Ride Trolley that runs the length of I-Drive as well

A car obviously gives you more options, especially if you plan to go off site often to eat or shop. You could consider just hiring a car for a few days - you can hire a car onsite either at the Dolphin Hotel or from the Disney Car Care Centre ( they will pick you up from your resort to go and collect your car).

 

[Jets fan]

Hi

We stay at OKW and never have a car as we just jump on the internal buses to downtown and then get taxis to wherever we want to go. Last year the costs were:

$13 to Premium Outlets Mall - one way with tip
$40 to Florida Mall
$40 to Mall at Millenia
$38 to Seaworld

Hope this helps.

Tina

 

[B2B-2008]

We didn't hire a car for our wedding trip and haven't for our upcoming trip. My DH drives for a living and won't do it on a holiday.

We had no trouble without a car but I do think having a car gives you greater freedom to get cheaper meals off of Disney property.

 

[wayneg]

I think you need to work out roughly what you want to do and try work out the difference.
For us I would never be without a car but I totally dislike buses even the tiny trip from The Outpost to Trails end buffet winds me up.
If you don't mind buses and using odd taxi then it works well for some, wouldn't be an option for me. We also spend a lot of time away from Disney, visit friends at Hunters creek, drive to coast, to cruise, last August drove 5 hours upto Georgia. Down to Mouse surplus Haines City. Lots more places we go.

 

[Lizzybear]

It's a personal choice but for me, having done 2 USA trips without a car (I didn't have my license then and my mum won't drive abroad) and 2 with (one Orlando, one California) I would always get a car except in cities where one would be an annoyance (like San Francisco and New York) IMO the convenience of being able to go where you want when you want to with no waiting around or making your way to/from drop-off points is priceless and even when i've had to pay the under 25's surcharge (this trip will be my first that I don't have to ) i've never felt it wasn't worth the money. I just love driving in the US in general too.. If i'd had someone to share the drive with I would have driven from Boston to Orlando (we did consider this originally but the bf can't drive and I think attempting a 20 hour drive with me as the only driver is a little risky) With all of this said, if you choose not to have a car Orlando is probably one of the best places in the US to do so.. No shortage of buses, shuttles, taxis etc

 

[Kath2003]

If I were staying in Disney, I wouldn't get a car. You can get around in Disney so easily, if you want to go elsewhere just use the Lynx buses.

We just got back - stayed on I-Drive for 10 nights and didn't have a car. Our TOTAL transportation costs for the 11 days were $70 for the two of us. We never waited more than 15 minutes at a bus stop. We went to Universal, Sea World, Disney, both outlet malls, the Florida Mall, the Mall at Milennia and to and from the airport for that price. We rode cabs whenever we needed or wanted to (3 times - twice late at night, once in the rain). We used a free shuttle from our hotel once (saving us $4 between us).

 

[cantwait!!!!!!!!!!!!]

Thanks, lots to think about !

Can I just check-someone mentioned free buses to the disney water parks is that right ? From the hotels ? If thats right then we only need to get to Universal, Sea world and maybe a mall, though dont suppose the kids will want to do much shopping !

 

[karentan]

the resorts run buses to the disney water parks too.
this time we're staying on site and its the first time ever that i'm going without a car.
we are going to rent a car for 2 days though. there's a budget rent a car place at one of the non-disney DTD hotels. for 48 hours, its costing us £35 to rent a car. that way we can get to the florida mall and seaworld. i was looking at buses or cabs to get there, but for that price, its so much easier to just rent a car for 2 days!

 

[Goofyish]

You get free transport from your resort to all Disney parks, Downtown Disney and water parks (Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon)

You can also use the boats between MK and the MK resorts (Grand Floridian, Polynesian, Contempory and Wilderness Lodge) and the Friendship boats from Epcot International Gateway entrance to Hollywood Studios, Swan/Dolphin Hotels, Boardwalk and the Yacht/Beach Club resorts) and the monorail between the MK resorts and between MK and Epcot

There is no resort to resort buses though.

If you stay at POFQ then there is also a boat to Downtown Disney

 

[Danauk]

For us it depends on the focus of the holiday. If we are going to just have a Disney holiday then we would not hire a car, we would use magical express to get to/from the airport and use the on site transport when we are there. If we were going on an Orlando holiday where we plan on doing the Disney parks, Universal, Shopping, Sea World, Busch Gardens, Kennedy etc then we would hire a car. We do prefer the ease of having our own transport and not having to rely on taxies etc, but when just being in Disney then for us paying for a car would be a waste.

 

[Tillybud]

great post full of some great info. dh and I have been discussing whether we would need a car or not and I think what I've learnt is really going to help, definitely going to bookmark the page

 

[Cinderella]

Hi there - I've done it both ways. And I suppose a car is an unnecessary extravagance in Disney but it's nice to have one and sometimes we use it to get to parks other than MK and get to other resorts for dinner.

Friends of mine rented a car for the part of their trip they needed it only, as they were visiting for three weeks - I guess that is another option. I think Alamo has a rental place somewhere on Disney property.

 

[amystevekai&bump]

Hi!! We have always hired a car in the past, but found that this last trip it was just sat in the parking lot at both our WDW and Universal hotels a lot of the time (This works out quite expensive when you think you are paying car hire/ins/tax and in the case of Universal hotels - car parking fees too!! )

But on the flip side, we also like to eat off site and visit the malls etc knowing we can go where we like, when we like, so.....

next trip we are going to combine the two -

We will get the Magical express from the airport and do without a car for at least the first week and then (as we are close by at the Beach CLub) we will hire a car from the Dolphin hotel for a couple of days, where we will focus on getting out and about to the offsite shops/restaurants etc.

Hopefully we will then get the best of both worlds!! - I'll let you know if it was a good option when I get back (although you'll have a long wait as that won't be untill Jan 2011!!)

 

[orangetiggs]

we always hire a car as we like the freedom of not always having to wait for buses.

We like the fact we can just jump in the car and head to walmart of one of the malls

We went one year without a car as I wasnt 21 till half way through the holiday and we stayed on disney like we always do and felt very restricted to what we could do, we took a mears to beltz and florida mall but we were stuck to thier times which didnt work for us

Even with the under 25s charge that we havent paid before as we always go fro the platinum insurance so nothing to pay once we get there we feel its worth the money for that extra freedom.

Also each eyar we go the car gets bigger! Only 28 and used to driving a fiesta here but love the big cars we get out there

 

[SuperFuzz]

Timing of this thread couldn't be better. Just wondering about a car vs Disney Transport.

Next time we go to the world we will be staying at AKV (DVC) so we won't bother with a car. But we also want to go to Universal and Sea World. So the mears busses sound about the best bet.

I do have a question though.

For example if The Magic Kingdom opens at 8am but on that day there are morning extra magic hours (meaning a 7am opening for resort guests) Does this mean the bus services start at 6am? or 7am?

Or worded better

Do the busses start an hour before normal opening, or an hour before extra magic hours opening?

 

[starrysky]

For the EMH hours I believe the buses start in plenty of time to get you to the parks.

As for car hire DH and I did not bother with car hire even though we were off site and had to pay for the shuttle buses. That meant that if we both wanted a drink with our meal beer, wine etc then we did not have to argue about who had to drive and who drove before etc and we just relaxed.

If that is not an issue then hire a car and go for it but if you are only going to use it once or twice it seems like an rather large expense that you could leave out.

 

[comingtodisney]

we did'nt hire a car when we went, we hopped on the disney busses to dtd, and then got on the lynx no 50, this drops you right outside seaworld, if you want to get to universal studios get off at seaworld and transfer to the i trolley. it was no bother for us just took it as part of our holiday experience.

 

[AaronSilk]

Great topic this.

I never thought it thru, aand just assumed you HAD to have a car. Maybe not after reading this 'fred'

"We stay at OKW" - what do the abbreviatioons mean? Never stay on site yet, so not understanding much on here (yet) ;-)