Need help with minivan question

[lman2b]

Since this is a family forum and there are probably quite a few minivan drivers here, I thought I'd try this one rather than the transportation forum (can I post on both forums the same question?):

We are going to WDW in a month and I need to rent a vehicle, probably a minivan for a week. 2 years ago we went, and rented a Toyota Sienna for myself, my hubby, and our 3 little kids (1 infant seat, 1 booster seat, and 1 regular car seat). It was great for our needs.

This trip my dad is coming with us so I need an extra seat and that means less luggage storage room, plus the seats with car seat/boosters for my 3 kids.

I'm shocked at the prices for a minivan, they are going to cost me like $800 for the week (with taxes)

I've seen that the toyota sienna is the most expensive, maybe $20-30 more. I drive a Suburban, so I have no idea about minivans, and other than the Sienna we rented 2 yrs ago (which we were very very happy with) I have no experience whatsoever with a minivan! And now that I've been searching, they have different models of each minivan and I'm clueless as to what we need

I've seen them offer the Chevrolet Uplander, Dodge Grand Caravan, Toyota Sienna ... can't remember what else, if any. What minivan do you recommend that holds a lot of people and storage?

TIA!!

 

[lman2b]

I forgot to add that we do not have to have a minivan, I just thought it was what we needed (a suburban is like a $1000 to rent) but we could rent a Trailblazer for much cheaper, I just don't know if it will fit us. It says 5 adults, what about kids??

 

[laceemouse]

A trailblazer will seat 5 (3 kids in the second row) and you would have plenty of room for junk in the back. We are a family of six, drive a suburban at home, and have to rent a minivan when we travel. The GRAND versions of them have plenty of room behind the last seat for stuff, the regular versions of the dodge vans have NO room in the back.
They usually seat 7, 2 in front, 2 in the middle, and 3 in the way back.
I have no idea what an uplander is?

 

[laceemouse]

adding, we never rent a vehicle for WDW, we just use their transportation
I would not pay more to rent a Sienna, who cares what the brand is? The caravan would be the same on the inside, and the grand caravan has more cargo room than the Sienna.

 

[laceemouse]

I forgot to add that we do not have to have a minivan, I just thought it was what we needed (a suburban is like a $1000 to rent) but we could rent a Trailblazer for much cheaper, I just don't know if it will fit us. It says 5 adults, what about kids??

3 kids in car seats would fit where 3 adults would fit
BUT, to add another adult (your dad) you will have to get a van.

 

[allie1078]

a grand caravan and a town and country(if an option) are virtually the same thing. I have a grand caravan with 4 kids. one in a toddler seat, two in boosters, and one no carseat. I have the toddler and oldest middle row captain chairs, two in boosters in third row. This set up works good for us. we also have enough cargo space behind the third row for everything. We drive to disney from michigan. and bring alot of stuff with us. last year we had 2 umbrella style strollers, packandplay, and luggage for everyone and it all fit in the cargo area. this year only one stroller and no pack and play so tons of room.

 

[dogodisney]

I have a Grand Caravan and it also has the stow-n-go storage between the front and center rows. It really comes in handy for travelling.

I love my van.

 

[auralia]

any chance it would be cheaper to just rent 2 cars? (i have no idea never needed to rent a car before).

 

[tigger51276]

I also have a grand caravan and you can fit 7 people in them. 6 are more comfortable, but I have stuffed 7 adults in (2 in front, 2 in middle and 3 in back). There is still decent space in back for luggage. I also have 2nd and 3rd row stow n go and love, love, love it. I've actually rented a mini van in Orlando and have usually ended up with the Chrysler Town and Country which is exactly the same car just a different outside body, inside is the same. I definitely recommend one of these if given the option, it really is a nice comfy ride.

 

[Goofy_Dad_24]

any chance it would be cheaper to just rent 2 cars? (i have no idea never needed to rent a car before).

It definitely would be cheaper (even after paying for parking for two cars), and may be a good option, especially if you would want to split up at all. If you dont want to split up, then its just that an extra person has to drive all week. But if you would like to split up, it would be great to have two cars instead of one.

 

[laughinplace199]

I could be wrong, but I think I recall that the Sienna seats 8, not 7. We always rent a minivan on our WDW trips, and I get one that seats 7, which is always cheaper than the Sienna. The car rental websites should have info on how many adults, children, and suitcases can fit in each category of vehicle.

We are a family of 5. We have 3 kids (2 in boosters and 1 in a carseat), 3 suitcases, 4 carryons, and a stroller and we fit fine in a reg minivan (Uplander or Town & Country - can't recall which). My friend joined us for a few days and there was plenty of room in the car for her as well. I did have to put the stroller on the floor under the kids feet. Backpacks/carryone went on the floor as well, but it was fine for us.

 

[lman2b]

I booked a Dodge Grand Caravan, or one like it (so the site says) so we'll see what we get. I'm shocked at the price! I really thought about 2 cars, which would be great if one of us wants to go back to our rooms for naps etc. But then I realized, we want to go to the beach one day and then we'd be driving 2 cars and paying gas and I just figured we should get one. But now that I think about it, driving only one day to the beach probably isn't enough for needing one car. We are supposedly staying 10 mins away from Disney and 5 from Sea World so its not like we'll be driving that much. OH well.

Does anyone know how much parking at Disney is? At Sea World?

 

[tigger51276]

I booked a Dodge Grand Caravan, or one like it (so the site says) so we'll see what we get. I'm shocked at the price! I really thought about 2 cars, which would be great if one of us wants to go back to our rooms for naps etc. But then I realized, we want to go to the beach one day and then we'd be driving 2 cars and paying gas and I just figured we should get one. But now that I think about it, driving only one day to the beach probably isn't enough for needing one car. We are supposedly staying 10 mins away from Disney and 5 from Sea World so its not like we'll be driving that much. OH well.

Does anyone know how much parking at Disney is? At Sea World?

Parking prices just increased at Disney this week to $14 a day. Sea World is currently $12 a day.

 

[HeatherC]

Did you check all the rental codes for discounts at mousesavers? That may be a way to get the price down on a van rental.

Another place is rentalcodes.com.

Hope this helps!

 

[traveljunkie2]

I just plugged in some dates in Nov. or Orbitz and both Payless and EZ Save are offering minvans for $500 or less for a week, including taxes.

 

[TwoGirls4Me]

I also was shocked at these rental prices for mini vans!!! I went on mouse savers, and I ended up booking through bj's I believe and got a mini van, for 8 days, for about 385 tax included!!! keep looking and messing around with those codes! BTW, this was with dollar. We leave next friday so i'll let you know how they are!