ME, then renting National car at Car Care Cntr? Been done?

[martinp13]

Has anyone actually done this before?

I'm flying in for a rollercoaster convention, staying at All-Star Music. I'd like to use the Magical Express, just because it's there. And I will have to have a car, since I'll be going to not only the Disney parks but also Old Town, Cypress Gardens, and Busch Gardens.

The way I would expect it to work is:

take Magical Express to the resort,
have National pick me up there and take me to the Car Care Center,
take the car,
drive all over central Florida,
eventually return the car at the Car Care Center,
National takes me back to the resort,
and I take Magical Express back to the airport.

I'd love to hear that someone has done this before and it worked. Many thanks!

 

[grimley1968]

I suppose you could do that, but I have to ask: why?

There is a National/Alamo desk at the Dolphin. If you want to rent a car, just take Disney transportation over to the Dolphin, or walk or boat there from EPCOT or MGM, and hop into the Dolphin and rent a car. When you drop off the car, you just pull up to the valet area in front of Dolphin, tip them a little bit, and hop on Disney transport to a park. You can then take ME back to the airport if you want.

I wouldn't want to wait around for a ride by National to the Car Care Center, when you could simply work in a stop at the Dolphin's National desk around a trip to MGM or EPCOT.

The easiest option of all, though, is to just rent a car at the airport.

 

[Chuck S]

It was reporteed in another thread that there is now an additonal fee of $20 for renting from the Car Car center. If you can get a good rate from Alamo or natinal at the airport, I would do that...much more convenient, IMO.

 

[martinp13]

It was reporteed in another thread that there is now an additonal fee of $20 for renting from the Car Car center. If you can get a good rate from Alamo or natinal at the airport, I would do that...much more convenient, IMO.

Wow, there's nothing on National's site about that. I suppose I will have to call them and ask about it (and see if the other satellite locations like the Dolphin are charging extra as well). That would certainly make me rent the car at the airport.

I was only using ME because it was available and free. There are plenty of better rollercoasters at other parks... why ride Disney's? Because they're there.

 

[martinp13]

John, you're an evil man. The more I think about it, the more I think I should abandon ME and rent the dang car at the airport. If I had a passel of kids, then maybe it would make sense. But it's just me. I'm going to have enough Magic over the week... I don't need a Magic Bus at the beginning.

Arrrrrrr!

 

[hemispheredancer]

The additional fee is a Lanlord Concession Fee Recovery and it amounts to about 10% of the rental rate. You will be charged that if you rent from National at the CCC or the Dolphin. If you rent from MCO you will not have that additional charge (and the rates are a little cheaper at MCO).

 

[tjmw2727]

If your going to rent a car anyway I would skip ME, get a good deal on a rental at the airport and get my luggage myself. You have more choices of rental agencies at the airport and will likely get a much better rate than you will get inside WDW.

I used ME in October and wasn't thrilled. We had a very long wait in the line before a bus came that fit our route and two stops prior to AKL. The bus was nice but it was still a bus with a video promo of WDW. Then you still have the logistics of getting to the car care center or the dolphin to get the car??

Personally, I won't be using ME once they start charging for it and I am considering renting a car or using a towncar service in April even though it's still free. I know I am in the minority but my experience wasn't very good and I was prepared.

TJ

 

[martinp13]

The additional fee is a Lanlord Concession Fee Recovery and it amounts to about 10% of the rental rate. You will be charged that if you rent from National at the CCC or the Dolphin. If you rent from MCO you will not have that additional charge (and the rates are a little cheaper at MCO).

Interesting. I just plugged in the Entertainment Book coupon codes, entered the same dates/size car/etc, and here's what popped out:

Airport: $186.36
Car Care Center: $161.59 (!)

Those are pre-coupon, pre-tax. Totaled, they come to:

Airport: $213.58
CCC: $186.96

CCC charges the Landlord concession fee ($16.16), Airport charges the 9.8% Concession Fee Recovery charge ($16.38), so I think you get screwed either way.

 

[ncbyrne]

This is exactly what we did in November. We took ME to Coronado Springs. The NEXT day took the free shuttle to CCC (call a day in advance for pick up) and rented a car. We used the car all week and dropped off at MCO rather than take ME back to airport. It saved us $ because we rented the car for one day less (10 day trip) and it saved us time because we didn't have to leave early to take ME back on our last day. We chose to rent at CCC over Dolphin because they have longer more convenient hours. We used the AMEX code discount. We would do this again without hesitation - it worked perfectly for us.

 

[mainewmn]

We wore there in January and did just that. Took ME from MCO to POP, took National shuttle to CCC to pick up rental used the rental for 8 days, returned the rental to CCC, took the shuttle back to POP, spend another 2 days in the park, took the ME to airport. NO problems and that was before the CCC started charging the additional fee, my only problem with the CCC was that they assign the car to you there rather then you getting to pick your own like at MCO.

 

[grimley1968]

I still don't know why you'd bother with scheduling a shuttle, etc. to go to the CCC. It is much simpler to just drop by the Dolphin, using Disney transportation, and rent your car there, and for probably the same money as at the CCC. It was kind of a no-brainer when we wanted to rent on Disney property.

 

[ncbyrne]

I still don't know why you'd bother with scheduling a shuttle, etc. to go to the CCC. It is much simpler to just drop by the Dolphin, using Disney transportation, and rent your car there, and for probably the same money as at the CCC. It was kind of a no-brainer when we wanted to rent on Disney property.

The Dolphin has much shorter hours of operation and wouldn't have been open for the time we wanted to pick up the car. CCC was the best place for us.

 

[grimley1968]

The Dolphin has much shorter hours of operation and wouldn't have been open for the time we wanted to pick up the car. CCC was the best place for us.

Okay, we'll let it slide this time.

I did forget the desk hours at Dolphin are pretty restrictive, compared to the airport and other places. I think they usually closed at 4 PM or something like that.

 

[goofy4tink]

I also am renting when in WDW in May. I am taking the CCC shuttle from POP. For me, it's easier than hoofing it over to S/D...the hours there are shorter and you have to either go to Epcot and walk over to S/D or take a park bus to S/D....if I were staying at BW/YC/BC or S/D then it's a no brainer...I'll rent from the S/D.

I would much rather rent when I get to WDW...I hate having to lug my bags around the airport, then have to drive myself to my resort. Yes, I'm sure it's all very easy, but since I never pay attention when getting from MCO to whatever resort I'm staying at, I would just rather leave the driving to someone else. But, that's just my preference.