Is a rental car worth it?

[Adreana]

We leave next week and are now thinking of renting a car. Is it worth it. We're going to Amway center and is it just quicker to drive to the hotel from the airports and quicker to drive to the parks each morning? Thanks

 

[PSUGuy]

We have no interest in Magical Express so for us it's Tiffany Town Car or a rental. Tiffany is $130 RT with a tip on top, 20% puts it at $156. We have a Dollar compact for 11 days in Oct for $188.90. To us the difference is worth it. The last 2 trips we ran out of food, wine etc and ran to Publix for a re-fill plus we drive to AK and Disney Springs. We stay at Board Walk so we stroll to DHS and Epcot and it's better to take the bus to MK because you avoid the boat or monorail ride. If we stayed elsewhere on property we'd drive to more parks. Given the above, we're renters.

Bill From PA

 

[Adreana]

If staying at one of the value resorts I think a rental car would be worth to drive to the parks daily correct?

 

[Lynne G]

I like having a car. That way, except for MK, I like to come and go as I please. I also like having to only have us and shorter time to return to the airport. Depending on price, I'd always take a car. No parking extra fee at the Disney Resorts, and I also don't mind paying for parking at a Universal hotel either.

 

[PSUGuy]

If staying at one of the value resorts I think a rental car would be worth to drive to the parks daily correct?

Correct, all but MK. We find it better to take the bus there because you get dropped off close to the entrance.

Bill From PA

 

[jcarwash]

I had a rental car for the first time while staying at Pop Century and I enjoyed it a lot -- faster to drive to EP, AK, HS, plus the ability to drive to Publix for some food was a nice option. Driving to Disney Springs (Downtown Disney) wasn't exactly fun, but driving was still better than taking the buses.

Is a rental car worth it over Magical Express? I like not spending the money on the rental car if I'm not planning on leaving WDW, but if your plans involve Universal or anything else you want to do, having a car on WDW property is nice too.

 

[loves to dive]

I'll be the opposite here, I drive down so I always have a car. That car gets parked and never leaves the parking lot until we leave unless we are doing a split stay and then it just to change resorts. My son and I were debating using it on our upcoming March trip while we are staying at CBR for the first part of our stay since we know we'll be doing AK on that leg of the trip. We could drive to AK and back to the resort but then we got stuck in round robin. We don't know what we want to do with the rest of our day, will we go to another park, will we go to another resort to eat, will we just chill out in our room and eat at the resort? If we drive to AK, we have to park farther away then the bus stop so the walk to and from the car is going to be more than the walk to and from the bus. Then one of us is going to have to deal with traffic (hint ain't gonna be me mister) which also means no refreshing adult beverages if we were going to want to have one (or two). Then if we decide we are going to another park do we drive to the other park and go through the parking and walking and driving and not having a refreshing adult beverage (or two) with our dinner? Nope, we decided a bus was a ok with us. The second part of our stay is at Dolphin so we'll walk to Epcot and HS and if we decide to go to MK, we'll most like monorail from Epcot for that.

 

[strat68]

We always rent. We've taken 1 WDW bus ride in the 6 or so family trips. IMHO, it's quicker to drive depending on where you stay.

 

[sara mom]

We have been to WDW 10 times over the past 6 years and say it is worth it. We did not have a car the first 3 trips, but have the latter 7. We tend to have it for 5 of usual 8 day trips. We pick it up at the airport then head right to the parks. When we return it, we bring it to the CCC who will shuttle us to whatever park we are going to that day. We don't drive to MK, but will to the other parks.

 

[happymommy]

When we stay at a Disney resort, we almost never rent a car. I find dealing with picking it up, driving myself to the resort, and back to the airport to return it a hassle. It's not a huge one, but I would rather use a towncar service or magical express.

Mind you, I hate waiting for the bus with ME. Hate it. First time we took it, we waited so LONG - it was well over two hours until we got to the BWI that trip (and we took a taxi back that trip, not wanting to deal with it). Now I use it and find something to kill time in line (we've always waited at least 45 minutes between the line and waiting on the bus).

Off site, of course we have a rental car (and that's almost always been at a condo, so we're always stopping at the store for various things like food and drinks). Then, of course, we drive to the parks.

One thing I like about a Disney vacation is not driving. And, last trip we stayed at Pop Century - we never waited for very long for a bus! It was nice that the bus isn't shared, so it was very convenient (and DD uses a wheelchair although she's ambulatory - so they let us on first so she could sit and I'd fold it up out of the way - so convenient).

I'd personally save my money and use ME if staying at a Disney resort. I do like the quick food/drink grocery stop that I could do with a rental car or towncar, but would rather not drive. We ordered from Garden Grocer for our upcoming trip (AKV Kidani).

 

[leebee]

I think there are 2 other active threads on the Transportation board about renting cars vs. taking the bus, so look around for many more opinions! We are strong advocates of renting a car. It's quicker to the theme parks (except MK, but we consider the monorail ride part of being at Disney- where else do you get to ride a monorail), quicker to get home after you leave a theme park, and MUCH faster and easier to go from hotel to hotel if you like to dine at the TS restaurants in the resorts. In general, we find that having a rental car saves us time and stress, so it's something I always try to include in our WDW vacation budget.