For those who usually rent a car?

[SheriB]

Have any of you ever stayed in DW and not rented a car? We have always had a car because we like the flexibility. However, we are staying at BCV, so we can get to Epcot & the Studios by boat (we can actually walk to Epcot). We can take a bus to MK or AK. I am so disappointed in the rates for rental cars right now and becoming very discouraged. I will keep looking for a good rate, but I need a minivan, and I refuse to pay $600-$700 for a week(May 14-21). The lowest price I got so far was $580. Even that's high. I've never paid more than $300 for a week for a minivan. I know I have to allow extra time when using Disney transportation, and we are not doing our usual commando park touring this time. I just need to make sure I allow enough time to get to our dinner ressies. Am I missing anything? I know there are pros and cons for both sides. It's just that we're so used to having a car. Thanks for any advice.

Sheri

 

[DaniB]

Considering we flew to DW from Canada, we could have rented a car. But choose not to. Last Sept was our first trip and we loved not having to drive! I keep reading crowd bus/monorail/horror stories, but we had no issues what-so-ever. Perhaps because we went in low season? I don't know, but it was heavenly not driving for 10 days!

 

[Elmo007]

I usually have a car. However, i dont use it to MK as it is faster to take the Bus. Its not that much longer to the parks or even DTD by bus, but it does seem that way at closing when you are tired.

The real problem is getting to ADR at other hotels. I love to spend a night at Boardwalk and eat at Flying Fish. For those nights, in the past I have done a day or two rental. Enterprise for example will pick you up on property and on return they will sometimes even drop you at a park

 

[JLR]

We loved not driving when we stayed at the BC! Many of our ADRs were at Epcot or the BW. We did take a taxi once to Chef Mickey, and it ended up being a long walk to the front of Epcot to pick up the bus for our supper reservation at AKL so we took the taxi home. We also took a taxi to and from Discovery cove. We never came close to spending on cab fare what we would have on a car rental. I agree with the pp who said it was just bliss not to have to drive, park, and deal with a rental car!

Now my next trip we will rent a car since my dd is going to a swim camp about 45 minutes away. I am not going to pick it up though until the day before, and even though we will be at AKL instead of BC - I don't know if we will use it for park transportation. we'll see.

 

[1tufgt]

I would try to price your own with priceline and see how it goes. I did that last Sept. when most places were wanting $500+ for a van and was able to get it through priceline for $30 a day through alamo.

 

[n2mm]

OP, you are still 8 weeks away which is plenty of time for some deals. I've noticed this year that the deals are not being offered until closer to your travel times. As for a rental car users not renting. NEVER. We would never not have a rental car. We like taking 15 minutes to go from our resort to the next resort to eat. I won't use my precious vacation time waiting on buses for an hour each way. Plus we are DVC so we do have snacks and drinks in our room, sometimes breakfast and lunch foods too, so we make several quick trips to the grocery store (and liquor store). Also we like to pick up bargains at the Disney outlet, so there's always a trip or two to there. Since we often stay at BWV or BCV we too walk to the Studios and EPCOT, but we still drive to MK and AK.

 

[HelenParr]

We always have a car because we visit relatives off site when we are at WDW. And we usually stay at YC/BC. Other than seeing family, we do not use the car very much. I like it for waterparks, because dripping wet on the bus does not appeal to me. And we will use it for DTD because it's close and parking is easy (most of the time).

But we rarely take it to the parks. A few trips we did not use it at all except for seeing family. Getting to dinner is the easier part. Sometimes getting back is tiring if you are using the bus and it's late. We have splurged for a cab at times back from dinner. And since we like to have the flexibility to drink with dinner, we would not have driven anyway.

Long way of saying: I think you'll be fine.

 

[Dan Murphy]

I have a rental car every trip, and have to pay extra for parking at the Swan. But I use Disney transportation for the parks, always much easier. I use the car for airport, from and back, a grocery stop on the way in, and DtD and resort travel. Sometimes a day at USF/IoA.

 

[Brian Noble]

I almost always rent a car, but my last stay was as a solo traveler at BWV, and I went through more or less the same thought processes. There were a few moments I *really* missed having it---being told by the Mears dispatcher that it would take 30 minutes to get a cab to WWOS after I picked up my race packet; watching someone literally incapable of backing a scooter onto a bus at the MK depot try for 10 minutes before I gave up and took the YC/BC bus and walked over from there; and stopping at all the other four EP-area resorts before stopping at mine on more than one occasion. I also did feel a little "trapped" in that eating at any other resort felt "too hard" (even though I could have just taken a cab.)

All in all, for another stay at an EP-area resort, I might well do without a car again, but I would be more willing to take a cab to get to dinner next time. On the other hand, for the right price, I would probably just get the car.

 

[SheriB]

Thank you all for your perspectives. I know I would feel lost just knowing there wasn't a car at my disposal. Our ressies are all in the Epcot/BC/BW area, so getting there shouldn't be an issue(we can walk to any of them), unless we're really not watching our time. I am still holding out for a better rate on a rental. The only reason I don't use priceline/hotwire is because I only want to use Alamo/National. I appreciate all your responses. We'll see what happens!
Thank you!
Sheri

 

[Disney Dukers]

We are going in August and renting a car. It was very expensive renting it from MCO so we decided not to rent from there. Instead we are going to take the Magical Express bus from the airport to Pop Century. After we check in, I will get setttled in the room with the kids while my DH takes a bus to Downtown Disney and walk across the street to Wyndham Lake Buena Vista Resort and pick up our car at the Dollar Rental counter there. It was less than half price compared to MCO. I looked at vans and they were about $300. So that's an idea you could look into.

 

[MinnieVanMom]

We went years without a car and never knew anything other than Disney transportation. Then last year we rented a car. What a difference in the amount of time spent on transportation.

We stay at BCV also and walk into Epcot. We drive to MGM because it is faster than the bus. We always bus to MK because we don't want to deal with parking and then taking the monorail or boat.

Of course we always drive to AK. We find that we don't need a car at BCV because we eat mostly in Epcot but just like the convenience of having it to stop at the grocery store on the way in or when we go to dinner at Boma's we are now there in 10 minutes instead of the nearly hour to transfer buses.

 

[eliza61]

We did it one time and vowed never again. We stayed at Ft. Wilderness that time and I swear every bus at park closing took an hour to come. My kids always feel asleep on the bus and it was always packed so we had to deal with juggling strollers.

I'm just not a bus gal.

 

[Brer Chump]

Try pricing a vehicle from the Dolphin through Alamo.

I was able to get a 7 passenger minivan with a Visa (Mastercard has the same discount) code and it was $448 after taxes and fees.

 

[jacdolfin]

Hi. I just found this site http://www.carrentalsavers.com/ from another poster on this site. I am flying into Sanford so prices were a bit different. I did not rent a minivan but they have a code thru Budget for a 7 seater SUV for $199 a week plus taxes. We booked this SUV for a total of $260 for a week. I just looked up your dates using this code"U030154" for a SUV at MCO and the total was $272 for the week. You might want to check it out Best of luck. Enjoy your trip!