IS renting a car worth it? Do you pay to park?

[Oakenshield]

We leave soon and I'm considering renting a car to cut down on travel time between parks. For our 6 day trip Budget would charge us $186, however, does it really cut down on the wait/travel times between parks, resorts for ADRS and DTD? If we decide to go this route, do we have to pay to park places? We'll be staying onsite if that makes a difference.

 

[cruisingtwins]

Depends on where you are staying in you are in the contemporary and maily visiting MK then no... If you aer staying in CBR a huge YES.

 

[Oakenshield]

Depends on where you are staying in you are in the contemporary and maily visiting MK then no... If you aer staying in CBR a huge YES.

Staying a Pop, and visiting all parks.

 

[Teacup53]

You don't have to pay to park on Disney property (parks) if you are staying on property. We always rent a car because we like the freedom of running to walmart and making early ADRs without having to allow 1-1.5 hours for Disney transportation. Check mousesavers.com for coupon codes and keep checking the rental car rates they fluctuate so it pays to stock them and not pay up-front because most companies let you reserve and cancel with no fee.

 

[charleygop]

Recently drove to POP from PA, only drove the vehicle to one ADR and that was because I was going to refuel for the early departure home the next morning. I have flown in several times and have only rented a car if I knew I was planning on going off site or if my flight out was before 8:00a resulting in ME pickups of 5:00a or earlier.

Never been an issue when I did not have a vehicle but you really need to decide if the $200 plus (rental and fuel) is worth it or could the money be better spent or even saved. You'll get a lot of advice but in the end, it's your money.

 

[Oakenshield]

Recently drove to POP from PA, only drove the vehicle to one ADR and that was because I was going to refuel for the early departure home the next morning. I have flown in several times and have only rented a car if I knew I was planning on going off site or if my flight out was before 8:00a resulting in ME pickups of 5:00a or earlier.

Never been an issue when I did not have a vehicle but you really need to decide if the $200 plus (rental and fuel) is worth it or could the money be better spent or even saved. You'll get a lot of advice but in the end, it's your money.

Even though you had the car, you didn't use it to go to the parks? I'm wondering if it's longer waiting for the buses to transport us to and from parks, and if it's worth it to rent a car and have more time doing instead of waiting and being transported.

 

[charleygop]

Even though you had the car, you didn't use it to go to the parks? I'm wondering if it's longer waiting for the buses to transport us to and from parks, and if it's worth it to rent a car and have more time doing instead of waiting and being transported.

Check out the Unofficial Guide, it will give you a comparison between riding and driving. Also, depending on traffic, wait at parking entrance and distant of spot to gate (tram ride maybe required) or at MK boat or monorail ride is required, the time quickly evens out and if you are lucky to have minimum waits for buses, may well tilt to buses.

 

[Raenstoirm]

Even though you had the car, you didn't use it to go to the parks? I'm wondering if it's longer waiting for the buses to transport us to and from parks, and if it's worth it to rent a car and have more time doing instead of waiting and being transported.

Parking is a pain, especially at MK where you have to take disney transportation to get to the park anyway. If you have early ADRs at resorts the car is probably worth it though, since resort to resort is hellish. Same goes for DTD. If you are spending a lot of time there, a car is nice, however with all the construction a car may be a headache right now. We had a car for the first time since the 90s on our may 2014 trip. HATED it. We did not get one for Sept 2014. That said many people love having their own wheels.

 

[RejoyceoverDisney]

For $186 for the week.....with a family.........

Let's put it this way, my husband and I rent for one day which costs us about $50 through National Emerald club. We do this because we like to take one morning at the shrine for Mass or day at SeaWorld and then we buy waterbottles and a snack on the way back. If we took a cab to do this, it would cost us more money than the 1 day rental.

If I had a family and had early ADRS, I'd be wanting the rental just because I don't like getting up any earlier and out the door than I have to and with kids, ya good luck.

Downfall is I'm directionally challenged, so finding my way from a resort to a park and back ......I take the bus. DH is not as challenged as I am so when I'm with him that's different.

Good luck deciding. End of day can have long waits for buses but I've seen lines for the shuttle to the car too. If you have the extra $$ to spend, I say it's worth the $$. Most families don't go every year so make the options work in your favor.

 

[aaarcher86]

I will never do Disney without a car again. We did a bus only trip in September. It's not for us. Hated it. I know everyone hated parking for MK, but I'd rather park at MK and get out to my own car, with my own seat and head back to the resort instead of standing around on sore legs waiting for the bus and being squished in with other people.

We stay on property so we don't pay to park unless we valet at a resort.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

As long as you stay on site, you don't pay for parking.

Never rented a car in WDW. Most times we drive from PA, and we actually tend to leave the car parked at the resort and just use the buses. But, to each their own I guess.

 

[Oakenshield]

You guys have convinced me NOT to rent the car! Especially since from what I'm reading it won't save us much time really. I'm such a type A that i'm trying not to control every aspect of this vacation, which is what I'm sure my thinking was behind the rental. I just need to sit back and go with the flow!

 

[mm1971]

We leave soon and I'm considering renting a car to cut down on travel time between parks. For our 6 day trip Budget would charge us $186, however, does it really cut down on the wait/travel times between parks, resorts for ADRS and DTD? If we decide to go this route, do we have to pay to park places? We'll be staying onsite if that makes a difference.

Typically yes it does cut down on the time from our experience. I'm not sure if that is the case in January. The exception is probably between MK and Epcot due to the monorail.

I will say that for us, we like to park hop, make snap decisions on thing like DTD, mini golf, dinner plans at a different location and the like. We are typically not big planners (don't get me started on FP+ pros and cons) and will change plans based on how we feel and what we feel like doing.

Parking is free for on site guests, you will get a piece of paper to keep in the car when you check in.

I personally don't like waiting for the next bus and those sort of delays so having a car is just as much for piece of mind as it is for efficiency. Based on the crowd calendar and typical January crowds, it would be less likely that you would be delayed by full buses. It could happen, but less likely.

Have a good trip!

 

[imthegoose]

I rented a car for a 10 day trip in Aug 2013, staying at PoP. We needed the car b/c we planned on days offsite and the cost of the cabs were more than the rental.

However, the car was extremely useful onsite. Except for MK, driving to the parks were faster than waiting for a bus. Actually getting to MK wasn't really an issue, taking the monorail from the TTC was fun. It was getting back to the car with the crowds when MK closed which was a disaster. I'll figure out my strategy for that next time.

We also like to do dining at the resorts, so it was easy to just drive there. Additionally, we like doing the mini-golf at night and there is no bus to take you to Blizzard Beach after the water parks close.

 

[ktlm]

It likely will not save you much time by the time you have parked the car and gotten to the park gate. We spent a few days at WDW with our friends a couple of years ago. They had a car because they drove in, and we were using Disney transportation. They would drive and meet us places. I figured we would get places and they would be waiting for us. Turned out, mostly we got to places at almost the exact same time. One time we beat them by a good 10 or 15 minutes. The most they ever beat us by was 5 minutes. Also, don't forget when you are taking the bus from the resort to MK, the bus goes straight there- when you park you have to go take the ferry or a monorail to get the rest of the way.

 

[jensen]

I'd say it depends on several factors...

How many times have you been to Disney - do you feel like you can find your way around easily?
How old are your children - do you have babies in strollers that you'll have to fold up and hold the baby on a crowded bus?
Do you want to do anything off-site - going for a grocery run or heading to the beach one day or taking a day at a another theme park are all much easier with a car.
Do you get up early or stay out late - the buses run on an abbreviated schedule when the parks are closed, so you can be waiting for a long time.

We tried the buses on our first trip and swore NEVER again! We don't find that they save us that much time. It's probably about the same. But, when we are leaving the parks at night, we don't have to be packed like sardines into a bus with cranky strangers. When our daughter was an infant, it was a real hassle to fold up her stroller and have to hold her while standing on a moving bus. We frequently have dinner very late (after the parks close). So, without a car we'd be stuck waiting for a long darn time for buses. We like to stop and grab some snacks for the room - and we always have to buy new sunglasses or a bottle of shampoo or something that got broken or forgotten. So, having a car saves us from Disney prices for these things. And if the weather allows, we like to head to Cocoa Beach one afternoon.

On our last trip, we used the buses one night because we were hopping around a lot and thought it would be easier to use Disney transport. I quickly remembered why I HATE the buses. UGH!!

Go on the transportation board to find discount coupon codes. I'm paying about $150 for a full-size car from Alamo for a week this month.

 

[powellrj]

I will never go without a car. I guess I am someone who can't give up the control to other people! I even have a problem being a passenger in cars!

 

[msmama]

I will never go without a car. I guess I am someone who can't give up the control to other people! I even have a problem being a passenger in cars!

And I would never consider renting a car for a Disney vacation. I don't know how many people in your party (2 when I travel) so that $200 rental car could pay for a lot more fun stuff.

 

[buzznina]

It likely will not save you much time by the time you have parked the car and gotten to the park gate. We spent a few days at WDW with our friends a couple of years ago. They had a car because they drove in, and we were using Disney transportation. They would drive and meet us places. I figured we would get places and they would be waiting for us. Turned out, mostly we got to places at almost the exact same time. One time we beat them by a good 10 or 15 minutes. The most they ever beat us by was 5 minutes. Also, don't forget when you are taking the bus from the resort to MK, the bus goes straight there- when you park you have to go take the ferry or a monorail to get the rest of the way.

We always drive and the first few trips, we drove to the parks except for MK. Well, we had no big issues with the bus to MK that one year, so we decided on our next trip that the first few days that I would drive with our DD and DW would use the buses. Like the ktlm mentioned the time saved was maybe 5-10 minutes here and there. Yes, there may be a time or 2 that you will have an abnormally long wait for a bus but I enjoyed our vacation so much more by not dealing with driving, plus our DDs love taking the bus. I will mentioned that when we drove it "felt" faster because we were constantly moving(walking to/from car) instead of standing in line which seems longer then it actually is. We do like having a car if we need to go from resort to resort, in this case it is a lot quicker.

 

[wintotty]

We usually use cab when we are too tired to wait for the bus, or need to go to ADR at distant resort (like AK). It usually costs about $15 each time, and that works better for us than renting a car.