Dollar Fastlane?

[Snurk71]

Has anyone signed up for and used Dollar's Fastlane option? Is it similar to National's Emerald Aisle? Is it free, and are there any penalties for cancelling? I've got an upcoming WDW trip in December and would love to book a van through them at the great rates they have right now, if I can use the Fastlane. Thanks for your help!

 

[Bill From PA]

It was free when I signed up 2 yrs. ago. Last March we arrives about 11 pm and there were about 12 people in the 'regular' line and 1 guy just finishing up in the FastLane. I got my paperwork done before the other line moved and had the car before the rest of my party could get the bags from the carousel.

Bill From PA

 

[JillU-DVC]

But it is NOT similar to Emerald Aisle, because you always have to go to the rental counter to get your paperwork done. The advantage is special lines (when they bother to man them), so you can get through the line faster, and your paperwork is mostly all set when you get there.

Last time we were in Orlando, we used this for the first time; there were 6 people in the regular line, and we were the only ones in the Fastlane line. But, they didn't have anyone manning our line! We had to wait, although not until all 6 people had gone; we probably waited for one or two people from the other line, and then they had us come up.

We were there in Sept. 2001, and arrived in the middle of the afternoon. Don't know if this was just a slow time for them or if what happened was standard practice.

 

[Snurk71]

Thanks for the responses. I'm glad you pointed out that you still have to visit the counter. I was picturing it being real similar to EA when I read the description on Dollar's site. I may just stick with National. Would you do Dollar again after your experience with waiting a little bit in line? Just curious how important the monetary savings are versus the time and patience savings. Gotta get to WDW as fast as possible, you know! ;-)

 

[JillU-DVC]

I'd use Dollar again, mostly because National's prices have gone through the roof, and it's almost impossible to get reasonable rentals from them. Now, keep in mind that my husband insists on renting a convertible when we're in Florida, so that may have soemthing to do with it. We have to book a convertible, esp since picking on the Emerald Aisle seem to be very slim when we've been there. He'd be so unhappy if we didn't get a convertible that I wouldn't want to be on vacation with him, so I always book a convertible level car.

However, I used to be able to get pretty reasonable prices with National, even when renting a convertible. Last few times I've needed to rent and have checked National, the weekly rental prices were in the $400-$500 range (more than double what I've paid with National before).

So I used Dollar because they had better prices. The line thing did bother me, but we still got through the Fastlane line faster than if we'd been standing in the normal line, so if nothing else, we got a much better deal with Dollar, and got through the line faster than we may normally have.