Driving Around the World

[mccathy]

So... I'm thinking of renting a car for my June trip with my mom and sister (and my kids). My mom is probably going to rent an ECV and we're staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge. Between dealing with the scooter and the buses and the fact that our resort is not really close to anything - I'm thinking renting a car might be the way to go.

Is it pretty easy to drive around Disney property? I usually have a good sense of direction, but all the times I've been to Disney we've NEVER driven around and I don't pay much attention while on the buses. I'm always the one who drives, so usually a Disney Vacation means I get to relax and let someone else do the driving.

And... while I'm at it - anyone have a rental car company that they LOVE?

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

Driving around Disney is fairly easy - you just need to follow the signs. Everything is clearly marked by the huge purple signs.

There is one problem I see with renting a car with an ECV - is your Mom going to rent an ECV at each of the parks or rent one from an outside agency to use for her entire trip? If she's going to rent one for the entire trip, you're going to have a very tough time transporting an ECV in any type of passenger vehicle. ECVs don't fold up like strollers to put in the trunk whereas Disney buses are made for transporting ECVs.

If she's renting at each of the parks, then you need to look at if you want to rent at the airport (that is, if you're not taking ME to your resort). The major onsite rental agencies are Alamo, Avis, Budget, Dollar, Enterprise, Hertz, National and Thrifty. Which agency to rent from is usually dependent on who has the lowest price, or dependent on your personal preference. Mousesavers.com is a good place to start for discount coupons.

If you are taking ME and want to rent a car on-site at Disney you have a couple options. 1) Care Care Center - which is Alamo/National, 2) Hertz at Shades of Green, 3) Alamo/National at the Dolphin hotel and 4) rental car locations at several of the hotels in the Downtown Disney area.

 

[mccathy]

Driving around Disney is fairly easy - you just need to follow the signs. Everything is clearly marked by the huge purple signs.

There is one problem I see with renting a car with an ECV - is your Mom going to rent an ECV at each of the parks or rent one from an outside agency to use for her entire trip? If she's going to rent one for the entire trip, you're going to have a very tough time transporting an ECV in any type of passenger vehicle. ECVs don't fold up like strollers to put in the trunk whereas Disney buses are made for transporting ECVs.

If she's renting at each of the parks, then you need to look at if you want to rent at the airport (that is, if you're not taking ME to your resort). The major onsite rental agencies are Alamo, Avis, Budget, Dollar, Enterprise, Hertz, National and Thrifty. Which agency to rent from is usually dependent on who has the lowest price, or dependent on your personal preference. Mousesavers.com is a good place to start for discount coupons.

If you are taking ME and want to rent a car on-site at Disney you have a couple options. 1) Care Care Center - which is Alamo/National, 2) Hertz at Shades of Green, 3) Alamo/National at the Dolphin hotel and 4) rental car locations at several of the hotels in the Downtown Disney area.

Thanks for all the car info!

I've actually been over on the Disablities board and many of those with scooters choose to rent a car and say they fit pretty easily into the trunk. I was thinking we'd need an SUV or minivan, but most said a regular car would work.

My mom can do some walking, so we'd leave it in the trunk when at the resort. We plan on leaving the parks mid-day and are worried about being able to get an ECV from the parks after our return - so we do plan on using an off-site rental company.

Thanks again for all that info - it's been copied and pasted into my "INFORMATION FOR DISNEY" file.

 

[joelkfla]

My mom can do some walking, so we'd leave it in the trunk when at the resort.

You'll need to take it to the room to charge overnight.

 

[At World's End]

You'll need to take it to the room to charge overnight.

We rented a scooter from Walker Mobility a couple of years ago for my mom. They had an adaptor ($20 extra) that allowed you to just remove the batteries and charge them seperately. The batteries are pretty heavy, but you could probably transport them back and forth in a piece of carryon luggage. We kept the adaptor with us during the day in case she needed to charge the scooter while out, but she never needed to.

We had a minivan and we (I mean my strong DH and his brother!) could just pick up the scooter and put it in the back without breaking it down at all. Myself, I would have had to remove the batteries, remove the seat and then lift the base (35 lbs approx) into the car.

I like National car rental, because when you join the Emerald Aisle club (free link on mousesavers.com) and reserve a midsize, you get to select from lots of vehicles, and can often get a minivan or small SUV for the midsize price. On our last trip we rented a full size with Alamo and they had minivans, crossovers and large sedans that would easily fit a scooter. We ended up with a minvan and the full size rental was cheaper than National's midsize price. Alamo's Insider program makes the rental process very easy - just check in at the kiosk and go select your vehicle. I would go with the cheaper rental - either fullsize at Alamo or midsize at National.