Help from MCO to UO to PC to WDW to MCO!

[Albertan mom]

Suggestions of cheapest most practical way to do this:

We arrive at MCO Saturday night.
Need to GO to a hotel in Universal Orlando area that night.
DAy at UO Sunday. Stay in same hotel that night.
GO to Port Canaveral Monday.
Cruise for 3 days
GO to WDW on Thursday.
GO back to MCO on Tuesday.

Is it best to rent a car? Then take it from MCO to UO to Port to WDW to MCO?
Or from MCO to UO to Port to WDW, then leave car there and take ME back to MCO?
Will we pay a ton for parking at Port Canaveral? Is parking free at WDW? Are tolls expensive?
Or should we shuttle it/private driver/bus it?
I have crunched some numbers, but would love any advice.

 

[bumbershoot]

ONLY number-crunching will help, though.

Only you know the cost of the rental car combos for your trip, booking it now. If those prices make sense, including the Universal onsite hotel parking fees, go for that.

Compare it to a towncar/limo place like fltours.com or happylimo.com (the first has discount codes on the dis and the second has discount codes on mousesavers.com), and figure out which one would be more enjoyable to you if the prices are similar.

Booking one-way trips vs booking roundtrips plus shipping is going to be totally dependent on the current prices for the dates you're looking at. Just because one person got a great r/t deal today doesn't mean you'll get that tomorrow. And vice versa.

Parking is free for onsite guests at WDW.
Tolls are NOT expensive. They get irritating, but it's around $5 for the port to Orlando (maybe a little bit more). That's not a lot for as nice a roads as the toll roads are in the area.
You can look up the parking fees at Port Canaveral.

 

[Lynne G]

For me, and the idea we like to eat and do some shopping off site, I found renting a car was the best fit for me. I did pay parking at the USO hotel, $20 a night, but I didn't think that was bad, given I just considered it part of my hotel cost, I also left the rental car in a lot near the port. I also thought the parking fee at the off site port lot was reasonable. I book online and the cost was $8 or so. I found the shuttle they run to the port was timely. I found keeping the car the whole time cheaper and less hassle than renting in pieces. The lines for the rental cars at port were long. The line for the lot I used was not.

I agree with Bumbershoot. Do the math, and consider what else you are doing, and the convenience.

Have a great trip. We did that twice so far. One time with a 7 night cruise, one time with a 3 night cruise.

 

[goofy4tink]

I would definitely look into renting a car. You will pay to park at US/IoA onsite resorts. Not sure about the resorts off-site. You will pay to park at port, but it's soooo nice to just park the car and walk across the street to the ship, and then off the ship, walk back across the street, load the car and drive off.
Tolls aren't a big deal at all, and the drive is easy.

A car service just to port and back will run you $200, give or take! Add the ride from the airport to US/IoA and it's more.
Even though parking at port isn't cheap, I love the convenience.

 

[tobikaye]

I would definitely agree that in this case a rental car would be the way I would go. It will likely be cheaper and easier to deal with. If you are not sure, I would price out a rental to cover your entire trip first and add in any parking fees, such as at PC ($60) or tolls. I would estimate $20 for tolls if you drive yourself everywhere just to be safe. Then you can price out taxi/town cars.

If I did not want to rent a car the entire trip, I might consider only a partial rental, but I do not know if it would save money or time overall. Rent at MCO on arrival, use for USO, drive to PC and return the car there, then use rental agency shuttle (free) to terminal for cruise. Take DCL shuttle to WDW resort (if staying onsite - $35/pp one way) then use DME (free) to return to MCO.

 

[Albertan mom]

Thanks everyone!
I think a rental car is the way to go for sure.
Now to go price that out!