First stay at SSR should we rent a car?

[janni518]

I've been reading the boards for a while and I notice a lot of posts about the wait times and crowded buses at SSR. Now I'm wondering about the pros and cons of car rental for our stay at SSR this coming spring. (This will be my dh and I and our 2 teens.)

We waited for buses at our recent BC stay and some days were worse than others but it seems the issue is a bit worse at SSR since the distance to the parks is farther.

Just wonder if a rental car would be beneficial or more trouble and expense than it's worth.

Appreciate any input.

 

[CraftyMouse]

I've been reading the boards for a while and I notice a lot of posts about the wait times and crowded buses at SSR. Now I'm wondering about the pros and cons of car rental for our stay at SSR this coming spring. (This will be my dh and I and our 2 teens.)

We waited for buses at our recent BC stay and some days were worse than others but it seems the issue is a bit worse at SSR since the distance to the parks is farther.

Just wonder if a rental car would be beneficial or more trouble and expense than it's worth.

Appreciate any input.

We did not have a car during our stay at SSR and had absolutely no problems with the buses. They were never that crowded and always came in a timely manner. That said, we usually drive and have a car with us. We use it to make grocery runs, go to the WDW outlets, visit the other WDW resorts, etc. We never use it to drive to the parks. If we were flying and didn't plan to go off property at all I would skip the car.

 

[bczang]

We drive to WDW and at our stay at SSR we parked the car, unpacked, used WDW Transportation the entire time, and used the car when we left. I enjoy not using the car and any delays caused by the buses are worth me not driving and parking at the parks.

 

[ChelleinNC]

We also drive to WDW and park our car for the week once we get there. The only times we drove anywhere on our last trip were to: AKL for Boma breakfast, and Walgreens to fill a prescription. We had some waits that were long and some weren't. We also had as long (if not longer) waits at BWV last December.
Personally, I wouldn't bother spending the money on the car rental.

 

[airman]

We parked our car by our SSR room on our last trip (July 07) and did not get back into until we checked out a week later. We didn't experience any problems with the busses.

 

[CarolAnnC]

We always rent a car, but we do also use the bus transportation system for some park visits. We had no problems using the bus when we stayed in the Congress Park section. I believe we only took it to the MK, however.

I like the idea that you can park outside your building, similar to OKW, too.

 

[bookswin]

My DW, DS11, and I always rent a car and always use it everywhere except on very rare occasions.

I have absolutely no patience waiting for long periods of time in the heat or late at night in a crowd after Wishes or Fantasmic for a bus that may or may not come in a timely way, may be excruciatingly slow, may be full, may make many stops, etc.

The cost of a car is negligible, compared to the entire cost of the trip. Orlando is one of the cheapest places in the US to rent, and we save much more than that by shopping during our stay at Wal-Mart, Walgreen's, Winn-Dixie, etc.

I will never understand the fondness many people have for the Disney bus system.

 

[buckeyebill1995]

We went 4th of July and after reading all the posts about problems with SSR buses I was concerned but I have to say that we had no trouble at all.

Our only problem was that our room faced the bus stop so we couldn't stop checking out the window every few minutes for our bus, which was a little stressful! "There's our bus! Run!!!"

 

[CraftyMouse]

I will never understand the fondness many people have for the Disney bus system.

I wouldn't call it a fondness, exactly, but I am a big proponent of the buses. If you take your car to the parks you still have to wait with the throngs of people (after the night time shows) for a tram to the parking lot, and then sit in traffic to get out of the park and back to your resort. I've done it both ways and don't find that the buses take much longer than driving my own car.

We just like the buses because they are part of the whole vacation experience for us. We often chat with others who are on board and have had some fun/interesting conversations. We also love talking to the bus drivers and have gotten some interesting information through those conversations.

We're pretty laid back on vacation so we don't stress about waiting a few minutes for the bus. We have only experienced an unacceptably long wait on a handful of occasions (and all but one were at non-DVC resorts) and that's in more than 10 years of DVC ownership plus many trips before that. Taking the bus is just part of the on-site experience for us so we leave the car in it's cozy parking spot and head for the bus stop nearly every time.

But, as they say, different strokes!

 

[buckeyebill1995]

We just like the buses because they are part of the whole vacation experience for us. We often chat with others who are on board and have had some fun/interesting conversations. We also love talking to the bus drivers and have gotten some interesting information through those conversations.

We're pretty laid back on vacation so we don't stress about waiting a few minutes for the bus. We have only experienced an unacceptably long wait on a handful of occasions (and all but one were at non-DVC resorts) and that's in more than 10 years of DVC ownership plus many trips before that. Taking the bus is just part of the on-site experience for us so we leave the car in it's cozy parking spot and head for the bus stop nearly every time.

I agree! We've only had one bad experience with the buses and that was at Caribbean Beach before we bought DVC. We have met so many wonderful people on the buses, it is part of the experience for us. I can still remember our first trip back in 1992 - the bus driver had the entire bus singing classic disney songs the whole trip back to Disney Village (now SSR). Also, we tend to do the parks commando style so by the time we are done at the end of the day, the last thing we want to do is schlep to the car and drive 'home'.

 

[CraftyMouse]

I agree! We've only had one bad experience with the buses and that was at Caribbean Beach before we bought DVC. We have met so many wonderful people on the buses, it is part of the experience for us. I can still remember our first trip back in 1992 - the bus driver had the entire bus singing classic disney songs the whole trip back to Disney Village (now SSR). Also, we tend to do the parks commando style so by the time we are done at the end of the day, the last thing we want to do is schlep to the car and drive 'home'.

My favorite is "Okay everybody, I'm going to take a picture of you all. When I count to 3 everyone say "Cheese!"". The bus driver then counted to 3, we all said cheese and he flashed the interior lights very quickly. The entire bus was laughing! It was priceless.

We've also had the sing-alongs and a trivia contest or two. We've even gleaned some tidbits of information about future plans for WDW on a few occaisons. The bus drivers are the ones "in the know" and we love chatting with them.

Since we've been DVC members we've enjoyed chatting with other members that we meet on the bus. The "relationship" lasts no longer than that one bus ride, but it's nice to share our love of WDW with others who feel the same way!

 

[janni518]

I wouldn't call it a fondness, exactly, but I am a big proponent of the buses. If you take your car to the parks you still have to wait with the throngs of people (after the night time shows) for a tram to the parking lot, and then sit in traffic to get out of the park and back to your resort. I've done it both ways and don't find that the buses take much longer than driving my own car.

We just like the buses because they are part of the whole vacation experience for us. We often chat with others who are on board and have had some fun/interesting conversations. We also love talking to the bus drivers and have gotten some interesting information through those conversations.

We're pretty laid back on vacation so we don't stress about waiting a few minutes for the bus. We have only experienced an unacceptably long wait on a handful of occasions (and all but one were at non-DVC resorts) and that's in more than 10 years of DVC ownership plus many trips before that. Taking the bus is just part of the on-site experience for us so we leave the car in it's cozy parking spot and head for the bus stop nearly every time.

But, as they say, different strokes!

First off thanks to everyone for their input. Right now we are leaning towards a "No!" on the car question but still keeping an open mind about it.

The transportation I agree is part of the whole Disney experience and I think even if we werre to get a car we'd still avail ourselves of the system part of the time. In fact many of my favorite pictures from our recent WDW vacation were taken of my two kids on the bus after a long fun-filled day at the parks. (See below)

 

[andreadoiron]

we never rent, always use the buses. we have stayed at ssr and okw at peak (april break jersey week) and nonpeak times (2nd week of jan) and found the waits to be random and not related to timeframe (buses could be just as crowded in jan as april break) not sure what the secret is but i can say that my SIL rented a car and dropped me off at MK one day. the time it took to go from the parking lot at MK to finally get into the park made me thankful for the buses! and that was in Jan during a "low time". i've now decided that no matter how long i might wait for a bus, it is still better than driving my car, parking and getting a tram into the park!
if you are going to an early entry park, get to the bus stop about 45 min before opening time. we tried to do 20 -25 minutes before early entry and missed the bus every time. i think the buses run very early in the morning, well before the parks open!
obviously the financial benefit is quite a lot which really is another factor. i don't want to spend $200 or more for a car if i don't have to. another plus is that you don't have to return the rental before you fly out and mco is very busy and not easy to navigate at times. my SIL cut it too close when we returned in jan and didn't have time to eat before boarding the plane. she said it was pretty stressful to cut it that close and she gave herself more than 2 hours to return the car and board the plane! i thought magical express leaving disney 3 hours before flight time was ridiculous but they seem to know what they are doing.