MCO to UNI, then onto Disney-car rental ?

[becauseisaidso]

Hi-

Hoping for some sage advice from the knowledgeable pros this board.

My family (2 adults, 2 kids -16 & 11) will be arriving at MCO on Sunday, Nov 22 and heading to Universal Studios, where will be staying at the Royal Pacific. On Wednesday, Nov 25, we will be going to WDW, staying at POR. Later in the trip, we will be moving to AKL for the last few days.

I have already decided to rent a car, but don't know:

1. If I should rent a car to go from MCO to Universal since the parking is 17/night (I believe). I do not think we will be doing any driving while we are there.

2. If we do not rent a car from the airport, should we take a cab from Universal to WDW and rent a car there, or just rent from Universal and drive over?

We plan to take the Magical Express back to the airport if possible, and we have tickets to the HDDR and La Nouba, so any helpful tips pertaining to those would be great also.

Thanks so much for your help.

 

[kwdw]

So - looks like self-park at Royal Pacific is currently $20 a night.

Easiest - is to accept the parking fee and rent the car from MCO and return it to MCO. Honestly - anytime I have tried to do a "shorter" term rental by starting at a Universal Resort or the rental center on Disney property or combining with a taxi - I have found it to be either about the same or more total cost than just booking the car directly to and from the airport.

So - you need to price it out. Rental price from the Universal resort with a return to either Disney Car Care Center or MCO MIGHT be less that MCO to MCO - but you would need to get some real quotes (and don't forget cost from MCO to Universal). That $20 per day parking fee will add up admittedly, so that might make a difference.

I also really like the MCO to MCO rental because it means I can stop by a store to pick up things like that case of water I'm going to need! So - having the car the whole time might save you a few incidental expenses, too. If you HAVE the car at Disney - you need to figure out if returning the car at Disney and riding ME makes sense for you. You lose TIME dropping off that car to return it and getting back to your resort - and with ME - you have to be back at your resort at least 3 hours in advance - so leaving a park at least 3.5 hours in advance of flight time. If leaving via a car - you can leave directly from a park just about 2.5 hours in advance. So - that car drop off and extra time needed to ride ME - you are losing vacation time. Time is money on vacation.

Having a car will be great for HDDR. Getting between resorts at Disney is a pain - so that night you can drive from your resort to the parking lot for Ft. Wilderness Campground. You'll still have to ride the bus into the area, but that will save alot of time. I'd probably drive to La Nouba, too.

I think the taxi between Universal and a Disney resort is in the $50 dollar range. You can get a quote for that on the Mears website. There's also the taxi price from airport to Universal. Again - I'd guess $50 range. $100 in taxi fees or $80 in parking fees??? You decide. But - rental fees may be quite different based on pick-up and drop-off - so that math might not be a factor.....

So - price it out.....

 

[bumbershoot]

If you don't want/need the car while you're at Uni, look at renting from Alamo or National (maybe Enterprise). There's a rental place right across from Wet and Wild at the Four Points Sheraton. You can either drop it and walk over to Uni, or pay around $10 for a cab ride. I see no point to paying to park at the resort if you truly will not be needing or wanting the car.

Then you can price out renting from the same location and dropping at MCO.

For this trip, though, price it ALL out. Make sure you aren't causing yourself larger amounts of money by dropping then renting again, if you could get a screaming deal just going MCO to MCO for the whole trip. Include parking, etc.

 

[becauseisaidso]

Thanks so much for your advice. I did price it all out, taxi fare & tip, parking, etc, all the different options. Seems that even with paying for parking for those couple of days, we're still better office renting for the whole trip and returning to MCO via rental over ME. And, for the sake of simplicity, it does seem a bit easier than taking a cab, taking another cab, procuring a rental, returning rental and returning to MCO via ME. As you said, time is money on vacation, and we're coming from California, so we ought to make the most of it.

 

[nkereina]

Is a rental car a must have? We took a cab from MCO to RPR for about $50, then took an Uber from RPR to AKL on our check-out day for about $20. We then used WDW transportation for our stay there and took DME back to the airport. For us, it was easier and cheaper to pay $70 in cab rides than it was to rent a car and drive in a strange city. But, if you intend to use the car during the WDW portion of your stay, I can see where it makes sense.

 

[becauseisaidso]

Is a rental car a must have? We took a cab from MCO to RPR for about $50, then took an Uber from RPR to AKL on our check-out day for about $20. We then used WDW transportation for our stay there and took DME back to the airport. For us, it was easier and cheaper to pay $70 in cab rides than it was to rent a car and drive in a strange city. But, if you intend to use the car during the WDW portion of your stay, I can see where it makes sense.

Yes, I've already decided on the rental. I take public transit at home and quite often have to stand as there are no seats available. I've read through enough of these posts that speak of unavailability of seats, watching buses go by and having to wait for the next one because the first one is full, etc. As I get plenty of that at home, taking buses is hardly a vacation for me. Also, given the timing of our visit (Thanksgiving week) I think that car traffic/bus rider capacity will be pretty bad all around. In almost all of the actual time comparisons that I've seen,
traveling by car wins.

So...we'll find out. (Since I'll probably do most of the driving, the only problem I really see is that I usually put my makeup on on the bus once I finally do get a seat at the end of the route. Yes, I'm one of *those* women. Haha)

 

[nkereina]

Yes, I've already decided on the rental. I take public transit at home and quite often have to stand as there are no seats available. I've read through enough of these posts that speak of unavailability of seats, watching buses go by and having to wait for the next one because the first one is full, etc. As I get plenty of that at home, taking buses is hardly a vacation for me. Also, given the timing of our visit (Thanksgiving week) I think that car traffic/bus rider capacity will be pretty bad all around. In almost all of the actual time comparisons that I've seen,
traveling by car wins.

I'm in the opposite camp where I find driving on vacation more stressful. Not being familiar with the area, where we are going, parking, parking shuttles, the TTC, not being able to have a drink and enjoy myself. I'll gladly stand for 10 minutes on a bus a couple of times. Everyone has a different take on it, just trying to provide a different perspective to show that cabbing it isn't necessarily cost prohibitive