Do we need a rental car & crowd level mid-may

[bsmandi]

We are staying at the Port Orleans Riverside May 19-24. From the research I've done it is not supposed to be a really busy time so we decided to just use Disney transportation. I am reconsidering this now and just wanted to hear from others if we should go ahead and get a rental car while we are there! Thanks for your advice!

 

[CleveRocks]

We are staying at the Port Orleans Riverside May 19-24. From the research I've done it is not supposed to be a really busy time so we decided to just use Disney transportation. I am reconsidering this now and just wanted to hear from others if we should go ahead and get a rental car while we are there! Thanks for your advice!

It depends on how you like to vacation. I just love the fantasyland aspect of not needing a car for a week. I enjoy being in the Disney "cocoon," so I never considered renting a car.

Then again, that's just my style of vacationing no matter where I go. In my 15 years of traveling around North America, I've only rented a car in 3 locales: the Pacific Northwest, where we stayed in 3 different cities; during a 1-day cruise ship stop in St. Thomas -- we'd been there for a week 2 years earlier for our honeymoon, and the secluded beach and quirky shops we wanted to visit weren't on any of the available shore excursions; and 2 different trips to Phoenix, to allow us to drive to Tucson and Sedona. In urban vacation spots like Boston and San Francisco, for example, we actually LOVED using their public transportation systems because it gave us a feel for what it was really like to be there. And vacationing at beach resorts? Forget it, if we couldn't walk there from the beach it wasn't worth seeing.

So if you want to look around Orlando, go to Universal or Sea World or whatever, then a car may serve you well. But if you plan to do what I do and not leave WDW property, save your money and let Disney do the driving.

-- Eric

 

[the kabuki]

We just rented a car for the 1st time on our Jan trip and it was terrific. What freedom, what bliss, no waiting for buses, no standing in the aisles carrying sleeping toddlers, folding up the stroller, carrying all those souvenier bags, no dropping off other people. Just us in the car, radio on, going when and wherever we please. Will never go without renting a car again

 

[Colinsmom]

We just rented a car for the 1st time on our Jan trip and it was terrific. What freedom, what bliss, no waiting for buses, no standing in the aisles carrying sleeping toddlers, folding up the stroller, carrying all those souvenier bags, no dropping off other people. Just us in the car, radio on, going when and wherever we please. Will never go without renting a car again

That's pretty much our experience, after renting in December for the first time at Disney. It helped that we got a great rate of about $120 for the week, not much more than paying for transportation from the hotel (less of an issue with Magical Express, I guess).

 

[weregoingtodw]

We are staying at the Port Orleans Riverside May 19-24. From the research I've done it is not supposed to be a really busy time so we decided to just use Disney transportation. I am reconsidering this now and just wanted to hear from others if we should go ahead and get a rental car while we are there! Thanks for your advice!

We're going from 7-14 May and our rental will only be $99 (tax & fees included) for an intermediate car through National. Of course, we're Emerald Club members, so we'll likely get larger than an intermediate, but an intermediate should be sufficient for a family of five or less.

 

[all4fun]

We always rent a car and we usually stay on property at the Boardwalk. It's just so nice to be able to get in and go and not have to wait for a bus. But that's just us and the way we like to vacation. We're very spur of the moment type people I guess. We also like to go off property occasionally to shop, go to Universal, whatever. If you do decide to rent, I highly suggest you check out http://www.mousesavers.com. DH found some great coupon codes there and got a really good deal on our last rental of a full-size car. He had to really work at it but it came out to about $150 for 10 days! We didn't get that good a rate for this upcoming trip of 7 days, but still not bad.

hth!

 

[SqueakyMouse]

We generally drive when we take the kids, so we have a car. A car is handy for getting to meals at other resorts, DTD, and water parks more quickly - always a plus with young children in tow. It also enables us to visit a grocery store, if needed. (However, we've never actually had to do this. It's just nice knowing we can.) When we go without the kids, we fly and use a towncar service to get to our resort -- no rental car. It's very relaxing to let someone else drive. I guess it just depends on you and your party.

 

[blitzkrieg048]

We've rented a car our last several trips and most likely will continue to do so. It's very convenient especially if you have strollers like us. I like driving to parks DTD and other resorts for meals. Plus you can drive offsite too. Helps save $$$ on meals. When you drive to the parks the trams are much faster in parking lots to pick u up. Except MK i use the bus there. A little tougher to drive there.

 

[weluvpluto]

We usually drive to FL, but even if/when we fly we rent a car. We like the freedom of being able to go where we want, when we want. And my husband hates waiting for buses

 

[golfgal]

We are renting a car for our trip because the car rental is less expensive then the shuttles and the cost of the rental we would use to go to Cocoa Beach after Disney. We are flying in a day before we check into Disney and not going to the airport when we check out, so we can't use the new Disney transportation system. I am guessing we will use the car the first day to get to our PS at CM's and on the days that we go to the WaterParks. We plan to use the bus for MK and Epcot.

 

[beth_cam]

Our last trip (with extended family) we drove but left the car and did whatever they did. Well MK from CR was a no brainer, we walked. Well actually I think we did the Monorail on the way back just so the kids could. Well that night we went to MGM. Getting there was a bit rediculous but back was crazy. Strollers, Sleepy cranky kids (one with wet pants unbeknownst to us until poor grandpa picked him up to get him on the bus). all those people in a hurry. Next day we got up and drove to MGM EMH morning. We didnt even get there by 8 (opening) but still got a very good spot and were very happy to be such a short walk no waiting when we came out. We just looked at each other and said "No More Busses". Even going to Epcot that night we Did the monorail but with the change it still seemed to take forever. I am thinking though this time since we dont have hoppers atleast the first day to see how it goes, we may drive to the park in the morning bus back for nap time then bus back to the park so we still have the awesome parking spot for carrying out the kids. Plus no extended family to feel like we gotta do it their way.

 

[averysmom]

IMHO it depends on how old your dks are. When we went with ds for the first time we never thought about the car seat issue. We didn't get a rental car and were totally reliant on disney transport ( in the past we had taken cabs to restraurants etc.) Even if we had brought / rented a car seat we would have had to drag it with us to every restaurant / outside shopping venue. Now we always get a dar!

 

[Steamboat Girlie]

It depends on how you like to vacation. I just love the fantasyland aspect of not needing a car for a week. I enjoy being in the Disney "cocoon," so I never considered renting a car.

Then again, that's just my style of vacationing no matter where I go. In my 15 years of traveling around North America, I've only rented a car in 3 locales: the Pacific Northwest, where we stayed in 3 different cities; during a 1-day cruise ship stop in St. Thomas -- we'd been there for a week 2 years earlier for our honeymoon, and the secluded beach and quirky shops we wanted to visit weren't on any of the available shore excursions; and 2 different trips to Phoenix, to allow us to drive to Tucson and Sedona. In urban vacation spots like Boston and San Francisco, for example, we actually LOVED using their public transportation systems because it gave us a feel for what it was really like to be there. And vacationing at beach resorts? Forget it, if we couldn't walk there from the beach it wasn't worth seeing.

So if you want to look around Orlando, go to Universal or Sea World or whatever, then a car may serve you well. But if you plan to do what I do and not leave WDW property, save your money and let Disney do the driving.

-- Eric

I have to agree with CleveRocks. I like the aspect of being in the Disney "cocoon", and not having to think too much while on vacation. The first time DH and I went to WDW together, we rented a car and ended up getting into an accident on Disney property! A cast member rear ended us! That was back in 96. Now we gladly let the bus drivers do the driving!

 

[SpoonfulofSugar]

We've also done both and we prefer to have our disney bus driver fight the traffic for us. We feel that unless you're leaving the parks at peak closing time that it's just faster to hop on a bus right outside the parks instead of having to take a boat, monorail,tram etc. just to get to the car.

 

[rt2dz]

I can't stand to be without a car. Even if we don't use it, we always end up using it at least once though, it's nice to know that the freedom to leave the area (like run to walmart for extra film) is there.

Not to mention with little kids it is so much faster than waiting in line for buses, dragging strollers & shopping bags with you--even during the slow times.