Having a Car...Tips, Tricks, Info...?

[FormrCastMbr]

Hi All!

We are renting a car for the first time for our next trip in 3 weeks. We plan on pretty much staying on site, venturing to the grocery store and maybe a meal or two off site.

Do you have any info that you can share with me? Like:

Do you drive to the parks, DTD, PI, other resorts?

Do you pay for parking (we are DVC owners)?

We are going the the Beach Club for breakfast one day. Can we stay parked there all day if we walk to EPCOT?

What grocery store is the best and closest (not Goodings of course!)?

Thanks!!!

 

[patriotsfan]

We never rented a car in the 30 yrs of going to WDW until this year, because my DD is a grad student @ UCF. It is the best thing especially staying at a DVC. We shop @ Winn Dixie on Apopka just outside of Saratoga Springs. We ate dinner at Macaroni grill and the Ale house also on Apopka. You can park at the different resorts for short periods of time. I'm not sure if you can park all day though. I would assume not. Have fun.

 

[FormrCastMbr]

Thanks Patriots fan! I think I will call the BC to see if we can park there for 1/2 the day when we go to breakfast/EPCOT. Worst case, we'll jump back in the car and drive to EPCOT, right?

We enjoyed the Macaroni Grill last time we were there and my sister had a car. I have not been there in ages.

Thanks again!

 

[bzzelady]

Even though you have a breakfast reservation for Cape May, you are not permitted to leave your car there while you go to Epcot, though it sounds really tempting. To be safe, I would just move your car to the Epcot parking lot.

 

[boardwalk prof]

When we have a car, we drive to the parks. While Disney transportation is okay, not having to wait for the bus is a real treat. All Disney resort guests get free parking at the theme parks.

The Winn-Dixie that Patriotsfan mentioned is great; 11957 S Apopka Vineland Rd Orlando FL. A short trip and prices are reasonable. FWIW, there is also an 'adult beverage' store located next door.

You can rent a car at the Dolphin for as many days as you like. National or Alamo I think.

Have a great trip.



Boardwalk Prof


P.S. Thanks for the link to "It's My Heart". Our son is CHD survivor!

 

[FormrCastMbr]

Even though you have a breakfast reservation for Cape May, you are not permitted to leave your car there while you go to Epcot, though it sounds really tempting. To be safe, I would just move your car to the Epcot parking lot.

Thanks, I'll do that!

P.S. Thanks for the link to "It's My Heart". Our son is CHD survivor!

Thanks for all the info!

Your welcome for the link...my cousin's son was born with HLHS and has been doing wonderfully and she (my cousin) has started the NJ chapter of IMH...they are wonderful!

All the best to you and your son!

 

[javamom]

P.S. Thanks for the link to "It's My Heart". Our son is CHD survivor!

So is mine

http://www.geocities.com/ababyalmostlost

 

[DeeCee735]

We love having a car at Disney. We don't use the buses, free parking at the parks for DVC members. We use it to resort hop too, because there isn't resort to resort WDW transportation. We also like being able to pack whatever we want, especially a cooler full of poland spring water and coffee creamer Works great to have a car there, and we very rarely leave the property.

 

[Disney MAINEiac]

depends on which DVC resort we stay at, whether we drive to a park or not. when we stay at BC or BWV we walk or boat to epcot and DHS. we always drive to animal kingdom regardless of resort (long bus ride usually with multiple stops) buses to the MK are usually much better than taking the car, buses drop at the gate, car must transfer at the TC and hop a train.

car is worth the cost if you are trying to save cash on food, off site dining savings will usually pay for it.
IMHO

 

[MinnieVanMom]

Do we really get free parking for all the parks as a DVC owner? I didn't know that?

 

[Disney MAINEiac]

Do we really get free parking for all the parks as a DVC owner? I didn't know that?

anyone staying onsite at disney gets free parking

 

[DisDaydreamer]

We always bring our car. We really like the freedom and luxury of packing whatever we want. But once we have done our grocery shopping we rarely use it again during our stay. We're in no hurry to get anywhere so we use the DIS transportation.

 

[Deb & Bill]

We have only flown once in all our trips. We usually drive. We never drive to MK because it's easier to ride the bus. We will drive to the other theme parks, except for AK if we are going for EMH in the morning. For some reason, the parking lot never opens early enough to get onsite guests into the park except for maybe 15 minutes to go for EMH.

We always drive to the water parks.

DVC guests staying at onsite DVC resorts get free parking at the theme parks. We are not entitled to free parking at the theme parks merely because we are DVC members. It's because we are onsite guests.

 

[itsreally4mommy]

I'm curious about traffic getting out of the parking lots after fireworks/closing. We have always assumed it would be a nightmare. ?

 

[Eeyore's Pal]

We usually drive from Maryland to WDW. Once we get there, we rarely use the car.

We do one shopping trip at the beginning of our stay for fruits, veggies, milk, OJ. After that, we just pick up the odd item at Conch Flats. Honestly not worth our time or gas to make another supermarket trip.

We take the bus to all parks, including water parks. Absolutely can't tolerate getting back into a scalding hot car that sat in the sun baking all day. Put me on those AC buses! DH and I both find that return bus trip to be quite relaxing at the end of the day...even when the bus is full. I think we also enjoy the guest interaction on the buses, both morning and evening. It seems that on every trip we find some family with similar schedule and have fun comparing notes.

We use the car if we're going to shop or eat at another resort, because the bus routes are not suited for that anyway.

When we go to DTD, it's a toss-up. Sometimes we take the car, sometimes the bus, sometimes the boat or a mix of all three.

I've also found that car rental at MCO is not always smooth because it is such a busy airport. I also can't imagine throwing the cost of the rental car and the gas onto the trip budget.

 

[FLYNZ4]

I'm curious about traffic getting out of the parking lots after fireworks/closing. We have always assumed it would be a nightmare. ?

It is generally not a problem. The worse traffic jam I have seen is leaving DHS turning onto E BV Dr. Sometimes that light has quite a backup. However... it is the same light that the buses have to wait for.

/Jim

 

[FormrCastMbr]

Thanks all! I have not read through everything...have to head out to a baseball game.

Like I said, its our first time vacationing in Disney with a car so I want to make sure to do the right thing...your tips are great!