Do you rent a car when staying onsite?

[gone2carolina]

Do you think it's necessary to rent a car if staying at an onsite hotel? I'm not sure if I want to rely on the buses etc... Any opinions on this?
thanks,

 

[jenndisney]

We will be there for 10 days, 9 nights and are only renting a car to get us to Kennedy Space Center. Other than that we use the buses. We had a car our last trip and only drove it once, to move it to a closer parking spot. The buses are great and get you right to the gate. Much closer than I could park. I figure I do enough walking all day, I would love to save those steps.

 

[akrake]

we like to rent a car...but we have young children....so sometimes it makes it easier....esp when we go to akl for dinner or ak & don't want to wait for the bus.........but it really depends on what time of year you are going (harder to park during peak season) and how many people you have in your group...you should also consider where you are staying. if i were staying at a value resort, i would get a car bc it's furtherest from the parks. jmo.
akrake

 

[ncbyrne]

You will get strong opinions on both sides of this question. We ALWAYS rent a car. Sometimes we do use Disney transportation, but most of the time we drive to the parks. I know people say that the busses are wonderful transportation, but all too often I've had to wait for more than one bus because it's full to capacity. And I have often had to stand the entire way too. It's just so much easier and nicer to have a car. And it's absolutely needed for daytime trips to DD or anywhere off site.

 

[brentalex]

we never rent a car when we stay onsite. We are on vacation and it is so nice not to have to drive. You may need to plan things out to get to where you want to be on time, especially for meals at other resorts, but it is not a real big deal. We usually go to Seaworld, or Universal for one day and we just get a taxi. It is so nice to just let others do the driving the whole time.

 

[kimisabella]

We always rent a car. DH doesn't like to wait for the buses, and sometimes they are crammed full of people. We also have young kids so it's just easier. We just like to get in our cars and go, but that's just us... We like to do things on our own schedule and not wait for the buses... It's really a personal decision, you know your family best!!!!

 

[gone2carolina]

thanks everybody. I'm leaning toward renting the car since I don't like to depend on buses etc... Plus if we want to go offsite it will make it so much easier to know that we have the car if we want it.

 

[LSchrow]

we ALWAYS rent a car, but use WDW trans to the parks (we find it more inconvenient & time-consuming to park car/wait/take shuttle & wait/take shuttle/FIND car )

the car is for:
offsite dining (great buffets at golden corral & sizzler)
offsite shopping (outlets, grocery shopping)
going to other resorts (mostly dining)

in the past, it only made sense for us (4 ppl) as we would have to pay for trans from/to the airport anyway.
this year, we're using ME (just 2 ppl), but renting a car at the Dolphin National (no airport concession fee ) to go offsite.

 

[winniedapooh]

We have gone numerous times and rented a car every time. The first time we did not use the car and used hotel transportation, never again! It was an off-site hotel so I was a slave to their scheduling! I like having the freedom to come and go and with 5 kids this works well for us.

 

[gone2carolina]

5 kids and luggage? wow! Sounds like you need to rent a bus not a car.

We have gone numerous times and rented a car every time. The first time we did not use the car and used hotel transportation, never again! It was an off-site hotel so I was a slave to their scheduling! I like having the freedom to come and go and with 5 kids this works well for us.

 

[Anastasia]

We have rented a car on each trip also. We shop around for great rates, and have gotten some great deals.

I have to admit that we have never used the Disney transportation (other than the monorail when staying at the GF). But at the end of the day, when we see all of those people lined up for the buses, we are very happy to have our own car. We just like the freedom it affords us to come and go as we please.

 

[Humphrey53209]

It really depends on whether you're left-brained or right-brained

Regards,
Humphrey53209

 

[LauraAnn630]

We didnt rent a car last year and wished we did. Only because we ended up needing things for our 2 yr old. I also dropped and broke our camara so we needed to buy disposable ones!

This year we are renting a car two times. We plan to goto the grocery store and the outlets.

Last year when we took a cab twice! It cost $80.00!!

 

[travelbug]

For me, it depends on how long I'm staying and who I'm going with. For 5- night trips or so, I/we have used towncar service and then relied on Disney transpo for everything else. For a week or longer, I/we always rent a car in order to be able to branch out a little and explore more, but never to drive to and from the parks. I've traveled solo a couple times, and have rented a car those times so I'd have a little more freedom.

 

[johnruuu]

It is vacation and we always rent a car. Thinking is so that we can come and go anywhere at anytime, especially if we don't want to be at the mercy of alternate trans systems/schedules/crowds.

9 days !

 

[golfgal]

We rented a car for our trip mainly because we were going to Cocoa Beach and it was only about $40 more to have it for the whole trip then just the last part of our trip. We used the buses most of the time. We were at AKL and the buses were easy. We drove when we had a PS at another resort and then if we went to a park after that, left the car at the resort and took DIsney transportation. We ate at CHef Mickey and took the monorail to the park after dinner, then took the monorail back to the Contemporary and picked up our car. We also drove to the water parks. We wouldn't have driven to MK or Epcot, it is way easier to take a bus.

 

[Laurajean1014]

Some times, but mostly no. If we venture to the outlets and stuff, but not to drive to the parks.

 

[Chicago526]

I've never rented a car for my trip. That said, for future trips (excluding our upcomming honeymoon) I think I will look at rental cars. What I'll really do is take a hard look at the cost of a town car versus a car rental, taking into account the cost of gas and the savings from being able to get off site and time savings. If the car doesn't cost more than double the town car, it would be worth it.

 

[powellrj]

we always rent a car, even when we stay on-site. It really isn't that expensive and we like the freedom a car gives you. Check mousesavers.com for some great car rental codes.

 

[mermaidlagoon]

hmmmmm .... I figure lots of people are going to be using the ME, Ive heard less people are renting cars, SO I would think the busses and monorails would be more crowded than before. We are staying Poly and Beach so we can quickly walk or use the boats, however we are going 12/14to 28th , we thought about using Tiffany or the new Quicksliver shuttles for two reasons , first our car rental last year was 700 bucks, second with an early return flight I definitely want to avoid Magical Express with their 3 hour in advance of flight pickup time. This year there are 4 of, us and we pack alot ,especially after last xmas freezing temps, sooooo...guys what do you suggest?? Also after initial groceries stop we stay on Disney property.