Has anyone found sensible car hire prices yet?

[Plague]

Does anyone have a definitive answer/personal experience of the absolute quickest way to get from MCO to Disney? We land at 2:30pm and would love to be picked up in the terminal and whisked off to our resort to get into MK as soon as possible. I've read a few reports of this private transfer but generally have seen both positive and negative reviews.

Not done it yet (later this year) but I think Lyft/Uber might be the best bet for reliable speed.
As you've seen, the transfers can go wrong and as you've probably already paid you're kinda stuck with them. They'll likely get you there but it might be slow.
OTOH with a ride-share there are likely to be quite a few around, so there shouldn't be much delay as if one falls there's another.

But (of course) you will need a large car for the airport trip, so that will limit options on ride-sharing. A workaround would be to get two normal ones ... Obviously going to cost more, but probably not double as a larger vehicle would probably cost more anyway.

 

[Plague]

about $30 return

Don't forget tips

 

[deno]

Don't forget tips

haha, indeed

I had thought of Uber from the airport but like you say, need a large vehicle and don't really want to do 2 cars, want to travel together for what will probably be our last family of four trip (our eldest is 18 now).

 

[MichelinMan]

Prices are starting to come down now. I originally got a 3 week hire through Discount Florida Car Hire for £1450 a few weeks ago - the same weeks are now £1200. That is for an Intermediate car through Alamo in July.

 

[Kate_45]

How much would an uber or lyft cost from the airport please?
I'm currently toying with the idea of 5 days onsite before moving into a condo for a few weeks. Obviously we'd save on parking and car hire for those first few days but would have to get to the hotel. I've never actually used either lyft or uber before and so have no idea about costs.

 

[deno]

About $40 according to the app. That’s from MCO to Magic Kingdom TTC

 

[Kate_45]

Thank you very much

 

[gismo1554]

We last week did a mears transfer (not mears connect the actual private transfer) and found it great. They met in baggage claim and were at the hotel within about 30 mins. On the way back we had the same driver and again was really quick and efficient - no issues at all. It is just pot luck I think whether you get issues or not but I would use them again in a heart beat.

 

[nursejackie]

I've been checking out prices for car hire at MCO for 10 days in August, currently around £700, which is more than we used to pay for 17 days pre-covid. Anyone else booked for August? If so, which company did you go with?

 

[Molyneuxd]

I've been checking out prices for car hire at MCO for 10 days in August, currently around £700, which is more than we used to pay for 17 days pre-covid. Anyone else booked for August? If so, which company did you go with?

I'm not going until 2023 but been checking our dates this year as rough idea. Prices have come down from 4x to maybe 3x usual rate. Hertz, Dollar, Alamo, Avis all similar in price.
Hoping they keep falling. £:$ isn't helping matters either.

 

[nursejackie]

I'm not going until 2023 but been checking our dates this year as rough idea. Prices have come down from 4x to maybe 3x usual rate. Hertz, Dollar, Alamo, Avis all similar in price.
Hoping they keep falling. £:$ isn't helping matters either.

Yes you are right about the exchange rate. Also, I didn't mention previously, we used to hire an SUV (Hyundai Santa Fe size) as there were 4 of us with luggage, but this time it's only 2 people so I've been able to go much smaller, and it's still costing more. However, we must have a car and will just pay the extra this time. Hopefully the prices will come down somewhat for you in 2023.

 

[nursejackie]

I've checked Rentalcars.com today and the prices are down again. For a mid size for 10 days is now £537 pre-pay, a big improvement to the nearly £800 I saw 6 weeks ago, and almost £700 a few weeks ago. I'm holding out a little longer, as we don't fly for 7 weeks. I hope I'm doing the right thing.

 

[deno]

You had me taking another look even though I’ve now made all my plans without a car. Over £2,000 still for me with resort parking fees on top of that.

Looking forward to not having the car now and Ubering/Lyfting everywhere and hiring a couple of dailies to get to KSC and Busch Gardens.

Quite excited to let someone else do the driving this year

 

[deno]

We last week did a mears transfer (not mears connect the actual private transfer) and found it great. They met in baggage claim and were at the hotel within about 30 mins. On the way back we had the same driver and again was really quick and efficient - no issues at all. It is just pot luck I think whether you get issues or not but I would use them again in a heart beat.

I'd be interested to hear a little more about this as this is the one I have booked. Gone for a van over the SUV as there are 4 of us and we all have a suitcase + carry on.

Do you make contact with the driver via text when you arrive? How does that side of things work? We land at 2:30pm. What if our flight is late? I'm assuming they keep an eye on your flight times?

Just curious to hear first hand experience with it being my first time.

Looking so much to just grabbing our bags and heading out. Hopefully be in Magic Kingdom by 6pm with a bit of luck

Dene

EDIT: typical Brit question this....on the Mears page it says gratuity included. Is it? If not, what did you tip?

 

[Plague]

Busch Gardens

There is a free shuttle from Orlando to Busch if you have BG tickets.
It might be worth a look. This is the Busch Gardens page:
Shuttle Service from Orlando to Busch Gardens Tampa Bay
Click the Book Online Now button to see the Mears page with pick-up options, but pick a resort and go to the next page to see the ACTUAL pick-up locations - it's tricksy. (I got Lyfts to/from the Publix at Vineland Ave * , where I picked up some supplies for the day before boarding.)

It's almost a no-brainer for one or two people, but I realise that for a family hiring a car might make more sense.

( * I think this is the last stop before BG going out and first coming back, so (in 2018) it was a direct service from there.)

 

[deno]

There is a free shuttle from Orlando to Busch if you have BG tickets.

aaah, interesting, I did not know that. I'll run it by the fam...

Thanks!

 

[gismo1554]

I'd be interested to hear a little more about this as this is the one I have booked. Gone for a van over the SUV as there are 4 of us and we all have a suitcase + carry on.

Do you make contact with the driver via text when you arrive? How does that side of things work? We land at 2:30pm. What if our flight is late? I'm assuming they keep an eye on your flight times?

Just curious to hear first hand experience with it being my first time.

Looking so much to just grabbing our bags and heading out. Hopefully be in Magic Kingdom by 6pm with a bit of luck

Dene

EDIT: typical Brit question this....on the Mears page it says gratuity included. Is it? If not, what did you tip?

So we did van as there were 5 and 9 cases plus hand luggage. All fitted in fine. He was down in the baggage claim area (although we had our baggage already from the pre monorail bit of the airport) with a sign with our name on. I believe they monitor the flight so no issue if the flight is late from what I've read. Our flight landed at 3:30pm but took ages to get threw immigration and there was no problems at all. We were at hotel by about 6pm I think it was might have been earlier.

We didn't contact driver at all on way out or way back. We had confirmation email the day before we flew back just stating time etc for the pick up. He was there dead on time.

We didn't pay extra tip although we weren't sure either. It said it was included and at no point did he make any indication it wasn't or we needed to. We had the same driver both ways and he was chatty on the way back as he had been on way there so didn't feel like we were meant to. I did check the booking about a million times and it does say "gratuity" is included so I went with it.

 

[Plague]

Personally I generally tip a bit even if it's 'included' if the service has been decent, though of course CMs aren't allowed to accept as a rule. (I always leave €/$/£2 each day for housekeeping, even in Disney.)
Where the systems allow for a gratuity to be added to my card payment (like Lyft and many restaurants) I usually pass that and tip in cash if I can. I'm not really sure why - it just seems more personal, but maybe I'm just old ... fashioned

 

[gismo1554]

Personally I generally tip a bit even if it's 'included' if the service has been decent, though of course CMs aren't allowed to accept as a rule. (I always leave €/$/£2 each day for housekeeping, even in Disney.)
Where the systems allow for a gratuity to be added to my card payment (like Lyft and many restaurants) I usually pass that and tip in cash if I can. I'm not really sure why - it just seems more personal, but maybe I'm just old ... fashioned

In all honesty we usually do but we didn't on the way out as just forgot but then on way back he dropped us at the terminal so quickly we didn't even get a chance to. My Dad afterwards said "we should have tipped" as he's like you in that sense. We do usually tip for things like this we just didn't and as said it didn't seem like he was expecting it either.

 

[nursejackie]

You had me taking another look even though I’ve now made all my plans without a car. Over £2,000 still for me with resort parking fees on top of that.

Looking forward to not having the car now and Ubering/Lyfting everywhere and hiring a couple of dailies to get to KSC and Busch Gardens.

Quite excited to let someone else do the driving this year

Oh you are renting for much longer than me, we are only 10 days. I've just checked again and it's back up at £635 for a little Chevy cruze (only 2 of us) so I probably shouldn't have waited

I'm not brave enough to use taxis as it's just me and a young teenager.