Magical Express AND a rental car?

[kristenrice]

I have a question that I know can only be answered here...

Because we will be travelling with our 2 DD's :MinnieMo 4, 2), and we enjoy some of the restaurants at the resorts, we plan on renting a car. We also plan on bringing our own stroller. My question is...can I use ME for only a part of our family (i.e me and the DD's) while my husband gets a rental car? It would be great if ME would be able to take all of our luggage and such so my DH can just get the car. We want a small car just to get around WDW without alot of hassle with the little ones but we don't want to have to rent the SUV that we would need to get our luggage from MCO to WDW. Can this be done or does everyone on the ressie have to use it? Can someone who is NOT using it still have their luggage sent? FYI, I have been to WDW twice without a car and it worked out fine, but it was always adults, no kids. DH was a little cranky waiting for busses and DD's inherited his patience

 

[CarolA]

This will work, but you are limited to two are three pieces of luggage per person who gets on the bus (I think?)

 

[CleveRocks]

You'll have no problem having only some of your party using DME. But to be on the very safe side, if your husband won't be riding the DME bus, don't use the DME tags that have his name on it. Since there are 4 in your party (I'm assuming your 2 year old has her own seat on the airplane), you'll receive 8 DME tags. I'm guessing you'll have no more than 6 checked bags. Use your tags and your 2 daughters' tags on your checked luggage, but don't use your husband's. That way, there's no way you'll run into complications such as luggage with his DME tags on it not getting delivered to the resort since his bus voucher wasn't scanned upon boarding the bus.

Now, here's where some confusion can set in, and I'm here to stop it. Each DME luggage tag has 2 names on it, the name that the overall reservation is in, and then the individual passenger's name. In my case, the ressie was in my name, so my DME tags had my name on them twice. My wife's DME tags had my name and then her name, etc. So in case the ressie is in his name and you see that ALL the tags have his name and I said don't use the tags with his name ... well, you get the picture.

I hope.

 

[ccw]

Why don't all of you take ME and then rent a car once you are at your resort? Very easy...I did this with a large group in November. Especially if you are staying onsite, it is no big deal to arrange for the rental agency to pick you up, take you to get your car, and then drop you off at your resort (or even a theme park) when you want to return the car. You may find that you can get by with just renting for part of your stay anyway.

 

[5boyz]

Hey CCW.....Tell me more.....PLEASE?????

 

[goofy4tink]

Hey CCW.....Tell me more.....PLEASE?????

There are several spots in WDW from which you can rent a car. You can use the Car Care Center, close to the MK or the rental counter at the Dolphin. If you use the CCC, you call them the night before you want to rent your car and they will arrange for their shuttle bus to pick you up at your resort shortly before your rental time starts. Then, they reverse it when you need to return the car. Renting at the Dolphin is easy also....just walk over from Epcot.
I can't say for sure if the rates are cheaper or more expensive if you use the WDW spots for renting vs the airport. Just try different rental scenarios and choose the one that fits you the best.

 

[dkostel]

I'm renting a car in July and returning it to the Dolphin so I can go to Discovery cove for a day. I'm renting on thursday morning at the airport, returning on Sunday night. I looked into renting & returning at the Dolphin, but for that single day it was almost as expensive as having it from Thur - Sun picking up at airport & returning to the Dolphin.

 

[5boyz]

goofy4tink....Thank You!!!


dkostel.....what is the name of the car company you rented from? Please and Thank you!! We really just want it for a day!!!

 

[ccw]

5boyz...just got home from work so sorry I did not get right back to you! but i think others have filled in the details about short term car rentals. I rented from the WDW CCC just for 24 hours and it was very easy. I reserved the minivan ahead of time, called after checking in at OKW and the shuttle picked me up about an hour later. Probably spent less than 5 minutes at the rental counter and checking in the vehicle was just a painless. Shuttle driver took all of us to EPCOT where we enjoyed the day and then just used Disney transportation, including ME on departure day. Only downside of ME is if you have a VERY EARLY departing flight...you get picked up around 3 hours ahead of time which sometimes is necessary but at other times you will have LOTS of time to kill at MCO.

 

[5boyz]

CCW Thanks alot!!! We also only need it for 24 hrs. We were originally driving but got a great deal on flights with Northwestern the other night so could not refuse,when you compared it to driving and staying at Disney an extra night we are still saving $330. and a whole bunch of time!!! But we had plans to shop the first day we were there and get some stuff for the hotel and doing some shopping in the outlets. So we only wanted it for 24 hr period too!!! We will then need the ME to go home. We are leaving MCO at 9:48am. Any tips would be great, there will be my husband, myself, 4 kids ages 16 15 9 & 6. We are going with friends and there is 5 of them too. Again thank you!!!!

 

[dkostel]

goofy4tink....Thank You!!!


dkostel.....what is the name of the car company you rented from? Please and Thank you!! We really just want it for a day!!!

Alamo is at the Dolphin.

 

[ccw]

I rented thru Alamo's website for my WDW CCC rental in November...do not recall the price but it was certainly in line with what I saw everywhere else. I'm sure I used a discount code from somewhere to save a few dollars!

 

[kristenrice]

I can't say for sure if the rates are cheaper or more expensive if you use the WDW spots for renting vs the airport.

FYI...I checked the rates at the CCC vs. MCO and it was cheaper at the airport by about $50!
I used identical coupon codes and info so I could get an accurate comparison.

 

[Bird-Mom]

OP, we did this last year and are planning on it again. DH took our 2 dds on ME, and I picked up the car. We did what CleveRocks suggested with the luggage tags. I arrived about 15 minutes before he did and checked us in. We found our room, had lunch, and the luggage was placed in our room before we returned. It was much less (like $75 or so, IIRC) to rent the car at the airport. We didn't do ME for the return because we had a really early flight; we got a little extra sleep by driving ourselves. We haven't made our flight arrangements yet, so if we do ME for the return, we will probably drop the car at the Dolphin or CCC the day before we leave.

Our dds are also 4 and 2, and no way are they patient to wait for the busses! Not to mention dragging the stroller along; it is much easier with the car.

 

[5boyz]

dkostel-Thank You!!

ccw & kristenrice-how do you use the codes? when I entered the codes from mousesavers the price was still the same. I also found the prices cheaper from the airport. I could get a Jeep Cheeroke (seats 6) at Thirfty at the airport for $29.99 a day. At the other 2 thirfty's near disney it was $40 or $50. something!!! But we want to take the magic express from the airport so we are going with Alamo. I am just going to keep looking for a deal.

 

[kristenrice]

dkostel-Thank You!!

ccw & kristenrice-how do you use the codes? when I entered the codes from mousesavers the price was still the same. I also found the prices cheaper from the airport. I could get a Jeep Cheeroke (seats 6) at Thirfty at the airport for $29.99 a day. At the other 2 thirfty's near disney it was $40 or $50. something!!! But we want to take the magic express from the airport so we are going with Alamo. I am just going to keep looking for a deal.

5boyz, the coupon codes might not work for you because you only need a rental for 1 day. I input the dates of Dec 3-8 (not my actual travel dates) and I got the following rates quoted for a midsize from Alamo:
$245.99 without any codes at all
$188.18 with the Wal-Mart codes (ID#430710 and contract BY...can be used by all)
$150.54 witht the above codes and a coupon code from my Entertainment book

 

[justplaingoofy]

Why don't all of you take ME and then rent a car once you are at your resort? Very easy...I did this with a large group in November. Especially if you are staying onsite, it is no big deal to arrange for the rental agency to pick you up, take you to get your car, and then drop you off at your resort (or even a theme park) when you want to return the car. You may find that you can get by with just renting for part of your stay anyway.

For some reason if you plan on renting through Alamo and picking up at Dolphin or Car Care Center the rates have been double as pick up at MCO. We usually rent for a couple of days through Dolphin, but even with all the discount codes the rate is still ALOT higher!

 

[5boyz]

Justplaingoofy, I am finding the same thing. Some of the prices are a huge difference.

 

[justplaingoofy]

Justplaingoofy, I am finding the same thing. Some of the prices are a huge difference.

if any of you have a bjs membership I just found a discount on pick up at the Dolphin through National.

Reserve a compact-full for 3 day min, 4 day max. with Saturday overnight. Rental must be picked up after Thursday noon and not returned before Sunday. Coupon ID 10009827, Contract ID 5003876

I got a midsize from Thurs Sept. 14- Sun. Sept. 17th for $63.24

Good luck everyone!

 

[VogelFamily]

Good ideas here, just subscribing.