For those who RECENTLY rented from Alamo @ MCO....

[Donna M]

We rented on Feb. 11. I started with a reservation for a full sized for $302 and a minivan for $526. I was able to get the minivan down to $499 and the full sized to $250 with the plan to check out the full sized aisle for a minivan. Well there was one minivan but someone was already at it.

About a week before the trip I was able to get a premium crossover for $341. With that, I cancelled the minivan, but still hoped to find one on the fullsized aisle. The Infinity QX60 was a joy to drive since we had to go to Jacksonville during our stay. I had checked in and had the paperwork for the crossover.

When dropping off the car there were over 4 minivans is the midsized aisle and some in the fullsized aisle. This was on Presidents Day at 9 am.

 

[BellaBaby]

@momto4obkids When you checked in on your phone, did you just hand your phone to the gate person since you didn't have paperwork? Sorry for the many questions, just want to do this right if I luck out and find a mini van on the full size aisle.

 

[PatMcDuck]

We picked a Jeep Wrangler Unlimited off the Mid SUV one, a bright red one. My daughter picked it. They had many different ones, I know they had a Tucson, almost took that. Maybe Chevy Equinox's too.

 

[momto4obkids]

@momto4obkids When you checked in on your phone, did you just hand your phone to the gate person since you didn't have paperwork? Sorry for the many questions, just want to do this right if I luck out and find a mini van on the full size aisle.

No problem! I just handed her my ID and credit card and went to show her my phone and she said she didn't need it, she could pull it up with the card and ID.

 

[BellaBaby]

Great! Thanks for the info!!

 

[mom23guys2]

We had a standard SUV reserved. We picked a Nissan Murano. Lots of Santa Fes

 

[Darklord77]

I reserved a standard car. They had about 5 Dodge Caravan's, 5 Chevy Malibu's, 1 small Jeep SUV, and a few Nissan Altima's on the full size row. I glanced at the mid size row and saw 3 or 4 Dodge Caravan's and the rest were Toyota Corolla or similar sized cars. All the rows in every car category were full at 7:45 AM.

 

[Ralph&Pam]

Arrived Sunday, 4 March, about 11:15 am. Reserved full size with skip the counter, so went directly to the aisle. The full size aisle was full, almost all standard 4-door sedans, 2 or 3 pickups, only 1 minivan, no SUV. The only Toyota Camry (reservation says Toyota Camry or equal) was black with black interior, but I avoid black cars in Florida when the weather starts to get hot. Quite a few Nissan Altimas and Hyundia Sonatas, a couple of Ford Fusion hybrids. I took a white Altima with less than 4K miles.

 

[Hisgirl]

Rented a midsize, picked up a Ford Fusion Hybrid and loved it! (end of Feb)

 

[lwymant]

just picked up my rental on Monday march 5th at 11:00am and here's what i can tell you;
RESERVATIONS - I had two reservations book, one standard and one mini-van - without skip the counter, but all my other details including additional drivers on the Alamo website - so no credit card on file
After landing, i went straight to the lot.
STANDARD CAR - As commented before, I can confirm there is no standard vehicle lane, so if you booked a standard size you go to the full size lane!
FULL SIZE AISLE - Surprisingly, there was only one car in the aisle - a Toyota Camry. There were about 6 pick up trucks and 6 mini vans. Keys are in the vehicle so you just grab the one your want. i grabbed a mini-van
CANCEL/SKIP THE COUNTER - From the lot on my mobile phone i completed the skip the line process on Alamo and there is an option to print the bar code that you need for check out (which I obviously couldn't do) . They also email ,almost instantly the confirmation with the bar-code. I also cancelled the mini-van reservation from my phone
CHECK OUT - At the exit I simply handed over my phone with the bar-code, my credit card and driver's license and off we went.
CREDIT CARD HOLD/Authorizations: When you enter the skip the counter counter details, you car is authorized $1.00. When you check out the card is authorized for the full amount of the rental.

 

[Rich M]

just picked up my rental on Monday march 5th at 11:00am and here's what i can tell you;
RESERVATIONS - I had two reservations book, one standard and one mini-van - without skip the counter, but all my other details including additional drivers on the Alamo website - so no credit card on file
After landing, i went straight to the lot.
STANDARD CAR - As commented before, I can confirm there is no standard vehicle lane, so if you booked a standard size you go to the full size lane!
FULL SIZE AISLE - Surprisingly, there was only one car in the aisle - a Toyota Camry. There were about 6 pick up trucks and 6 mini vans. Keys are in the vehicle so you just grab the one your want. i grabbed a mini-van
CANCEL/SKIP THE COUNTER - From the lot on my mobile phone i completed the skip the line process on Alamo and there is an option to print the bar code that you need for check out (which I obviously couldn't do) . They also email ,almost instantly the confirmation with the bar-code. I also cancelled the mini-van reservation from my phone
CHECK OUT - At the exit I simply handed over my phone with the bar-code, my credit card and driver's license and off we went.
CREDIT CARD HOLD/Authorizations: When you enter the skip the counter counter details, you car is authorized $1.00. When you check out the card is authorized for the full amount of the rental.

Perfectly done. Sure you saved a lot doing it this way also.

 

[BellaBaby]

@lwymant Wow! Thanks so much for the info!!

I'm still nervous to try this since we are arriving around midnight. Not sure what might be on the aisle. But I may try it.

 

[ricosuave]

We booked a full-size through Costco and there were several Malibus, several Altimas, 2 Dodge Chargers, 1 Impala and NO MINIVANS in the full-size aisle. I did not see any in the mid-size aisle either or we would've asked about it. We love minivans. We got a Dodge Charger for $20 a day. Had 7,000 miles on it. This was Feb. 9th.

 

[disneycruisedreams]

Questions... how does the person that you hand your paperwork to when you leave the garage know what aisle you got the car from when you skip the counter? I wouldn't want to be charged a higher rate.

 

[dina444444]

Questions... how does the person that you hand your paperwork to when you leave the garage know what aisle you got the car from when you skip the counter? I wouldn't want to be charged a higher rate.

The cars all have barcodes on them. I believe the attendants scan the barcode when the park the car to indicate which aisle it was in.

 

[disneycruisedreams]

The cars all have barcodes on them. I believe the attendants scan the barcode when the park the car to indicate which aisle it was in.

Thank you!

 

[sjwinkle]

Arrived in MCO on 2/27. Had a standard reservation through AutoSlash (who I highly recommend, by the way). I was sent to the Full Size aisle where there was one Altima, 6 mini vans, 1 Ford Escape (which I took) and one Jeep Compass. I checked the mileage on the Jeep, Altima and Escape because I wasn't interested in a van. All were kind of high at 22,000 or more. The red Escape was great for us!

 

[rlduvall]

Questions... how does the person that you hand your paperwork to when you leave the garage know what aisle you got the car from when you skip the counter? I wouldn't want to be charged a higher rate.

The cars all have barcodes on them. I believe the attendants scan the barcode when the park the car to indicate which aisle it was in.

When I was there in early December, I had rented a full size vehicle. Someone else had just grabbed the last SUV from that aisle so I asked the attendant, very nicely, if they knew if any SUVs might be coming soon as I wouldn't mind waiting. She told me just to go grab one from the standard-size SUV aisle which I thought was incredibly generous. And when I checked out I was only charged the full size vehicle rate. Not sure how they know if you picked from the right aisle because, even though I had permission, I obviously didn't.

 

[rbchimp]

nevermind, i misread.

 

[disneyeveryyear]

The cars all have barcodes on them. I believe the attendants scan the barcode when the park the car to indicate which aisle it was in.

I always thought that was how it worked, but when we arrived in January with a reservation for a mid-size SUV, we went to that aisle and it contained 3 SUVs and one 4 door truck. Another family got there ahead of us and grabbed the only SUV that didn't have a cone on top indicating that they didn't have keys. I went to the garage counter and indicated that there wasn't anything that would work for us. With a stroller, we couldn't take a chance on using a truck.

He told me to go to the standard size SUV lot and grab whatever we wanted. He didn't look at my reservation, so the check-out person didn't have any idea that we had been upgraded. We actually ended up with a Nissan Murano. It was very nice. There was no additional charges when we returned the car.