Hire a Car or not?

[markkelly]

Hi

First trip to Disney is getting closer - April 6-20 - we didnt have much choice and I know it will be busy....after much reading

around on here we booked the Wilderness Lodge with the Dining Plan.

I would like opinions on whether we should hire a car or not. My main motivation is that I dont want to be hanging around and wasting

time for buses etc....and I figure if the buses/internal transport is good...maybe even better than travelling by car in someways if

you get dropped right at the gates rather than needing to park a good distance away?

Kids are 8 & 6 and so this is very much intended to be a Disney holiday rather than doing a lot of other stuff Orlando has to offer

(save that for a future visit).

We can book Disney Express to get us to and from the airport. We get a boat to Magic Kingdom but what about the buses etc to all the

other Disney parks? Are they regular, can you get on without problem or do they turn up full, can we get to all the parks?
ONe reason we picked Wilderness lodge was because it was easy to get to Magic Kingdom and also someone said on here it was a nice

compact Deluxe resort so not loads of bus stops.

If the car is going to be in the hotel car park most of the time I would rather keep the money back (about £250) for taxis to the

other places that we will go outside Disney - like Sea World, Shopping Mall etc...Are taxis easily available in resort, quick to show

up, any idea of costs from Disney to eg Sea World or Universal. Any others we shouldnt miss this time give the kids ages?

Thanks

 

[Elise79]

Car every time for us. I do not like waiting for the buses prefer to be in control. WL shares buses to the parks with another resort.

Shopping & Seaworld will be easier with a car too

 

[MarkF0wle]

Hi

First trip to Disney is getting closer - April 6-20 - we didnt have much choice and I know it will be busy....after much reading

around on here we booked the Wilderness Lodge with the Dining Plan.

I would like opinions on whether we should hire a car or not. My main motivation is that I dont want to be hanging around and wasting

time for buses etc....and I figure if the buses/internal transport is good...maybe even better than travelling by car in someways if

you get dropped right at the gates rather than needing to park a good distance away?

Kids are 8 & 6 and so this is very much intended to be a Disney holiday rather than doing a lot of other stuff Orlando has to offer

(save that for a future visit).

We can book Disney Express to get us to and from the airport. We get a boat to Magic Kingdom but what about the buses etc to all the

other Disney parks? Are they regular, can you get on without problem or do they turn up full, can we get to all the parks?
ONe reason we picked Wilderness lodge was because it was easy to get to Magic Kingdom and also someone said on here it was a nice

compact Deluxe resort so not loads of bus stops.

If the car is going to be in the hotel car park most of the time I would rather keep the money back (about £250) for taxis to the

other places that we will go outside Disney - like Sea World, Shopping Mall etc...Are taxis easily available in resort, quick to show

up, any idea of costs from Disney to eg Sea World or Universal. Any others we shouldnt miss this time give the kids ages?

Thanks

In terms of Disney transportation I have always been impressed with it. I've stayed at Coronado Springs & Old Key West & both times been impressed with the buses. Then run on about a schedule of every 20 minutes, but it's like with all buses where sometimes you can be waiting 5 minutes another time you could be waiting 30 minutes.

All tolled we've used the buses for 5 weeks & I could count maybe twice when we had an issue that caused us to wait more than 20 minutes. Which is more during the middle hours of the day. In the mornings they want to get you to the parks to spend money so buses are around but that's the same time everybody is travelling so they can be busy in the mornings between 9-11. The only other time you'll find the buses full is at park closing if you're still there when everybody floods out after fireworks in one big bunch. Again though they have the most buses running at this time to handle.

Overall my experience is buses = good. The driver of the family here finds it more relaxing too, so it's good her holiday is improved.

In terms of car or not, we played the same question in our brain. We choose to get one because in the end it would cost more in taxi fare to Universal than it would to rent a car. We get the Magical Express into Disney then collect the car a day before our first off property trip from the car centre at MK then drop it off the evening of out last trip off property. They will pick you up & drop you off anywhere on Disney property to/from the care centre within their operating hours which I think is 7am-9pm. I think.

We just park it up & still use Disney buses if we go to Disney & only use it to go off property. When I used the Mears taxi approximator service the trips to/from Universal are way more expensive that I would've thought personally.

 

[queendisney]

may be just hire a day for the days that you will definitely need one ie when you go off resort..

Personally I think if you are mostly on resort then its not needed. You may be parked well away from the park entrance and still have to wait for the trolley to pick you up and take you to the park. MK parking is well away from the gates and you'll still have to maybe get the trolley just to take you to the TTC to catch either the boat or the monorail to the entrance. From WL you have a lovely boat ride direct to MK. We have always found the Disney buses good from WL (with exception of the DTD bus, that was always ages), but parking at DTD can be a nightmare at present anyway as there is loads of construction going on and limited parking. It was a constant traffic jam in Nov/Dec trying to get in to the parking lot.

 

[Rach78]

I would choose to hire a car. Much less hassle to go anywhere off site and no waiting for buses. As a PP said, perhaps just hire a car for a week when you can then plan to do any off site days out.

 

[wayneg]

We wouldn't go without a car, even if its just sat there for a day or 2 unused I want it there for when I want it. When staying at OKW we have started to use the bus ervice a little, mainly MK & Epcot as they are easier & quicker than parking up but still use the car more than buses.
We also visit many places and people away from Disney so a car is far more practical.
Saying that many manage perfecty well without a car, I just think by the time you pay for taxis to malls & SW etc you might as well have the car there when you want it.
You need to buy car hire at the right time and right company, get a 2 week rental full size car wrong and it will cost £250-300, buy right and it will be under £200.(priced up for someone last night in the Hertz sale for 16 nights in April and it was £196).

 

[pascalstongue]

If you're not planning on going off-site much I would rely on disney transportation. I have always found it to be good and reliable, although I have not stayed at Wilderness Lodge before. As pp mentioned above you could hire a car for a couple of days from the Disney car centre to do any off site stuff you want to do easily.

 

[juliebro]

You need to buy car hire at the right time and right company, get a 2 week rental full size car wrong and it will cost £250-300, buy right and it will be under £200.(priced up for someone last night in the Hertz sale for 16 nights in April and it was £196).

Wow, Wayne, that's a great price for Hertz. We need a car for just over 3 weeks from Good Friday and the quote from Hertz was £715 for an intermediate!

What were the dates you used?

 

[wayneg]

Wow, Wayne, that's a great price for Hertz. We need a car for just over 3 weeks from Good Friday and the quote from Hertz was £715 for an intermediate!

What were the dates you used?

They must have a shortage of cars for Easter.

Slight mistake on my part, it was 12 nights not 16, 6th-18th Apr, Inter would be £204.91 less 8%

But arrive Good Fri for 12 nights and the price rises to £392.01, almost double.

 

[juliebro]

They must have a shortage of cars for Easter.

Slight mistake on my part, it was 12 nights not 16, 6th-18th Apr, Inter would be £204.91 less 8%

But arrive Good Fri for 12 nights and the price rises to £392.01, almost double.

No worries, Wayne. We've arranged to hire from Alamo through Netflights, as the Hertz price was nowhere near. As you say, they must be hiking the prices up for Easter, due to a shortage of cars.

 

[zippy99]

We did 5 trips before hiring a car and never had a problem, however, last year we booked a fly drive so had the car - I loved it! We too stayed at Wilderness Lodge so used the boats for MK and drove to the other parks unless we had a meal booked and I fancied a wine. We also go the boat to Contemporary and monorailed to Epcot but it takes longer - but we enjoyed the trip.

In terms of buses shares it does stop at fort wilderness but that does not take long.

The boats are fun too - we walked to fort wilderness one afternoon and got the boat back - our skipper pointed out all the features on adventure island and where the old river country water park was - I find it fascinating that those two areas just sit there forgotten since the day they closed - would love to do a tour of them

 

[markkelly]

Thanks for all the tips and suggestions guys!

We get the Magical Express into Disney then collect the car a day before our first off property trip from the car centre at MK then drop it off the evening of out last trip off property. They will pick you up & drop you off anywhere on Disney property to/from the care centre within their operating hours which I think is 7am-9pm. I think.

I quite like the idea of getting a car part of the trip - I had looked on a few sites and seen that you can collect and drop from Disney Dolphin....but hadnt come across the MK Car centre...had a quick look on Hertz and Alamo.....is this the same as http://disneycarcare.co.uk/ ?

Again...my main concern is not wasting time.....if I can get a car for say a week then I quite like the idea of using the Disney Express (first trip and dont know where I am going...but I have Sat Na so prob not a big deal).

If picking up a car in the middle of the holiday is going to mean wasting half a day getting to the hire centre and back then I would rather have one parked in the car park ready for when I need it or just reply on the Disney transport

Mears taxi approximator service the trips to/from Universal are way more expensive that I would've thought personally.

Thanks for this too...good tip....looks like $60-70 for return taxis to Sea Worls, $70 Universal and $50 the Mall - so I can see how it quickly adds up.

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

We have stayed at WL and the boat to MK is great, and better than taking the car.

However, we always hire a car and used the car mostly when going to the other parks. We stayed at CSR in December 2012 and it took over 45 minutes to get to DTD, it was the only time we used the bus that stay! We just like the convenience of being able to get around

 

[MarkF0wle]

I quite like the idea of getting a car part of the trip - I had looked on a few sites and seen that you can collect and drop from Disney Dolphin....but hadnt come across the MK Car centre...had a quick look on Hertz and Alamo.....is this the same as http://disneycarcare.co.uk/ ?

That is the one. We booked our car through that website last year & had no problems. I think we also booked with Alamo directly the year prior & collected here also though I could be mistaken. We phoned them the afternoon before & arranged to be collected at Hollywood Studios the next afternoon after dinner about 6:30pm. They were prompt & in 4 trips have only shared the bus once. Once there it took maybe 15 minutes to process since we had already done the Alamo express service by entering all our information on the website. The year prior we hadn't & it took maybe 25 minutes of all the usual attempted upsells & information gathering. But no major deal as our day was all done we had just to drive back to the resort.

The drop off is a matter of seconds, there is somebody in the carpark who collects your keys when you arrive & you get onto the bus, we did this one evening after going to Universal got back about 5 then had them drop us off at EPCOT for a late dinner reservation to watch the Fireworks. Very smooth.

If memory serves they have a Alamo & National desk inside the building.

Thanks for this too...good tip....looks like $60-70 for return taxis to Sea Worls, $70 Universal and $50 the Mall - so I can see how it quickly adds up.

Yeah, my point exactly. I thought maybe $30 or something a trip, but we as a family go to Universal 4 times, SeaWorld 2 times, Discovery Cove & Gatorland, so for 8 trips off property we were looking at a bill of about $550 for taxis which is about double what the car would cost. Even if for 50% of the time we have it it just sits outside doing nothing.

 

[markkelly]

Great info

Thanks again...it is much appreciated

 

[Julia Ann]

We are not hiring a car this time - we are staying on site and plan on 2 maybe 3 days off site to universal and that's it. However, our decision was made not so much on cost but so the drivers don't have to drive whilst on holiday, I can't say its ever an enjoyable experience for either of us. But I think it's a personal choice if its not about the money

 

[Elise79]

We are not hiring a car this time - we are staying on site and plan on 2 maybe 3 days off site to universal and that's it. However, our decision was made not so much on cost but so the drivers don't have to drive whilst on holiday, I can't say its ever an enjoyable experience for either of us. But I think it's a personal choice if its not about the money

It really is very personal - I love driving in FL. Roads are so easy. My idea of hell is waiting for taxis or buses though!

 

[Julia Ann]

It really is very personal - I love driving in FL. Roads are so easy. My idea of hell is waiting for taxis or buses though!

 

[bex7583]

we had a car for part of our trip .. i did not drive it but the dh seemed at ease with the roads and enjoyed driving the only time we had any problems was trying to get to magic kingdom in the car sat nav took us to the entrance where is no parking and even the disney university all the other parks parking seemed well signed apart from magic kingdom unless we just didnt see them